March 3, 2026, 7:50 p.m. ET

The Pittsburgh Steelers need a quarterback.

Kyler Murray needs a team.

Could Pittsburgh take another flier on a signal-caller needing to find a home, or should Pittsburgh stay the course by attempting to find a younger QB to lead them into the future?

Although a return of Aaron Rodgers isn’t out of the question, especially with the hiring of his former Green Bay Packers head coach, Mike McCarthy, recent reports say it’s looking less likely that the multi-time MVP will return to Pittsburgh.

So, if Rodgers is gone, who do the Steelers go for? They aren’t high enough in the NFL Draft to make a move for Fernando Mendoza, and even if Alabama’s Ty Simpson is there at No. 21, he’s not a QB that you can just throw out there. Simpson only started a single season for the Crimson Tide and would benefit from sitting behind a veteran for a year or two before taking over.

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Where does that leave Pittsburgh?

They could put full trust in former national champion Will Howard, who they picked in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Or they could go hunting in free agency like they did with Rodgers and have done several times before, trying to sign a stopgap before finding the franchise QB that can take over for Ben Roethlisberger, who retired in 2022.

Murray has a high ceiling and low floor, but he isn’t a player who will need to get used to starting in the NFL after being the No. 1 pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2019.

He’s low risk financially, and with a much better QB class expected in 2027, Murray could easily be discarded as a one-year trial if everything falls apart. If it doesn’t work, the Steelers would have a better pick for the likes of Arch Manning, Dante Moore, or Brendan Sorsby in next year’s class.

The Steelers shouldn’t take it safe this offseason. Either get a QB with a high enough ceiling that could win a postseason game if everything aligns, or get someone who, if things go poorly, will make the team bad enough they can finally have a high first-round selection.

Murray could be both. In this case, the boom-or-bust nature of the former Cardinals leader is perfect for a team like the Steelers, which needs one of the two extremes and can no longer live in slightly above-average mediocrity.