Having the best seat in the house throughout the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah kept a close eye on the quarterbacks, and one of the biggest takeaways he had from the week-long event was that the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t be taking a signal caller in the first round.
Appearing on NFL Network at the end of the Combine Sunday, Jeremiah was asked by host Rich Eisen if the Steelers are a potential landing spot for a quarterback like Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, or Louisville’s Tyler Shough near the end of the first round.
Though Jeremiah acknowledged the Steelers are very much in the QB market, he doesn’t see them pulling the trigger on drafting a quarterback in the first round in April.
“The Steelers, to me, they are very much in the quarterback market. I just don’t know the way the board falls. I don’t think they’re going to take one at that point,” Jeremiah said when asked about quarterbacks in the back end of the first round, according to video via NFL.com.
Throughout the pre-draft process and early at the Combine, the Steelers have been connected to Dart. The Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin spoke with at the Senior Bowl and then had a formal meeting with him at the Combine, one of their 45 allowed.
Of the quarterbacks in the draft class, the Steelers met with just three of them formally that we know of: Dart, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, and Ohio State’s Will Howard, with Minnesota’s Max Brosmer being an informal meeting.
Ewers and Howard don’t exactly scream first-round QB while Dart is firmly in that discussion. Realistically, it all depends on what the Steelers do in free agency. Both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson are set to hit the open market, though reports indicate that Fields is the favorite to return as the starting QB with Wilson expected to sign elsewhere.
If the Steelers do roll with Fields, it seems unlikely they’d then draft a quarterback in the first round with a similar skill set. Instead, they would be wise to address the defensive line, receiver, cornerback and running back to bolster the roster around Fields.
While quarterback remains a massive need — it’s the most important position in all of sports, after all — it’s hard to imagine the Steelers under GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl taking a swing on a QB in this weaker draft class at the position, especially after having to reset so quickly after the failed Kenny Pickett experiment.
It seems much more likely that if the Steelers take a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft, it will occur in Rounds 3-4, rather than in the first round.
