Spring might be a time for hope and renewal, and even in Pittsburgh the grass has greened and leaves have returned to the trees as the NFL Draft commences in late April.
But when new Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike McCarthy evaluates football’s most important position while his team is on the clock, he isn’t thinking about sunshine and warm temperatures.
“At the end of the day, the most important games are in December and January,” McCarthy said recently. “To be able to play in those games outdoors, it requires to play a certain way.”
McCarthy and general manager Omar Khan have referenced the desire to acquire an “AFC North quarterback” as their next face of the franchise.
And though the organization originally targeted this year’s draft as its best method by which to find that man, myriad circumstances flipped the 2026 quarterback draft class on its head. What once was projected to be one of the best draft-eligible groups of signal-callers in recent memory instead devolved into what many observers see as an underwhelming collection of QBs.
Perhaps in part because of that, the Steelers seem intent on bringing back 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers to start at quarterback in 2026. They also have returnees in veteran backup Mason Rudolph and last year’s sixth-round pick, Will Howard.
That probably won’t prevent them, though, from taking a shot on a quarterback in this year’s draft held later this month in Pittsburgh. And if they do, former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys coach McCarthy prefers that QB to be able to weather the elements.
“I had to change a little bit going from Green Bay, Wis., to Dallas, Texas, on the expectations of how I think I can play with a quarterback as opposed to how I know I can play,” McCarthy said. “(Longtime Packers) Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers are Hall of Fame quarterbacks. But they both have long arms. They both have 10-inch hands. And to win playoff games, to win games in December … (former Steelers QB) Ben Roethlisberger is the same way, you’d have to play against him in cold weather. Your guy’s got to throw better than the other guy in the big games, or you’ve got to try to put them in position to.”
The search for an AFC North-style quarterback in this year’s draft might begin with a player who grew up a couple hours from Acrisure Stadium in Medina, Ohio. He also played in college less than three hours the other direction, at Penn State.
Drew Allar had the third-biggest hands (97⁄8 inches) and second-longest arms (323⁄4 inches) of any quarterback measured at the February combine. Only one combine QB is taller (6-foot-5) and only three heavier (228 pounds).
Allar, arguably, has the strongest arm of any of this year’s draft-eligible quarterbacks.
“I think a quarterback coach can work with and do some things there,” ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper said during a recent conference call with media. “He can make the tight-window throws. He’s effortless throwing a football, and he can spin it. And he can move. He’s a great kid.
“So there’s a lot to work with there with Drew Allar, and that’s why it’s conceivable and it’s possible he could be the third quarterback taken. (But) could he be a disappointment? Could be, yeah.”
Allar’s potential to disappoint stems largely from less-than-stellar outings while in many of his biggest games in college, including a pair of duds in top-10 matchups against Ohio State and interceptions on his final throw of defeats in the College Football Playoff semifinals to Notre Dame in January 2025 and in a top-10 matchup against Oregon this past September.
But with the Steelers having no shot at the top quarterback in this draft class — Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is going No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders — Allar might be their next-best realistic option.
Allar is battling with the likes of LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Miami’s Carson Beck to be the third quarterback selected, likely on Day 2 of the draft. After Mendoza, the lone quarterback projected as a likely first-round pick is Alabama’s Ty Simpson.
As a Tennessee native who played in the SEC, however, Simpson doesn’t fit that “AFC North” mold. He’s 4 inches shorter and 17 pounds lighter than Allar, with hands a full half-inch smaller than him and an arm length below the median for this year’s QB draft class.
Perhaps more important, Simpson did not become a starter until this past season. And over his final six starts, he had a pedestrian seven-to-four TD/INT ratio and averaged just 184.3 passing yards per game while going 3-3.
“It’s just how high of a pick is he worthy of,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said of Simpson during a conference call with media. “Is he worthy of a first-round pick? When you have the limited number of starts that he has, teams are going to have to get comfortable with that.
“One of the ways they can do that is by, (first), watching him move around and throw and getting a better feel for his physical skill set. And then, probably more importantly, just meeting with him and seeing how he understands the game. He’s the son of a coach, which I think he’ll do really well in that environment. But (teams) have to try to get beyond that (lack of starts) issue, which is a real thing.”