Jerome Bettis Is Convinced Steelers Landed Huge Value In Drew Allar

Pittsburgh Steelers fans are waiting on QB Aaron Rodgers to announce if he is going to play for the team or not in the 2026 season. While fans wait on Rodgers, the talk surrounding Penn State quarterback Drew Allar has continued to take center stage. With the hype building around Will Howard, adding Allar to the mix makes for an exciting young QB room that should push one another to get better and maybe one quarterback can come out as the starter.

The Steelers selected Allar in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Taking him 76th overall signaled that Pittsburgh believes in his long-term upside, and that is exactly what Steelers legend Jerome Bettis loved about the pick as well. Bettis has consistently emphasized the importance of building for the future while still maintaining competition in the present.

Bettis joined Jim Rome to detail his thoughts on adding Allar to the Steelers. He praised the organization for investing in a young quarterback with real developmental traits and upside. In his view, moves like this are what keep a franchise stable, especially when the future at the position with Rodgers remains uncertain.

"I just think whenever you are looking at quarterbacks, you are looking for upside," Bettis said while speaking to Rome on Thursday night. "Drew Allar, I think was probably the only one who had the most upside if you can correct some things in his game. Sometimes he gets a little gun-shy, he doesn’t rip it and let it go, but when he does, then you see something really special. So now it’s about the coaching. Can you coach him up because he’s a talent? Physically, he can do it all. Can you get him to the point where he can be a good professional quarterback? That’s the question."

The Steelers’ long-time head coach Mike Tomlin has been criticized for not being able to develop the quarterback and offense post-Ben Roethlisberger. Now, Mike McCarthy is an offensive-mind who has developed star quarterbacks across his 18 seasons as a head coach. The upside with Allar is certainly exciting, and Bettis cannot ignore that. 

However, it all comes down to how McCarthy coaches him up. Bettis was also thrilled with how the Steelers spent seven of their 10 picks on offensive players.

"Outside of that, I felt what they did in this draft offensively was important," Bettis said continued. "The defense has carried the Steelers for the last five or six years. The offense has not been able to hold its own. Now they invested in the offense. They went and got an offensive lineman. They went out and got a receiver. You have to do those things if you want to have some success in that offense. The defense has been doing the heavy lifting; now it’s time for the offense to come in and help that defense."

At the end of the day, the excitement around Allar comes down to potential more than anything else. The Steelers are clearly betting on traits they believe can be developed rather than expecting him to be a finished product right away. That kind of approach only works if the coaching staff is able to bring it all together over time.

Steelers Have Reason To Be Optimistic About QB Future

The addition of McCarthy only adds more intrigue to the situation. His track record with quarterbacks gives Pittsburgh a level of confidence they have not really had in recent years. If Allar responds well to that structure, the Steelers could finally start building something sustainable on offense instead of constantly relying on their defense.

Now it becomes about patience and development. The Steelers invested heavily on offense in this draft, and that signals a clear shift in philosophy. If Allar hits his ceiling, Pittsburgh may look back at this class as the turning point that helped change the direction of the franchise.

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