Dead last? Above average? Varied rankings for Steelers’ Mitch Trubisky among NFL starting QBs
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After 18 years of a future Hall of Famer at the position, the Pittsburgh Steelers are learning how the other side lives in regards to their starting quarterback in 2022.
Free-agent acquisition Mitch Trubisky was officially confirmed as the starter Tuesday. A day later, three national outlets who cover the NFL released their power rankings of this season’s 32 starting quarterbacks.
The evaluation of Trubisky was mixed, albeit tilted toward the low side of the rankings. The Ringer, in fact, pegged him dead last. Author Steven Ruiz synopsized Trubisky by calling him “an athletic system quarterback who can’t be trusted to make his own decisions.”
Trubisky rated highest by the Ringer for “creativity” and “arm talent,” and lowest for “decision making” and “pre-snap.”
“Given his draft slot (No. 2 overall in 2017) and subsequent meme-ification (as a punchline while with the middling Chicago Bears), Trubisky is probably a little underrated at this point,” Ruiz wrote. “He isn’t very good at anything outside of scrambling, but he’s not completely unplayable either. He’s fine.”
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Fivethirtyeight.com rated Trubisky as better than “fine” — the statistics site had Trubsiky as the NFL’s 12th-best quarterback (backups included). Fivethirtyeight uses an objective quantitative tool known as “elo ratings.”
Surprisingly, Trubisky rated ahead of big-name quarterbacks such as former MVP Lamar Jackson (14th) and Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson (13th).
As detailed by TribLive’s Tim Benz earlier Thursday, NFL.com had its own ranking of the 32 Week 1 starting quarterbacks. Trubisky was at No. 30, just ahead of the Houston Texans’ Davis Mills and Cleveland Browns’ Jacoby Brissett. Brissett is filling in for the suspended Deshaun Watson over Cleveland’s first 11 games.
Author Marc Sessler was mostly complimentary of how Trubisky performed during training camp and the preseason. He did add, though, that he expects first-round pick Kenny Pickett to ultimately take Trubisky’s job: “I don’t think he’ll be a longtime featured member of this column, though, after rookie hometown sensation Kenny Pickett torched the field all August.”
Trubisky will make his Steelers regular-season debut when the team opens the regular season at 1 p.m. Sunday at the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals.
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