Ben Roethlisberger gave Steelers fans a concrete reason to worry about Drew Allar

When a two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback speaks about mechanics, you listen. Former Pittsburgh Steelers passing legend Ben Roethlisberger had plenty to say about the team's unorthodox approach to 2026 third-round pick Drew Allar on his Channel Seven podcast. Head coach Mike McCarthy revealed at rookie mini-camp he's helping the Penn State product "adjust some fundamentals", but that comment triggered a red flag for Roethlisberger.

"It does make me nervous. I'm watching some of this stuff they're doing with [him] at practice, like working on his drop," Roethlisberger explained. "I'm not trying to knock this quarterback school that McCarthy does. I know Aaron's [Rodgers] talked about it in the past because he's gone through it in Green Bay and he's talked highly about it.

"But I just, to me, when I'm watching him do three-step drops, that makes me incredibly nervous. You ask, 'Why?' You're refining things. There's a difference in refining things and like, teaching. When we did [youth] football camps, the first things you're teaching the youngest kids is how to do a three-step drop."

Ben Roethlisberger's concerns with Drew Allar's development should make Steelers fans nervous

Roethlisberger wasn't completely out on Allar's development as an NFL quarterback though. He raised the possibility the Steelers staff is just fine tuning the 22-year-old in some areas after a broken left ankle prematurely ended his final season of college ball.

"Me, personally, I hope that it's some small, technical thing they're doing," Roethlisberger said. "Not, 'Let's wipe the slate clean and start all over', especially if he's been doing it one way this long."

Roethlisberger has valid points about how McCarthy and the team staff are handling Allar. The amount of attention he's getting suggests the plan for him goes beyond being a fourth-stringer. That being said, if Allar's having to fix fundamentals at the NFL level, then why did Pittsburgh waste a third-round pick on him in the first place?

"Maybe they're just working on his three-step drop to be more efficient, but it looked to me like baby steps," Roethlisberger continued. "Teaching. This is from 30,000 [feet]. I could be completely wrong, but all I'm saying is it makes me a little nervous to watch it and be like, 'They're working on a three-step drop.'"

Rodgers told reporters he's hanging his cleats up at the end of the 2026-27 campaign, which means the mantle presumably will fall to one of the three backups — Will Howard, Mason Rudolph or Allar. All that presuming the Steelers finish with too good of a record to be in the running for the Dante Moore or Arch Manning sweepstakes.

Rudolph, 30, hasn't been starting material for quite awhile and could be on the trade block if McCarthy wants to lean into the youth of Howard and Allar moving forward. That means a QB battle is imminent and Roethlisberger's concerns are looking more like warning signs.

Should Pittsburgh truly want to invest in Allar being a contender for that starting position, it looks like that's goint to cost time for the coaching staff that could be focusing on Howard as Rodgers gets his swan song. Success is largely going to hinge on Allar grasping the ropes quickly.

Showing improvement by the time OTAs end will be a major indication McCarthy's madness had a method all along. If Allar's still working on fundamentals by training camp, then fans should begin to worry another draft pick was wasted.

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