The NFL Draft is now just days away, and among the most intriguing storylines to monitor is just how the Pittsburgh Steelers will handle their first-round pick. The team is crying out for help in its quarterback room; but will that help come in the form of Aaron Rodgers, or a passer at No. 21 overall? The answer could have a profound impact not just on the future of the Steelers but on the draft as a whole.
And as the rumor mill reaches the home stretch, it sure seems like Pittsburgh is working overtime to tip their hand — or, at least, to make everyone think they're tipping their hand. The latest report comes from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac, who went on the Rich Eisen Show on Friday and claimed that the Steelers are enamored with this year's QB class.
"They have a first-round grade on Jaxson Dart, and they really like Shedeur Sanders," Dulac told Eisen. "Despite whatever post was put out there that [Sanders] had a terrible meeting, it did not go well — nothing could be further from the truth. They like the guy. They had a great meeting with him."
That would seem to make the situation pretty clear-cut; given Pittsburgh's current depth chart, they'd be crazy to pass up a QB at No. 21 if there's a player they have a first-round grade on, and it seems unlikely that both of Sanders and Dart won't still be there by that point. Of course, this time of year, nothing is what it seems — and it feels just as likely that these latest whispers are pointing to Rodgers above everything else.
Aaron Rodgers is the real target of Steelers' Shedeur Sanders hype
This is clearly information that Dulac is getting from the Steelers side of things. And whenever a team leaks to a reporter, the question everyone should be asking is: Why?
If Pittsburgh were hoping that Sanders fell down to them at No. 21, or at least lasted long enough for them to trade up a bit and land him, the last thing they'd do is tell that to a reporter. What seems more likely, instead, is that the team's front office doesn't love the idea of spending a first-round pick on a QB — and would love for other teams to spend their own capital on them in order for a defensive lineman to fall down the board a bit.
And if that's the case, then the only viable path to a QB left is Rodgers. That scenario has always made the most sense, more than Pittsburgh rolling the dice on a less-than-perfect prospect and certainly more than trying to make sense of whatever the heck the Atlanta Falcons are doing with Kirk Cousins right now. The Steelers have no interest in starting over; whatever you may say about Rodgers, he's at least passable even at this point in his career, and pairing him with a developmental prospect would still allow Pittsburgh to keep one eye on the future.