Steelers NFL draft reaction: Will Drew Allar be Mike McCarthy's guy? Or just another backup?

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Hello, everybody. It is Tuesday in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. My name is Adam Bittner, assistant sports editor for multimedia at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, joined by Ray Fittipaldo, our Steelers insider for the Tuesday edition of the North Shore Drive podcast. We're going to be talking about the Drew Allar pick. I think it's probably the most controversial of this draft, Ray. Uh Penn State quarterback, a lot of people around this area know him pretty well uh for better or for worse. So, we're going to digest um the selection, what the Steelers are signaling in terms of intent, uh and then maybe get into how he was drafted compared to some other guys in this class. Did the Steelers get the right value?

[00:00:38]Later on, we're going to talk about the Steelers later round picks, how many of them have a chance to make the roster in this, you know, very large draft class this year. We're also going to get into the undrafted free agents and the interesting OTA mini camp and training camp battles that this draft sets up. Before we get to all of that, we wanted to remind you that the show is presented by FanDuel. We also want to thank Pella Windows and Doors of Pittsburgh. There's no other place to get new windows and doors installed in your home than Pella, who can help you save on energy costs year-round.

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[00:01:25]Ray, I think all indications are that the Steelers feel pretty strongly about Drew Allar and that this was not some kind of lottery ticket value flyer type of pick. Uh they met extensively with him at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.

[00:01:40]They brought him to Pittsburgh for a visit and they take him with the first of their three picks in the third round on Friday night. Well, there were a lot of other guys available that we were when we were doing our NFL draft live stream, Christopher Carter, Paul Zeise and I. I had a list of 10 names that I thought that they could select select in that spot. Drew Allar was not on it. Uh so, are they signaling some level of intent here? And and if so, what is the bet? I mean, do they view him potentially as a future starter or or would they be pleased with a Mason Rudolph Landry Jones type of arc here?

[00:02:15]Just knowing that that's where they selected those guys uh in previous years.

[00:02:20]Yeah, I mean, listen, you you make a great point. Mid-round quarterback picks do not typically turn into top-of-the-line starters, all right?

[00:02:28]Mason Rudolph was a third-round pick.

[00:02:31]Landry Jones, I believe, a fourth-round pick, if I'm not mistaken. So, you're right. A lot of times those guys do end up being backup quarterbacks. But honestly, Adam, if you're looking at it from that perspective, Will Howard was a sixth-round pick last year. So, to me, they're just giving themselves another shot, um another opportunity to develop a young quarterback.

[00:02:56]You know, the front office really liked what they saw from Will Howard last year. The previous coaching staff did as well, but that doesn't matter anymore.

[00:03:04]Now, the new coaching staff has to evaluate Will and they'll be evaluating Drew Allar pretty much on the same timeline. So, I don't know that it's unfortunate for Will, but, you know, the way I look at it is now Mike McCarthy, who is known somewhat as a quarterbacks guru, is going to have a shot to develop two young quarterbacks, presumably behind Aaron Rodgers, who I think we all know probably is going to say he's going to be the QB again in 2026. So, it's a nice opportunity for these young guys to sit back, develop for one more year, and then the coaching staff has a chance to evaluate as well.

[00:03:42]And hopefully this year, Adam, Will Howard doesn't get injured, Drew Allar doesn't get injured, and we get to see these guys both play in the preseason.

[00:03:52]Ray, how much does how does the pick look to you in the context of where other QBs were chosen in this draft?

[00:03:59]Cade Klubnik, I believe, was the next quarterback off the board in the fourth round. Clayton and Ta'Quan Green within four picks of each other at the tail end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth. Garrett Nussmeier, a name that we were talking about right there with with Drew Allar, Cade Klubnik, this time a year ago, he ends up going in the seventh round. Considering where those guys were selected versus where Allar was, do you believe that do you believe Drew Allar was clearly the third best QB in this draft behind Fernando Mendoza and Tyson Simpson as their draft stock implies, or did they possibly over-draft him here like they did with Kenny Pickett when you compare him to some of those other guys that a lot of people had pretty similar grades on with regard to Allar? I think a lot of times all teams, Adam, are going to over-draft quarterbacks by a round or so.

[00:04:49]Um you know, I I think you'll see that even in the first round. You know, these guys might be first-round picks, but they get vaulted into the top 10 because quarterback is the most important position. And I think that's that's true in second round, third round as well. I don't have any issue with the Steelers using their first third-round pick on a quarterback. It's the most important position on the field. And I think if you feel like you have somebody who fits the bill, who you can you think you can develop in that in that space, then uh I'm all for it. So, no, I I don't think he was over-drafted. I just think um when you don't have a quarterback, I think you want as many bites at the apple as as you can. And I think that's that's what the Steelers did. When you look at Allar, you know, in some ways he's similar to Will Howard, but in a lot of ways he's different. I think by far has the better arm, right?

[00:05:43]I you know, I think we can can all agree with that.

[00:05:46]What Will Howard has over Allar is that just that >> [laughter] >> championship pedigree, that play in big game pedigree. Now, did Will Howard have better weapons around him, better coaching? Yeah, probably.

[00:05:59]Was Drew Allar maybe a victim of um you know, a a coaching system at Penn State that really didn't cater to their quarterbacks or, you know, set them up to to have elite weapons around them like Ohio State did? Yeah, that's true, too. But I I I will hold Allar to this.

[00:06:16]At some point, if you're this five-star quarterback, number one pick in the country or number one recruit in the country like he was five, six years ago, at some point, Adam, you got to rise up and and bring up the level of the play of of the players around you. That's your job as a quarterback to make everyone around you better. And I just don't know that in big games especially, I don't know that that took place often enough for people to think of Allar, you know, as a true future starter in the NFL. Hopefully, the Steelers can get that out of him. But, you know, he's lacking that it factor right now. And, you know, we'll see if he can discover it or rediscover it under Mike McCarthy.

[00:06:55]I do want to talk about the Penn State angle to this because some something I've dwelled on the last couple days is, man, if Drew Allar was coming here from Arkansas or was coming here from uh North Dakota State like Cole Payton, where he played this this past season, didn't play in some of those big nationally televised games uh as much, right? And was just maybe playing for a six and six, seven and five middle-of-the-pack SEC team, would the labels be following him from college to the same degree? I think because Drew Allar played in so many of those big games at Penn State and because Penn State lost so many of those big games, maybe some of that baggage has stuck to him more than if he'd played for a worse team and never even found him in those situations in the first place. Ray, how do you perceive, you know, at least externally how he's being viewed compared to maybe how the NFL is viewing him based on what happened in college? Yeah, I I think you're absolutely right. And it's just a matter of his circumstance. I'll give you one other name. And I I've heard Drew Allar compared to him here in the last couple of days, Joe Flacco.

[00:07:59]You know, Joe Flacco went to Delaware. I don't know how many big games he played in at the Division 1-AA level, but no one was talking about that in the lead-up to his draft. And he ended up being a first-round pick and obviously a really, really, really good NFL quarterback uh for a long time. And it's interesting, like no one even mentions, well, you know, he couldn't beat out Tyler Palco. How good is he? Well, he proved how good he was. You know, he played probably a dozen more years than Tyler Palco did. So, you know, it it's a good point that you make. Um but listen, Allar was that guy from the time that he was in high school. We heard Tom Arth, the Steelers quarterback coach, talk about it. You know, he was the guy, you know, up in that suburban Cleveland Akron area for a long time. Uh was that guy nationally as well. And um you know, at some point I I I think um like I said, you have to start living up to your your recruiting or your draft pedigree.

[00:08:58]And uh we'll see if if Drew Allar is able to do that with Mike McCarthy. I do know this, Adam. He's stepping into a great situation. Like if you want to be an NFL quarterback, Mike McCarthy is the guy to tutor you. Just look at his history and what he's done with some really good quarterbacks. I understand Brett Favre was talented, Aaron Rodgers was talented. Drew Allar is talented.

[00:09:21]Now, he's just got to pay attention, pick up some some of the fundamentals, and I I think he'll be just fine.

[00:09:27]Well, he's going to have some weapons to work with here. I I think one of the social media tidbits that I picked up in the last couple of days that was interesting was uh Drew Allar played with one receiver who was drafted at all, period. Not the first round, second round, in any round of the NFL draft at any point in the last four years. The only guy he played with that was ever drafted was Keaundre Lambert-Smith, uh who ended up finishing his career at Auburn this past season. Um so, really, truly not a lot of of receiver talent around him. He's coming into a situation where you have DK Metcalf, you have Michael Pittman Jr., you have uh Jeremy Bernard, Roman Wilson. So, presumably you're going to have a little bit more to work with than you did at Penn State, albeit on a different level. Ray, we'll get out of the segment on this. You and Chris spoke a lot about the difference um you know, or the theme of development over impact with this draft class overall.

[00:10:18]I think that's a point of frustration for a lot of people overall, and it feels like there's a desire to pile on the Drew Allar pick. Maybe in that context of man, there's a lot of projects here, and Drew Allar seems like the biggest question mark. If the Steelers had gotten Mazi Smith Lemon at 20, if they'd maybe gotten a couple of obvious starters beyond uh possibly Jeremy Bernard in in a slot situation, Yeah. uh would people be perceiving the Drew Allar pick differently than okay, he's a one project among a few in this group?

[00:10:51]>> Yeah, I mean I I I I get that. You look at I mean it's sure, and certainly, you know, we've heard the Steelers talk about his best football being ahead of him. I think we can all agree that's also the case with Drew Allar. And I even look at some of those traits-based defensive backs. Those Those guys running in the four threes, one of those guys was drafted in the third round. One was drafted in not until the seventh. So, that tells me those guys need to be coached up a little bit. So, um yeah, I I I think that's true. And maybe, you know, Allar would be accepted a little bit more had they they hit on some of their you know, their their targets like Lemon earlier on. But to me, Adam, I I kind of separate quarterbacks into into groups. You know, again, you have three third-round picks.

[00:11:37]Mike McCarthy said he wants to develop quarterbacks. He wants young quarterbacks in the room.

[00:11:42]To me, that was the perfect place uh to take a shot on him because I don't think that Drew Allar would have been there at number 85, much less uh you know, at pick 110 or something uh you know, in the fourth round. Or where I think the Steelers picked it at 120 in the fourth round. Well, they picked it I think they had traded up to 96. They were originally at 99 in the third round, then they traded up to 96 for Jennings Dunker. Yeah, so with 85, 96, or even in the fourth round where some people had him projected, I I don't think he would have been there.

[00:12:13]Quarterbacks are really um like I said, they get pushed up draft boards. They're they're really important pieces um in offenses. So, you have three, you might as well take your quarterback first, and then let the uh let the other guys fall where they may.

[00:12:27]Ray, we're going to talk a little bit about day three on the other side of this break. Uh some names that that might be fighting for roster spots here already just because of the size of the Steelers draft class. We're also going to get into the undrafted free agents a little bit. Before we do, want to remind you to check out our friends at FanDuel if you're looking to place any futures wagers here after the draft. If you like what the Steelers did, or maybe you'd like to fade what the Steelers did in in their win total this season. I believe it's around seven and a half still. Did not move with their moves in the NFL draft. So, uh head over on visit our friends at FanDuel. Uh place your wages, and we'll be right back.

[00:13:02]>> [music] >> Second segment here on the North Shore Drive Podcast. I'm Adam Bittner, joined by Ray Fittipaldo. Ray, we're going to talk about the Steelers' 10 total draft picks.

[00:13:19]We We spent a lot of time in the lead-up to the draft saying there's no way they're going to keep all 12 of these picks. They don't have room for 12 players on this roster.

[00:13:28]They traded some of them. Uh and they still have a large class. It still ends up being 10 players.

[00:13:34]Uh particularly some day three guys look like they are kind of lottery tickets here and might already be in some early jeopardy just in terms of the roster construction. Gabe Rubio was their sixth-round pick, then the two seventh-round picks, Robert Spillane, Jennings, and Eli Heidenreich, the local guy from Navy and Mount Lebanon. Uh what's your view on on their ability or willingness to keep all 10 of these draft picks? And which ones do you think are going to be in the biggest dog fights to make that 53-man roster versus potentially being on the practice squad or ending up somewhere else before the uh season starts in week one?

[00:14:08]Yeah, I mean I think you can go Rubio in the sixth round, and then both seventh-rounders honestly. I I think those three could be in a battle. You know, they they've kept seven every year since Omar Khan has been the GM. That's been their class seven in each class.

[00:14:26]You know, maybe you get to eight this year. It was interesting, Adam, to to hear Mike McCarthy speak about Rubio. I mean, it sounds like they're really high on him. 6'5", 322.

[00:14:37]You know, McCarthy was talking about he he's a prototypical 3-4 defensive end. So, it sounds like they really like him and want to work with him.

[00:14:46]You know, the one guy that's kind of redundant to me is it's Eli Heidenreich.

[00:14:50]I mean, he kind of has the same skill set as as the fourth-round pick out of Iowa, Kaden Reichen. So, uh to me, there's a little bit of, you know, dual skill sets there. So, that that's going to be interesting to see how that works out. Um you know, they'll they'll get to compete each other against each other in in training camp in the preseason games.

[00:15:09]And hey, maybe it'll be a situation of, you know, best man wins. But um to me, that's I I kind of see those final three picks um not being in trouble, but I I think they have the steepest climb uh to make the roster. And also, Adam, you have to keep in keep in mind that uh there's going to be injuries.

[00:15:27]There's going to be attrition.

[00:15:29]And failing that, there's going to be creative ways for the Steelers to say this guy has an injury, and then they'll get him onto the practice squad after he spends some time on IR. It happens almost every single year uh with some rookies, at least one, maybe two rookies in each class. So, um look for that to happen perhaps as well.

[00:15:50]Ray, does Heidenreich potentially have utility just on general special teams? I know we know Reichen is probably looking at return duty. He's got some pretty explosive numbers in that regard, and the Steelers selected him pretty high.

[00:16:02]So, they seem pretty invested in in him, but they still make the Heidenreich pick anyway. Uh given that Miles Killebrew is is off the roster and at different points in free agency, we talked about special teams utility. Does Heidenreich profile as a guy who could play anywhere on that special teams unit and be a difference-maker even if he's not the return guy?

[00:16:21]Yeah, I think right away, he's got pretty decent speed. So, right away, I think Gunnar, you know, see if he can be a guy who can get downfield on punts, cover punts for you. You know, the kickoff rule is a little bit different now. I think, you know, guys his size potentially, you know, could be on those teams. I remember talking to Danny Smith about this before he took the job in Tampa. Uh this is probably at some point last season we were talking about, well, with the new kickoff rule rules, do you want to have big guys, or do you want to have small guys? And he said you could you could do it either way. Those bigger guys going to be able to go down there and and uh defeat blocks and uh you know, get the ball carrier that way. And the smaller guys uh are going to have to be a little bit more crafty. They're going to work their way around blocks and you know, go under blocks and you know, you know, make make those plays as well. So, there you know, there's different ways to skin a cat. But uh either way, Adam, Heidenreich has to make this this team on special teams. If he does, they'll have a chance to utilize him on offense and maybe show a little bit of creativity there, but you know, I I think the his ticket to the 53-man roster is going to be strictly through special teams.

[00:17:32]Ray, let's talk about some of these undrafted free agents, at least those uh we know about publicly in some form or fashion. Indiana defensive back Devon Boykin, Arizona State tight end Shannon Matayer, uh Syracuse defensive tackle Kevin Joseph Jr., uh USC tight end Lake McRee, and then there was also a kicker in that group. Uh who from from the group so far intrigues you the most?

[00:17:54]Looking at that list, I I think McRee's going to have a pretty good chance to potentially make the 53 just because uh there's not a lot going on at tight end at the moment. Obviously, you you drafted Novakowski from Indiana, uh but he was introduced kind of as a full back and I had the running backs coach speaking about him. So, uh it seems like there could be some opportunity for more of a traditional tight end with McRee there.

[00:18:17]Yeah, I think you mentioned seven or eight guys, and two of them were tight ends. So, to me, you know, pass-catching tight end, you know, you almost feel like they need like a like a backup pass-catching tight end in the event that Pat Freiermuth goes down with an injury. And that's not saying Darnell Washington couldn't fill in that role.

[00:18:35]He most certainly could, and he would do it capably. But um to me, that's the one thing they're kind of missing on this roster right now. You have um Darnell Washington as your lead, you know, run blocker as an inline tight end. Novakowski can do that, and he could also be a full back H-back. And to me, they're just missing that that uh you know, that route-running tight end who might be a little bit uh smaller, more more receiver-like, but um you know, could also line up inline and and be a tight end, too. So, um we'll see which one of those guys sticks. You know, they're going to have a rookie mini camp here um on Mother's Day weekend. That'll be their first opportunity for those guys to make a splash. But uh you're right, tight end is a very um you know, thin spot on this roster right now. And I think one of those guys is going to have a good chance of making this team.

[00:19:28]Ray, you mentioned rookie mini camps coming up, then we're going to start getting into OTAs, mini camp. Uh I think people are placing more and more attention on those uh events every year now in the lead-up to training camp.

[00:19:39]Then obviously, you're going to have training camp at Saint Vincent itself.

[00:19:42]Um which battles after this draft do you think are are looking most interesting to you from a roster perspective? Um obviously, they they still might make some moves here in free agency now that they know what they have in in terms of their draft class. So, there could be names that are added between here and OTAs minicamp then training camp, but just knowing what we're looking at right now, Ray, um, which spots are most intriguing to you?

[00:20:07]All eyes on the offensive line, I think.

[00:20:09]I mean, I wrote about this uh, for Monday.

[00:20:13]Um, you know, since Omar Khan became GM before the '23 draft, uh, he's made 32 selections. And seven of those guys have been uh, offensive linemen. Six of them have come in the first four rounds. Three in the first round. So, they've put a ton of resources into it, and now I want to see, okay, where do all these pieces fit? You know, I think the uh, Ikenberg pick was made hedging their bets with with Broderick Jones. I think, you know, admittedly, they they don't know what's going to happen there. So, you know, you could potentially have have first-round pick as a starter this year, and then you you would move Troy Fautanu to left tackle. So, that you know, they might be your starting tackles this year if um, if Broderick Jones cannot play, but there's also intrigue at guard. You know, is it going to be J.C. Hassenauer uh, or is he going to be competing with Spencer Anderson and Brock Hoffman? So, there's a lot of moving pieces there.

[00:21:13]Uh, Mike McCarthy often talks about position flexibility. So, to me, that's going to be the most interesting thing I'm watching this spring. Yeah, we're all going to watch the quarterbacks and Will Howard and Drew Aller. That's going to get all the headlines, but they've invested a lot in the offensive line in recent years. I think it's time for these guys to uh, start playing better, protect the quarterback, get a good running game going, and you know, you can potentially that unit can potentially lead, you know, this Mike McCarthy offense. It's time for them to do that after they spent so many draft resources trying to rebuild that unit.

[00:21:48]I agree, Ray. I'm looking forward to seeing how that unfolds. Um, and thank you for joining me today. Great discussion. Uh, folks, we're going to keep talking about the Steelers draft class. A lot more to dig through here later in the week. Uh, so make sure you subscribe to the channel for that.

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