Sep 1, 2018 6 min read

For the first time in the Ben Roethlisberger era, the Steelers will go into a season with a backup who has never an NFL pass.

Who saw that coming?

Well, nobody. And when we say nobody, you can include the people who make those decisions at 3400 S. Water Street in Pittsburgh.

Throughout the offseason, when asked about who would be the Steelers’ backup in 2018, whether it was GM Kevin Colbert, head coach Mike Tomlin, offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner or even Roethlisberger, the answer was always Landry Jones.

It’s why the Steelers didn’t feel the need to play Jones a lot in the preseason. They knew what he was. He knew the offense. And perhaps most important, Roethlisberger trusted Jones as an extra set of eyes on the sideline.

“He’d see stuff away from the play that I couldn’t see when I’m out there live. That helps so much,” Roethlisberger said of Jones before the Steelers broke training camp.

But the Steelers didn’t count on two things.

First, Josh Dobbs made a big jump in his understanding and execution of the offense from Year 1 to Year 2. The player who posted a 68.9 passer rating in the 2017 preseason as a rookie, improved that to 112.0 this year. He accounted for five touchdowns, four passing and one rushing.

And second, Mason Rudolph was even better and showed more understanding of the offense than Dobbs did as a rookie.

The other thing that cannot be overlooked in releasing Jones Saturday is that the Steelers are making a move for their future. Jones was scheduled to make $1.9 million this season and wasn’t under contract for 2019.

Dobbs has three years remaining on his rookie contract. The Steelers have Rudolph for four years.

But it will be interesting to see what happens if Roethlisberger is injured.

For all of the people out there who say the season would be over, the Steelers were 3-2 the past three years in games started by Jones. And he has a career passer rating of 86.2 – albeit with a short sample size.

He gave them a shot to keep their head above water until Roethlisberger returned.

But with Roethlisberger now 36, the Steelers felt the need to look more at the future at the quarterback position.

• Martavis Bryant was released by the Oakland Raiders on Saturday as part of their cutdown to 53 players. He’s also reportedly facing yet another suspension from the NFL for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.

That the Steelers got a third-round pick for Bryant during the draft this year might go down as one of the biggest heists of all time.

Especially if the player the Steelers turned that pick into – Rudolph – turns out to be Roethlisberger’s successor.

• Le’Veon Bell is expected to report to the Steelers Monday and sign his franchise tender offer. And all will be well with the Steelers offense.

The people who thought the Steelers could trade Bell and Bud Dupree to the Oakland Raiders for Khalil Mack might have been smoking with Bryant.

The Raiders shipped a second-round pick and Mack, a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year, to Chicago early Saturday morning for the Bears’ first-round picks in 2019 and 2020, another third rounder and a sixth-round selection.

That’s quite a haul.

Mack had been holding out, not wanting to play for the $13.86 million he’s due this year. He wanted a new contract to keep the Raiders from using the franchise tag on him next year.

And after seeing Aaron Donald get a deal worth an average of $22 million Friday, the most given to a defensive player, you can bet the asking price for Mack went up. He would probably want at least $1 more than what Donald got.

So the Bears will now be on the clock to try to work something out – for $20-plus million a year – or see Mack sit out. And they can watch as Oakland rebuilds with the two first-round picks.

• I am now the lead host of Steelers Nation Radio and as such, did an afternoon show every day from training camp this year in the middle of the Steelers Experience area.

While doing a show during camp this year, it began to rain – hard.

That caused a number of fans to run under our tent. So I struck up a conversation with two gentlemen while we waited out the rain.

The two were old school friends who still saw each other on occasion, even though one had moved to Indianapolis while the other stayed home.

But I didn’t realize they were from Waynesburg until they said something about it after we’d talked for a good 15 minutes.

When I explained I had worked for the Observer-Reporter for 25 years, the gentleman from Indianapolis said, “Then you should know who he is.”

Bill DeWeese.

I didn’t recognize him until he took off the Marines cap he was wearing, but it was DeWeese, the former state rep and speaker of the house.

We had a nice conversation, including talking about his jail time – just don’t mention Tom Corbett’s name – and DeWeese has a sense of humor about his fall from grace, even if he remains bitter about the circumstances.

In fact, he told me one of the first things he did when he was released from prison was to scrounge up the money to go to the Pirates Fantasy Camp, as he had done several other times.

He even gave me one of his baseball cards from the camp made up for the attendees.

How good of a sense of humor does DeWeese have? On the back of his card, in addition to listing his playing time at Waynesburg High School and for Wake Forest’s freshman team, it says DeWeese was a second baseman on the Hunlock Creek Pennsylvania Department of Corrections team from 2012-2014.

Dale Lolley covers the Steelers for DKPittsburghSports.com and writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.