Though at this point no shoe-in to end up the franchise quarterback of the future, Drew Allar will be given every opportunity to sweep Pittsburgh Steelers coaches off their feet.
What’s the most efficient path for the rookie quarterback to get his foot in the door? Putting his best foot forward by perfecting his … footwork.
Over the first month since he was drafted with the first of three Steelers third-round picks, Allar has by all accounts embraced being a good foot solider in toeing the line with what has been asked of him by the Steelers’ offensive brain trust of coach Mike McCarthy, offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio and quarterbacks coach Tom Arth.
“It’s just going to take reps overall,” Allar said earlier this month about his development into an NFL quarterback. “Just playing with a little bit wider base and keeping my feet in the ground as much as I can and not get on my toes as much. It’s just really fundamental things that I just have to be aware of now and be conscious of.
“Obviously I want to be as accurate as I can in the drill work, but I’m really just right now focusing on the footwork.”
Standing 6-foot-5, 228 pounds and blessed with an elite arm, above-average athleticism and a three-year resume of starting in the Big Ten, Allar has all the ingredients to be a face-of-the-franchise type NFL quarterback.
That doesn’t mean, though, that it won’t take some work to get him there. A need for refinement is why he was the fourth quarterback and 76th overall player taken in April’s draft.
And at the crux is his footwork.
“It makes a difference,” McCarthy said of proper footwork for a passer. “It gives you the ability to play faster, gives you the ability to transition in and out of the challenges that occur throughout quarterback play.
“We’re teaching him different than the way he’s played before. He hasn’t spent a lot of time under center. He’s a run-and-shoot guy in high school. He’s played from nine yards deep. So, there’s just a lot of newness to him.”
Like most top quarterbacks at the highest-profile college programs these days, Allar at Penn State operated exclusively out of the shotgun. Whereas, generally speaking, the college game is based off of quick reads and rarely deployed play-action, at the NFL level offenses require an under-center element in order to keep the best defensive players in the world honest.
Former NFL quarterback Mike McMahon, a North Allegheny alumnus, works as a private coach for passers of all levels. He was trained as a player in the West-Coast offense that McCarthy helped perfect over three decades ago and continues to run today.
“You’re going to need someone with a West Coast background that knows the footwork and how it’s done,” said McMahon, who played at Rutgers and five seasons in the NFL.
“You’re really emphasizing trying to get away from center. You have to explode out and get away from center. When you’re in the gun, you’re kind of already at your launch point. You want to be between that 5- and 8-yard range. If I get past 8 yards, if I get to that 9, 10, 11 yards, all I’m doing is making (elite NFL pass rushers such as) T. J. Watt’s job a lot easier to come off the edge, and I’m making my tackle’s job a lot harder.”
Allar isn’t the first or only successful college quarterback of this era asked to transition to the pro game, and he won’t be the last. Certainly, there are and have been passers much more raw and with much less talent.
The Steelers have some unique advantages in their pursuit of tapping Allar’s vast potential. First is the guidance of McCarthy, who is considered one of this generation’s foremost offensive minds and developers of the quarterback position in the NFL.
Another resource Allar has been encouraged to tap is four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who at 42 is playing his 22nd NFL season. Rodgers spent 13 seasons perfecting McCarthy’s West Coast offense while they were with the Green Bay Packers.
“If I’m Allar, I’m going to literally watch everything he does,” McMahon said, “and try to learn the footwork from him.”
Though the Steelers by no means are expecting Allar to start in 2026, it would be encouraging to see significant strides from him over the course of the allotted organized team activities sessions and minicamp practices so he can ground running at training camp on July 26.
The general narrative is that the Steelers are tearing Allar down to square one in an effort to re-construct his mechanics under the watchful eye of McCarthy and the Steelers’ other coaches.
McMahon doesn’t believe it’s too big of an ask.
“Do I think it’s doable? Absolutely,” said McMahon, who works out of the North Hills. “He could probably knock it out in five days. Is it going to be perfected? No, but he’s going to feel a lot more comfortable if he were to make a very dedicated effort.
“(For example), go so many hours a day, (then take a) break. Couple more hours, break; a couple more hours, you do three sessions and all he does is footwork. It’s going to help him, and he’s going to feel more natural. There’s a way to do it. It’s just a matter of how badly does someone want to do it and how much do they want to work at it? That’s the key for Drew.”