Who would you want backing up Ben?

Rivers and Brady.

 

I like MR and I’m rooting for him. You’re spot on with your concern though. In order for him to be successful he needs to not only improve his mobility and pocket awareness they will have to adapt the offense to fit his strengths. He needs a strong balanced running game with a lot of play action and plays designed to get the ball out of his hands quickly. Like some others have mentioned the interior OL did him no favors last year. Pressure up the middle will make any QB look bad. So not only did he not have the escape ability, he had no pocket to step up in.

I’m not really concerned about adding another veteran QB. I think either Ben will be able to go or not. If he can go even if he misses a few games I think MR can win a few games. If he can’t make it back I think we’re in for another developmental season. I don’t think the type of veteran we will be able to afford or MR will be good enough or far along enough in their development to make any serious noise(playoffs). Remember we really only got MR for 8 games. Not exactly enough time to pass judgement. So worse case scenario we hopefully get a healthy season out of MR and a better idea if we will need to draft another QB in 2021....JMO.

You're 100% right though mobility seems to be where it’s at. We will know a lot more in Feb. about Ben. That could potentially change how we feel about drafting a QB as soon as this year....

Looking forward to seeing Jordan Love at the Senior Bowl...

 

My point is that I am pretty certain we are going with the best 3 of the 5 QBs we have right now. Rooney/ Tomlin has already stated that. Besides, you need money to bring on another body behind center which I'm not sure is realistic.
Until someone confirms Ben isn't playing next year, then I will be counting on him to do just that. Otherwise, its just speculation and opinions of what could happen. JMO.

 

Good point about the running game. IF we could get a running game like the Titans have, (maybe not that good but respectable) MR could do what Tannehill was doing and maybe better. Get the OL fixed and we are on the right track IMO.

 

I don't think it is a foregone conclusion that Lynch will be the #3 QB behind Ben and Rudolph. He was signed in September and over 3 months later Tomlin still didn't think he was ready to be put in a game.

 

The way I look at it is if Ben’s done then the team is done. No half measure is going to win them a Super Bowl. Go in with what we’ve got. If we crash then so be it - embrace the suck and see what’s available in the draft next year.

No move the Steelers make this year is going to get a decent Ben replacement unless they luck into an unpredictable success like Tannehill.

 

@steelersrule6 what part do you disagree with????

 

We already had this discussion they can't afford Mariota, Tomlin and Art II backed Rudolph after the season.

 

Maybe you're on to something here. Rivers always starts out the season strong, then begins to suck about halfway through the season. Ben always starts the season slow and finds his groove about mid season. Start Rivers for the first half of the season, and Ben for the second half. Problem solved.

 

I'm not sold on Rudolph long term either, but the team is going to give him the chance to prove himself.

 

I started a thread earlier about signing Keenum as a backup, not interested in McCoy or Allen.

 

I don't disagree with that. He showed growth from year one to year two. He did some good things before the Brown's incident.

 

His lack of pocket awareness worries me, he took a safety in consecutive games .

 

And that would be why I said KICK THE TIRES.....YOU or ME don't know what he will get but if it under 8 mil I would take a very long look at him. Again read the question and it ask what you(meaning the person responding) would do......not what Popcorn or Art would do. Also do the research on what a back up QB made last year and you will see they are affordable!

 

Mariota probably won’t get a starting job anywhere else and he’d be an ideal backup but at $7m - $8m minimum he is too expensive for a team with holes all over the place and no cap space.

They have needs at every single skill position on offence and will be stretched to the limit to keep Dupree on defence.

If they do bring in a veteran backup it will be a Matt Moore or Josh McCown type that will sign for near the vet minimum. Otherwise it’s Rudolph / Lynch if Ben goes down

 

I agree with what you are saying but the question remains what you would want to do right? Me I would look at the back up QB spot and ask myself is this what kept us out of the playoffs? I feel yes, however is Mason the answer I am not sure and going intro last season I was a big time Mason fan.

There are lots of hole and there are lots of needs however hard questions need to be asked and you can't pay everyone. I feel in FA we can get a player of Bud's production at a whole lot cheaper, jmo. Also if you go to last years FA signings there were tons of deals, one comes to mind off the top of my head and it is a position of need...Danny Shelton signed a one year deal for 1 mil. These are the kinds of deals we can get, I posted it before Bridgewater got 7.25m, Keenum 7.5, Tannyhill 7m the deals are out there at every position. We can free up 23 mil on a few cuts, get more from restructures and extensions to make the moves we need to.....jmo

 

I agree regarding Dupree, I’d let him go personally and try to get a better value free agent and the draft an OLB in 2021.

Regardless of how much value they get elsewhere I don’t think I’d be paying a backup QB $7m while also paying Ben $33m, JMO. Having a dependable and proven starter behind him would be ideal but there are just too many other needs.

 

Signing Dupree is gonna throw a monkey wrench into all the other possible re signings and budget FA acquisitions. Is this defense gonna fall apart without Dupree? I don’t think so. We will get a whole year with a more comfortable MF. Devin Bush should make pretty big strides. TE is basically in a make or break year. I think he will become more of a factor regardless of whatever position he’s at. Tuitt should be back, if not that’s why I prefer Hargrave over Dupree.
Watt is gonna get double teamed regardless.

I like the chances of the Toledo twins and a FA being able to give us close to the same production we got out of Dupree. It’s no guarantee he has another season like last. I think it will be more in between his best and average seasons to date. Don’t discount the great season Heyward had as well when looking for reasons for Duprees jump. IMO if your not convinced Dupree is the long term answer and I don’t think we can afford him and Watt long term it might be best to just let him walk. I know it’s tempting to try and keep the gang together for one more year thinking a healthy Ben puts us over the top but Ben is no guarantee and keeping Dupree comes at the expense of losing other key players as well. It’s a tough decision but we should be looking at the potential loss of some key players that the Dupree signing will cause...jmo

 

I get and understand what you are saying however here is how I look at this. Why didn't we make the playoffs......my opinion QB plain and simple for me. Now I also ask myself...self will Ben be 100%.....self says IDK. Now asking them questions takes me back to is Mason ready, imo no and I also feel we are not far away from being a winning team. So with that said I make the decision to test the waters on a FA QB like MM and if we get him at 7 or lower I am all in. I will cut elsewhere and hope to find some bargains on 1 year deals like I said before.

My thinking is why spend and fix the other needs with a lot of money if QB is gonna hold us back anyways? My position has changed a ton about this since last year. I never wanted to spend for a back up QB but now Ben is old and coming off injury and watching what happened last year made me think different. Check this website and look at some of last years deals, I am thinking we can find some of them last year to fill many of our needs.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/2019/all/

 

One of those safeties was because of Aaron Donald. Last time I checked Donald was pretty good, and DeCastro got owned. That was not all on Rudolph.

Ben throws 10 INTs vs. Jax in one season... and you'll sweep that under the rug.

 

I agree about Dupree and you and I have talked about others in FA that we can get for less and still have close to if not the same production.......all our opinions. Now where I am starting to worry is with Vance, if we cut him for salary relief where is the replacement. What I mean is the FA class is weak and will cost more than keeping Vance. I am not sure a top rookie can come right in a fill the void however I still want one for the future. Here is an option that might help, Jesse James might be a cap cut and he could slide right in and help a rookie and maybe all lest than what Vance would cost. Just something to think about on the TE side.....

 

JJ has a lot of guarantees left on his deal in Detroit so it’s very doubtful he is cut or traded. They overpaid him by a vast amount and can’t get rid of him until 2021 without a negative cap charge. Then again they have tonnes of cap room so who knows, they may just opt to cut their losses. Is JJ any better than Vanette anyway? IDK that he is

I wrote basically the same thing about Vance on another thread yesterday. The TE room is an absolute dumpster fire without him and his production should be much better with Ben returning. Vance really has to stay for now, even though he is expensive

 

Answer to OP....the best backup QB is actually a solid RB...... if we had a solid running game this season or anytime a #1 QB goes down.... a solid running game can cure a lot of ills. Look back at Bettis & Ben. Don't put the game in the hands of an inexperienced QB..... run the damn ball down their throats and throw occasionally (say under 20 attempts). The winning formula ISN'T Rudolph or Duck throwing 30-50 times a game.

 

I could see McDonald back on a pay cut after we release him. There’s talk of Hunter Henry as a FA and I’m wondering what the investment on him would be? He’s a much younger option and would take TE off our draft board to fill other needs and could be our future. Just not sure of the price tag. I would imagine less than Mcdonald for sure.

Degaura from Cincinnati is starting to intrigue me if we go that route. I know you and I had mentioned him already but after reading more about him and his versatility I’m liking him more and more. He doesn’t have the prototypical size for a TE but talk of his ability to play H-back and even some FB has MY “ rabbit ears” up...lol. I think his size and probably mediocre testing puts him in our 3rd round comp range. One mans trash is another mans treasure and he could fill multiple roles for us. Looking forward to how he does in the SR Bowl. Considering his supposed versatility even if we settled our TE situation by then I would still keep a eye out for him if he falls into the 4th or lower. Nix is never healthy and Degaura could help....