Kovacevic: Quarterback puzzle's really not that tough to piece together

Feb 14, 2024 • 12:01 am

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It doesn’t take a detective to determine the Steelers’ immediate intentions at addressing their quarterback room. Really, all that’s required is tracking all that’s been actually spoken to date, analyze all of the various outside influences at the position, weigh what's available in the upcoming NFL Draft, then sprinkle on top a little inside info.

OK, so that sounds tough. Trust me, it isn't.

Most of it can be culled from the after-the season sessions with Art Rooney II and Mike Tomlin, added onto our Ramon Foster's exclusive interview with Mason Rudolph here at DK Pittsburgh Sports, and the rest has been largely accessible to the general public, as well. But rather than belabor all of that, allow me, please, to piece it all together in the form of some stuff I'm accepting as truths:

• THEY WANT MASON BACK

"We're interested in bringing Mason back," Rooney stated flatly.

"We do have interest in doing continual business with him," Tomlin stated, no less flatly.

In my extensive time covering these gentlemen, plus Kevin Colbert and Omar Khan, they've never put forth public statements like that without very real follow-throughs. That doesn't mean they've gotten them done every time. Le'Veon Bell was dragged down by the world's worst agent. Cam Sutton chose Detroit because, as I reported a couple months, that's where his children are living. But on every other occasion, the Steelers have delivered.

My understanding is that they've got a significant approach in mind toward Rudolph, one that might keep him from testing free agency. But bear in mind, obviously, that takes both sides. Which leads into this:

• MASON WANTS TO BE BACK

As he said here of his after-the-season meeting with the brass, "Yeah, it was good. Visited with Mike T and Omar both, and it's so early. I mean, it's like three or four days after we played our last game, so there's a lot neither side of us knows. But I felt like they meant it when they said they'd like to have me back. I feel like they want to do business, future business with me. That's good to hear. But there are so many variables and it's still early. Who knows what will happen?"

Right from his mouth.

There was an NFL Network report on Super Bowl Sunday suggesting that Rudolph's made up his mind that he'd prefer "a fresh start" elsewhere. That isn't true. At all. To my knowledge, he's yet to hear the Steelers' very first offer, which is all I should need to share on this front. If not ... well, as the cool kids say: Trust me, bro. He hasn't made up his mind on this front. And with all the treasured relationships he has in Pittsburgh, particularly with the offense he was just leading, he'd be legit delighted to be back.

• NO BETTER PLACE TO BE QB1

Longtime reader Chris Nestrick sent me this yesterday, emblematic of the NFL's 'QB-needy' landscape entering the draft:

CHRIS NESTRICK

I'm not even going to elaborate. Look at it long enough, and it's easy to decipher: Teams that don't currently have foundational quarterbacks can find them within this class' top dozen or so picks. Whereas teams that don't currently have foundational quarterback AND won't be picking one in the first round ... are based in Pittsburgh.

Not to be mean, but Rudolph's best chance to start is by beating out Kenny Pickett, who just yesterday was ranked No. 31 of the NFL's 32 starters entering the pre-free-agency period:

THE 33RD TEAM

Yeah. Ow.

And even if one doesn't accept whatever went into those rankings, per this simpler metric: Of the 41 quarterbacks to have passed for 1,000-plus yards in the 2023 regular season, Pickett's 81.4 passer rating ranked 34th.

Rudolph's already in the ideal spot.

• FIELDS ISN'T HAPPENING

I shouldn't waste words -- or anyone's time -- in putting forth that Justin Fields won't be pursued by the Steelers. And not just because in 40 NFL games, he's fumbled 38 times and thrown 30 interceptions, exhibiting exactly the trait that just put Mitch Trubisky on the first train out of town. And most assuredly not just because Tomlin was once enthused by Fields at Ohio State's pro day, as if he isn't enthused by everyone and everything at all such events.

No, the real reason to not waste words on this is that Rooney's already made it clear at least to anyone paying attention.

A few days after his session with writers, he did interviews with the three local TV stations, one at a time. In the WTAE session with Andrew Stockey, he reiterated his stance that the Steelers would be open to any type of acquisition at the quarterback and, for whatever reason, that took off even though his wording hadn't changed at all. So, later that same day in the KDKA session with Bob Pompeani, Rooney took the extra step of saying it this way: "I don't want to create a lot of speculation out there that we're going out to make some blockbuster trade at the QB spot. I don't. I'd put it in the unlikely category."

Uh-huh.

As the cool kids also say: Read the room.

• Silly season's arrived early in the NFL, it'd appear.

• Whatever happens to the offensive line this season, but especially now that Chuks Okorafor's out, Broderick Jones needs to slide back across to left tackle. It's his natural position, it's the more important position, it's the position he wants to play and ... I mean, respectfully, it's wild that Dan Moore's acknowledged shortcoming -- he's on the left and can't play the right -- ever dictated moving Jones.

• I'll just blurt it out: I'd love to see yet another early-round wide receiver in the Steelers' draft. Diontae Johnson's entering his final year, he'll be 29 entering the following NFL season and ... man, there's just never enough at that position. More relevant, maybe, most projections for the coming class have a remarkable 15-17 being selected in the first two rounds. And not one of them's named Chase Claypool.

• Everyone's going to applaud the release of Pressley Harvin, and I sure wouldn't argue it myself. Rampantly inconsistent with the punting. But he also was a legit elite holder, per his teammates, including bailing out both Chris Boswell and Christian Kuntz at times, and that kinda matters in some of the season's biggest moments. Clip and save.

• First workout for pitchers and catchers today in Bradenton, Fla., comes with this friendly reminder: It's all about Oneil Cruz, from front to finish. As he goes, the Pirates go. If he's what we all saw him becoming ... oh, my.

• Anyone suggesting Trevor Bauer was cleared because one accusation by one woman proved to be an extortion attempt still has to explain the other three women levying similar accusations of domestic violence, one of which still has a lawsuit pending.

To boot, they have to explain everything that went into Major League Baseball's investigation that resulted in a 324-game suspension. Three hundred and twenty-four! And why, as soon as that one extortion attempt resulted in his suspension being immediately shortened to 194 games, the Dodgers took all of one week to release him even though they'll still pay him $22.5 million for 2024. And why medical professionals where the Bauer-related women were treated have put their names to reports detailing -- not alleged, not purported, but actual physical injuries -- as some of the worst they've ever treated.

Make sense now?

Others are bad, but this guy's the bleeping worst.

• Anyone disagreeing with this is free to go read those medical reports. They're out there. I'm not linking here.

• Do I have issues with Ji Hwan Bae and Aroldis Chapman? Single violations for both men, but still beyond awful and, if it were up to me, they wouldn't play for the Pirates, either. I've consistently written in a similar tone over the years about such players on all three of our teams, and they've all had their share.

• I believe in second chances. But tell me where, in this Jan. 4 interview on Fox, Baeur expresses the slightest contrition toward the (very real) affected women: “I made mistakes. I agreed to do things I shouldn’t have done. I was reckless. It hurt a lot of people along the way. I made things very difficult for Major League Baseball, for the Dodgers, teammates, friends, family, people close to me. So, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on that and made a lot of changes in my life to address that. I’m not having casual sexual relationships anymore, for example.”

Good Lord. He "agreed to do things." I can't with this. Let's move on.

• Evgeni Malkin, author of two whole goals in the Penguins' past 15 games, had the following to say yesterday in Cranberry: "I want to try to change a little bit. I know I'm not flying like before. I try a little bit to smarten my game. I want a better power play and to help the team to score every game. I do my best." He does do his best. Even with the odd lapse, that's fair. But trying to rev it up through the neutral zone and skate through three Jets the other night in Winnipeg ... that's not it anymore. And simply being smarter with the puck won't alter much. He needs to utilize his wingers more for those rushes and on the forecheck. He's forever arrived late, so that can stay the same, but the approach between the blue lines can't be so predictable anymore.

• If this thing goes -- OK, keeps going -- south, it won't be Jake Guentzel that's sent out. That's my understanding. There are plenty of other players who can be moved, even it's for the principal purpose of clearing cap space as opposed to hard hockey returns.

• So here come the soaring Panthers -- 7:08 p.m. faceoff today, PPG Paints Arena -- winners of nine in a row on the road, executors of a 33.3% power play and 97% penalty-kill in that span ... followed by the really bad and still-missing-Connor-Bedard Blackhawks, losers of seven in a row, the next night in Chicago. Uh-huh, I'll go right ahead and say it: Win tonight, loss tomorrow!

• I'll cover both.

• The NHL, which in 1993 suspended Dale Hunter 21 games for a blindside hit on Pierre Turgeon well after the latter had scored a goal, yesterday wrist-slapped the Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly with a whopping five games for this: