Cup of Joe: Starkey on sports in 350 words or less

Steelers GM Omar Khan made sure to talk up last season’s third-string quarterback — the sixth-round pick who has never appeared in a live NFL game — in addressing reporters at the NFL Combine. Of course he did. Khan must know the words “Will” and “Howard” are catnip to Steelers fans.

I’m guessing any pre-Combine rehearsal of talking points included those two magical words.

“Like all the fans, we’re searching for the next franchise (quarterback). It might be Will. We don’t know,” Khan said. “We’re excited to work with Will. We have to find the right quarterback who’s gonna be an AFC North quarterback. Playing in the AFC North, there’s nothing like it. The cold weather. The rivalries. The division. The physicality of the division. It’s gotta be an AFC North quarterback.”

Huh?

What the blank is an “AFC North” quarterback?

It’s not like there’s a prototype. The division has two great quarterbacks at the moment — Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow — and they couldn’t be more different.

Do you have to be big?

Jackson’s only 6-2. Baker Mayfield was a good AFC North quarterback — the only one who has ever led the Browns to a playoff win, anyway — and he’s 6-1.

Do you have to be tough?

I suppose, but isn’t that a requirement anywhere? I kind of like NFC North quarterbacks. You know, like Caleb Williams, Jordan Love and Jared Goff. I like AFC West quarterbacks, too. I think Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix would do just fine in the AFC North.

I wouldn’t mind a couple of AFC East quarterbacks, either, if we’re talking Josh Allen and Drake Maye. The NFC East isn’t bad. It has Dak Prescott, Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts and the guy the Steelers should have drafted last year, Jaxson Dart.

This all became a discussion point on ESPN, where Louis Riddick wondered what on earth Khan was talking about.

“His coach (Mike McCarthy) coached a guy named Aaron Rodgers who played at Cal and then played in Green Bay and tore it up,” Riddick said. “Is Aaron Rodgers a Green Bay, Wisconsin, quarterback? What does that even mean?”

You got me.