The Pittsburgh Steelers are entering a critical timeline for the team, needing to figure out who the franchise quarterback will be. With Aaron Rodgers retiring after the 2025 season, the Steelers will have to develop Will Howard and Drew Allar quickly, or go after an external addition. There are plenty of ideas out there regarding what Pittsburgh could do, especially with some financial room opening up when it loses Rodgers and potentially deals an edge rusher.
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Steelers QBs Aaron Rodgers, Will Howard, Mason Rudolph, and Drew Allar throw the ball in the 2026 offseason.
Thinking about external decisions, the Steelers could go two ways between attacking free agency and the trade market, or getting younger with the draft. There has been some talk around Baker Mayfield recently, but fans won't know fully what happens with his market until after the 2026 campaign.
While there's plenty of speculation in that area, it's easier to look at what could be available in the draft. The 2027 group should be very deep, especially at the top with Arch Manning and Dante Moore. It's unlikely that they will be available for Pittsburgh to take; however, there is another arm that may fall to them and Pro Football and Sports Network projected the Steelers to pick an interesting one in their latest 2027 NFL Mock Draft, which was done by Ian Cummings.
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Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager Omar Khan looks out to the crowd and takes it all in as the team works out during a 2025 training camp practice being held at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
He had Pittsburgh going with Minnesota quarterback Drake Lindsey, a 6'5", 230-pound pocket passer. As a redshirt freshman in 2025, Lindsey put together a strong season, leading the Golden Gophers to a bowl game and an 8-5 record.
"Drake Lindsey is a wild-card passer who could ascend as an early-round candidate in the 2027 NFL Draft cycle," Cummings wrote. "At his best, and this is contingent on development in 2026, he could invite stylistic parallels to Big Ben from Steelers nation... He turned in a respectable PFN QB Impact Score of 77.8, and his 0.5 EPA per dropback in close-game scenarios was 15th among passers with at least 10 starts, according to TruMedia."
A comparison to Ben Roethlisberger is something that fans would love to hear. While his game style is slightly old school, that talent and ability could project well with Pittsburgh. After all, Mike McCarthy is considered a premier quarterback developer and most of his projects have fit this kind of mold: pocket passers with elite arm talent.
Matt Freed / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Steelers new head coach Mike McCarthy works with quarterback Aaron Rodgers during organized team activities.
Lindsey is young and has only one season of college football under his belt, but from what he's shown, he's earned that quality comparison to Roethlisberger. His tools are very projectable too, making it worth the Steelers taking a gamble on him in the first round.
"At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Lindsey perfectly fits the profile of the old-school, big-armed pocket passer," Cummings added. "He’s big and high-mass, with quantifiably elite arm strength, velocity generation, and angle freedom, and those domineering traits aren’t just for show. "On top of having elite size and arm strength, Lindsey also shows off impressive pre-snap command, post-snap vision, opportunity identification skills, and layering ability for such a young QB. With another year of growth and accuracy improvement, Round 1 is possible."
The tools are there, he's young, and McCarthy's history with quarterbacks makes a choice like this very convincing. Regardless of where Pittsburgh ends up in the draft, Lindsey should be available in the middle to late part of the first round. He feels like a very realistic option for the Steelers to end up with.
Steelers Set To Scout Lindsey Soon
Considering how realistic drafting Lindsey would be, he will be a guy Pittsburgh should pay close attention to this college season. The Steelers will need to look for a franchise quarterback moving forward and we don't know what the future holds for Allar and Howard. Time will tell what happens down the road behind center in the Steel City.
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