NFL Draft preview: With QBs in place, Steelers can watch drama play out in 1st round

In a roundabout way, the Pittsburgh Steelers helped shape the top spot in the NFL Draft.

When the Steelers acquired Chicago quarterback Justin Fields on March 16, it solidified that the Bears were sold on selecting a passer with the No. 1 overall pick, and it essentially confirmed that they will take former USC quarterback Caleb Williams.

Williams is the highest-rated quarterback on almost every draft analysts’ board. How the process unfolds after Williams is taken by the Bears remains anyone’s guess.

LSU’s Jayden Daniels is the logical choice to go second to the Washington Commanders, who traded Sam Howell with the intent of drafting his successor. That’s one of the safer bets on most draft boards.

New England and possibly Arizona, holding the next two picks, also could go the quarterback route and remove North Carolina’s Drake Maye and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy from the equation.

Or a trade involving any of the three teams drafting behind Chicago could upset the top portion of the opening round.

“So many things can happen,” said ESPN analyst Field Yates, a former scout and coaching assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Despite the uncertainty, it looks like the draft could feature a repeat from 2023 when quarterbacks were taken in three of the top four spots. Or in 2021 when passers went 1-2-3.

This year’s class coincides with several teams situated outside the top five picks finding themselves in a market for a quarterback. That group includes Denver, Minnesota, Las Vegas and New Orleans, which own the Nos. 11-14 picks. Ahead of them, at No. 6, are the New York Giants, who could look to replace starter and former first-rounder Daniel Jones.

“There are a number of teams that could be in that market,” said former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum, adding the Los Angeles Rams to the list. “Six quarterbacks could go in the first round. By the end of the second day, there could be nine or 10.”

It’s a matter of how badly those teams sitting outside the top 10 value quarterbacks such as McCarthy and Maye. The debate is whether they trade up to acquire one of those passers or wait and add from the second tier of quarterbacks, namely Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr.

NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has six quarterbacks ranked in his overall top 50 with Nix coming in at No. 29 and Penix at No. 33.

“I think those six have starting potential,” Jeremiah said. “If you have a guy and he is the 27th or 28th player on your board and you are picking No. 12 or 14 and you need a quarterback, it could be very easy to talk yourself into that.”

Yates believes quarterback-needy teams may be inclined to address the position in the draft this season rather than wait a year.

“A very early lens suggests this quarterback class is superior than 2025,” he said. “Rather than bypass a player who has a chance to be a 10-year franchise quarterback — and I feel that way about three players — a year from now that may not be the same value.”

A panel of former players, coaches, officials, talent evaluators, writers and broadcasters were asked to predict the second player taken in the draft. Daniels received 96 of 140 votes. Maye had 29, with former Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. getting nine.

A five-year starter who began his college career at Arizona State before transferring to LSU for his final two years, Daniels threw 40 touchdown passes against four interceptions en route to winning the Heisman Trophy.

“Of all the quarterbacks this year, he didn’t have a blemish,” ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. “Didn’t have a hiccup.”

Experts are split on whether Maye, a two-year starter at North Carolina and 2022 ACC player of the year, should be ranked ahead of McCarthy, who led Michigan to a national championship last year.

“He has things he needs to work on, including tightening some things up from a delivery standpoint,” Jeremiah said of Maye. “But I think the kid is really, really talented. I have seen him play at a high level. I’ve seen him make big plays in two-minute situations using his legs. It’s all there. You just might not have seen it all consistently.”

McCarthy’s recent workouts, including at Michigan’s pro day, apparently have increased his draft stock, vaulting him from consideration in the middle of the first round to potentially being the third player taken overall.

“The whole idea that he is rising hasn’t been the case with me,” Tannenbaum said, citing McCarthy’s 27-1 record as a starter. “I’ve always liked him.”

Having revamped their quarterback room by signing Russell Wilson and No. 3 passer Kyle Allen and trading for Fields, the Steelers can sit back and watch other teams jostle for quarterbacks in the first round.

All the drama will unfold after the Bears do as expected and select Williams, who threw 30 touchdown passes and rushed for 11 scores a year after securing the Heisman Trophy. By trading Fields, the Bears are banking on Williams being a generational talent.

“When you look at him and evaluate trying to stack him with guys from the past, I just think the talent — if you’re just looking at pure talent — you can put him up there with really any of them,” Jeremiah said. “That’s in terms of arm strength, athleticism, the creativity that he has, the play-making ability that he has.”