I cannot bring myself to write about the Pirates and their constant need to find new ways to embarrass themselves, day-in and day-out. Thankfully, the 2025 NFL Draft is on Thursday, so there is something else to discuss. 

The Steelers own the 21st pick in the draft, having finished 10-7 in the regular season before getting slaughtered by the Ravens in the wild card round in the postseason. 

The team has a lot of needs: interior defensive line, defensive back, running back, wide receiver (although, this need is less immediate than it initially was with the addition of DK Metcalf), and obviously quarterback. 

The quarterback situation is, without a doubt, bad. Mason Rudolph would be the starter if the season started today. Aaron Rodgers has still not decided if he will play football this season or if he will retire. Justin Fields and Russell Wilson both departed Pittsburgh in free agency for New York, signing for the Jets and Giants, respectively. 

The number one issue with the 2025 draft class, in my estimation, is the lack of quarterback talent. The top prospect is Cam Ward, who is a lock to go first overall to the Tennessee Titans. Beyond the University of Miami signal caller, there is not a consensus second-best in the class. This is not because the players are good enough that the drop-off is not substantial. Rather, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, and a few other passers have major flaws that could prove costly at the next level. 

To put it bluntly, I will be extremely disappointed if the Steelers select a quarterback in the first round. The only passer that I could even talk myself into tolerating is Jaxson Dart, and that is based on arm talent alone. He did not play in a pro style offense at Ole Miss. Per Brett Kollmann of “The Film Room”, Dart had a play-action rate of 52.2%, a run-pass option rate of 23.3%, and a screen pass rate of 10.1%. 

I did the math…well, he did the math. That means that only 14.4% of Jaxson Dart’s pass attempts were legitimate dropbacks. That is not how a professional offense operates. 

As you can see, I am quite bearish on the quarterback class. Drafting one is something the Steelers should not do on Thursday, especially since they have no second-round pick due to the aforementioned Metcalf trade. Many rumors suggest that the Steelers will take Shedeur Sanders, son of hall of fame cornerback Deion Sanders. While Sanders displayed talent with both his arm and legs at Jackson State and then Colorado, he was quite inconsistent, and brings with him an ego larger than the state of Colorado. I do not want that in a rookie quarterback. 

Now that I have covered what the Steelers should not do, let us discuss what they should do—draft a defensive tackle. 

If you remember the last five games of last year—the last four regular season games and the decimation against Baltimore in the playoffs—you will recall that the defense got gashed by Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry (twice), and other lesser running backs. A lot of those yards came straight up the middle, with the backs bursting into the secondary before the defensive linemen knew the ball was even snapped. 

Insert one of the elite nose tackle prospects in this year’s draft: Oregon’s Derrick Harmon, Michigan’s Kenneth Grant, or Ole Miss’s Walter Nolen (the correct first round pick from that university). Any one of those three would be an asset, not only when it comes to stuffing the run—which is the primary necessity—but also getting after the quarterback in passing situations. Harmon, Grant, and Nolen are all every-down players, not limited to playing in certain scenarios. 

If I had to pick, I would take Derrick Harmon. At 6’ 4.5” and 313 lbs, he ran the 40-yard dash in less than five seconds (4.95, to be precise) and has long arms (34.375”), the combination of which allows him to envelop opposing runners. 

The bottom line is this: Omar, please do not draft a quarterback in round 1. I understand that it is a need, but that does not necessitate spending draft capital on a player that does not fit. It is a better solution to build around the future quarterback that you can draft in 2026 when the draft is in Pittsburgh, where you can use the bevy of compensatory picks you will be awarded to trade up for an elite prospect. Draft the best player available—it will not be Shedeur Sanders.