The Steelers had ample opportunity to make a desperate move at quarterback during the draft, but they remained true to their board. They deserve praise for that and not buckling under the weight of the position, Brooke Pryor says. Speaking about their draft class on the Bishop and Friends podcast, the ESPN reporter broke down their approach at quarterback.
“I do give this organization a lot of credit for not drafting a quarterback in the first round, for not trading away assets to get a guy that they’re not completely sold on could be the future of this team”, she said. “I think that the Kenny Pickett situation was a real, clear, obvious example of you can do all your homework on a guy, but if you reach for someone and it doesn’t work out, you can really set the organization back.
“So the [Steelers] were at least disciplined and said, ‘You know what, we don’t feel 100 percent about a high-pick quarterback. We’ll get Will Howard in the sixth round, but we’re gonna patch up all the other holes and then address quarterback’”.
The Steelers had not had to worry about securing a franchise quarterback for many years. After drafting Ben Roethlisberger in 2004, they enjoyed a largely successful 18-year run that included two Super Bowls. They were at least competitive nearly every year, and the quarterback position was never the weak link. The Steelers can’t exactly say the same about their quarterbacks over the past few years.
In the first year after Roethlisberger retired, the Steelers drafted a first-round quarterback in the form of Kenny Pickett. They traded him two years later, and he is now on his third team going into Year 4. A team that just drafted not one but two quarterbacks, mind you, and signed a quarterback who led them to the playoffs two years ago.
This year, the Steelers drafted 21st overall with just one quarterback taken off the board in Cam Ward. They could have drafted Jaxson Dart or Tyler Shough or Shedeur Sanders, right then and there. Or they could have traded back into the second round or done any number of things. They could have even drafted Will Howard earlier, but they didn’t pull the trigger until Round 6.
In fact, the Steelers even doubled up on defensive linemen before finally drafting a quarterback. One has to wonder if they would have even bothered at all had Howard not been there. In recent years, they have thrown money at UDFAs to fill the depth chart, like John Rhys Plumlee.
Of course, the elephant in the room is Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback the Steelers have been courting for more than a month. One imagines that they feel pretty good about him signing. But would have they felt the desperation of drafting a quarterback high if not? In 2022, they already had Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph when they drafted Kenny Pickett. And remember, they felt “comfortable” with Rudolph even then.
