The Pittsburgh Steelers have been fighting the quarterback dilemma for years now. They have had six different starting quarterbacks since Ben Roethlisberger retired, and that number could increase if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t return. They could turn to Will Howard, or their newest addition, Drew Allar from Penn State. It’s reasonable to assume that Howard would get the first look, but Allar could make it a competition at training camp.
The Steelers have a shocking amount of former Nittany Lions on the roster with the addition of Allar. He joins Pat Freiermuth, Joey Porter Jr, and Jaquan Brisker in the Steel City. Allar spent four years at Penn State. In his first season as the starter in 2023, he led the Big Ten in passing touchdowns with 25. He is one of three FBS players with 1,000 passing attempts and fewer than 15 interceptions, joining Caleb Williams and Marcus Mariota. The potential is there.
Last season, Allar suffered a season-ending broken ankle against Northwestern. He underwent successful surgery in October, and he should be ready for training camp. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the offseason goes, but if Rodgers doesn’t return, Allar could have a shot to win the QB1 job out of camp. A year of sitting behind Rodgers would be beneficial for Allar and Howard at this point, but it’s also intriguing to see what they have. Neither guy is a finished product.
The Steelers local fanbase is full of Pittsburgh and Penn State fans, and they are already going to war over the draft pick and it’s silly. Kenny Pickett and Allar couldn’t be more different as prospects. Pickett had plenty of intangibles but lacked the traits. Allar checks every physical box in terms of size, arm strength, and velocity. Questions remain about his processing speed and ability under pressure. It’s a pointless comparison that needs to stop. They are vastly different quarterbacks. If anything, Howard and Pickett are cut from more of a similar cloth than Allar and Pickett.
Pickett’s tenure as a member of the Steelers left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth. It didn’t work out, but it’s not worth debating at this point. The guy is on his fifth team in five seasons. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for the kid from Pitt, but it’s time to put that aside and root for Allar. That won’t happen, and the Panthers faithful will continue to hate on him and never give him a chance, because many Penn State fans treated Pickett that way. The bad blood has officially seeped through to the Steelers.
Nobody knows if Allar is the franchise quarterback that the Steelers need, but he is a fun project for Mike McCarthy to work on. If he cleans up a few areas of his game, like his footwork and processing speed, the kid is going to be a weapon. The last time the Steelers drafted a 6’5” quarterback from Ohio who grew up a Cleveland fan and got passed on by the Browns, it worked out well.
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