The Pittsburgh Steelers’ question about Brendan Sorsby isn’t only about whether they like the player but about whether they can afford to wait.
That’s what makes this such a gamble. The Steelers don’t have a long-term answer at quarterback beyond this season, and 2026 is Aaron Rodgers' swan song. Pittsburgh could be staring at the same problem again next spring, but the price to fix it may be much uglier.
Brendan Sorsby could give the Pittsburgh Steelers a cheaper swing
“This is what makes the Sorsby conversation so interesting because the Steelers are probably going to be picking 19 through 24-ish,” Still Curtain managing editor Tommy Jaggi said on the "Still Curtain" podcast.
That’s not a throwaway range. It’s the familiar spot where good teams with quarterback problems, like the Steelers, get squeezed. They’re too successful to land near the top of the NFL draft, so they risk a valuable first-round pick on a flier (ahem, Kenny Pickett) or are forced to mortgage the present for the future.
Sorsby’s situation comes with obvious risk, and Pittsburgh would have to be comfortable with every layer of it. But from a pure football standpoint, the argument is easy to understand. If Sorsby had a clean slate and played another full college season, he might become the type of quarterback the Steelers couldn’t realistically reach.
“Maybe this is a quarterback who, if he had a clean slate and if he were to play this season, maybe they don’t have any shot at him,” Jaggi said.
Pittsburgh could pass in the supplemental draft, protect itself from the risk, and delay its quarterback attack to 2027. The problem there is that several teams could be hunting in the same woods.
The Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, and New York Jets could all be picking ahead of the Steelers and looking hard at quarterbacks. Depending on how things shake out with Malik Willis, Michael Penix Jr./Tua Tagovailoa, and J.J. McCarthy/Kyler Murray, the Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, and Minnesota Vikings could join that conversation, too.
“The Steelers finish and earn like the 22nd pick in next year’s class, and now they’re packaging, like, two firsts and a future third to move up and get like the third best quarterback in the class, which may have been Brendan Sorsby to begin with,” Jaggi said.
The Steelers have to weigh whether Sorsby’s ceiling is high enough to justify the risk now before the 2027 class turns the same type of talent into a massive trade-up problem.
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