The Pittsburgh Steelers have quickly reshaped their quarterback depth chart this offseason.
All three of the quarterbacks from last season are gone and the team has filled two of the positions left open with notable veterans.
Now it looks like they may have found the player who will take over the final quarterback spot on their depth chart.
While speaking to the media at the 2024 NFL Owners’ Meeting, Steelers GM Omar Khan revealed (via The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly) that the team had agreed to terms on a deal with veteran quarterback Kyle Allen.
An Unlikely Career for Allen
After throwing the ball just 105 times over his last two college seasons and getting benched during his last year at Houston, there weren’t particularly high hopes for Allen’s NFL career.
As a result, he went undrafted back in 2018, but he was given a chance by the Carolina Panthers.
He was signed and let go a couple of times by the team after the draft, but he eventually settled in on their practice squad. Then injuries to Cam Newton and Taylor Heinicke led to him getting an opportunity to start.
Allen led the Panthers to a win over the Saints in the last game of his rookie season while throwing for 228 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
He got an even bigger opportunity the next year. Newton was injured again in 2019 and Allen was called upon to start while he was unavailable.
Allen made 12 starts during his second season in the league. He put together a 5-7 record as the team’s starting QB while throwing for 3322 yards and 17 touchdowns.
He was then traded to Washington to serve as the backup to Dwayne Haskins, but got another chance to start after Haskins was benched.
This time he only started for four games before an ankle injury ended his season. Before the injury, he threw for 610 yards and 4 touchdowns.
He has since gotten one more chance at starting in the NFL. He replaced Davis Mills when he was benched by the Texans in 2022. Allen started two games for Houston, losing both while throwing twice as many interceptions as touchdowns.
In 2023, Allen signed with the Buffalo Bills and served as the backup to Josh Allen, but didn’t attempt a single pass.
Now he’ll try to lock down the third QB spot for the Steelers.
Steelers Quarterback Situation
The Steelers have made major moves to address their quarterback situation this offseason.
It started by releasing Mitch Trubisky, who has now taken Allen’s spot on the Bills.
Then the Steelers signed Russell Wilson to be their new starter.
That was followed by trading Kenny Pickett after a disappointing couple of seasons with the team.
He was replaced with a trade for Justin Fields.
All of those moves left the Steelers with just one other thing they needed to do at the position.
They just needed somebody to be their emergency QB.
Allen could be that QB for them and the Steelers should now be almost completely settled at the position, with a late round pick potentially being the only move left for the team to consider.