Robert Mays: Steelers Dealing with QB Scenario Effectively, However Loading Up For 2026 Draft Will Be ‘Exhausting To Do’

You don’t need to surf the Web for lengthy to seek out folks important of the way in which the Steelers have dealt with their QB state of affairs this offseason. It’s honest to be upset, as Mason Rudolph is at present in line to begin.

Nonetheless, given their lack of choices this offseason, is there a lot they may have carried out? The Athletic’s Robert Mays doesn’t assume so.

“Yeah, it is a viable path,” Mays stated of Monday the Steelers’ QB search on The Athletic Soccer Present. “That is most likely the easiest way to go about it. Should you wanna signal [Aaron] Rodgers, nice, I feel that’s completely cheap based mostly on the options proper now. Should you wanna bypass a quarterback on this 12 months’s draft, I feel that’s okay too.”

The Steelers have caught some warmth throughout their pursuit for Rodgers. The most important cause for that’s clearly the period of time they’ve needed to await him to decide. It’s uncommon for a traditionally profitable franchise, just like the Steelers, to be ready on a QB for therefore lengthy. Nonetheless, as Mays factors out, it’s not like there have been a ton of different choices. The Steelers did make a proposal to Justin Fields, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to maintain him from signing with the New York Jets. Since then, Rodgers has been their high precedence.

The draft is an choice, but it surely could be troublesome for the Steelers to seek out their QB there. On the twenty first choice, there are a number of groups forward of them that additionally want their franchise QB. These embody the Titans, Browns, Giants, and the Saints after Derek Carr’s shoulder harm that was reported a number of days in the past. The Steelers may think about themselves fortunate if a worthy QB even fell to No. 21. And even when one does, the Steelers produce other wants to handle too.

Many assume, given the quantity of compensatory picks the Steelers ought to obtain subsequent 12 months, that they could possibly be aiming to make a run at a QB throughout the 2026 draft. Mays sees the imaginative and prescient there however thinks it’s simpler stated than carried out.

“This concept of, we’re gonna load up for subsequent 12 months? Should you win 9 video games once more, and also you’re sitting there with the seventeenth decide, that’s laborious to do,” Mays stated. “While you take a look at latest historical past, there’s some groups which were in a position to transfer up (within the draft) a bit of bit, however not that a lot.”

The latest instance of a workforce giving up a lot of picks of choose a quarterback can be Carolina with Bryce Younger. Then, the Panthers moved up from ninth to first. Younger confirmed promise in 2024, however that choice exhibits the danger that comes with making such a transfer. The Panthers have had extraordinarily little success since then and gave up a ton of draft picks to make the commerce.

Mays has level. Positioning your self effectively for the 2026 draft solely actually occurs you probably have a excessive draft decide. If the Steelers find yourself choosing within the backside half of the primary spherical once more, buying and selling up thus far can be troublesome, to say the least. Pittsburgh might attempt land a better draft decide by way of a commerce as a substitute, however that takes two keen events.

On the finish of the day, it’s all the time dangerous drafting a quarterback within the first spherical. It’s much more dangerous when you must commerce belongings to maneuver up so as to take action. The concept of the Steelers gearing up for a QB in 2026 sounds good now, particularly in the event that they don’t draft one this 12 months. Nonetheless, it’s removed from a certain factor.