It’s hard to complain with much of what the Steelers have done during the first two days of the NFL Draft. They’ve made just two selections, but each have been solid pickups in Derrick Harmon and Kaleb Johnson. With that said, there’s still a hole at the quarterback position. And for the second time in as many days on Friday, Pittsburgh passed on Shedeur Sanders.
So did the rest of the NFL. In an absolutely shocking twist, Sanders remains undrafted as we head into the third and final day of the draft. After the third round concluded on Friday, Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports ranked the best landing spots for Sanders going into Day 3. The Steelers came in second.
“They’re the hardest to pin down, seeing as they have arguably the NFL’s biggest remaining hole at quarterback, yet they’ve calmly passed over Sanders twice already,” Benjamin wrote. “Even if Aaron Rodgers eventually puts pen to paper, couldn’t Sanders come in with lower expectations as an heir apparent now that he’s slid so far?”
At this point, Shedeur Sanders’ drop is just shocking. Just a few months ago, he was in conversations to be the first overall pick. Even as recently as Thursday, many were thinking the Steelers might seriously consider him at the 21st overall selection. Now, he’s going in Round 4, at best.
With that in mind, it would, objectively, be good value for the Steelers to take Sanders on Saturday. It’s clear that no team has felt strongly about him at all through the first three rounds. But getting a player who was widely expected to go in the first round and felt like the second-best QB in the class on Day 3 is tremendous value.
Omar Khan has repeatedly stated that he wants to take four quarterbacks to training camp. Even if Aaron Rodgers does eventually sign with Pittsburgh, they’d still be one short. Also, Art Rooney II mentioned on Friday, before Rounds 2 and 3, that the QB position could be in consideration.
If it truly is, the Steelers will select one on Saturday. They probably didn’t expect Sanders to still be on the board this late. But at some point the value becomes too hard to ignore.
