Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback John Parker Wilson (4) makes a pass during practice at training camp at the team training facility in Latrobe. The fourth-string quarterback believes he can still play after spending four seasons bouncing from team to team. He'll get his next chance on Saturday against the New York Giants.

PITTSBURGH — John Parker Wilson has no designs on Ben Roethlisberger’s job.

A job, of any variety really, will be just fine for the fourth-string Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback.

The same goes for Curtis Painter, who spent eight mostly painful weeks filling in for Peyton Manning in Indianapolis in 2011 and now finds himself simply trying to extend his career somewhere on the New York Giants’ depth chart behind Eli Manning.

Long after the stars have exited the field during the preseason opener between the two teams on Saturday night, Wilson and Painter will trot onto it hoping to provide a glimpse of what could still be.

Entering his fifth NFL preseason, the 27-year-old Wilson knows the window of opportunity is closing. He has yet to throw a pass in a regular-season game and has spent most of his career bouncing back and forth between the practice squad and the last option on the 53-man roster.

Yet he’s still not ready to head back to Birmingham, Ala., and begin his post-football life. The former starting quarterback for Alabama knows there will be work back home whenever he steps away. He’s not quite there yet.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Wilson said. “I’m focused on football.”

Namely, impressing coach Mike Tomlin enough to keep him around. It won’t be easy. The Steelers signed free agent Bruce Gradkowski to serve as Roethlisberger’s backup and drafted Landry Jones out of Oklahoma in the fourth round.

While the Steelers aren’t nearly ready to call Jones the eventual successor to Roethlisberger, he’ll be given every chance to succeed for a team that values its draft picks perhaps more than any other franchise in the NFL.

That part, Wilson allows, is out of his hands. The only thing he can control is what he puts on tape, both in practice and in games. He’d love to make a great impression on Saturday night. Just don’t expect him to do it by trying to turn himself into a Roethlisberger clone.

“That’s where I’ve gotten into trouble in the past,” Wilson said. “You can’t create stuff when it’s not there. You can’t go out there and try to throw three touchdowns a game if they’re not there.”

Wilson’s checklist includes making smart decisions and protecting the ball. Through the first two weeks of training camp, that much is clear. During one drill at Saint Vincent College on Friday, Wilson dropped back, found no one open and heaved a pass a good 20 yards over the back of the end zone. The ball rolled down a small incline and onto an adjacent practice field.

It wasn’t a touchdown. It wasn’t a turnover either. At the moment, that’s enough. It has to be since the coaching staff gives little to no feedback on why they do what they do. It makes trying to count who gets the most snaps a useless exercise.

“They have a million different reasons for how they do the reps they do and they don’t tell you,” Wilson said. “When they say `Hey JP, get in,’ I try to do my job.”’