Steelers Now
On the clock with the No. 21 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers passed on Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart. ESPN’s Dan Graziano isn’t sounding the alarm on the Steelers’ coming season just because they didn’t add one of those quarterbacks at that spot.
Head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan did eventually take a passer — adding Ohio State’s Will Howard on Day 3 — but that draft placement doesn’t quite scream “future of the franchise.”
“I just can’t rip the Steelers for not forcing a quarterback,” Graziano wrote last Saturday. “They did exactly that three years ago when they selected Kenny Pickett in the first round of a draft in which no other quarterback went before the third round. Whiffing on Pickett is a big part of the reason they find themselves in their current quarterback pickle. If there had been a guy there at No. 21 — or even at No. 83 — whom they truly believed in as their long-term franchise QB, they should absolutely have taken him.
“But clearly, there was not, and the Steelers have repeatedly told us they believe they still have avenues for addressing the position between now and the start of the season.”
Among those options is Aaron Rodgers, and if the Steelers don’t wind up with the four-time NFL MVP, fellow veteran Kirk Cousins could fill the spot. Graziano added that Pittsburgh seems more trusting in Mason Rudolph than most outside their building.
“Next year’s draft quarterback class is expected to be richer in talent than this year’s was, and if they can patch the 2025 season together with some combination of Rodgers/Cousins/Rudolph-type veterans, it’s possible they can fix the long-term issue a year from now,” Graziano said. “It’s the Steelers, everybody. We know they’ll find a way to win more games than they lose.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Graziano: Steelers Made Right Choice Not Reaching for QB
