Orlovsky: Steelers at Worst Place They Could Be in with Aaron Rodgers
Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky believes the Pittsburgh Steelers’ signing of Aaron Rodgers will keep them in the middle of the pack, which won’t bode well for the franchise in the 2026 NFL Draft.
“Worst place they could be in,” Orlovsky said Monday on ESPN’s Get Up. “He’s good enough, they’re [the Steelers} good enough. They’re gonna go 9-8, 10-7. They don’t matter in the playoffs and we all known that. And then they’re not bad enough to get a top-eight pick and finally find the quarterback of the future. This still is a subpar offensive line. They only really have DK Metcalf on the perimeter. Great, we’re gonna be a contending team. Are we really gonna matter? No.”
No matter what happens in 2025 with Rodgers, the Steelers have more than enough ammunition to make a big splash in the 2026 NFL Draft. They’re projected to have 12 picks. The Kansas City Chiefs traded up 17 spots to select Patrick Mahomes at 10th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, so there are other avenues of landing a franchise quarterback instead of bottoming out.
ESPN insider Adam Schefter believes that will make the Steelers the most intriguing team in next year’s draft.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers, right now, have an enormous amount of draft capital for the 2026 draft. After this George Pickens trade, they are currently scheduled to have 12 picks in the 2026 draft,” Schefter said on The Adam Schefter Podcast in May. “ … So when you’ve got all these draft picks and you’ve got a great quarterback draft and the draft is in your city, all of a sudden it starts to get a little interesting to see where Pittsburgh’s going to decide to allocate its draft capital to see if it can make an aggressive push up the board to go get a quarterback, to see what the reaction in that city will be like.”
The Steelers will face stiff competition for the top quarterbacks in 2026. The Cleveland Browns traded down in the 2025 NFL Draft to accumulate an extra first-round pick in next year’s draft.
However, the 2026 class will likely have more than just one premiere quarterback with Texas scion Arch Manning, Penn State’s Drew Allar, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava currently leading the group.
So it’s difficult to imagine the Steelers not coming away with a quarterback in next year’s draft. The question is: Who will it be?
“Can you imagine what it would be like for a quarterback in the top 10, top five,” Schefter asked. “Oh boy, that would be off the charts to be in Pittsburgh when that quarterback gets picked.”
Aaron Becker contributed reported for this story.