What will the Pittsburgh Steelers do on their 21st pick in the 2025 NFL Draft? Will they take a quarterback like the Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders? Will they take defensive tackles like Oregon’s Derrick Harmon? Or will they go back to the draft?
You can create compelling cases for all three options. The Steelers only have Mason Rudolph and Skyler Thompson on the roster, so the quarterback makes a lot of sense. DT Cam Heyward is one year older. So defensive linemen grooming as HIMM alternatives would be smart. It would also be wise to get more picks as the Steelers don’t have a second pick for the WR DK MetCalf trade.
However, the quarterback position is the most important position on the football field. This is the difference between competition with playoff spots and competition with Super Bowl. So why aren’t the Steelers targeting quarterbacks on their 21st pick? It has something to do with the difference in potential differences between this year’s class and the 2026 quarterback class.
“There’s a sensibility that exists in the Steelers building. “If we don’t get it again this year, the answer for next year is probably,” said Dan Graziano, an insider for the ESPN NFL. get up.
Perhaps Pittsburgh has a gap in how he handles this year’s quarterback position. The Steelers met extensively with Sanders, Ole Miss QB Jackson Dart and Alabama QB Jalen Milllow. And according to Peter Schrager, the pre-draft visit with Sanders went very well.
Director Mike Tomlin may actually be obsessed with Chedure Sanders. He may be pushing to eventually get his Ben Roethlisberger replacement. But perhaps the team’s reconnaissance division, led by general manager Omar Khan, believes that waiting until next year will allow the team to provide better service. For the record, insider Jerry Dulac believes the Steelers won’t target the quarterback in the first round.
“The quarterback class coming out of college football next year will be like last year,” Dan Orlovsky said in the same segment of Get Up. “I’m going to talk about six guys that could go in the first round.”
The six quarterbacks in the first round will be a major starting point for this year’s class. The only virtual guarantee is that Miami QB Camward is the first to go on the Tennessee Titans overall. From there, it’s crap. Some believe Ward will be the only first-round quarterback. Some believe that both Sanders and Dirt can go to the later stages of the first round. Perhaps by some combinations the team trades up and the Steelers are taking it.
However, the Steelers haven’t put all their quarterback eggs in one basket this season. They have been pursuing QB Aaron Rodgers. And there are rumours that they are interested in dealing with Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins. Perhaps the Steelers building has an element that you would like to pursue better rookie options in 2026 using veteran options this year.
What’s certain is that the Steelers will need to find a franchise quarterback to return to championship competition. None of the non-draft solutions will rekindle another Super Bowl chase. And while Tomlin loves to say that the team cannot live in fear, the Steelers certainly seem to be afraid of repeating the Kenny Pickett story. At some point, they need to make another swing when finding the quarterback for that franchise. There are also no half-baked bunts.
Will the Steelers chase QB Shedeur Sanders tonight? Or will they wait for 2026? Thankfully, we are not too far from finding.
