Mike Vick was NFL’s fourth-worst QB last season

While the Steelers have been set at quarterback for the past decade with Ben Roethlisberger, their backup quarterback situation has been an issue.

Bruce Gradkowski was slated to be the backup this season, but he just landed on injured reserve. 2013 fourth-round pick Landry Jones has been given every opportunity in the preseason to win the job, but he hasn’t taken advantage. His -5.9 overall grade is the second-lowest for all quarterbacks in the preseason. While he’s been decent without pressure, when under pressure on 36 dropbacks he’s averaged 3 yards per attempt, has an interception and has been sacked six times.

The Steelers’ solution was to bring in Michael Vick, signing him to a contract on Tuesday. Unfortunately, there is a reason Vick was still available this late in August. His -21.7 overall grade was fourth-lowest among all quarterbacks in 2014, and he did this despite only playing 281 snaps. When he was under pressure, he had an NFL QB rating of 33.1 and was sacked on 30 percent of his dropbacks. When he wasn’t under pressure, he still only averaged 5.9 yards per attempt.

If the Steelers had the 2011 version of Michael Vick, they would be feeling much better about their offensive situation in the event Roethlisberger were have to come off the field. But Vick has had a negative pass grade every year since then.

Luckily, the Steelers have one of the better offensive lines in football (although Maurkice Pouncey is expected to miss extended time with an injury), and had the seventh-best pass protection in the league last season. But that won’t be enough to save Vick and the Steelers’ offense if Roethlisberger were to get injured.