Is Shedeur Sanders the top quarterback on the Steelers’ board for Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft?
It’s early Saturday morning, Shedeur Sanders is undrafted, and the Steelers don’t have a quarterback yet—so what happens next? With four picks on Day 3, Pittsburgh will likely use one on a quarterback. With only five drafted in the first three rounds, a number of options remain available, and they thoroughly scouted just about all of them.
The question is, which quarterback do they rank the highest? If Gerry Dulac is correct, the Steelers had a first-round grade on Shedeur Sanders. I’m guessing they didn’t have a first-round grade on Will Howard or Quinn Ewers. Yet they passed on Sanders with their first- and third-round picks—focusing on big needs elsewhere.
The thing with this particular quarterback is you’re not just getting a quarterback. If the Steelers draft Shedeur Sanders, they also draft the entire Sanders Family Experience, and who knows what that means. They had a custom draft room with “Legendary” written everywhere. Deion Sanders has attacked media who supported Shedeur when attempting to reconcile why no team has drafted his son.
Given that we’ve gone through three rounds and nobody has drafted him yet, the league has obviously collectively decided that his on-field tape is not worth the headaches that might come with it in the first three rounds. But the fourth round and on is a different ball game—in both good and bad ways. Take the Steelers, for example, with Sanders as the backup to Aaron Rodgers or Mason Rudolph. Can you imagine how that would go after Rodgers’ third interception or so? The backup quarterback is so frequently the most popular player in a town without a franchise starter.
But a fourth-round pick isn’t so much of a gamble at this point, the risk-reward ratio favoring the latter the later you get into the draft. There is presumably a significant segment in the Steelers’ building that likes Shedeur Sanders’ tape. They also have their defensive lineman and running back, those boxes decisively checked in the first and third rounds, respectively. If quarterback is next on their agenda, is Sanders the top name on the list? Or is it Howard—or Ewers—or Kyle McCord—or Riley Leonard?
The Steelers’ 2024 season has come to its predictably inauspicious end, with yet another one-and-done postseason for HC Mike Tomlin. The offense faltered, and the defense matched it blow for blow, leading to a 21-0 first-half deficit.
Just like last year, the biggest question hanging over the Steelers is the quarterback question. There are other major decisions to make, as well, such as what to do with George Pickens. Do you sign him to an extension, try to trade him, or let him play out his rookie contract?
The Steelers started the 2024 season 10-3, with Mike Tomlin in the Coach of the Year conversation. Wash, rinse, and repeat, and we have another late-season collapse. This may be the worst yet, a four-game losing streak presaging a one-and-done playoff “run”. Welcome to Steelers football.
