Ever since Ben Roethlisberger retired in 2022, the Steelers have spent their offseasons trying to find a solution to the starting quarterback situation. So far, everything the organization’s tried hasn’t worked in their favor. And, the team still doesn’t know about Aaron Rodgers’s plans for the 2026 season (a tale as old as time), even though they did place a right of first refusal tag on the veteran quarterback, which keeps the door open for him to return to Pittsburgh. Could this be the year when Pittsburgh finally finds a long-term solution at the quarterback position?
One of the answers to this question could possibly be rookie Drew Allar, who the Steelers drafted in the third round last week. Allar is joining a quarterback room filled with maybe Rodgers, Mason Rudolph and last year’s drafted quarterback Will Howard, who has yet to make his NFL debut as he dealt with injuries last season. If Rodgers does play, it would give Allar the opportunity to learn from a future Hall of Famer before possibly taking over the reigns himself one day.
Roethlisberger, who started for the Steelers for 18 seasons, doesn’t sound too impressed with the Steelers’ quarterback draftee, though. He gave his brutally honest opinions about Allar on his podcast Footbahlin’ this week.
“This is one I’m not sure yet if I love it or hate it,” Roethlisberger said. “… I don’t think this was done because they know anything about Aaron. It wasn’t like, ‘O.K., we know Aaron’s not coming,’ so we’re doing this. I think it was a ‘We liked a big physical quarterback.’ … I didn’t watch a lot of Penn State games. But when I did watch, he never really jumped off the page to me. Is he big, can he move, can he throw? Yeah. There was never a time where I was like, ‘Whoa.’ … The jury’s out for me right now. There was nothing that just jumped off the page for me. Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know. We’ll see about this one.”
Not the best campaign for the rookie quarterback—Steelers fans and the organization really value Roethlisberger’s opinions since he knows the franchise so well. Allar might be playing with this chip on his shoulder in 2026 in order to prove Roethlisberger wrong.
Roethlisberger still wants to see his former team promote Howard to the QB1 position. Ever since the Steelers drafted Howard last year, Roethlisberger’s advocated for him to get a chance at the starting role, and that’s continuing into this year it seems.
“I think [drafting Allar] will push Will,” Roethlisberger continued. “When I watch tape, or if I watch games, Will Howard jumped off the tape to me way more than Drew did.”
Roethlisberger thinks Howard and Allar will be competing for the second- and third-string spots if Rodgers returns. If Rodgers leaves the organization, then he could see Howard, Allar and Rudolph all competing for QB1. It sounds like Roethlisberger doesn’t think Allar is ready to earn that top role quite yet.
Back in January, Roethlisberger argued that the Steelers shouldn’t draft a quarterback for a few years. The team obviously didn’t follow that as they went and grabbed Allar this year. His argument for this thought is that the Steelers needed to build the rest of their roster before finding a quarterback to build the roster around. He explained that when he arrived in Pittsburgh, the roster was full of veteran stars, allowing him to grow within the organization instead of the other way around. The Steelers won’t be following that formula this time around.
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MADISON WILLIAMS
Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University.
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