2 Quarterbacks in 2022 NFL Draft named by PFF as good 'scheme fits' for Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Mitch Trubisky earlier this offseason to serve as the franchise's starting quarterback in 2022. Trubisky, who spent the first four years of his career with the Chicago Bears, served as Josh Allen's backup with the Buffalo Bills last season. The former North Carolina Tar Heels standout has some upside — he […]
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Mitch Trubisky earlier this offseason to serve as the franchise's starting quarterback in 2022.
Trubisky, who spent the first four years of his career with the Chicago Bears, served as Josh Allen's backup with the Buffalo Bills last season.
The former North Carolina Tar Heels standout has some upside — he wasn't used in the best ways in Chicago — but he's still not viewed as the Steelers' long-term answer at quarterback.
That's why numerous NFL analysts believe Pittsburgh will target a quarterback in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft (the Steelers have the No. 20 overall selection).
There are two quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Focus, that would be great scheme fits for Pittsburgh.
Liberty quarterback Malik Willis and North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell.
From PFF on Willis:
It’s hard to find a specific area where Willis excels as a passer schematically. There was an inconsistency to what he saw and felt he could throw — or just flat out didn’t see. Obviously, to maximize his skill set, he’ll need to be given quarterback-designed run schemes.
The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ passing attack designed by offensive coordinator Matt Canada will be interesting to watch. With an aging Ben Roethlisberger at the helm last year, they didn’t try to overcomplicate things. Even if there is to be a shift in what Canada ran while he was a college coach, his use of defined half-field reads could help.
And from PFF on Howell:
As is the case for Willis, the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ offense would work really well for Howell. One of Matt Canada’s base pass concepts as a college offensive coordinator was “snag/spot". which Howell saw a lot in Phil Longo’s North Carolina offense for three years. Canada’s RPO schemes with the Steelers would also fit Howell.
In that offense, the quarterback is given a pre-snap RPO read and a post-snap RPO read. With the way Howell is willing to operate in closing pockets. he can handle pulling the ball late on an RPO throw and still getting an accurate throw off to most areas of the field.
The Steelers have been connected to Willis quite a bit so far this offseason. The general feeling is that Willis would be Mike Tomlin's preferred quarterback choice in this draft. But it feels unlikely that Willis will fall to No. 20 (and Pittsburgh is unlikely to trade up).
That means Howell might be the more realistic option for the Steelers.
This decision will ultimately come to whether or not Pittsburgh truly believes one of the quarterbacks in this draft can be a franchise quarterback. If not, we could see the Steelers eschew selecting a quarterback in favor of an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman.
Featured image via Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
