{"id":772162,"date":"2026-02-24T00:36:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/772162\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T00:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:36:03","slug":"browns-steelers-might-be-competing-for-same-external-qb-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/772162\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns, Steelers Might Be Competing For Same External QB Options"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the quarterback market again. While reports indicate that they\u2019re willing to wait to possibly re-sign Aaron Rodgers, the veteran signal-caller could retire. That would force the Steelers to explore other options, but they aren\u2019t the only team in need of a quarterback.<\/a> Beat writer Mary Kay Cabot recently reported that the Cleveland Browns could give the Steelers competition for some of the top quarterbacks available.<\/p>\n

\u201cPackers backup quarterback Malik Willis and Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson are among the external quarterbacks on the Browns\u2019 radar with the NFL Combine kicking off Tuesday and free agency starting in two weeks,\u201d Cabot wrote on Cleveland.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

Willis appears to be the top free-agent quarterback set to hit the market. Meanwhile, Simpson is one of the top signal-callers in the draft. Both have been brought up as options for the Steelers, but perhaps one of them will land with an AFC North rival instead.<\/p>\n

The Browns\u2019 quarterback situation was messy last year. They traded both Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco, with rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders starting throughout the year. Sanders got a lot of hype. But the new coaching staff in place hasn\u2019t guaranteed him the starting spot.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the Browns could land one of the Steelers\u2019 quarterback options. It sounds like Willis could get a decent-sized contract<\/a> from a team, despite his lack of experience. So it\u2019s hard to see him landing with the Browns, who are already dealing with one of the league\u2019s worst contracts: Deshaun Watson.<\/p>\n

However, perhaps they\u2019d make the numbers work. But Willis will also pique other teams\u2019 interest. The Browns\u2019 interest might only help drive his price up.<\/p>\n

Simpson is more interesting. He\u2019s largely viewed as the second-best quarterback prospect in this year\u2019s draft. While he has flaws, many analysts still expect him to go in the first round.<\/a> The Browns are flush with draft capital, and Cabot reported in that same article that they could take Simpson off the board far before the Steelers are on the clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for Simpson, the Browns will consider him at No. 6, or even at No. 24 or No. 39 if he lasts that long.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sixth overall pick might seem rich for Simpson, but quarterbacks go for a premium in the draft. However, if the Browns don\u2019t take him there, they have another first-round pick. There\u2019s a chance that they could leapfrog the Steelers to select Simpson.<\/p>\n

This goes to show how complicated things could get for the Steelers this offseason. Rodgers seems like their first option, but there\u2019s no telling when he\u2019ll decide on his future. The quarterback carousel could get messy, and the Steelers might have to watch as other teams like the Browns take the top options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the quarterback market again. While reports indicate that they\u2019re willing to wait to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,4349,2337,7,4097,8934,6,57,20708],"class_list":{"0":"post-772162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-cleveland-com","12":"tag-clevelandbrowns","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-malik-willis","15":"tag-mary-kay-cabot","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","18":"tag-ty-simpson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116122811535032811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}