5 NFL Draft prospects the Steelers can pick to break first-round draft slump

2. Steelers can accept QB fate and draft Oregon's Bo Nix

Bo Nix set the college football record for most starts in a career, appearing in 61 games across five NCAA seasons. He began at Auburn before finishing his career at Oregon, where he fully flourished and became a Heisman Trophy candidate in his senior year.

There is a lot of debate about Nix's unique path to NFL Draft prominence. He will be 24 years old on draft night, with a complicated collegiate resumé. Nix was tremendous in 2024, but it took him several years of college competition to put all the pieces together. His critics will also point to the difference between SEC and Pac-12 competition as a potential explanation for Nix's late-career surge.

That said, it's silly to think player development stops at 24. Nix has shown meaningful improvement across his five college seasons, emerging as an efficient gunner with big-throw ability, mobility outside the pocket, and a ton of corporate knowledge to draw on. The NFL is a new beast, but Nix is literally the most experienced rookie QB ever. No prospect has ever run the gauntlet quite like him.

Most experts expect Nix to kill it in individual interviews and win over scouts with his intangibles. He knows how to think the game — and he better after so long at the controls. Oregon's offense was matched by few others in 2024, with Nix registering an absurd 45 passing touchdowns to only three interceptions. He has a certain air of reliability to his scouting profile, which the ever-consistent Steelers could value.