There have been a select few franchises that have made seamless transitions from Hall of Fame quarterback to future Hall of Fame quarterback. And those transitions came with some uncomfortable moments.
The San Francisco 49ers traded four-time Super Bowl winner Joe Montana to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993 in order to make Steve Young their starting quarterback. The Green Bay Packers traded Brett Favre to the New York Jets in 2009 to make way for Aaron Rodgers.
The 49ers won the Super Bowl one year after Young took over and the Packers three years after Rodgers. Both teams enjoyed long runs of being contenders following those Super Bowl victories, too.
The Steelers and Saints did not create any uncomfortable moments for Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees as they closed out their careers. They were allowed to leave on their own terms and write their write the final chapter to their storied careers. Brees retired at age 41 following the 2020 season; Roethlisberger hung up his cleats at age 40 after last season ended.
But the price to pay for the legacies left intact and the warm embraces of one last tour around the league is what the Steelers and Saints are experiencing now — on two very different courses.
The Saints have lost three of their past four games and carry a 3-6 record into Sunday’s game against the Steelers. They are 12-14 since Brees retired and are likely to miss the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
The Saints have started six quarterbacks since the beginning of the 2021 season. Andy Dalton is the starter now, having replaced Jameis Winston after he was injured early in the season. In addition to Winston, Trevor Siemian, Taysom Hill and Ian Book started games last season for the Saints.
All six apparently appealed to the Saints more than Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, who was passed over twice by the Saints before the Steelers made him the No. 20 overall selection in the draft. The Saints had the No. 11 and No. 19 picks and chose receiver Chris Olave and offensive lineman Trevor Penning after getting to know Pickett throughout the pre-draft process.
Many athletes use such snubs as motivation. but Pickett says there is no chip on his shoulder heading into Sunday’s game at Acrisure Stadium.
“No, man, I’m happy as hell to be here,” Pickett said. “Everything works out for a reason. I’m incredibly proud to be the quarterback of this team.”
Don’t look for the Saints to be among the teams jockeying for position to take one of the top college quarterbacks in this year’s draft, either. They’re currently bad enough to have the No. 7 overall in next year’s draft, but they traded their No. 1 pick in 2023 for two first-round selections last year.
It can take years, sometimes decades, for franchises to come back after a Hall of Fame quarterback retires. The Broncos haven’t been back to the playoffs since Peyton Manning retired following their victory in Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season. They’ve had 11 quarterbacks make starts for them since then.
Siemian, in a strange twist, succeeded Manning as the starter in Denver just as he did Brees in New Orleans. Then there was Paxton Lynch, Brock Osweiler, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Drew Lock, Brandon Allen, Jeff Driskel, Brett Rypien, Teddy Bridgewater and Kendall Hinton before they traded for Russell Wilson in a deal that included this year’s and next year’s first-round picks.
The Broncos are 3-5 and appear stuck with Wilson for four more seasons after signing him to a contract worth $245 million.
No one knows if Pickett will be a franchise quarterback, but at the very least, the Steelers are committed to finding out if he has the right stuff.
Pickett has been learning on the job since replacing Mitch Trubisky as the starter last month. He has a 1-3 record as the starter and has looked very much like a rookie. His stat line is ugly, too, with eight interceptions and only two touchdowns.
“I think the test for him will be to take mistakes off the tape,” Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said Thursday. “He’s going to make mistakes. He’s a rookie quarterback in the NFL. You guys know how that works. All rookies do that. Those things occur at that position, but it’s never OK. We’re not justifying it. There is no curve for that.
“What we’re looking for is for him to not make the same mistakes again. If you look at guys who play a long time, that’s what occurs. You look at some really great quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League and they didn’t have great rookie stat lines. He’s not happy with that. We’re not happy with that. I think Kenny is going to have a tremendous second half of the season and a tremendous career.”
The Steelers and Saints paralleled each other during the Brees and Roethlisberger eras. The Saints made the playoffs nine times with Brees and won one Super Bowl. The Steelers made the playoffs 12 times and won two Super Bowls.
The postseason seems far off for both franchises now. Success in the NFL can be a fleeting thing, and it almost always has everything to do with who’s playing quarterback.
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rayfitt1.
First Published: November 10, 2022, 6:58 p.m.