Schefter: Steelers Shaping Up to be Most Intriguing Team in 2026 NFL Draft
ESPN insider Adam Schefter believes the Pittsburgh Steelers will be the most intriguing team in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Pittsburgh Steelers continued to stockpile picks in the 2026 NFL Draft when they traded wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys last week. They now have more than enough ammunition to make a big splash.
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.” “And we also know, whether or not they sign Aaron Rodgers, they’re probably gonna be back in the quarterback market again. 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 have been stuck in quarterback purgatory ever since Ben Roethlisberger retired following the 2021 season. But there seems to be a lot of hope that will finally end next year.
That doesn’t mean it will be easy for Pittsburgh to land its next franchise quarterback, though. Besides the fact that the player must pan out at the next level, the team will face stiff competition for the top quarterbacks.
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.”