Steelers Predicted to Use Drew Allar Pick on Brendan Sorsby

At least one NFL analyst believes the Pittsburgh Steelers will take the plunge and land Brendan Sorsby in the supplemental draft.

On his "Check the Mic" podcast with Sam Monson, Steve Palazzolo predicted that the Steelers will bid a third-rounder for Sorsby and ultimately add him to a quarterback room that's already rather full.

"I'll say Pittsburgh in the third [round]," Palazzolo said. "They invest in another third."

Palazzolo then expanded on the idea of Pittsburgh adding Sorsby, highlighting them as an "obvious" destination for the 22-year-old while wondering if a perceived lack of growth from Will Howard or Drew Allar thus far could influence the organization to take a swing in this case.

"Pittsburgh is the most obvious one for me, even though they already have Will Howard and Drew Allar," Palazzolo said. "There is a point where you can't really three developmental quarterbacks, and they may have just said, 'We're out on Will Howard.'

"Maybe Mike McCarthy and staff is like, 'We don't believe in Will Howard' already. Or they saw Drew Allar in camp and it's like, 'This is a much bigger project than we thought.'"

Texas Tech's Brendan Sorsby goes through warmups before the spring football game, Friday, April 17, 2026, at Jones AT&T Stadium. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Unpacking What Adding Sorsby Would Really Mean for the Steelers

The red flags with Sorsby are evident due to his gambling case, which saw him lose his eligibility for the 2026 campaign prior to a temporary injunction against the NCAA being granted to him that would have allowed him to suit up for Texas Tech this year after transferring over from Cincinnati.

In the wake of significant pushback, however, Sorsby and the program opted to mutually part ways, and now he'll head into the supplemental draft, which will tentatively take place in mid-July.

What makes Sorsby such an intriguing potential addition for the Steelers and a handful of other teams is his size, arm talent and mobility. He's got some work to do before he's a finished product, but his ceiling is sky-high.

Pittsburgh has reportedly been doing its homework on him, and if the franchise is comfortable with what a comprehensive background check on Sorsby produces, than it's not the least bit outlandish to think it could bid a Day 2 pick on him.

In a scenario where Sorsby does join the Steelers with a third-round price tag or so, Howard immediately becomes the biggest loser in the team's quarterback room.

Jun 9, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard (18) participates in drills during Minicamp at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Howard's presently expected to win the backup job over Mason Rudolph and Allar, but he's far more expendable than the latter.

As a third-round selection in the 2026 NFL Draft who has essentially hand-picked by McCarthy and company, Allar should be presented with plenty of leeway to grow as he reworks his mechanics and way of playing the position following his collegiate career at Penn State.

As Palazzolo alluded to, developing Allar into a starting-level signal caller is a huge undertaking for Pittsburgh. He has similar tools to Sorsby in terms of his size and arm strength, though, and the team is going to exude patience with him.

Howard is a higher-floor option at quarterback who has earned praise from the new coaching staff, but he was also a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and doesn't possess the same type of upside that Allar and Sorsby present.

As a result, if Sorsby lands with the Steelers, it'd be all but certain that Howard would be either traded or released alongside Rudolph and potentially land on the practice squad if he isn't scooped up by another team.

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