Quarterback Drew Allar is among the Steelerstaking part in the team’s rookie minicamp this weekend. Allar comes to the NFL after a tough final season at Penn State which culminated in him sustaining a season-ending ankle injury. Once viewed as a future first-round pick, he was taken by Pittsburgh in the third round two weeks ago.
The Penn State product was the only rookie quarterback the Steelers brought to minicamp, allowing him to take on a lot of reps in his initial NFL practice. He was seen going through drills, including taking snaps under center and working on his footwork. New Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy said Allar “made a very good first impression” and “did a hell of a job” handling the workload they gave him.
“To go 35 snaps in a team drill, that's pushing it, but he handled it,” McCarthy told reporters. “Everybody else knowing their assignments, defense getting their communication is important for us offensively to really push the envelope in the pre-snap component of it. To make sure the defense is seeing the four to five different personnel groups and those types of things, because that’s what defense needs. They need the formations, they need the motions, they need the communication, and they need to make the adjustments. If your quarterback can’t handle it, then you don’t get to go to the speed and the tempo and the pre-snap that we were able to go.”
McCarthy has had success over the past two decades working with quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Dak Prescott. McCarthy calls Allar a “gifted thrower of the football,” and has been pleased to see how he’s responded to the coaching and work they’ve done with his fundamentals thus far.
"We're teaching him different than the way he's played before,” McCarthy added. “He hasn't spent a lot of time under center. He's a run-and-shoot guy in high school. He's played from nine yards deep. So, there's just a lot of newness to him. … It's really the same type of stuff we went through with Will [Howard] four weeks ago. These are two young guys that have a lot of football in front of them, got a lot of work to do, but gosh, they're definitely wired the right way, and they bring an excellent physical skill set."
Allar said of his experience with McCarthy at minicamp, “I feel like I’ve grown a lot and really just understand his philosophy a lot more the last two days. I know what I need to work on and how to work on it. I’ve just got to be intentional with doing the same routine every day and making sure I’m staying on top of the little things.”
Next week, Allar will be joined by Howard and Mason Rudolph as the Steelers enter the second phase in their offseason program. The question remains if they will be joined by Aaron Rodgers, who was the team’s starter in 2025 and has yet to announce if he will be returning for the 2026 campaign. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Saturday that Rodgers has been in town but has not met with the Steelers yet. It was reported earlier this week that Rodgers was expected to visit the franchise this weekend and play for them in 2026, but thus far, the Steelers have just spoken with his agent this weekend.
Last year, Rodgers did not sign with the Steelers until June. Though Pittsburgh expected to get an answer from the four-time MVP quarterback before April this time around, the process has already dragged into May. It seems Rodgers could be signing in the near future, but for now, they remain in waiting.
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EVA GEITHEIM
Eva Geitheim is an NFL writer at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor’s in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or rewatching Gilmore Girls.
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