The Steelers have only two quarterbacks on their roster — Mason Rudolph and Will Howard. Aaron Rodgers remains a free agent with the Steelers as his only clear suitor.
Will their starter be Rodgers, Howard or someone not yet on the roster?
The Steelers are doing their homework on University of Miami quarterback Carson Beck.
Brooke Pryor of ESPN reports that Beck is in Pittsburgh today for a top-30 visit at the team facility. The Steelers also met with Beck at the Scouting Combine.
Beck, 23, completed 72.4 percent of his passes for 3,813 yards last season, setting career-highs in pass completions (368), pass attempts (467) and touchdowns (30). He also tied his career-high in interceptions (12).
He led the Hurricanes to the national championship game with victories over Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff.
The Steelers also brought in San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson for a visit on Tuesday, according to Pryor.
On Monday morning, before the Chiefs traded for former Jets quarterback Justin Fields, someone was throwing spaghetti on the question of whether Kansas City was eyeing Russell Wilson as Patrick Mahomes insurance.
With the Chiefs off the board, what’s next for Wilson?
His days as a starting quarterback have ended. The only teams with a current vacancy at the top of the depth chart are the Cardinals and the Steelers. A Pittsburgh reunion is highly unlikely, even if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t return.
The Raiders possibly, maybe would be interested in a short-term bridge, if they aren’t comfortable with putting Fernando Mendoza on the field right away. Wilson may not be inclined to once again be the three-game starter before getting the tap.
Then again, Wilson may not have many choices. Which raises the question of whether he’s willing to take whatever he can get, making him one of the very rare former franchise quarterbacks who’ll accept being No. 2 or No. 3 on a depth chart.
Joe Flacco, who was twice the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL, is and has been willing to do that. Most of the guys who were once at or among the top of the market won’t accept anything other than a gift-wrapped starting job.
It can’t be easy for a guy who has spent so much time as “the guy” to accept becoming “just another guy.” But it happens to any pro football player who stays beyond the shelf life of his high-end skills.
In preparation for his current shot at free agency, Wilson parted ways with his longtime agent, Mark Rodgers, and hired David Mulugheta of Athletes First. During Wilson’s best years, it helped him to have an agent who had one and only one NFL client; the negotiations on Wilson’s contracts were never compromised by the agent’s broader business interests as to other players he represented.
Now, Wilson needs the help of someone who may have the league-wide goodwill to get Wilson a roster spot in exchange for keeping the agent happy as to the looming negotiations with a higher-profile client.
The mere fact that Wilson made the change represents an acknowledgement, conscious or not, that things have changed for him. He still has a high degree of confidence in his skills. Which isn’t surprising. For all NFL players, confidence that borders on delusion is a must.
At some point, however, the basis for the confidence evaporates. By the end of last season, Wilson had slipped behind Jameis Winston on the Giants’ depth chart.
Wilson’s third foray into free agency continues. Two years ago, he took the minimum from the Steelers because the Broncos owed him $39 million. This time around, the minimum salary of $1.3 million may be Wilson’s only option.
And the overriding question will be whether, after earning more than $315 million in his career, he’s willing to commit seven or more months for the smallest payday since signing his slotted four-year, $2.996 million deal as a third-round pick, 14 years ago.
Cornerback Nahshon Wright’s play with the Bears during the 2025 season landed him a contract with the Jets and it earned him the most performance-based pay in the league for last year as well.
The NFL announced that Wright earned more than $1.44 million in performance-based pay. The bonus more than doubles Wright’s base salary for the season.
Wright signed with the Bears after being released by the Vikings last April. He was named to the Pro Bowl after recording 80 tackles, five interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries during the regular season.
The performance-based pay fund is part of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement to compensate all players based on a formula encompassing their playing time and salary. It paid out more than $542 million for the 2025 season.
Browns safety Ronnie Hickman earned over $1.293 million for second place and tackle Elijah Wilkinson earned over $1.272 million for his work with the Falcons. Wilkinson has since signed with the Cardinals.
Panthers safety Nick Scott, former Commanders guard Chris Paul, Ravens guard Andrew Vorhees, Vikings defensive end Jalen Redmond, Steelers guard Mason McCormick, Chiefs defensive back Chamarri Conner, and Patriots safety Craig Woodson make up the rest of the top 10 recipients of performance-based pay for 2025.
Cornerback Darius Slay said recently that no team other than the Eagles should call him about playing in 2026, but now it seems that even the Eagles shouldn’t bother reaching out to him.
In a post to X.com on Monday, Slay announced that he is retiring from the NFL. Slay wrote that he has reached the time for a “new chapter” and that he’s “ready to turn the page” on an NFL career that began as a Lions second-round pick in 2013.
Slay remained with the Lions through the 2019 season and made an All-Pro team before moving on to the Eagles in a trade in 2020. He helped the Eagles to an NFC title after the 2022 season and won a Super Bowl in his final game with the team.
Slay signed a one-year deal with the Steelers in 2025, but was waived by a mutual agreement in December. He was claimed off of waivers by the Bills and declined to report amid speculation that he hoped to return to the Eagles.
Slay had 655 tackles, 28 interceptions, two forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries and six touchdowns over the course of his career.
Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.'s first quarterback with the Colts was Philip Rivers and he wound up playing with Rivers again to close out his six-year run with the team in 2025.
Those were Rivers’ first games since the end of Pittman’s rookie season in 2020 and his improbable return to action came after Daniel Jones tore his Achilles in the team’s 13th game of the season, but Pittman was no stranger to quarterback changes before that twist. The Colts ran through Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, Sam Ehlinger, Nick Foles, Anthony Richardson, Gardner Minshew, and Joe Flacco before getting to Jones, Rivers and Riley Leonard last season.
Living through all of those changes may explain why Pittman is sanguine about the Steelers’ quarterback uncertainty after being traded to the team last week. Aaron Rodgers has not shared his plans for the 2026 season, which leaves Mason Rudolph and Will Howard as the in-house options in Pittsburgh. Pittman said he feels confident about moving forward with either player if that’s how things play out.
“Whenever you have a chance to play with a Hall of Fame quarterback, you always take that,” Pittman said, via Chris Harlan of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “We also have two really good quarterbacks here in Mason and Will, so whatever ends up turning out, I think we’ll have a good plan offensively and we’ll make the most of it.”
If Rodgers opts to do something other than lead the Steelers offense, there may be other options on the table in Pittsburgh but it seems unlikely that Pittman will find himself catching passes from Rivers again in 2026.
