Nobody could've predicted what has happened with Shedeur Sanders in the NFL Draft. Sure, he was far from a slam dunk to get selected in the first round, but the best he can do now is become a fourth-round pick and the sixth quarterback off the board. Who could have possibly expected that?
At this point, there's a real possibility that Sanders doesn't get drafted at all. The number of teams that would even be interested in adding a quarterback at this point is very small.
One of those teams, however, is the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have not taken a single quarterback as of yet. While their reluctance to select a quarterback early in the festivities suggests Aaron Rodgers will be coming to Pittsburgh at some point, the odds of them selecting a quarterback to sit behind the future Hall of Famer are probably fairly high. After all, the Steelers only have two quarterbacks in their organization right now.
Given Pittsburgh's quarterback need, Sanders makes a lot of sense. They made a lot of sense earlier, too, though. The Steelers were a team heavily connected to Sanders in the first round and chose to select Derrick Harmon, a defensive tackle, instead. While they could definitely take Sanders in the later rounds, it's far from a given that he'll wear black and gold. In fact, the Steelers could snub Sanders even further by taking a different quarterback, Will Howard.
Feels like #Steelers remain an option for Shedeur Sanders. The team is comfortable with Sanders as a distributing point guard in its offense. Not consensus on that but enough to justify taking him at some point.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) April 26, 2025
Another QB that Pittsburgh has done a lot of work on: Will Howard
Steelers remain possible Shedeur Sanders suitor, but Will Howard looms
Can we rule it out at this point? Nobody in their right minds would've expected Howard to be taken anywhere near Sanders in the draft, but with guys like Tyler Shough, Jalen Milroe, and even Dillon Gabriel getting selected over the former Colorado quarterback, it wouldn't be shocking at this point to see Howard get his phone call before Sanders, especially with ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reporting that they've done a lot of work on him.
Howard helped lead the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship, but he has not been considered a very highly touted NFL prospect. He was always seen as a Day 2 selection at best, while Sanders was at one point in time seen as a potential No. 1 overall pick. Howard getting picked before Sanders would be... something.
It's hard to make the argument that Howard is a better prospect than Sanders, but if the Steelers go forward with Rodgers, it might make more sense to draft Howard, more of a developmental prospect, to sit on the bench and learn rather than Sanders, a quarterback who can conceivably play right now.
At the end of the day, it's anyone's best guess as to what happens with Sanders. Sure, the Steelers could take him, but it feels just as likely that he'll go undrafted. What ends up happening with Howard could end up deciding Sanders' NFL Draft fate.