The sheer volume of opinions and the influx of information about draft prospects this time of year can be overwhelming. Scouting is an art, or at least an inexact science, so naturally opinions will vary from person to person. The only opinions that ultimately matter are the consensus big boards of the 32 NFL teams, but even then things like positions of need, value, and positional depth within a draft class can force decisions outside of the big board structure.
In my mock draft 3.0 that went up this morning, I went through the exercise of what a draft could look like if the Steelers end up drafting a quarterback in the first round. If they don’t do that, I feel pretty certain in saying that they will draft one in either the third or fourth rounds. Their interest in the position is undeniable given all the Pro Day meetings and pre-draft visits. But which quarterbacks will still be sitting around by the time the Steelers are back on the clock at No. 83 overall?
I thought it would be a fun exercise to look at the various expert big boards that are floating around on the internet and compile them into a big board of averages along with the range of picks each prospect was ranked at and the variance (or degree of certainty) that experts seem to have on those rankings.
I only looked at big boards that ranked at least 100 prospects which weeded out quite a few, but I landed on a solid group.
– CBS Sports
– Dane Brugler’s The Beast
– Pro Football Focus
– Scouts Inc. via ESPN
– NFL.com’s Eric Edholm
– The Ringer
| QB | Average | Range | Variance |
| Cam Ward | 9.7 | 3 – 20 | 17 |
| Shedeur Sanders | 29.8 | 14 – 47 | 33 |
| Jaxson Dart | 59.2 | 28 – 137 | 109 |
| Jalen Milroe | 76.5 | 59 – 101 | 42 |
| Tyler Shough | 100.2 | 38 – 191 | 153 |
| Will Howard | 111.7 | 98 – 123 | 25 |
| Quinn Ewers | 113.0 | 86 – 153 | 67 |
| Dillon Gabriel | 159.7 | 118 – 205 | 87 |
| Riley Leonard | 173.0 | 128-218 | 90 |
| Kyle McCord | 174.7 | 103-236 | 133 |
So what can we glean from this aggregation of big board rankings? For one, if the Steelers are hoping that Shedeur Sanders will fall to them at No. 21, it isn’t the most outlandish idea in the world. On average he was ranked 29.8 on the big boards. He was ranked as high as 14 and as low as 47. People like Brugler, who had him at 34, said he wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if Sanders falls to Pittsburgh.
I thought Jalen Milroe would be the wild card, but analysts were pretty steady with his rankings. His highs and lows were separated by only 42 spots and he was surprisingly ahead of media darling Tyler Shough on average.
Who will be available in the third round or beyond? According to this list, that would be Tyler Shough, Will Howard, Quinn Ewers, Dillon Gabriel, Riley Leonard and Kyle McCord.
If they want to wait to the fourth round, you can take Shough, Howard and Ewers off that list.
The Steelers have met nearly everybody on the list other than Cam Ward and Dillon Gabriel, and they may have spoken with one or both of them at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.
Factor in the positional value of quarterbacks and it might be slim pickings by No. 83 in the third round. The ideal situation might actually be to trade up higher into the third round or even into the second round, but the Steelers don’t have draft capital to work with unless they want to start pawning off 2026 value.
It feels pretty likely at this point that the Steelers will either spend a first or third-round pick on a quarterback.
