The Pittsburgh Steelers will be one of the many teams looking for a new starting quarterback during the 2025 NFL off-season. But unlike many of the others, they were a playoff team in 2024, and won’t have a high draft pick to help them along in their search. That means they’ll likely have to hit the free agent market in order to bring in a veteran to lead their team, and the available pool isn’t exactly littered with talent this year.
Who Will Start At Quarterback For The Steelers In 2025?
Who are the favorites to become the next signal caller to play under Mike Tomlin? These are the betting odds for which quarterback will be under center for the Steelers in 2025:
| Sam Darnold | +300 |
| Aaron Rodgers | +450 |
| Justin Fields | +450 |
| Russell Wilson | +600 |
| Quinn Ewers | +700 |
| Jalen Milroe | +700 |
| Kirk Cousins | +850 |
(odds provided by BetOnline)
Sam Darnold +300
One of the more intriguing story lines this summer will surround the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnold. After a career resurgence to lead his team to a 14-3 record in 2024, it is unclear if Darnold will be brought back to Minnesota, given that he has earned a big pay day and with a young JJ McCarthy waiting in the wings. It has become increasingly likely that he will hit free agency come March, and he’ll be one of the top available names in this year’s class.
Will it be the Steelers who come calling? Of the teams that will need a quarterback, few are as “plug and play” ready as Pittsburgh seems to be. They have the talent and coaching to at least squeak into the playoffs season after season, and adding an established quarterback could help elevate them further in the AFC North. Darnold should be at the top of their list of potential candidates, and the oddsmakers recognize him as the +300 favorite to land the job.
Aaron Rodgers +450
Aaron Rodgers certainly doesn’t have the cache that he did a couple of years back. His time with the Jets was an overall failure, and it is likely that he’ll be looking for a new team in 2025 if he intends to continue his career in the NFL. 2024 was mostly a struggle for Rodgers after recovering from his Achilles injury the year prior, but he showed flashes at the end of the season that led many to believe that he still has something left in the tank after turning 41 years old.
The pairing of Tomlin and Rodgers would be an interesting one, and likely a short union. Don’t look for the aging quarterback to command any more than a single year on a potential contract, but the Steelers could be one of the few teams willing to give the once-elite quarterback yet another chance to close out his career with success.
Justin Fields +450
Russell Wilson +600
Both of the team’s starting quarterbacks from 2024 have contracts that expire this off-season, and there is little reason to believe that either of Justin Fields or Russell Wilson will be back in the black and yellow. But there is a chance that the Steelers strike out in attempting to nab guys like Darnold and Rodgers, and may be forced to turn back to one of their prior QBs for the 2025 campaign.
It would appear that Fields would be the more likely candidate, given that his betting designation is the shorter one. It would make sense given their ages. Wilson is now 36 years old and hasn’t had a stellar season since 2020, though his QBR was better in 2024 than it was during the previous two years. Fields hasn’t lived up to his billing as the 11th overall pick in 2021, but certainly has more upside thanks to still being 25 years old.
