The Steelers should still be building their team around Ben Roethlisberger

[Shawn]

Here's a thought that will make you ill. If we knew what we had in villa or Meacham never got hurt.
We might have dak prescott as our back up with our 4th round pick last year

Rumor was that Tomlin was very high on Prescott.

[SS Laser]

The way I see it, the Steelers have the talent to win a SB...now. They will compete for championship next year, first rounder or not. What I remember is the 80's where we didn't have a QB. I'm not willing to sacrifice the future for now. I want a seamless transition from Ben to the next franchise QB. It's a risk, and I've heard the arguments to wait. I'm not saying they are without merit. I will say that the Steelers should feel NO need to reach for a QB. We don't have that kind of need...YET. But, if Mahommes does fall to us, and they believe he is the guy...prepare for it because they will draft him. It will happen.

If they grade a QB as there player to pick I am fine with that. Just not many teams have a great transition from one franchise QB to another. Only 2 I can think of is Favre to Rogers and Montana to Young. And Young was not drafted by the 49'ers. It sounds great but is rare for it to happen. And the 80's Steelers made bad QB decisions. Along with struggling to rebuild the whole team after a dynasty. Lots going on there to argue or discuss.

But back to now lots to discuss or argue about! LOL. But bows the "sure" thing of Payton to Luck working out? I hope the next Steelers QB has a great team around as did Ben. That's how I am looking at it. And this team is getting close to that. Different but close. Even adding the right position players including a QB does this team have the same intangibles as it did for a young Ben? Guess we will hav to see. Not there yet IMO.

[Shawn]

If they grade a QB as there player to pick I am fine with that. Just not many teams have a great transition from one franchise QB to another. Only 2 I can think of is Favre to Rogers and Montana to Young. And Young was not drafted by the 49'ers. It sounds great but is rare for it to happen. And the 80's Steelers made bad QB decisions. Along with struggling to rebuild the whole team after a dynasty. Lots going on there to argue or discuss.

But back to now lots to discuss or argue about! LOL. But bows the "sure" thing of Payton to Luck working out? I hope the next Steelers QB has a great team around as did Ben. That's how I am looking at it. And this team is getting close to that. Different but close. Even adding the right position players including a QB does this team have the same intangibles as it did for a young Ben? Guess we will hav to see. Not there yet IMO.

Manning to Luck, Bledsoe to Brady to name a couple more.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Romo to Prescott.

[Real Deal Steel]

Farve to Rodgers

[feltdizz]

Manning to Luck, Bledsoe to Brady to name a couple more.

Colts tanked to get Luck. He wasn't drafted while Peyton was playing.

it's still rare. There aren't a lot of teams doing it like those 3 or 4 just mentioned.

I still think we are a year away from getting serious about drafting the next franchise QB.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Colts tanked to get Luck. He wasn't drafted while Peyton was playing.

it's still rare. There aren't a lot of teams doing it like those 3 or 4 just mentioned.

I still think we are a year away from getting serious about drafting the next franchise QB.

Peyton was signed to a 5 year, $90 million extension by the Colts in the summer of 2011, so the Colts fully intended to keep him entering that "tank" year. However, he ended up on I.R. that season following neck surgery. They ended up with the #1 overall pick in Luck's draft year because the combination of Curtis Painter, Dan Orlovsky, and an old Kerry Collins lead them to a 2-14 season.

[Shawn]

Romo to Prescott.

Bledsoe to Romo.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Bledsoe to Romo.

That's a stretch...I could see considering Bledsoe to be a franchise type QB earlier in his career in NE, but not necessarily later in his career in Buffalo or Dallas.

[Shoe]

The thing that scares me is IF a QB is the first pick and busts. That possibly hurts at least 2 positions for a few seasons. The QB position and the position that would have been taken instead there. There is a possible bust either way. But that does not have the same ripple effect. Did JJ busting out hurt yes. But if a replacement is not a 1st rd pick it is not as bad. Cause a average JJ say max 5 sacks a season they would be looking for a upgrade now anyway. So scary to pick a 1-2rd QB to me. So many don't pan out. Sitting for a season maybe 2 or not at all does not seem to matter not counting injuries.

This is why the FO needs to be studying QBs hard. The fact that they looked at Landry a couple years ago (and eventually drafted him, "wasting" a pick) is actually a good sign that they have been studying QBs. What you don't want, is what you just said--being under the gun to draft someone, so you draft a guy high because you need one, and he flops. That is bad.

What you want, is to see a diamond in the rough that has potential. Like a Tom Brady (6th round), for example. Or a Marc Bulger (later round guy, good starter in the league). Or Kirk Cousins. I don't like the idea of taking any of these ballyhooed guys (Kizer, Mahommes, the kid from the U), for the sake of getting a young QB on the roster. I like the idea of drafting (e.g.) a Tom Savage, a guy with some warts on them but the team sees the potential for greatness from them. Let them soak in the league a year or two, and when Ben goes down, we're ready. And we haven't spent a high pick.

[Shawn]

Peyton was signed to a 5 year, $90 million extension by the Colts in the summer of 2011, so the Colts fully intended to keep him entering that "tank" year. However, he ended up on I.R. that season following neck surgery. They ended up with the #1 overall pick in Luck's draft year because the combination of Curtis Painter, Dan Orlovsky, and an old Kerry Collins lead them to a 2-14 season.

Please don't allow the truth to enter into this nonsensical debate.

[Shawn]

That's a stretch...I could see considering Bledsoe to be a franchise type QB earlier in his career in NE, but not necessarily later in his career in Buffalo or Dallas.

His numbers in 2005 were on par with the rest of his career.

[Cinnjerm3000]

On a team with a starting QB that (as of late) habitually misses multiple games, how is drafting a formidable backup not building for now? Think of it like this, Ben missed two games last year (three if you count the Ravens game where he came back too early) and Brady missed 4. If the Steelers had had a Gorropolo *spelling* and won those 2/3 games the team finishes 14-2/13-3; and if the Patriots had had Landry Jones and lost all 4 of their Bradyless games, we would've won the number one seed easily. If you look back at the last 4 years (since 2013), the difference between eeking into the playoffs/missing the playoffs has always been just a couple of games. If we won more of the games that Ben invariably misses every season, we'd regularly have better odds at winning a championship.

[feltdizz]

Peyton was signed to a 5 year, $90 million extension by the Colts in the summer of 2011, so the Colts fully intended to keep him entering that "tank" year. However, he ended up on I.R. that season following neck surgery. They ended up with the #1 overall pick in Luck's draft year because the combination of Curtis Painter, Dan Orlovsky, and an old Kerry Collins lead them to a 2-14 season.

like I said..

Luck wasn't drafted while Peyton was still PLAYING!!!

[feltdizz]

On a team with a starting QB that (as of late) habitually misses multiple games, how is drafting a formidable backup not building for now? Think of it like this, Ben missed two games last year (three if you count the Ravens game where he came back too early) and Brady missed 4. If the Steelers had had a Gorropolo *spelling* and won those 2/3 games the team finishes 14-2/13-3; and if the Patriots had had Landry Jones and lost all 4 of their Bradyless games, we would've won the number one seed easily. If you look back at the last 4 years (since 2013), the difference between eeking into the playoffs/missing the playoffs has always been just a couple of games. If we won more of the games that Ben invariably misses every season, we'd regularly have better odds at winning a championship.

Do you not remember when Ben missed the first 4 games? It's much easier to prepare for the first 4 games without our franchise QB since you have all summer to prep for it. We have yet to see Gorropalo thrown into the fire mid season so we have no idea how he would fair in that situation.

also, it's not like we were playing bad teams when Landry subbed.