The Steelers have been connected nationally to several quarterbacks with free agency approaching.
Kirk Cousins, Justin Fields, Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill are just some of the names that have been linked to Pittsburgh.
The Steelers are going to need a quarterback with Kenny Pickett as the only QB currently under contract.
But, what if instead of free agency, the Steelers take their quarterback in the draft, in the first round, no less!
ESPN’s Field Yates has the Steelers taking Oregon quarterback Bo Nix in the first round of the 2024 draft at 20th overall.
That’s the same spot the Steelers took Pickett during the 2022 draft.
Yates says, “This one might be a surprise,” since the Steelers took a QB in the first round just two years ago.
Yates admits that taking a quarterback in the later portion of the first round is “polarizing, but my fundamental mindset is the Steelers’ ceiling with Pickett under center is too low for a franchise whose standard is not simply making the playoffs but making deep runs.”
But Nix has been called Pickett 2.0 by many and will be 24 by the time the draft happens in April.
It’s only the first of many mock drafts from ESPN, but it seems like a huge waste of a pick to take a comparable QB to compete with Pickett in the first round, when there are free agents or quarterbacks in the later rounds.