5 NFL teams that should be eyeing Trevor Lawrence in 2021 NFL Draft
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
If the 2019 NFL season told us anything about the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s that they do not have a succession plan that’s viable when it comes to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The fact that this team was able to be in the playoff mix down to the wire had almost nothing to do with the play of Mason Rudolph or Devlin Hodges as both young signal-callers struggled mightily when given their opportunities due to Big Ben’s injury.
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The future of Roethlisberger is seemingly perpetually murky. It feels like an annual song and dance that the longtime Steelers quarterback mulls retirement only to end up suiting up for Pittsburgh once the season gets underway. Having said that, a quarterback in his late 30s who’s been contemplating walking away for this long and that has dealt with a number of injuries as of late is not something the organization can count on moving forward.
Given that Big Ben is expected to return in 2020 and that the Steelers have at least some time invested in Rudolph and Hodges, it’s hard to imagine that they would make a big draft move at quarterback this offseason. At the very least, it seems like something they would give another year, particularly since they traded away their first-round pick for 2020.
In 2021, however, they’ll have a first-round selection once again. And at that point, we’ll know — perhaps even more definitively — what’s left in the tank with Roethlisberger and whether Rudolph and Hodges have made any improvements. As such, drafting a player such as Trevor Lawrence would give them an immediate answer to all those questions.