Why Steelers can't pass on drafting Penn State QB Drew Allar originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have to stop kidding themselves.
Aaron Rodgers may indeed put off retirement and start at quarterback for them once again in 2026, but that's not a long-term solution. Just like a year ago, it's a band-aid, nothing more.
The Steelers haven't prioritized finding a long-term solution at the most important position in sports since drafting Kenny Pickett and having that not work out as well as they would've hoped.
It's all well and good to say you'll deal with a Will Howard and Mason Rudolph combination for a year and then pick the right guy in 2027, but what if the right guy isn't on the board at the right time? Do you just kick the can a year down the road again?
The Steelers owe it to their fans to try and solve QB, and there's no reason to let the 2026 NFL Draft go by without picking one.
And the one they should pick feels obvious: Penn State's Drew Allar.
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The Penn State portion of this is obvious -- there's a lot of crossover fandom there.
Allar is actually an Ohio kid who the Buckeyes didn't pay attention to until it was too late.
It goes beyond all of that, though. Allar's talent is also quite intriguing.
He entered the 2025 college football season as a projected first-round picks -- a bunch of early mocks even predicted the Steelers would take him.
A bumpy Nittany Lions season that ended in injury meant Allar lowered his draft stock considerably, and maybe that's fair. He didn't seem to take a step forward in his game from the year prior.
Still, he's got intriguing talent, and now he'll cost something more like a fourth-round pick. What if Allar is actually the QB people thought he was, rather than the guy who got stuck in a muddy Penn State season? He'd be a steal for the Steelers.
If they draft him and he looks mediocre, fine, it's a mid-round pick wasted. But passing on QB entirely in this draft wouldn't make sense for the Steelers. Picking Allar does make sense.
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