The Pittsburgh Steelers lost in the wild-card round to the Kansas City Chiefs, which sends the Steelers into an offseason of uncertainty. For the first time in nearly a generation, they will need to look for a new franchise quarterback. Luckily, there are a few options: Drafting a QB in this year's draft class, trading for a disgruntled star, or signing a stopgap in free agency and then drafting a QB next year, in what looks to be a much stronger draft class. Let's take a deeper look at each of these options.

Steelers QB Options With Ben Roethlisberger retiring

1. The 2022 NFL Draft – Malik Willis

If the Steelers take a quarterback in this year‘s draft, it has to be Malik Willis. This draft class has frequently been projected to be below average in terms of quarterbacks, but Willis offers by far the highest ceiling while also projecting a decently high floor.

Let’s start with the positives: Willis has an absolute cannon for an arm. He is capable of making throws that nobody else this side of Patrick Mahomes could even dream of attempting. His film is littered with highlight-reel worthy plays where he rolled right and threw a 40-yard strike down the sideline with precision accuracy while off-balance. Willis has also made cross-body throws at various arm angles, which opens up the offense and bends the defense until they break. When rolling to his left, Willis has shown the ability to stay behind the line of scrimmage and make throws down the field. This includes when he is slowing down and able to plant his feet and throw, as well as when he is running full speed and needs to throw sidearm while off-balance. Willis has shown examples of his ability to make accurate passes down the field in all of these situations.

The running ability that Willis provides also allows him a relatively high floor. Even while he is still learning how to play the quarterback position in the NFL, Willis will be able to make something out of nothing by relying on his legs to gain yardage.

The biggest weakness Willis has is that he’s not the most accurate passer and he still needs to work more on his fundamentals. In other words, some have labeled him as a project quarterback. This isn’t entirely accurate, though. Willis has shown an ability to throw the deep ball accurately and consistently, and this would help open the Steelers offense immensely. Willis also brings a running element that the Steelers haven’t had in arguably over a decade. Not only will this running option make the offense more versatile, but his arm talent, legs and ability to throw the long ball will be a massive upgrade for next year‘s Steeler offense.

2. Acquiring a star via trade – Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers

The Steelers could also look to acquire a star quarterback via trade. The most likely names on the list if they were to do that would be Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, or Derek Carr. The Steelers would likely end up regretting any of these moves two years from now, however. None of these quarterbacks would do well behind this offensive line, with the possible exception of Wilson due to his mobility. Also, each of these quarterbacks would require a significant sum of trade capital to be given up to acquire them. This would hurt the Steelers ability not only to rebuild their offensive line, but also to replenish their defense and improve their talent at the offensive skill positions.

All of these players are also getting up there in age, particularly Rodgers. This would lead to a similar situation as what the team faced the past two seasons with Roethlisberger. Derek Carr would likely be the easiest to acquire, but he also brings the most question marks. Carr is certainly a very good quarterback, but it remains to be seen if he is truly an elite quarterback. He has certainly been through a lot with the Las Vegas Raiders, but he has not excelled in the postseason either. Ultimately, there are too many risks with trying to bring in a star signal-caller via trade or free agency, as they would be too expensive in terms of draft capital and would handicap the Steelers salary cap, which would impact the team's ability to make further moves.

3. The bridge to a new era – Mason Rudolph/Dwayne Haskins/Ryan Fitzpatrick/Cam Newton until 2023 Draft

What are the 2022 draft class for quarterbacks is considered weak, next year‘s class is considered one of the strongest in years. Headlined by two blue chip prospects in CJ Stroud from Ohio State and Bryce Young from Alabama, teams will be lining up to try and draft either one of these quarterbacks. The third option, and probably the best option if the team is willing to be patient or doesn’t like the 2022 quarterback class, is to play with a bridge quarterback for a year, rebuild at the other positions while allowing the quarterback position to flounder, obtaining a high draft pick and then drafting Stroud or Young. This would not be a long-term rebuilding situation across multiple years like some other teams have faced.

Rather, it would be strategically choosing when to upgrade the quarterback position. By upgrading other positions first and leaving the most important position in football virtually empty, you’re almost ensuring a terrible record while also ensuring that when you draft that quarterback he will step in to an ideal situation for the team and himself to find immediate success. Stroud and Young both have clear cases for franchise quarterback potential, and if it means one terrible season in exchange for having 20 years of either of them, the Steelers would be wise to at least strongly consider that alternative path contention.

If the Steelers take this path, my choice for the bridge QB would be Haskins. The Ohio State product has physical talent, and he just needs to put it all together. Its sink-or-swim. If he swims, if he shows potential then the team might have an extra first-round pick to fill another hole in their roster while already having their QB of the future. If he sinks, the team will have the inside track at Stroud or Young.

So, what should Pittsburgh do?

The best path forward for this Steelers team is to draft a QB. It really comes down to whether the team truly believes in a QB like Willis in this year's class having true franchise quarterback potential, or whether the team would rather endure one horrid season and have a shot at drafting a blue-chip quarterback such as Stroud or Young in the 2023 draft class.