PITTSBURGH — Less than an hour into the NFL’s legal tampering period on Monday, the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to terms with a quarterback.
Bringing in former Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky on a two-year deal with undisclosed monetary terms isn’t a splashy signing by most standards — but it’s significant for the Steelers.
The organization is often quiet through the first wave of free agency, preferring to prioritize its own players and waiting for the dust to settle before making a series of relatively under-the-radar moves. The Steelers also aren’t known for pursuing outside quarterbacks as potential starters. Since 2004, the year Ben Roethlisberger was drafted, there have been 271 starts by homegrown signal-callers compared to 18 by players who started their NFL careers outside Pittsburgh.