Monday went as well as Mitch Trubisky could have possibly hoped.
In the morning, he was named one of five captains for the Steelers. And in the afternoon, he was named the team’s starting quarterback for Week 1 against the Bengals.
Trubisky played coy when asked by reporters about the starting job before the depth chart was officially released later in the day, but presumably knew that it was coming.
“You can assume anything you want,” Trubisky told reporters. “The announcement will come out when it comes out, but you’re not going to hear it from me. We’re just going about our business.”
Though Kenny Pickett, who the Steelers drafted 20th overall in April’s draft, is assumed to be the team’s quarterback of the future, that does not mean Mike Tomlin is committed to playing him now. Pickett was in fact third on the depth chart, also behind Mason Rudolph.
Franchise legend Ben Roethlisberger said on his new podcast, Footbahlin‘, that it would benefit Pickett to sit.
“I think Mitch is a great leader, a great football player, he’s a great athlete, he’s a good quarterback,” Roethlisberger said. “They brought him in here for a reason, and I think he’s going to mentor Kenny and I think he’ll really help Kenny a lot.
“But in my opinion, it should be Mitch’s job for the time being. If Mitch plays well, keep him in there. And even if Mitch has a bad game or something, it doesn’t mean just yank him.”
Trubisky is coming off a year in Buffalo as Josh Allen’s backup in which he threw just eight passes. Prior to that, the former No. 2 pick flamed out with the Bears following a mediocre four-season run in which the Bears had a winning record just once.
“Mitch has grown a lot,” Steelers running back Najee Harris, a fellow captain, told reporters. “He’s got a good feel for everybody. … He’s a competitor, I’ll tell you that.”
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