Lone ranger
Ben Roethlisberger breaks the trend of longtime QBs switching teams.
It was only five years ago when the Steelers came to Philadelphia in Week 3 of the 2016 season and were embarrassed by the Eagles, 34-3, and their rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz.
Wentz, the second overall pick in the draft, threw for 301 yards and two touchdowns against the Steelers and became the first rookie quarterback in Eagles history to start a season 3-0. The performance whipped the denizens of Philadelphia into such a frenzy they were ready to start pouring the mortar to erect a statue of Wentz next to Rocky Balboa.
Five years later, Wentz is gone from the Eagles, his career never recovering from the slide that began, strangely enough, after the blowout performance against the Steelers. Such flame-outs and quick departures are becoming more prevalent around the National Football League. Just consider the staggering number of quarterbacks who were top draft picks who have failed to remain for any length of time with the team that drafted them.
In the past eight years, only seven of the 20 quarterbacks selected in the first round are with the team that drafted them. That number becomes increasingly embarrassing when you consider none of the nine quarterbacks who were firstround picks from 2013 to 2016 are with the same team. Wentz’s class is a prime example. All three No. 1 picks in 2016 — Jared Goff and Paxton Lynch are the others — have moved on from the teams that selected them.
All this does is highlight the incredible production and longevity of Ben Roethlisberger, who begins his 18th season with the same team that drafted him in 2004 — the longest tenure of any quarterback in NFL history.
When the regular season begins in September, Roethlisberger will surpass Dan Marino, who played all 17 of his seasons with the Miami Dolphins; and John Brodie, who played all 17 years with the San Francisco 49ers. He already has passed six other quarterbacks who spent their entire 16-year career with just one team — John Elway in Denver, Ken Anderson in Cincinnati, Bart Starr and Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, Steve Grogan in New England and Eli Manning with the New York Giants.
Philip Rivers spent 16 years with the San Diego/ Los Angeles Chargers, but he played his final season in Indianapolis in 2020. Tom Brady, who spent 20 seasons in New England, is the only quarterback in history to spend more seasons with one team than Roethlisberger, but even his remarkable career is ending in another city.
Think about it: No quarterback in history has played his entire career with one team longer than Roethlisberger. In a league where some top quarterbacks flop and get the heave-ho, Roethlisberger has placed himself in a category that is both elite and beyond reproach.
Norwood a steal?
The Steelers think they have found an unheralded gem in rookie safety Tre Norwood, whom they found in the seventh round of the NFL draft in April.
They like his field awareness, his ball skills, his understanding of the defense, especially for a rookie. The coaches are keeping him at safety in training camp because they don’t want to do to him what they did to another rookie safety in 2016 — Sean Davis.
Davis, the team’s secondround pick, was so versatile the Steelers thought they would use training camp to experiment with him at different positions. The problem with that, though, was it never allowed Davis to fully learn one position and instead had him confused and bogged down with trying to understand too many different roles. They don’t want to make the same mistake with Norwood.
So, while Norwood is capable of playing cornerback, the Steelers don’t want to see where he fits best until they are sure he is comfortable at safety. Eventually, the Steelers might even take a look at Norwood as the slot corner or nickel back, though that might not be any time soon.
Of course, the question begs to be asked: If Norwood is so good, how did he last until the seventh round?
Well, for the same simple reason a lot of players see their draft stock slip — speed.
Norwood has the size and interception totals to merit being a higher selection in the draft, but scouts questioned his recovery speed — that once he gets behind a receiver, he stays behind. And that was somewhat evident Thursday night in Philadelphia, when the Eagles scored a 79-yard touchdown on a wide receiver screen pass in which the receiver, Quez Watkins, simply got to the outside and ran down the sideline past Norwood, who didn’t have the speed to recover.
But he brings so much more to the defense that the Steelers think they might have found a steal on the seventh round.
Haskins impresses
With his performance against the Eagles, Dwayne Haskins all but bought himself a spot on the 53man roster. The quarterback did so many things right, including going through his reads and finding open receivers, that he is slowly erasing any skepticism that might have existed when the Steelers decided to take a chance on him despite his issues in Washington.
Haskins rallied the Steelers from a 13-0 deficit by scoring on four consecutive possessions, including three touchdowns.
“It’s the above-the-neck things that define that position when you start talking about playing well,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.
Haskins’ physical ability is unquestioned. While he is not a runner like Lamar Jackson or a quarterback who creates plays out of the pocket like Baker Mayfield, he has enough raw ability to do a little of both but not enough to define his style of play. But it was his ability to be patient against the Eagles and go through his progressions that stood out to Tomlin. Those were things Haskins didn’t do very well in Washington.
“Coach [Mike] Sullivan came up to me and said, ‘Be like the jazz players.’ So, that’s just pretty much be smooth,” Haskins said, referring to his position coach. “That’s kind of what I was trying to do, was just be smooth and a lot of plays will come to me. Trust in what I saw, letting my eyes tell me and my feet tell me where to go with the ball.”
He hit all the right notes.