Despite appearances, some mock drafts still suggest the Steelers may take a quarterback in the first round. Most of these mock drafts tend to be from national writers, as local beat writers will insist. While Cam Ward is consistently out of the Steelers’ reach and Shedeur Sanders usually is as well, a third option has emerged in Jaxson Dart.
The Ole Miss quarterback led his conference or all of the FBS last year in completion percentage, passing yards, yards per attempt, and quarterback rating. Dart certainly has talent, but is he worth a first-round pick, as trends indicate? The Steelers already know a little something about overdrafting a quarterback. And Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests they ought to remember that before giving it much consideration.
Asked about the Steelers potentially drafting a quarterback in the first round, Fittipaldo shot the notion down. He called it “crazy talk” in a recent chat, noting “the Dart mocks”, adding: “Did we not learn anything from the Kenny Pickett Experiment”?
The Steelers took the first quarterback off the board in 2022 when they selected Kenny Pickett 20th overall. That nobody drafted any quarterback in the first 19 selections should have been a dead giveaway, of course.
The 2024 class is not regarded as quite as poor as 2022, at least with a couple of higher-end prospects. I think everybody would agree, for example, that Cam Ward would have gone near the top of that class. One might even argue that Jaxson Dart is better than any of that year’s first-round candidates, including Kenny Pickett.
While the Steelers are in dire need of a quarterback, that doesn’t mean there is a quarterback reasonably available to them in the draft who would offer them an upgrade to their current options. The Steelers are expected to re-sign either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson, though drafting a quarterback is in consideration.
The Steelers were evidently set on drafting a quarterback in 2022, and they did end up having their pick. While they landed on Kenny Pickett, none of the other major names from that class have emerged as viable starters. Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis, Matt Corral, Bailey Zappe, and Sam Howell were taken in the first five rounds. Brock Purdy, Mr. Irrelevant, has been by far the best of the class.
It’s hard to argue in favor of the Steelers drafting a quarterback from this class in the first round. However, it’s equally hard to dismiss the notion of drafting a quarterback this year altogether. While there might not be anything close to a sure thing, a flyer on a mid-round prospect is more palatable.
