With the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, the Steelers should stay out of the quarterback market in the first round. That is the opinion of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Ray Fittipaldo, who discussed the team’s outlook at the position Monday on the North Shore Drive podcast.
“I think for this year for the Steelers, the smart move, whether you sign Aaron Rodgers or not, [is to] take that out of the equation”, he argued of the team’s draft plans. “Get yourself a quarterback [in the] third or fourth round, develop him behind Mason Rudolph or Aaron Rodgers, see what he has, get a comfort level. You’ll know if he’s a potential backup or a potential starter by the end of next season. And then you go into the 2026 draft saying, ‘Okay, we need a starter’ or ‘We’re all set’”.
The Steelers have many draft needs, and quarterback certainly tops the list. But there is also the matter of supply and demand, and the supply of quarterbacks this year is questionable. And unlike in traditional commerce, quarterbacks are not a cookie-cutter product. Every one is unique, and of different quality, which could vary from team to team.
If the right quarterback fit isn’t there for the Steelers in the draft, there is no sense forcing it. Not in the first round, anyway, when there are valid alternatives along the defensive line, for example. Still, if somebody like Shedeur Sanders were available at 21, it would make an interesting discussion. Fittipaldo would choose to pass, depending on the board, but that’s not to say the team would.
While the Steelers brought in Sanders and Jaxson Dart for visits before the draft, they have also done their homework on mid-round quarterbacks. Jalen Milroe is one name to consider, if by chance he should fall. But they have also looked at Tyler Shough and Kyle McCord up close at their practice facility. And they saw or met with virtually every other draftable quarterback along the draft trail, too.
While Fittipaldo previously said he is pretty confident the Steelers will draft a quarterback, he doesn’t know exactly where. Sanders, Milroe and Dart being gone in the first round would pretty much render that moot in the first round. But they would have plenty of options by their third-round selection and could trade up into Round 2. Or they could continue to wait and hope to find a Quinn Ewers or Will Howard later on.
“I think that’s the route to go for the Steelers” in the draft, Fittipaldo maintained, in terms of addressing their need at the quarterback position. “I just don’t think taking one in the first round would solve a lot of problems in the short term, or the long term”.
Most first-round quarterbacks, no matter what year, don’t work out. Some years are better than others, but there is no such guarantee of success. Perhaps the most recent “guaranteed” successes have been Joe Burrow and Andrew Luck. But to draft such quarterbacks, the Steelers would need the first-overall pick, and that hasn’t happened in a long time.
