The Steelers no longer have to worry about signing draft picks.
The team announced Thursday that they have reached agreement on a contract with fourth-round quarterback Landry Jones. Jones is the ninth of nine draft picks to sign their rookie deals with the Steelers, leaving them with no housekeeping to do on that end before camp gets underway this summer.
There were moments during his career at Oklahoma where it looked like Jones would be a first-round pick for a team looking for a franchise quarterback, but they were matched with too many moments when Jones looked overmatched by defenses that didn’t let him throw with his feet set. That’s how you wind up going in the fourth round and Jones will have to show that his arm strength is enough to overcome his shortcomings to wind up as a starter as a pro.
Barring catastrophe, that won’t happen in Pittsburgh anytime soon. Ben Roethlisberger and Bruce Gradkowski are the top two quarterbacks in Pittsburgh and Jones will spend the year trying to improve enough to move up a rung on the depth chart come 2014.