Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky could be set for a very uncertain future in the next few weeks according to a report.

Mitch Trubisky’s year didn’t go the way that he was probably hoping it would do when he signed for the Pittsburgh Steelers this past offseason. Having come off a year in which he was the backup for the Buffalo Bills having been a regular starter for the Chicago Bears, this was meant to be the year that he re-established himself as a franchise quarterback in the league.

And whilst his long-term chances may well have been in doubt when the team drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, a pretty big indicator that he was going to be the team’s long-term answer at quarterback, his future this year appeared to be pretty secure, with a report before the start of the year claiming “The hope is that his situation will mimic that of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs during his rookie season when Alex Smith started -- that Trubisky will play the whole season and Pickett will take over next year. Time will tell if that's the case.”

However, that plan ended up being a disaster, as Trubiksy was hooked midway through their Week 4 game with the New York Jets and the team never looked Trubisky’s way to be the starter again (with the exception of games when Pickett left early with an injury).

Pittsburgh Steelers sticking by Trubisky… only just

His numbers on the season weren’t exactly what you want to see from someone hoping to be a franchise quarterback. Trubisky finished the season with an overall QBR of 81.1, 178.9 yards per game and 4 touchdowns against 5 interceptions.

He is under contract through the 2023 season, and he will be the team’s backup if he stays, but according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it might not be as straightforward as just shuffling him down the pecking order. Writing in his report he notes a number of issues that could ultimately lead to the Steelers making a number of decisions:

The Steelers have to decide if they want to pay a backup quarterback $8 million in salary (not counting incentives) and have him count $10.625 million against the salary cap in 2023. That would make Trubisky, 28, among the highest-paid backups in the league, if not the highest. And Trubisky has to decide if he wants to forget the disappointment and discontent of what happened in 2022 and accept what would be the highest single-season payday of his seven-year career.

The Steelers cannot simply restructure Trubisky’s contract to lessen his cap hit because he is in the final year of his two-year deal. They would have to sign him to a new contract and add voidable years if they wanted to convert his salary into a signing bonus. They could also ask him to take a pay cut. But all that would require Trubisky agreeing to such a deal, and the chances of that are probably not very good.

The Steelers do of course have the option to just cut him, with SpotRac suggesting that his dead cap hit would be just $2.625m, but then the Steelers would have to go and find a capable veteran to take his place, and they might end up having to pay the same price for two men, one of whom isn’t on the roster, but who might provide them with better play than Trubisky.

So what are the Steelers to do? It’s far too early to tell, but it certainly seems like Trubisky’s future is far from certain as we prepare to enter the offseason.