2026 NFL Draft: The Steelers QB Dating Game, The Final Round of Five

The Steelers are in desperate need of a new franchise quarterback. Now, just a couple of weeks out from the 2025 college football season, the BTSC readership has selected five quarterbacks to battle it out in one final round. Now, we’ll hold one final vote to determine which quarterback Steelers Nation most wants Pittsburgh to select in the 2026 Draft. Reminder: all responses from the “players” in this article are fictitious and stem from my analysis. As such, some of the answers will offer answers you would never hear a media-trained quarterback say. If you complain about this feature in the comments, know that you’re a lint-licker.

If you’re looking for further explanation/context for this series, read our additional entries, including:

• The series primer
• Vol. 1 Mr. Fantastic, the Natural, and the Lonestar Kid
• Vol. 2 Superman, Mr. Cool, and the Untamed
• Vol. 3 Prince Charming, Casey Jones, and Slim
• Vol. 4 The Gunslinger, Mr. Duval, and the Flatliner
• Vol. 5 The Local, the Marksman, and the Replacement

“Welcome to the Steelers QB Dating Game! Anddddd here’s your host, Steely McBeam!”

Steely McBeam: How are Yinz doing tonight? Welcome back to the final round!

Steely McBeam: I’ve already interviewed each of these quarterbacks on previous episodes, so for today’s vote, we’ll be doing things a little differently. For starters, we won’t have the back and forth of our earlier episodes. Today, we will make the case for each quarterback, then move on to the next contestant.

Additionally, we will break down each passer’s profile into rankings of different traits: arm talent, frame, mobility, moxy, and pressure. These rankings will be scored 1-5, and are a product of my analysis. The rankings represent where I think they stand among their peers in this exercise, with a “1” meaning they are the best at any given trait, and so on.

A bit more about each trait:

• Arm talent — This will look at not only how far the quarterback can throw it, but it will also consider if they’re able to layer their passes against different coverage looks in different areas of the field, adjust their velocities appropriately, make throws off-platform, and generally, if they are able to make both the easy and difficult throws
• Frame — The NFL is a league where players of all shapes and sizes can find success. While there isn’t necessarily a right and wrong in this regard, we have enough data to know which body types are most likely to survive the grind of an NFL season. For our money, quarterbacks that stand 6’2-6’5 are the ideal height, while QBs weighing 220-plus pounds make us feel more secure about their ability to take a hit.
• Mobility — The days of the stiff pocket passing quarterback are numbered as the NFL waits for Joe Flacco’s eventual retirement. The NFL has never embraced the idea of the quarterback as a weapon in the run game as much as it...