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The Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of options for how they can handle the quarterback position during the 2024 offseason, including some big names at the position.
However, it’s a player that might be a bit less familiar to NFL fans who could be the QB the Steelers bring in.
According to Steelers Now’s Nick Farabaugh, Tulane QB Michael Pratt could be the best fit at quarterback for the Steelers in the upcoming draft.
Pratt’s college career taking place at a mid-major may have limited his exposure a bit, but he put together a career that should have any team that missed out on the 1st-round QBs interested in his services.
Four Years of Strong Play at Tulane
Experienced players aren’t exactly difficult to come by these days in college sports.
There are a lot of players out there who utilized the fifth year of eligibility everybody got back in 2020.
It’s a lot harder to find players with that experience who didn’t need to use the extra year.
Pratt is one of those players.
He became Tulane’s starter three games into his freshman season and never looked back.
Over the course of four seasons with the team, he threw for 9611 yards and 90 touchdowns and earned some major accolades along the way.
In 2022, he earned a spot on the All-AAC Second Team. He finished the season with a shootout win over USC in the Cotton Bowl.
He followed that up with a spot on the First Team in 2023 and won the AAC’s Offensive Player of the Year as well.
His play in that 2023 season helped Tulane become one of the best mid-majors in college football with an 11-2 record before they lost their bowl game without him.
That long tenure as Tulane’s QB has had Pratt on the draft radar for a while now and his last two seasons may have been enough for him to work his way up to being a Day Two pick.
The Low-Risk Approach at Quarterback for the Steelers
Opinions vary on how the Steelers should approach the quarterback position during the 2024 offseason,
If a quarterback is expected to be available, then you can probably find somebody that believes that QB is the right one for the Steelers.
That is true for both veterans and members of this year’s draft class.
However, a big move at quarterback might not necessarily lead to a big reward for Pittsburgh.
After hiring Arthur Smith as their new offensive coordinator, it looks like the Steelers are going to make the run game a bigger part of their offense.
It’s an approach that makes sense given the success they found with the run game at the end of the 2023 regular season and because they have two good running backs in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
However, it’s also an approach that will limit how much of an impact the team’s quarterback is going to have on the game, regardless of who that QB is.
That makes it difficult to justify spending a first-round pick or a bunch of money on a QB.
Instead, they could just take the safe approach and keep Mason Rudolph or bring in a cheap veteran and take a chance on a QB late in the draft.
If that’s how they decide to play it, then Pratt would be a quarterback worth taking a look at that the Steelers could let develop on their bench for a couple of years.
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