On Wednesday Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin announced that third-string quarterback Dwayne Haskins will start in the team’s preseason finale (Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET). It will be the first time he has started an NFL game since Week 16 of the 2020 regular season.
“Excited about giving him an opportunity to see some reps against Carolina’s first group,” Tomlin said during his media scrum, before going on to confirm that Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph will not play against the Panthers. That would seem to indicate that Rudolph has already wrapped up the QB2 job.
“I’m just interested in seeing him play more,” Tomlin said about Haskins, a former first-round pick (Washington) who signed a one-year Reserve/Future contract with the Steelers in January. “This process is fair in that everybody gets an opportunity to show their skill set and we work hard to get to know them. He’s new to us, and so the additional reps and exposure is good for him and for us to get to know him.”
As for how much additional exposure Haskins will get, that remains to be seen.
“We got a plan but we will play it by ear. We are always committed to being light on our feet,” Tomlin concluded. In other words, Tomlin didn’t say how long Haskins will play before being replaced by fourth-stringer Josh Dobbs.
The Offensive Line Will Work to ‘Gain Cohesion’
As one would expect, most of Pittsburgh’s first-teamers will not play against the Panthers.
“We won’t play a lot of our regulars,” Tomlin said. “We’ll move some of those guys out of the way to provide more snaps for others and from what I understand, Carolina is going to play their regulars quite a bit. So there will be no speculation. Those guys will get an opportunity to pit their skills and preparedness and techniques against varsity.”
But one position group where the Steelers will play projected starters is on the offensive line, no doubt because the team is going to have a new starter at all five positions in 2021.
“It’s another opportunity for our offensive line to gain cohesion. Many of those guys will play,” Tomlin concluded.
Benny Snell Football?!?
That’s good news for Steelers running back Benny Snell Jr., a fourth-round pick in 2019 who is in a battle to hold onto his roster spot. On Wednesday, Tomlin noted that Snell is going to be “featured” in the first quarter of Friday’s game.
“We are excited about getting Benny Snell back,” he said. “He has missed some time due to injury and so he’ll get an opportunity, particularly in the early stages of the game … and do the things that featured runners do and prove his health and things of that nature.”
Snell was mentioned as a possible trade candidate at the beginning of the preseason, and this is an opportunity for the Steelers to showcase him to other teams. Otherwise, he may not make the roster, as Najee Harris, Anthony McFarland Jr. and Kalen Ballage look to be top three running backs. That means Snell, Jaylen Samuels and Tony Brooks-James are competing to be RB4, if the Steelers even keep four backs on the active roster.
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Steelers Reveal Starting QB for Preseason Finale vs. Panthers