Steelers Face Extremely Steep Competition Stockpiling Picks For 2027 QB Class

The Pittsburgh Steelers have officially begun planning potential moves on the roster for the 2026 NFL season. Now that the staff of new Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has been filled (for the most part), all the attention can turn to figuring out what their plans for players on the roster are. There are plenty of players that could choose to leave the team, while there will be plenty of other players that choose to stay. However, one of the biggest questions on the Steelers' roster right now is at the quarterback position. There's currently no plan for the position's future at the moment, and one potential plan the Steelers could execute for 2027 may end up being harder to execute than they realized.

Plenty of teams are looking for their franchise quarterback, not just Pittsburgh. Like the Steelers, these teams also know that the quarterback class in the 2027 NFL Draft class is much better and deeper than the 2026 NFL Draft class. While the Steelers seem to have another potential plan for the draft established, it's still possible that the team could look to the event to figure out who the franchise quarterback will be. If they do choose to look at the draft for a quarterback, it may end up being harder for the team to pull this off than they thought.

Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently hosted his daily chat to go over questions posed by Steelers fans everywhere, and was asked about if the team may end up moving picks in this year's draft to load up for the 2027 NFL Draft to potentially acquire a quarterback. His answer sheds light on what other teams in the league could be thinking, and also shows that the Steelers might have a tough time getting significant capital in 2027.

"I've been thinking about that, but doing it is the hard part," Fittipaldo wrote. "Lots of other teams know the '27 QB class is much better than this year's class. So other teams will have the same idea. I think it's going to be more difficult than you think to pull that off."

The Steelers have yet to make a decision on who the franchise's quarterback will be, but it's clear that answering this question through the draft will be much more challenging than most believe it would be. With plenty of teams looking for another franchise quarterback, those teams will be offering their own picks to load up, meaning it will be much harder for the Steelers to pull off a successful trade with anyone.

With how tough it may end up becoming to acquire picks in the 2027 NFL Draft, the Steelers may end up solving the quarterback option through free agency, should they not bring back Aaron Rodgers, like most are expecting the Steelers to do. Solving the quarterback position this year would be the preferable outcome, especially if it ends up being far more difficult to trade and acquire picks in 2027 than anyone believes. Having Rodgers start one more year would be the easiest way to not only establish the starting quarterback for the 2026 NFL season, but to set a more defined plan for the 2026 NFL Draft. 

No matter who the Steelers decide to put under center next season, it would be in the Steelers' best interest to approach the upcoming draft in a way that doesn't focus on finding the future of the team at quarterback, rather focusing on winning while they still can.

Steelers Need To Revitalize Offense Through The Draft

The Steelers should not, and hopefully will not, look to draft a quarterback in either 2026 or 2027. Setting up an established starter, like Rodgers, right now, would give the team the freedom to completely revitalize the offense in the areas that need it the most. Finding additional wide receivers that could become the face of the franchise would be a great start, along with building a younger offensive line to protect the starting quarterback, whoever that may end up becoming.

What did you think about Fittipaldo's comment about draft capital for 2027 becoming harder to acquire? Let us know in the comments below.

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