Colbert defends selecting Pickett

I think he ends up going late first or early second round and the Steelers end up taking Willis in the third if they do the smart thing and take Linderbaum in the first round.

 

Any team after the Steelers in Rd1 would have been taking him as a backup. It's poor management to take a backup QB in round 1.

 

I think that makes sense.

Kind of an Allar level prospect.

QBs are kind of odd though.

Sometimes if you don't go early, you don't go for a while. Like Howard.

So maybe he's somewhere between 3rd and 6th in a normal class? And I think you're right that 3rd makes more sense than 6th.

 

Man...Linderbaum would have been a good pick. Although you'd really prefer not to take a C in the 1st because then you basically can't give him the 1st year option. Because the NFL is stupid and groups all OL together for the option prices (tags too maybe?). So if you pick a C or G in the 1st, you have to pay them like a T with the option. G's maybe isn't terrible. But with C's it's a huge over payment. I think this is why it's very rare for Cs to go in the 1st.

I don't really fault them for rolling the dice on Pickett. Going into it, you know that most QBs fail (unlike OL, who are great bets at the end of the 1st). I also credit them for "not throwing good money after bad" after they decided that KP wasn't an NFL starter. This was pretty un-Steelerslike IMO. Same with firing Canada. I think both were good decisions. Especially since we got a decent return for KP.

 

The Raiders made Linderbaum the 5th highest paid OL in the NFL. Baltimore could have had him for less in his option year.

 

Pay the player; never the position.


Tyler Linderbaum is arguably the greatest Center in Ravens History. I say arguably because while Matt Birk had the longer career in Baltimore than Tyler, Tyler has been the most successful home grown Center they have ever had.


Letting him walk is one thing; a big mistake. Not addressing that in the draft?! Major mistake.

 

Not sure which came first, Colbert on Pickett or Madden on the X:

“No Quarterback Ever Developed”: Mike Tomlin Put On Blast for Leaving Steelers With Messy QB Situation

Jun 22, 2026 | 7:30 AM EDT

Like clockwork, NFL pundits and fans are discussing what to make of the quarterback position at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger instilled hope in a fanbase that had last seen a proper franchise QB in Terry Bradshaw, who played in the 70s and 80s. And after Roethlisberger, the situation has become chaotic once again. According to radio host Mike Madde, the root of this problem is former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

“If you wanna blame somebody for how badly the Steelers have mangled the quarterback situation, it’s Mike Tomlin,” Madden said on 105.9 The X this week. “Tomlin was the guy who made the call to draft Pickett. That is a fact. Colbert was the GM, but that’s a fact. Tomlin made that call. He was the only guy with any stroke in the organization that wanted to do it in the first round, and he had more stroke than anybody.

“But it’s not just about Tomlin having drafted Pickett. It’s about no quarterback ever developed on Tomlin’s watch.”

The Steelers picked Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He was supposed to be the hometown hero for Pittsburgh after Roethlisberger. However, the transition didn’t work as expected. In his rookie season, Pickett threw for 2,404 yards with a 63% completion rate and seven touchdowns. Pickett also notably had the lowest touchdown percentage among starters in the league that year.

Bradshaw weighed in on Pickett’s stance in Pittsburgh during his appearance on To The Point – Home Services Podcast last year. He pointed out that the Steelers failed to build around Pickett and give him the kind of talent that made him an ace in college football. In his two seasons with the Steelers, Pickett was 14-10 as a starter.

Mark Madden: Tomlin owns the Steelers QB mess pic.twitter.com/WfisuJHXDW

— 105.9 The X (@1059thex) June 18, 2026

A similar pattern followed for everyone who followed him as the Steelers QB1. FOX Sports’ The Facility highlighted that Mason Rudolph, Mitch Trubisky, and Russell Wilson went 3-0,2-5, and 6-5, respectively, as starters. Surprisingly, even Wilson couldn’t work out for Pittsburgh despite being one of the winningest QBs with the Seattle Seahawks.

Mike Tomlin did not have to develop Roethlisberger to be the star he became when he was hired as head coach. The iconic quarterback had already given the Steelers a Super Bowl win as a starter in only his second season in the league. Roethlisberger’s presence led to Tomlin becoming one of the winningest coaches in the NFL.

As soon as Roethlisberger retired, though, Tomlin was tasked with a challenge pretty much foreign to him. He did not give any of the next QBs enough time to live up to the task at hand in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers “gave up on him a little bit early,” former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel recalled on The Facility show. He even reckoned Tomlin had been on an “endless search” during this tenure, until he landed on Aaron Rodgers.

Last season, the Steelers found a stroke of luck in the veteran QB, who kept the team competitive and helped it reach the playoffs. However, Pittsburgh continued its 8-year postseason losing streak by falling to the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round.

Rodgers is set to retire after the upcoming season, making it evident that the Steelers will once again have trouble at quarterback. Will Howard is still waiting to take his first NFL snap, as he was ruled out of the 2025 season due to an injury. Pittsburgh also picked Drew Allar in the 2026 NFL Draft, further complicating this situation.

If Allar is the future franchise QB, what happens to Howard, who is just as inexperienced as him? Who will have to continue waiting in the wings, and for how long?

New head coach Mike McCarthy is known to be a quarterback guru. He’s also worked with Rodgers in the past and has expressed his optimism about having four quarterbacks on the roster (Mason Rudolph is also in the mix). But this year, like the recent few, will once again be a litmus test for the Steelers staff, with the uncertainty still clouding the future at quarterback.

 

Nobody should ever post anything from Mark Madden

He is a buffoon

Unless that is the look you are going for

 

I don’t like Madden but I don’t think he is wrong about this topic.

Funny thing is on the board I used to post Tomlin haters claimed they made him sit in a corner when they chose Pickett. It wasn’t a Tomlin pick.. until it didn’t pan out and then it was all Tomlin.

I think it was a collective pick by Colbert, Tomlin and Rooney. But once Khan was given GM duties I think he, along with Tomlin, wanted to boost the position to win now.

Settling on Rodgers pretty much showed that we aren’t really interested in a young QB. I still don’t believe our franchise QB is on the roster. Would love for one of them to prove me wrong.

 

He's got his opinions just like anyone. Do I agree with his opinions? Not often. But hey, sometimes entertaining.

And I agree with his comment that Tomlin wielded a lot of power in the org. It's only natural after so many years in place (and an owner that felt no urgency to make a change).

 

i'm a lot more comfortable now with an offensive minded coach to fill the QB role than the last two defensive minded coaches.

 

This is only true to a point. But the difference in cost for an OT and an OC is very large.

After 3 seasons, Linderbaum made 2x probowls per PFR. Now, I don't think PFR differentiates between real probowls (which count to 5th year option value) and injury replacements (which don't). So they show guys like Najee Harris and Shedeur Sanders has having probowls, when they they didn't / won't count for contract purposes. IMO, this is stupid and PFR should fix it.

But if Linderbaum's 2x probowls in his first 3 seasons were real, then I think the value of this 5th year option would have been the francise tag value across all OL. That's the average of the top 5 OL salaries in the league...not the average of the top 5 OCs in the league. This means that they would have been paying him like an elite OT.

I don't have the numbers from when Linderbaum was up for his option but here is what they are now.

OCs (APYs):

1. Linderbaum $27MM
2. Humphrey $18MM
3. Jurgens $17MM
4. McGovern $13.1MM
5. McCoy $12MM
6. Wattenberg $12MM

Average with Linderbaum: $17.4MM. Averge without Linderbaum: $14.4.

OTs (APYs)

1. Tunsil $30.1MM
2. Slater $28.5MM
3. Wirfs $28.0MM
4. Sewell $28.0MM
5. Cross $26.1MM

Average of top 5: $28.14MM.

I think the Raiders screwed up here. Exploding the market like this usually isn't a good idea IMO.

Good news is that the rest of the OC contracts this season didn't seem to follow suit. So we shouldn't have to give Frazier a silly contract like this. This is another reason why I never care (and actually kind of prefer) when our players don't get individual awards (e.g. PB). Frasier is a very good player. He wouldn't be any better or worse if he had been to a probowl.

But since he hasn't gone to a PB (and likely won't since Linderbaum and Humphrey are in the conference), he won't be comparable to Linderbaum. So he'll be in the 2nd tier of OCs. Which means we'll save $10MM or so.

From the info above, the Raiders basically paid him slightly less than what the 5th year option price was (assuming his PBs were real and not injury replacements) relative to OT prices.

His actual 5th year option would have been less because it was 2 years ago, so it would have had a lower dollar amount.

But it still would have been the average of the top 5 OTs (again, assuming the PBs are real).

 

Someday the pro bowler designation will go to it's proper place in the NFL just like the game itself. I just don't put much stock it in especially after Pouncey's first team vote in 2020. All-pro is far more elite with only two getting elected at each position and there are no 'alternates'.

 

They should do with with probowls too.

Just name the guys.

If they don't want to go. Fine.

Especially since they (correctly IMO) don't even play the game anymore.

I don't really expect the NFL to change. But PFR should 100% designate whether a PB selection is real or injury replacement.

 

That’s nice

 

I agree. The offense is in good hands, but Steelers need a long-term, franchise QB. McCarthy won games with Cooper Rush and Brett Hundley at QB.

 

Nobody is taking a quarterback that high if they see him as a long-term backup, but for a year or two? It happens. See Jordan Love.

 

Their lack of interest in Linderbaum at the time drove me nuts. They were never going to draft him. Neither Tomlin nor Colbert went to the Iowa pro day, which was a big tell that they weren't interested, but it was stupid. They went from the end of Pouncey's career in 2020 until they drafted Frazier in 2024 without putting a viable option in at center. It was as if they suddenly decided not to value the position, and it constantly burned them. Of course, part of that was the disastrous Kendrick Green experiment, which was even more stupidity.

 

I tend not to complain about individual picks because I don't really follow NCAA football.

The only exception for me was the Muth pick.

I think they did the same thing with Humphrey. Who was pretty obviously the pick I think we should have made there.

I thought that TE was a luxury pick at the time. Especially since we have struggled to get our TEs involved in the offense for a long time.

And for a team with such a storied history at C, I agree that it was crazy that we suddenly just didn't care about the position anymore.

 

Taking Freiermuth over Humphrey was the original sin of that run, but they compounded it by passing on Linderbaum, who was a safe bet to be a stud, and a bunch of solid guys like Biadasz.

 

And then doubled down by drafting a non-center for the center position. That pick was a clear failure by all involved.

 

I would add; how bad was the pick of Kendrick Green? He played for the Browns last season who arguably had one of the worst OLs and he ended up playing one snap... on ST!

It still grinds me to think about that pick.... ok, rant over.

 

The little known sad truth is the Steelers were so concerned the Saints were going to select Pickett, they actually tried to move up and grab him.