Steelers Now
Ian Cummings of Pro Football Network has the Pittsburgh Steelers landing Minnesota star quarterback Drake Lindsey at 14th overall in his way-too-early 2027 mock draft.
“Drake Lindsey is a wild-card passer who could ascend as an early-round candidate in the 2027 NFL Draft cycle,” Cummings wrote. “At his best, and this is contingent on development in 2026, he could invite stylistic parallels to Big Ben from Steelers nation… He turned in a respectable PFN QB Impact Score of 77.8, and his 0.5 EPA per dropback in close-game scenarios was 15th among passers with at least 10 starts, according to TruMedia.
“At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Lindsey perfectly fits the profile of the old-school, big-armed pocket passer. He’s big and high-mass, with quantifiably elite arm strength, velocity generation, and angle freedom, and those domineering traits aren’t just for show. “On top of having elite size and arm strength, Lindsey also shows off impressive pre-snap command, post-snap vision, opportunity identification skills, and layering ability for such a young QB. With another year of growth and accuracy improvement, Round 1 is possible.”
Derrick Bell of Steelers Now has Lindsey ranked as his fourth-best quarterback in the 2027 NFL Draft.
“Studying the tape of Drake Lindsey will give you exhilarating flashbacks of those 2000s-era AFC North gunslingers because he’s a true throwback pocket passer in every sense of the term,” Bell wrote. “He’s an anticipatory passer that is fearless working over the middle of the field, carving up split-safety looks with layered throws to the second level. He’s a super touch thrower, but has multiple clubs in his bag and understands when to deploy them all.
“Lindsey is an assassin on out-breakers, consistently into his quick throwing motion before the receiver reaches the break point, and he has the arm strength to get it there on a line from the opposite hash. Unlike most college quarterback prospects, the Gophers offense does ask him to get under center and turn his back to the defense. To little fault of his own, the sample size of translatable reps is rather small, in part because his ecosystem is dreadful.”
The Steelers have young QBs in Will Howard and Drew Allar on their roster, but both are projects. Lindsey is a by far better prospect coming out.
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy is a quarterback whisper. A duo of McCarthy and Lindsey can get the Steelers back on track and out of the funk they’ve been in since Ben Roethlisberger retired following the 2021 season.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Land Elite Quarterback in Way-Too-Early 2027 Mock Draft: ‘Parallels to Big Ben’
