Before either he or coach Mike McCarthy took any questions during the annual Pittsburgh Steelers pre-draft news conference Monday, general manager Omar Khan wanted to get the requisite Aaron Rodgers update out of the way.
“I know you guys are going to ask me on Aaron,” Khan said from UPMC Rooney Sports Complex while seated to the left of McCarthy. “We’ve had some great communication with Aaron. Nothing’s changed, but it’s all been positive and good.”
The “nothing’s changed” signals Rodgers — the 42-year-old, four-time NFL MVP quarterback — has not formally signed with the Steelers nor given any apparent promise he will soon. That is aligned with an NFL Network report earlier Monday that “there is no expectation of a final decision prior to the NFL Draft” in regards to Rogers playing for the Steelers this season.
Team president Art Rooney II had said from the owners’ meetings late last month in Phoenix that he expected an answer from Rodgers by the draft. That apparently is not forthcoming. But to hear the Steelers’ football braintrust tell it, they are not going to let that affect their plans for this weekend’s draft.
Even with Will Howard on the cusp of entering his second season and with a fruitful QB draft class projected for 2027, the Steelers won’t shy away from adding a young quarterback with one of the 12 selections they hold in the event hosted by Pittsburgh this Thursday through Saturday.
“We speak on it as being the most important position in football,” McCarthy said Monday, “and I think it’s important to always try to add to it if you can.
“But it has to fit.”
So, who fits? It’s likely Fernando Mendoza would fit just fine in black and gold and in McCarthy’s offense — but Mendoza almost certainly won’t last beyond 8 minutes after the draft starts when the Las Vegas Raiders select him at No. 1 overall.
That leaves Alabama’s Ty Simpson as the only projected realistic QB option under consideration for the rest of Round 1 — the Steelers currently hold the 21st overall pick — with passers such as Miami’s Carson Beck, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Penn State’s Drew Allar, North Dakota State’s Cole Payton, Arkansas’ Taylen Green and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik options in the middle rounds.
The Steelers are known to have formally met with Simpson and Nussmeier at the NFL combine in February, and they used four of their 30 allotted spots to host Beck, Payton, Green and Allar for official visits at the team facility in recent weeks.
“I, as a quarterback coach, would like to work with any of these guys,” said McCarthy, who broke into the NFL coaching QBs three decades ago and has called plays at the pro level for most of the past quarter century.
McCarthy on Monday reiterated a theme he has repeated this spring in regards to the type of quarterback he seeks — one who can thrive in the elements teams such as the Steelers will face in their home games and during late-season (December) and playoff (January) football.
“It was nice to be out there on the field today, and we were blessed with a nice wind,” said McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native who spent 13 seasons as head coach of the Green Bay Packers but in his most recent job headed the Dallas Cowboys.
“I think it’s really that you’ve got to decide what you want (in a young quarterback), and I think this (draft) class has that. It’s not the biggest class (by quantity quality available) that I’ve seen, but I think you’ve just got to decide really what you’re looking for, and there’s guys there for that.”
Howard was a sixth-round pick last year just three months after leading Ohio State to the national title.
McCarthy has repeatedly praised Howard and expressed an eagerness to work with him, and Monday offered one of the first opportunities for McCarthy to get a close look at Howard in a practice-like setting.
A Pennsylvania native who played in Big Ten games, Howard’s height (6-foot-4) and hand (9 inches) and arm (32 inches) sizes suggest he fits the profile McCarthy is looking for.
Still, McCarthy spoke Monday like a man who isn’t going to let the presence of Howard deter him from adding another young passer via a draft choice.
Would that make for a clunky, awkward fit in which McCarthy is spread too thin in trying to tutor two developmental quarterbacks at once?
Not so, McCarthy said.
“And that speaks to the staff,” McCarthy said, alluding to his offensive assistants. “There’s a number of coaches that have been with me in the past. … So, we’re fine as far as the training environment that we’re trying to establish.”