Kovacevic: Trubisky checks every box for Steelers at QB1 ... in context

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Mitch Trubisky isn't the answer, but he sure does erase a lot of questions.

Not least of which is this: Who'll be the Steelers' starting quarterback in 2022?

Make no mistake: If management's acting as aggressively as it did in agreeing to terms with Trubisky on a two-year contract -- worth $14.25 million, and potentially up to $27 million with incentives -- in pretty much the opening minutes of the NFL's legal tampering period for free agency Monday ... that's the starting quarterback. No matter what anyone will speak to the contrary in the days and weeks to come. Because there's no way an investment like that's being made to push Mason Rudolph at Saint Vincent College.

And if Trubisky himself is sending signals via the national media, as he appeared to be doing, that he chose the Steelers over the Giants because he'd hoped for the best chance to start ... that's the starting quarterback. Because, in addition to Trubisky making it obvious that he thinks even Daniel Jones is better than Rudolph, someone on the Pittsburgh side must've sold him on a something similar.

Clearing up enough?

If not, it won't take long.

Oh, there'll be some tiptoeing. Both Kevin Colbert and Art Rooney II have stated in public since the 2021 season's end that Rudolph's the default starter. And even if their reference was to Rudolph having been literally the only quarterback under contract at the time, and even if Mike Tomlin was more careful in his own after-the-season assessment in stressing that neither Rudolph nor Dwayne Haskins had attained 'everyday' status in the NFL, I'll bet this gets painted as a two-man, possibly a three-man competition entering training camp.

But there are words, and there are first-team reps, and it'll be the latter that'll have Trubisky lining up under center. Bet everything.

I've got no issue with this. Any of it.

Trubisky's 27 years old, he was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, he led the Bears to the playoffs in two of his four years starting in Chicago, he went 11-3 and made the Pro Bowl in his second year there, he's completed 64.1% of his career passes, he's thrown for 64 touchdowns and rushed for nine more against 38 interceptions, and he was broadly acclaimed as being a model citizen as Josh Allen's backup this past season in Buffalo.

That's not nothing. And it's absolutely not some cement ceiling.

For one, I can't accept that any player, no matter how talented, can enter the perpetual Quarterback Hell that's Soldier Field and emerge unscathed. And that goes double when Matt Nagy's the head coach.

For another, there already were signs with the Bills that Trubisky's new lease on life was paying off. He sure wasn't going to shove Allen off the field, and he didn't, making six mop-up appearances. But in three preseason games, he completed 21 of 30 passes for 231 yards and a touchdown. He wasn't picked off, and he was sacked once.

Fired this bullet, too, across his body while on the run:

My friends, if he'd put up that exact line in Pittsburgh, we'd have been running Ben Roethlisberger out of town on the next T. Never mind Rudolph or Haskins.

Look, I'm not going to inflate this. Trubisky had a very real chance in Chicago and fell short. No one disputes that. He won't arrive in Pittsburgh as any savior and, to reiterate from above, he won't do so as anyone's answer to Ben.

But there's a reason that, of all the quarterbacks the Steelers could've acquired via any route this offseason, Trubisky's the only one I'd circled as being acceptable in the current context. And the primary reason was the balance between cost and potential.

No move could've made less sense than going bananas and chasing Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson, all of whom would've required a truckload of first-round picks and more. Rodgers is way too old and would've ensured the Steelers couldn't add anywhere near the weapons he'd want with his price tag alone. Wilson's undeniably on the decline, and all that same applies to him. And Watson ... man, no thanks. I respect that he's got a right to clear his name. I'd just prefer he does so elsewhere.

There also were the Jimmy Garoppolo options, most prominently Garoppolo himself. But if he's better than Trubisky -- and I'm skeptical -- he isn't better to the degree he'd be worth sending the 49ers ... any draft picks at all.

The draft class wasn't going to help, either. The Steelers wisely wouldn't have moved up from No. 20 to take a flyer on Liberty's Malik Willis, and that's fine given his rawness. And, with all due acknowledgements to what Kenny Pickett accomplished at Pitt, if they went this hard at adding Trubisky while having had Pickett right under their nose on the South Side, that tells me all I need about what they really think of him.

Trubisky's not perfect. He's not Ben. He's not next in any great lineage.

But context is everything, and I'll take him ... and an offensive line ... and some wide receivers ... and an inside linebacker ... and whatever else that's still needed and now still plausible to acquire.

• The next upbeat syllable I offer about Matt Canada's tenure as the Steelers' offensive coordinator will be the first. But it's fair to suggest, I'd think, that Trubisky's skill set and history are a better match for what we've seen of Canada's work before arriving -- and falling on his face -- in the NFL: Lots of play-action and motion that's founded on a legit running game has always been Canada's thing.

Which means the next ominous obstacle is ... well, all of that. Najee Harris squeaking through for 1.5 yards doesn't qualify.

My first-round pick, all else being equal, goes into the offensive line. And that's unchanged by Trubisky. If anything, it's solidified.

• I still don't know how Canada escaped the ax after this past season, but he'd better get very real results out of Trubisky or get very fired. No individual at any level of the organization should be feeling more heat.

• Why not trade Rudolph or Haskins?

It's worth considering. By the time any team's digging into the No. 3 spot on that particular depth chart, that season's over. But I wouldn't trade Rudolph. He's a good value at $5.08 million whether he's starting or not, and he'd be more capable of either spelling or supplanting Trubisky if it comes to that  

• Chuks Okorafor's signing later Monday — three years, $29.25 million — spares the Steelers a hole at right tackle on a line that's already riddled, but it's a big price.

And I'm OK with it.

He wasn't awesome in 2021. But he's still only 24 years old, he gave up only two sacks in 2021 despite playing 97% of snaps, and, as I was being updated through the afternoon, a market formed around him  Colbert’s offer earlier in the day was for three years at $8 million, and then the three other teams in the equation became more active. That's how these scenes play out.

Again, it's all in context.

• Minutes after Okorafor was done, Mason Cole, a center and right guard for the Vikings this past season, was signed to a three-year, $15.75 million contract. And this one requires a lot of context.

He’s 26, he’s logged four NFL seasons and 39 starts, and he’s fresh off a year in Minnesota had him move back and forth from the two positions. He's also experienced his greatest success as a run-blocker, as the Steelers found out the hard way with that billion-yard rushing gash they gave up in Minneapolis this past season. He was at right guard for that one.

What’s that mean for him here?

Ideally, he’s the center, since Kendrick Green is nothing of the sort. More ideally, he’s a starter regardless. But there's a long way to go with this one, and at least the Steelers making the line a priority is an uncut positive.

• Letting Terrell Edmunds test free agency, as it appears the Steelers will do, makes no sense. Not in any capacity. He's durable, reliable, and he matured into a much steadier partner for Minkah Fitzpatrick this past season. Signing Minkah to mega-money, as everyone's expecting, then letting Edmunds walk is a head-scratcher and a half.

I'm all for keeping Ahkello Witherspoon, as it looks like they will, but that's not enough in the secondary.

• No one this side of Omar Khan can know the exact amount of cap space at hand and, even then, other moves remain to be made to further clarify. Whatever it is -- and I'm still thinking it's in the $30 million range -- it'll be unprecedented in franchise history, as Colbert recently acknowledged.

Still, the one element of the Steelers' approach that I hope remains intact through this is the prioritization of keeping their own. Players they know and trust. And they know and trust Edmunds … and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Very much so. Talk about a wide receiver who'd be a wonderful fit for the aforementioned offense.

• Another bonus: Trubisky's tape shows a hard reliance/confidence on passes over the middle. I'll take JuJu, Diontae Johnson and Pat Freiermuth in that setting all day and especially Sunday. Probably should throw Chase Claypool into that, too, if one recalls that some of his stronger performances have been set in that stage of the field.

• Positive, people. It's not against Steelers Nation laws or whatever to at least try to be positive.

This team's still got the best player on the planet, remember?

• I'll be all baseball the rest of this week, down here to cover the opening of the Pirates' spring training Tuesday. 

Thanks for reading, as always!