Speaking for the first time in over a year at an in-person media event, Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert says that the team has had a positive offseason and that it all started with signing Ben Roethlisberger to a new deal.
Back in early March, the long time Steelers quarterback signed with the team for a lower salary contract.
Roethlisberger took a $5 million pay cut that will see him making $14 million as opposed to the original $19 million.
Colbert said, during a pre-draft event along with coach Mike Tomlin, that "guys like Vince Williams, Tyson Alualu, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Joshua Dobbs deciding to stay with us, I think they followed Ben's lead and that's very much appreciated by us."
Roethlisberger is one of four quarterbacks currently signed to the team along with Mason Rudolph, Dobbs and Dwayne Haskins.
While Colbert and Tomlin refused to talk about certain players or positions they are looking at in the first round (or any round), they did discuss the possibility of drafting a quarterback.
First, it should be noted that according to Colbert, the Steelers are "wide open" when it comes to picking a player in the first round.
"IF you look at our current depth obviously we have four NFL veteran quarterbacks on our roster, which I feel great about."
While he feels good about the people they have at QB, 3 of the 4 players signed are on the last year of their current deal so it's possible the Steelers take a quarterback at some point in the draft.
"Can you add a young (quarterback)? Absolutely," said Colbert. "We always have to be on the look for that next guy and try to predict the value of taking that player at that position because most likely a young quarterback won't play for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021."
Tomlin reminds that one of those four quarterbacks is a former first rounder in Haskins.
"It's exciting from a coaching perspective with one of those guys being a 22-year-old guy like Dwayne Haskins who was viewed globally as having first round talent just a short time ago and we're excited about working with him and seeing what his skill set is and helping him improve."
