The closer we get to the draft, the more serious the Steelers’ interest in quarterbacks appears. Perhaps the same could be said for the amount of time that has passed since they offered Aaron Rodgers a contract. Having recently met with Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart, they are certainly doing their homework.

Indeed, it’s all hard to ignore at this point because the Steelers are looking just about everywhere. They did their due diligence in 2022 and then drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round. That didn’t work out as planned, considering they traded him two years later. The process, however, is similar, so will the strategy be as well?

“I kind of feel like they’re gonna draft a quarterback no matter what,” Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said on the North Shore Drive podcast about the Steelers’ plans. “Aaron Rodgers is gonna be 42 next fall. It’s a one-year deal with him; we all know that. So their 2025 draft process doesn’t really change a whole heck of a lot. I still think they’re gonna draft one. I think just, now, it’s a matter of what round.”

The Steelers haven’t looked at just potential first-round fits, of course. They have also met with Tyler Shough, for example, and have Kyle McCord on the docket. Their absence of a second-round pick complicates things somewhat, but that’s true of all positions.

Since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season, the Steelers have not had an answer at quarterback. During the intervening years, they have had Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Russell Wilson, and Justin Fields as starters or quasi-starters. All of them are gone, or at least were, yet three could start in the NFL in 2025. Fields signed with the Jets, Wilson the Giants, and Pickett is now with the Browns.

“What they’ve done so far in the last three months, and especially now with these two visits with [Jaxson] Dart and [Shedeur] Sanders, I’m pretty convinced right now that they are at least gonna take a quarterback in the draft,” Fittipaldo said of the Steelers. “I don’t know what round, but I’m getting closer to believing that, yes, they are gonna take a quarterback this year.”

The Steelers only have six draft picks this year and just one in the top 80 selections. They draft 21st overall in the first round but traded their second-round pick for WR DK Metcalf. If the Steelers don’t take a quarterback in the first round, they will have to wait until at least 83.

Of course, they could do some maneuvering, which would be the appropriate action if a desired quarterback slides. Jalen Milroe comes to mind, who could go on Day Two but before their selection. But if there is a quarterback the Steelers believe in, he probably ought to be worth a first-round pick. Granted, it doesn’t always work out that way.