"Dreadful First Week": Steelers Rookie Drew Allar Adjusting To NFL Slowly

The Pittsburgh Steelers may be seeing progress from rookie quarterback Drew Allar, but that does not mean the process has suddenly become clean. If anything, the latest read on Allar makes his development feel even more realistic.

Allar was never going to walk into Pittsburgh as a finished product. The Steelers drafted him because of his size, arm talent, and long-term upside, not because he was already ready to run an NFL offense. That distinction matters, especially with how much attention has been placed on Pittsburgh’s quarterback room.

Early in the offseason, Allar’s adjustment became a real talking point. His first week drew concern, and there were questions about his conditioning, fundamentals, and how quickly he could handle the speed of the NFL environment. Those questions have not completely disappeared, but there may finally be some signs of movement.

Jeremy Hritz gave an honest update on Allar during a recent appearance on The Steel City Insider podcast.

"He has improved from that dreadful first week," Hritz said. "He even said hey coach told me don’t worry about where the ball goes, get the fundamentals right, and he wasn’t worried about where the ball went. You still see some ugly throws from him."

That is probably the most accurate way to view Allar right now. The improvement matters. The ugly throws matter too. Both things can be true at the same time for a rookie quarterback who is being rebuilt from the ground up. Allar is not simply trying to memorize a playbook. He is trying to fix the details that will determine whether his physical tools actually translate. That is why the line about not worrying where the ball goes is important. It sounds strange for a quarterback, but it makes sense at this point in the process. The Steelers are not judging every offseason throw like it is fourth-and-seven in December. They are trying to get Allar’s base, timing, footwork, and mechanics right. If those details improve, the accuracy should eventually follow.

That does not make the ugly throws irrelevant, however. There is a reason they still stand out. Quarterbacks are judged by where the ball goes. Fans notice misses. Reporters notice misses. Coaches notice misses too, even if they are focused on the mechanics behind them. Allar can be improving and still have a long way to go before Pittsburgh feels comfortable with him as a real option.

That is the reality of a developmental quarterback. The Steelers already saw how quickly Allar’s early adjustment could become a storyline when conditioning concerns suddenly arose during rookie minicamp. That first impression was not ideal, but it also did not have to define him. The more important question was how he would respond once the coaching started to stack up.

This update suggests there has been a response. Allar appears to be taking the coaching seriously, even if the results are not always pretty yet. That is the first step. A rookie quarterback cannot skip the uncomfortable stage. If he is changing mechanics, learning a new offense, and adjusting to NFL tempo, there are going to be rough throws. There are going to be days where the process looks better than the product. The Steelers have to be patient enough to live with that.

Steelers Have To Let Allar’s Process Play Out

The difficult part is that quarterback development is not always easy to sell. Fans want signs. They want clean throws, quick answers, and obvious progress. Allar may not give them that right away. His development could be uneven, and that is probably what the Steelers expected when they drafted him.

The encouraging part is that he has apparently improved from his first week. The concerning part is that the misses are still there. That leaves Pittsburgh in a familiar spot with a young quarterback. The Steelers have something to work with, but they do not have a finished product.

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