Buy or Sell: The Steelers should draft QB Shedeur Sanders if he falls to them at 21.
Explanation: With a glaring need at quarterback, Shedeur Sanders is the highest-rated prospect the Steelers could draft at 21. Cam Ward should go first overall, but it’s not clear any quarterback goes off the board in between. Sanders is not an elite athlete and has some warts in his game, but he is a smart and capable playmaker.
For the sake of clarification, we are discussing personal views here, not hypotheses. This isn’t about whether the Steelers are likely to draft Shedeur Sanders; it’s about whether they ought to. While many fans seem diametrically opposed to the idea, there are many who would celebrate the move.
Buy:
You can’t hit a home run with the bat sitting on your shoulder. The Steelers need a quarterback and Shedeur Sanders would be the best one available at 21. His game might not be flawless, but he is worthy of a first-round pick. The Steelers seem to think so, based on reports that they have a first-round grade on him.
If the Steelers don’t draft Sanders, they are basically punting on this season. Now, you don’t draft a quarterback with only one season in mind, but how long can they go with has-beens? A lot of the criticisms of Sanders’ game have been absolutely wild yet are typically very coachable.
Sell:
Shedeur Sanders is not good enough to be a long-term starter in the NFL, so no, the Steelers shouldn’t draft him, at least not at 21. If he were to fall to the third round, then sure, go ahead and take a swing. But this team has more pressing needs, like the defensive line. They can’t afford to make a luxury pick in the first round.
And that’s what taking a quarterback who isn’t a clean projection would be. If the Steelers were to draft Shedeur Sanders, it would be a luxury, because he wouldn’t even play this year. And it would be a project to get him to where he needs to be. In some ways, he is the most NFL-ready quarterback in this class. But he has a lot of fine-tuning in front of him before he can be taken seriously as a franchise guy.
The Steelers are building toward the 2025 season, following yet another disappointing year. While they reached the playoffs, they once again lost authoritatively in the first round. They are facing questions, both publicly, and perhaps privately as well. Questions about The Standard, and what the Steelers stand for.
The rookie class of a year ago was successful, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2025. And they need everyone healthy to do it, not an insignificant consideration. They needed a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in the 2025 NFL draft yet again.
These sorts of uncertainties are what we will address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, we will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
