Mel Kiper Jr. is not a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers passing on Shedeur Sanders and then drafting Will Howard in the sixth round.

Kiper, without seeing if Aaron Rodgers will sign with the team or not, does not understand the team passing on someone like Sanders, who Kiper had as a first-round player.

“The Steelers must feel really good about their chances of signing Aaron Rodgers. That’s the only explanation for their approach to the 2025 draft. And if they don’t land Rodgers (or pull some other magic at QB), coach Mike Tomlin’s 18-year streak of going at least .500 could end. Mason Rudolph is the current starter. Yet, Pittsburgh added only Will Howard at the position — in Round 6. He’s a backup in the NFL. Instead of getting a quarterback they can win games with right now in Round 1, the Steelers went defensive tackle,” Kiper wrote.

Head coach Mike Tomlin stated that the team shares quarterback angst with the fanbase, but says they have a plan and are excited to follow it through the rest of the process.

“We feel good about our plan at the position. I understand the angst in your community and the community that supports us,” Tomlin told Rich Eisen of NFL Network.”

General manager Omar Khan said the board fell the way it did, which allowed the Steelers to wait on a quarterback. The longer that wait went on, it became quite clear the Steelers did not love this quarterback class.

“You never really know. I think we talked about the other day, we’re guessing like everyone else. You just don’t know, and it just sort of fell that way,” Khan said.

The Steelers need to take a swing at quarterback at some point in the NFL Draft. This year was not the year with their thoughts on the class. But could 2026 be the year? Scouts told PennLive that throughout the process, it was primarily viewed as a strong class, and that could be the pool the Steelers want to dip their toes into after waiting on this year’s group.