The NFL offseason is now officially here after the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. With Sam Darnold completing his career resurrection by winning a championship, many teams will be looking to find their own Sam Darnold – a former first-round pick who could get his career back on track in the right situation.
With that in mind, the Pittsburgh Steelers are a team, once again, a team riding the quarterback carousel in 2026. With Aaron Rodgers’ future uncertain, the Steelers have been attached to many signal-callers both in the free agent market and via trade. Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports labeled them a team to watch in a trade for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones, and projects that the former first-round pick could be acquired by trading a third-round pick.
“Jones is still only 27 years old and has a cap hit of just over $3 million in 2026,” Sullivan writes. “That creates significant value for prospective teams to evaluate Jones as a potential next veteran to revitalize his career and propel their franchise to playoff contention.”
While Adam Schefter has since reported that the 49ers prefer to keep both Jones and Brock Purdy, we have countless examples throughout history of a team saying they’re going to keep a guy when it turns out that is simply their way of telling teams to offer them more in a trade.
Jones started eight games for the 49ers in 2025, throwing 13 touchdowns to six interceptions and leading the 49ers to five wins.
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