Ryan Clark: Steelers Won’t Compete Until They Find Franchise Quarterback

Both of these QB's were the #1 overall pick in their draft class. Goff led the Rams to a Superbowl before being traded to the Lions and Mayfield had the misfortune to be drafted by the Browns who can screw anyone up. I would sign in blood to have either one over the QB's we have now.

 

Mason had enough play time to show some skill in the past. If Mason played as well back then as he is now, he would have got his full shot at starter.

Some QB`s are late bloomers. Some start at a high level and fade. The change I see in Mason`s game is he now just barely gets the ball away before he gets sacked or hit. Better placement on his throw away`s too. Pocket presence better than in past in general. I think he studied the position while sitting the pine and it seems he made use of his down time, like he claimed he did.

 

If Mason played whole season like this, team would have played Ravens for #1 seed and division title this year.
The team has to improve some areas but it was obvious Mason was better than either of the other 2 qbs. I like Kenny P. but his stats are horrendous. The team needs to fix defense first. Draft lb who does not get injured all the time and then a corner to match with porter. Then get some wrs that play hard all the time. Draft qb in 3rd round and replace the 2 scrubs on our roster now. I dont want to see Mitch ever play a down again.

 

No, that is not how it goes. And he showed enough. He showed more than many 1st year quarterbacks. First year is a throwaway year anyway. You have to run the circuit through the season and offseason as #1 with QB, and he did not run the offseason with the firsts, but did not run the season as the first but in spot duty as the back up. You have to give the guy his full window!

 

Uh, maybe. IF Mason played the whole year as starter at this level AND uninjured, yeah we would have had more wins. Probably would have finished 2nd in the division. Still would probably get knocked out in 1st round of playoffs IMO. A better chance of getting to second round. Ratbirds had too good of a year for us to get 1st place this year in this hypothetical.

 

Those are both #1 picks! Goff has been to a SB already.

 

Kind of a shame one of them has to go next week. I would think most NFL fans are pumped to see the Lions get another home game. I can't remember any Lion team making it to the NFCCG. If they did it would be early 90's when they would make Playoffs and lose first round.

 

It’s not coaching, it’s the teams system. Some players do not fit well with every situation. The Ravens had to completely re work their offense to fit Jackson. Their are linebackers that could never play in our 3-4 system. Head coaches do not teach tackling or how to catch a football. Position coaches do that.

 

1991 is the only time they make the NFC title game....In fact between 1958 to 2022,the Lions had only 1 playoff win!

Now they have a chance to win their second playoffs win of the year!

 

coaching DOES matter, this is our BIGGEST deficiency.

we HAD a franchise QB and sucked in the playoffs......for years......

 

the irony is staying at .500, we won't get a crack at that 'franchise AB' - it is a purple unicorn.

Build around Mason (better players and coaches), is what I would do. Kenny can watch and learn. maybe he can wrestle the job from him but right now, he is behind him.

those 2 should be 1 and 2 next year.

 

Finding a franchise QB has an element of luck to it, as most things do, but I would more call it an element of probability, and you can up your odds with scouting, drafting, coaching, and other talent, primarily an O-line.

Luck, in other words, favors the prepared. It can't be "luck" that Green Bay seems to have a good formula in place for identifying, nurturing, and developing QB talent regardless of who the coach or the current QB is. They were willing to piss off an aging Favre by drafting Rodgers and pissing off an aging Rodgers by drafting Love. We weren't willing to do that Ben. Instead we traded a valuable asset, a first round pick, on a safety, when we knew our QB was near done. That's just not very good long-term thinking.

In terms of drafting, I once did an analysis of every QB drafted by round since 2000, and whether they turned into a franchise QB. I can't remember the exact criteria I used to define franchise QB but it ended up that a first round QB pick ended up being a franchise QB 30% of the time. A second roung 20%, a third round 10%, and from there it was less than 5%. So yeah, you can point to Brady or Purdy, but basically those guys were outliers. You want to have the best chance possible of finding a franchise QB? Draft them high and give them an O-line and weapons to throw to.

I don't call that luck. That's called playing the odds, protecting your investment, and recognizing the most important determinents to winning football.

 

There are too many franchise QBs in the AFC. You simply can't compete in the playoffs unless you have one.


I mean put Lamar, Healthy Burrows on Mahomes on the Jets and you are talking a legit Superbowl contender. As in I'd pick a Lamar/Burrow/ Mahome Jets to beat the 49ers.

A Franchise QB is the difference. That said, we need an HC, OC and DC too.

 

the days of trent dilfers winning super bowls are probably over, not that it happened often anyhow.. but we had a franchise QB for the past decade and continuously got outclassed in the playoffs.. three postseason wins after the green bay super bowl loss in 2010, two of which we were very fortunate to barely win. yes, ben certainly deserved some of the blame.. but this team always looked unprepared and failed to make adjustments when they got smacked in the mouth early.

 

If you don't have an elite QB like Mahomes then you need to keep drafting them as having an average QB on a rookie contract is far better than paying huge money for mediocrity.

Neither Kenny or Mason are worth 30 million a year to be honest. Mason way outplayed Kenny this year but he also has flaws. Neither are good enough to eat up that much cap space which would gut your roster.

You can't get in the situation Dallas is in where you are facing a 50+ million cap hit for a guy that wets his pants in the playoffs. Kenny Pickett isn't even half as good as Dak Prescott, who is utterly mediocre.

The Steelers are going to have to draft a QB again, this year or next (maybe both years) and still have other huge problems to address.

 

I think Green Bay has been more lucky than skillful. It’s unlikely many - if any - of the scouts and execs who evaluated Favre were also around to evaluate Love. There’s 29 years between when the team traded for Favre (they didn’t even draft him) and when they drafted Love.

And if they did have a perfect formula, other teams would also have it because scouts and execs move around.

 

Agreed, although you don't have to make a decision on Pickett yet. That shouldn't stop you from drafting a QB either though.

The #1 position in the NFL is QB. That has to be acknowledged and accepted by the FO. If you don't fix that, the rest is window dressing.

 

This is not the solution.

 

Without Pickens giveaway, it’s a different game. Usually you have to give credit to the defense for a takeaway but that was just an inexcusable unforced error that directly led to points.

Even with the turnovers and untimely drive extending penalties, it was still a 1-score game deep into the 4th qtr. That’s with a below average roster missing their best player while playing with a qb who hasn’t had much game action or even practice time with the first team.

They do not need a “franchise qb”. They need to improve this roster and get a guy(qb) who can manage the game and take what the defense gives him.

 

I'll disagree. It's a philosophy and recognition that QB is the most important position on the field and even when we have a HoFer who is still playing at a high level, we will draft a QB we like, regardless of current positions of need.

That's in direct contrast to an organization that trades a first round pick for a safety with no clear QB successor after their 38 year old future HoFer just blew out his elbow.

 

The Steelers were fortunate to win 10 games this season and make the post season. That speaks to an element of coaching doing a good job.

The loss yesterday can mostly be attributed to Allen's ability to play like super man in the weather conditions and Steelers player mistakes.

There were 2 missed tackles that lead directly to TD's. The 3rd missed tackle allowed. The 2 turnovers hurt. One turnover lead to a TD. The other turnover took potential points off the score board for the Steelers.

Allen was a real difference maker that was on his game. Tough to beat a player like Allen when he plays well and with the Steelers shooting themselves in the foot time after time.

 

Wash, rinse and repeat and your starting RB is saying the teams lacks discipline and commitment. Awesome endorsement of bringing back the HC. I will say this stat all off season, the Steelers have been outscored 66-0 in the first quarter and 122-47 by the half in their last 5 playoff games and that is fully on the head coach who is the only constant in all of those games. He and his staff do not have the team mentally prepared for the playoffs and do not make the proper adjustments to their game plan when it is not working. Mistakes happen over and over which goes back to preparation.

 

I would say offensive line has to be fixed first or you go nowhere since the league is an offensive league. Then D!

 

And water is wet

 

Pretty obvious statement from Clark. The AFC is stacked with QB’s and as somebody else said you may pull off an upset in the playoffs with a game manager like Mason at QB but you sure as hell aren’t winning three games on the road.

I don’t think you necessarily need to have a top 5 pick, Jackson, Love, Hurts, Prescott and others were all selected after #20 where the Steelers are picking this year. It is interesting that all of the above guys landed in spots that value and invest in the Oline and it’s probably reasonable to suggest they may have failed elsewhere.

There is an amount of luck involved in finding a QB but my own personal view is that a strong Oline is a must in the first instance. It’s is crazy to think that they didn’t select an offensive lineman in the first round for eleven years between 2012 and 2023