The Steelers have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with free agent quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and plan to have him challenge Mason Rudolph as the replacement for Ben Roethlisberger, multiple sources have told the Post-Gazette.
The deal cannot become official until free agency begins on Wednesday.
Trubisky, 27, was the No. 2 overall selection in the 2017 draft by the Chicago Bears and spent last season as the backup quarterback to Josh Allen in Buffalo. The Steelers did not want to waste any time in agreeing to a deal to help provide competition and find an athletic quarterback to change the nature of the position.
According to a source, Rudolph was aware the Steelers were likely to sign a quarterback in free agency with whom he would compete for the starting position. But the move to sign Trubisky does not affect his status with the team. He is not expected to be traded or ask for a trade, the source said.
The Steelers signed Rudolph to a two-year, $6,233,066 contract before the start of last season. It is not known how the deal for Trubisky affects Dwayne Haskins, who is under contract through the 2022 season with a $2.540 million salary-cap hit.
In 50 career starts, Trubisky has thrown 64 touchdowns and 38 interceptions during his five-year career. Mike Tomlin wanted to get a mobile quarterback on his roster next season, and Trubisky has the athleticism to make plays outside the pocket.
Trubisky received good reviews for how he handled being a backup with the Bills last season.
“It’s hard to handle a situation where you're coming from basically a career starter to being a backup,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said earlier this month at the NFL combine. “That's a totally different dynamic, when somebody else is in front of the microphone a couple lockers down from yours. I thought Mitch Trubisky handled that extremely well, as good as anybody could have handled it.
“And then, when given the opportunity to play, whether it was in preseason or the regular season, he did a phenomenal job. Command of the playbook. I want him to go on and do great things for him and his family, which I know he's going to do.”
Trubisky started 12 games as a rookie with the Bears and served as their full-time starter for three seasons before he fell out of favor in 2020, when he only started 10 times. He led the Bears to the playoffs twice during his four-year tenure with the team.
“You look at his career history in Chicago, they went to the playoffs, they won a lot of games,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said. “When you compare it to young quarterbacks starting as a rookie, I mean, he was drafted highly, and in fairness, I think a lot of it happens because he was drafted so highly and above some of the guys. He was always being compared to them and just, you know, was never gonna be able to live up to some of the things (Patrick) Mahomes and (Deshaun) Watson and some of those guys did.”
