Editor’s note: From the end of minicamp through the day the team reports to training camp at Saint Vincent College, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2023 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly-alphabetical order, (at least) two per day, between June 16 and July 26. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.
QB MITCH TRUBISKY
Experience: 7th season
Contract status: $6.01 million cap hit in 2023, signed through 2025
2023 outlook: Whether he knew it or not or was given any assurances to that end, Trubisky entered the 2022 camp as the Steelers’ first-team quarterback and all but assured of starting the regular-season opener as such. He enters this one (barring injury) with zero chance of that happening. But his grip of the No. 2 job — and his level of contentedness with that role — was publicly cemented when Trubisky and the Steelers agreed to a two-year contract extension in May.
A former No. 2 overall draft pick for whom the Chicago Bears traded a steep price to move up one spot to take him, Trubisky’s legacy might always just be “the guy the Bears coveted when Patrick Mahomes was on the board.” Given up on by the Bears after four seasons and benched by the Steelers during his fourth start for them (Trubisky spent a year as Josh Allen’s backup in Buffalo in between), his days of legitimately being considered as a franchise QB are over. But a case can easily be made that Trubisky is among the best 25-40 quarterbacks in the world, which by definition makes him a strong backup.
Trubisky’s relationship with Kenny Pickett is on solid footing, and the rest of the locker room seemed to immediately take to Trubisky soon after signing last spring. He showed as recently as Week 15 of last season that he can win — engineering a victory at the Carolina Panthers while Pickett was out because of concussion protocol. The Steelers can confidently believe they have one of the best backup-QB situations in the league.
Mitch Trubisky could have played out the final year of his contract and then used free agency to find a team willing to let him compete for a starting QB position.
Instead, he accepted a 2 year extension that will keep him with the Steelers through 2025. https://t.co/brZ9KjqLYm
— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) May 23, 2023
WR CODY WHITE
Experience: 16 NFL regular-season games over 2021-22
Contract status: $870,000 cap hit if he makes the team in 2023
2023 outlook: White is in a unique spot in the Steelers’ roster in that among the 12 wide receivers set to report to camp, he is somehow both the third-youngest and second longest-tenured with the team. White, 24, is in the early stages of a fourth season as part of the Steelers’ wide receivers corps. White first joined the Steelers when he was signed to their practice squad in September 2020. They were his fourth team over a five-month span since he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State. White, aside from a day or two he lingered on waivers, has been with the Steelers ever since.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound White — whose father, Sheldon, last year was hired by the Steelers as their director of pro scouting — has appeared in 16 regular-season games for the Steelers. Fifteen of those came during the 2021 season, when White was a fixture on special teams and played 77 offensive snaps. White played in only one game as a practice-squad call-up last year, and he has six career receptions for 33 yards.
While White was getting plenty of first-team reps during organized team activities and minicamp because several Steelers receivers were nursing injuries, his role if he makes the team in 2023 will again be highly dependent on special teams and as a down-the-depth chart WR. He’s a pleasant locker-room presence, by all indications, with good football IQ, so there are far worse guys to keep around for the practice squad.
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