9/1/18-Steelers Make The Right Tough Decision

By: Mike Pelaia

 I was shocked to hear it, Landry Jones was released and Josh Dobbs retained.  Not surprised because of Dobbs talent, he more than earned his spot on the roster. I had made a case for the team to keep four quarterbacks a few weeks ago. Surprised though that the Steelers dropped a quality veteran backup in favor of two inexperienced guys.

A move like this is not one the Steelers make very often. You’d need to go back quite a ways to find the last time the Steelers favored an inexperienced backup over a veteran.

I liked Jones and as backups go, there is a chance he was the better guy for the job, this season. But, Jones was coming up on free agency and the Steelers had two promising young quarterbacks on the roster.  They had to make a tough call and they did. 

Dobbs is the guy that looked to be the odd man out coming into camp but he showed his improvement, he showed his maturity when the black and gold drafted Mason Rudolph and he showed his leadership on the field.

Dobbs is versatile, has a big arm, can run the RPO better than anyone else on the team and can more than handle the quarterback duties for a few games if called upon.

Mike Tomlin and his staff showed they trust Dobbs to be the guy if needed, by cutting Jones. They also showed they have a tremendous amount of confidence in their offensive line keeping Ben Roethlisberger healthy this year.

The way I see it, this team is not going to win the Super Bowl if Roethlisberger goes down. Landry Jones wasn’t going to lead them through the post season if Roethlisberger went down. Dobbs and/or Rudolph aren’t going to do that either.

Therefore, the decision became clearer for Tomlin and company, you keep the young quarterback who has a few more years left on his contract and a tremendous amount of upside, over the aging veteran backup.

Jones was never going to be the starter on this team when Roethlisberger leaves. He knew that, the Steelers knew that and all of Steeler nation REALLY knew that.  It was time to move on.

While Rudolph is anointed as the future of this franchise, don’t count out Dobbs. I thought last season he showed he could be the future and he showed even more of that this season. He’s beaten the odds once, he can certainly do it again in a few years.

The Steelers didn’t just keep him to be the backup this year; he has a real shot at being the starter down the line.

The Steelers made the right tough decision now and are set up to make another tough decision in the future; picking one of two talented quarterbacks to be their starter, Dobbs or Rudolph.  These are problems all teams wish they had.