Quarterback mobility is getting very close to becoming a required trait in today’s NFL, and Mike Tomlin has been talking about it for years now. As the Pittsburgh Steelers begin to formulate their future plans at quarterback, I’m certain they will be looking for a player who can stress defenses with both his arm and legs. Jalen Milroe fits that description, and various outlets have already started to link him to the Steelers in their mock drafts.
Chris Canty believes the Steelers should give Milroe a hard look because he is a similar style of quarterback to Justin Fields.
“I think you draft a quarterback, but you also re-sign Justin Fields. And I’m gonna give you the name of a quarterback: Jalen Milroe,” Canty said Thursday via ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike. “I think that’s the route that they go down. Quarterbacks with similar skill sets and somebody that Arthur Smith can seamlessly integrate into the offense whenever he gets ready to be the starter for that football team. So to me, that makes a lot of sense.”
If you want a quarterback who is viewed as being similar to Fields, why not just stick with Fields? Milroe is a less polished version of Fields coming out of college. Fields was the No. 11 overall pick, and Milroe is widely viewed as a late first- or early second-round talent. It isn’t all his fault, but his era at Alabama was its least successful in many years. Nick Saban even benched him at one point in 2023.
He completed 65 percent of his passes over the last two seasons for 5,678 yards, 39 TDs and 17 INTs.
“I think it’s more of a scenario where they entertain trading back a couple of slots and grabbing a guy like Jalen Milroe in the first round, early in the second round,” Canty said.
Trading back is always a popular discussion leading up to the draft, but it’s not the easiest thing to execute. The Steelers haven’t done it in the first round since 2001 when they selected Casey Hampton after moving back a few spots. There has to be a willing partner, and the compensation isn’t always that great for just a few spots in the first round. The Steelers gave up a fourth-round pick to move up a few spots to select Broderick Jones a couple years ago, for example.
If they like Milroe enough to make him their top pick in the draft, it wouldn’t seem like a wise decision to willingly move back and risk him getting taken by someone else.
Our Alex Kozora completed a scouting report on Milroe this morning and gave him a fourth-round grade, offering a loose comparison to Fields.
