Despite the pending return of Aaron Rodgers and the early praise of Will Howard, the Pittsburgh Steelers still took a quarterback in the 2026 NFL draft. That quarterback was former Penn State signal-caller Drew Allar. Evaluations on Allar were all over the place ahead of the draft but for draft analyst Matt Waldman, There’s no real upside to Allar and he really didn’t hold back.
Allar’s acumen for processing coverage and managing the game. His accuracy and decision-making fall apart in moments that are remedial for NFL quarterbacks. The Steelers’ selection of Allar in their third round has influenced fantasy GMs to draft Allar as a fourth-round rookie pick. I gave Allar a pre-draft grade of 60.5, which is the equivalent of a low-end street free agent that wouldn’t be signed to a futures contract. It has been 22 years since the Steelers have drafted a successful NFL starter. They’ve drafted 10 quarterbacks during that span – 4 between the first and fourth rounds – without success.
Per @MattWaldman
“Allar’s acumen for processing coverage and managing the game. His accuracy and decision-making fall apart in moments that are remedial for NFL quarterbacks. The Steelers’ selection of Allar in their third round has influenced fantasy GMs to draft Allar as a…
— Matt Williamson (@WilliamsonNFL) May 2, 2026
We aren’t ready to go as far as Waldman did, but it’s clear from Allar’s film that he has no real traits that stand out. And to paraphrase something former head coach Mike Tomlin used to say, Allar does not do routine things routinely.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: NFL draft analyst scathing evaluation of Steelers QB Drew Allar