Insider Shuts Down Steelers QB Hype

Though there's been quite a bit of smoke surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in particular, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo is still leaning towards the team focusing on another area of need in the first round of the NFL Draft.

"I'm not totally out because you can't discount the fact that they only have two on the roster right now, but if I had to say percentage chance, I think it's low, five to 10 percent," Fittipaldo said on 93.7 The Fan. "I don't think there's much of a likelihood at all."

The Steelers have also shown interest in Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart and Alabama's Jalen Milroe among others throughout the pre-draft process, but them selecting a defensive tackle or even a running back over a signal caller has felt like a more probable scenario.

Perhaps Sanders is an exception if he falls all the way down to Pittsburgh at No. 21 overall, but it may otherwise target a quarterback on Day 2 or even Day 3.

Fittipaldo added that the Steelers' interest at the position may be a false front and that he believes they'll only pick a signal caller on Day 1 if the top names on their big board are no longer available.

"You have to be careful with all of the speculation now about Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart and the Steelers because there's only a few people in that building down in the South Side who even have access to the draft board," Fittipaldo said. "There's all kinds of chatter out there. It's called lying season for a reason. Even if a Shedeur Sanders or Jaxson Dart is available at 21, unless all their other top targets are off the board, and I have a hard time believing that's gonna happen, but unless that happens, I don't think they're gonna go quarterback."

If Sanders does fly off the board before Pittsburgh has a chance to land him, Fittipaldo may very well be proven correct.

This year's quarterback class is relatively weak, and if the Steelers are confident that they'll eventually sign Aaron Rodgers, he could allow the organization to train their focus elsewhere in the first round while also not debarring them from taking a rookie later on who'd slot in behind him and Mason Rudolph on the depth chart.