The Pittsburgh Steelers have not ruled out trading for a quarterback this offseason.
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00:00 When asked about a potential quarterback and a potential quarterback trade by KDK's Bob Pompiani,
00:07 Rooney said, quote, "As we sit here early February, we're not closing the door on anything.
00:12 We have a lot of evaluations to go through, and we'll go through all of the options and do what
00:17 we need to do to be better this coming season." Obviously, we have talked about the next step in
00:24 the quality quarterback play that Rooney has said before. Everybody expects Kenny Pickett to be
00:29 somewhat involved, but I feel like, and maybe I'm wrong here, that expectation is narrowing,
00:36 and the Pittsburgh Steelers, as we move through this, are becoming more and more open, or at least
00:41 letting us know that they are more and more open to not really having a competition,
00:46 but more so just saying, "We're going to find our quarterback, and if that quarterback is here,
00:51 we're not going to give Kenny Pickett a shot. We're just going to get a quarterback." Am I
00:56 wrong on saying that, or is that kind of leaking itself out here as we step through?
01:00 - Yeah, I don't know. I read Rooney's comments, and I think I understood them more as a,
01:07 I don't know, less as a definitive, "We are going to exhaust all of our options
01:12 in looking for a quarterback," as to, I think, literally what he said, "We're open to it." I
01:17 think it's a little bit more of maybe a negotiation tactic with Mason Rudolph,
01:23 figuring to be a free agent, saying, "Hey, look, we're not desperate for you. We're not going to
01:27 overpay for you. We've got some options that we feel comfortable with, not just in-house, but
01:32 ones that we can explore on the trade market as well." I think this certainly doesn't shut the
01:38 door on a possible trade for a guy like Justin Fields or something like that, because I think
01:45 that's certainly an option, and I think that could be a potential, I don't want to say game-changer,
01:50 but I think it could really change the trajectory of the franchise if they go for it,
01:55 for better or worse. But I think they are open to it. I wouldn't say it says anything definitive
02:05 about, "Oh, we're pursuing this at this moment," or not. I think it's just what he said. Our
02:12 options are open. We feel comfortable with all of these, and we're still waiting through the
02:17 options and seeing which one fits best for us at this moment.