With just over a week until the 2025 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers have yet to find a resolution to their problems at the quarterback position. This team is still holding out hope that Aaron Rodgers will come to town, but as the draft approaches, the Steelers may not have the luxury of waiting.
On Wednesday, NFL Draft expert Dane Brugler of The Athletic dropped his seven-round mock draft. Brugler had Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders falling into the lap of the Steelers with the 21st overall pick.
"If Sanders indeed falls out of the top three, we’d then go on 'Shedeur watch' to see where he lands, Brugler explained. "Presumably, the Steelers will have a serviceable short-term option, and Sanders would provide them more of a long-term answer."
Sanders' slide was aided by teams like the Browns, Giants, and Saints, who opted to go in different directions early in this mock draft. Brugler had Cleveland taking wide receiver/cornerback hybrid Travis Hunter and New York turning their card in for Abdul Carter. Meanwhile, Brugler doesn't believe New Orleans loves this quarterback class, even after the Derek Carr injury news, and they would pass on the available options.
This is the start of the Shedeur Sanders free-fall.
Between the Saints at pick 9 and the Steelers at pick 21, there isn't another team that would take a quarterback in this range. Because of this, it's easy to envision a scenario in which Sanders plummets to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Round 1, where Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan scoop him up.
The Pittsburgh Steelers could see the best-case scenario play out with Shedeur Sanders in Round 1 of the NFL Draft
Whether you are a fan of Shedeur Sander, we know that nothing is more important than the quarterback position in the NFL, and the Pittsburgh Steelers need to start taking swings until they find a franchise signal-caller. Pittsburgh expressed an interest in Sanders when they brought him in for a pre-draft visit.
Sanders is far from a perfect prospect, but he possesses the toughness, accuracy, and demeanor demanded to play the QB position at a high level.
When the 2024 college football season ended, Sanders was the most talked-about player in the nation. The Colorado quarterback was coming off a season in which he completed 353 of 477 passes for 4,134 yards with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Sanders' 74.0 completion percentage and 8.7 yards per attempt led the Big 12 in both departments.
Sanders was largely credited with turning a 1-11 Colorado football program into a 9-4 team in just two seasons. For this, Sanders, along with star player Travis Hunter, will have their Colorado Buffaloes jerseys retired.
Initially, it never seemed like there was a chance Shedeur could slip this far in the draft with all of the quarterback-needy teams at the top, and back in January and February, there were discussions that he could be the number one overall pick.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are never going to get back to championship form by streaming aging quarterbacks, and they need to start taking shots on a player who could be the future of the franchise. If the 2025 NFL Draft played out as Dane Brugler expects, this could be a dream scenario for Pittsburgh.