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The top of the quarterback depth chart is set for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They will enter the 2023 season with Kenny Pickett ready to begin his first full NFL season as a starter and Mitch Trubisky as his backup.
But if the Steelers want more experienced quarterback than undrafted free agent Tanner Morgan, who currently sits at No. 3 on the team’s quarterback depth chart, then general manager Omar Khan should consider signing former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora wrote.
“Pittsburgh could feasibly be one final stop for him and on baseline levels, it makes sense,” Kozora wrote in a piece published May 7.
The 34-year-old quarterback is available in free agency because the Indianapolis Colts released him on May 5 with a year left on a two-year deal he signed in 2022.
Foles played one season for the Colts in 2022, completing 59.5% of his passes for 224 yards with no touchdowns and 4 interceptions in three games.
How Nick Foles Could Fit With the Steelers
Kozora did not urge the Steelers to make any changes with the top of their quarterback depth chart. Pickett will obviously be the team’s starter and Trubisky, who is signed for one more season, will be his backup. But Kozora wrote that Foles could take on the role that Mason Rudolph and Joshua Dobbs held over the past three seasons.
“Foles has been through the highs and lows of an NFL career. Starter. Backup. Coming off the bench to win a Super Bowl. Staying on the bench and watching a season pass by,” Kozora wrote. “Last year, he started two games for the floundering Colts and no doubt, the results were ugly. Zero touchdowns, four interceptions, and the picks were bad.
“But Foles wouldn’t be brought in to start or be one snap away from starting. He’d be the No. 3, almost a coach, to round out Pittsburgh’s room.”
In addition to the Colts, Foles has played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the then-St. Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears during his 11-year career. By far, most of his success came with the Eagles.
Foles captured 21 of his 29 regular season victories as a quarterback in an Eagles uniform. In 2017, he became the starter late during the season and led the team to a Super Bowl title.
Against the New England Patriots, he completed 28 of 43 passes for 373 yards, 3 touchdowns with 1 interception. The performance won Foles Super Bowl MVP.
There has been no reported interest in signing Foles, 34, since his May 5 release. CBS Sports listed four teams as potential landing spots in a May 5 opinion piece: the Green Bay Packers, Washington Commanders, Tampa Buccaneers and the Eagles. In February, Foles said he hoped to end his career in Philly, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“I look forward to coming back and visiting the city and, you know, hopefully even, when it’s all said and done, just retiring an Eagle. I think that’s the right thing to do,” he said, according to the Inquirer.
Argument for Experience Over Youth at No. 3 QB
Foles is far from the MVP-performing quarterback he was in 2018. Over the past four years, he owns a 3-11 record as a starter.
Last season, he looked dreadful, but still, Foles would be one of the better No. 3 options, Kozora wrote. Foles could also be more useful to a healthy Pickett than an inexperienced third-stringer such as Morgan.
“If Pittsburgh, if any team, is down to their third-string quarterback, it’s a problem. That’s just a fact,” Kozora wrote. “If the Steelers had to turn to somebody, it might as well be a veteran like Foles who can digest an offense and hopefully manage the game under a run-heavy approach.”
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