Early this season, the pittsburgh steelers expressed a desire to add quarterback competition for 2022 first-round pick kenny pickett. On his podcast, former steelers linebacker arthur moats argued that the team should consider sam darnold, a 2018 first-round pick, as the team’s challenger.
On january 25, moats said on the arthur moats experience with deke podcast, “you saw sam darnold come in and play well this year.” “we know he’s a high pedigree guy who has been around and has starter experience,” he says.
Darnold and his potential in his nfl career have obviously not been realized. Since 2021, he hasn’t played more than six games in a season. But moats referred to that talent as the steelers need to push pickett. “it’s less about how effective he can be when you’re just talking about talent in a practice setting,” moats said. “do you know how difficult it is to beat out a professional on that level?” he asks. “is it possible for the pittsburgh steelers to pursue qb sam darnold because of his talent in practice?” In his annual press conference, steelers president art rooney ii said the team would like to re-sign quarterback mason rudolph.
In his post-season press conference on january 18, head coach mike tomlin told the media that it was in keeping with what he said in his post-season press conference. Moats wasn’t against bringing rudolph back. Darnold, a former linebacker, was suggested as an alternative if the veteran quarterback opts for a different career path. From a performance standpoint, moats said that the steelers would be getting what they have with mitch trubisky in darnold. When we said mitch trubisky was the one to work with pickett early on, moats said, “that’s the thing with mitch.” “mitch knows how to practice, and mitch is a genius, and mitch is incredibly gifted. “that’s a big reason why to sign darnold is so important. Trubisky is on a contract with the steelers until 2024, but the steelers are hoping to cut him to about $2.9 million from his salary cap.
How darnold would fit with the steelers because of their faith in pickett, the steelers are in a difficult quarterback situation this offseason. Although they want to get better behind center, the steelers can’t add a signal caller that is much better than pickett unless they want the 2022 first-rounder to sit on the bench. Darnold is an intriguing option, as shown by the following images. Darnold is a natural competitor in practice and has a life insurance policy in the event of an accident. he also has first-hand experience. For this reason, moats argued that he could be a real rival for pickett. And if darnold wins the starting job, pittsburgh will truly be the end of the pickett era. “we’ll all agree that if pickett can’t beat sam darnold, we’ll all agree that we’ll go ahead and draft someone the following year,” moats said. “we don’t like sam darnold as our franchise guy,” he says. But is he strong enough to begin? “we’re in a bad situation if kenny can’t beat out sam darnold,” darnold has posted a 21-35 record in 56 nfl starts. He has a 59.7% completion rate and a 6.7 yards per pass average over his six-year nfl career, with 63 touchdowns and 56 interceptions.
He was 0-1 as a starter for the san francisco 49ers this season. He appeared in ten games, passing 60.9% of his passes for an average of 6.5 yards per pass with 2 touchdowns and 1 intercept.
Heavy.com’s dave holcomb is a sports reporter who covers the pittsburgh steelers and detroit lions. Holcomb, a pittsburgh native, has written about college and professional sports for publications including fansided, rotowire, and yardbarker. More about a ted talk.
