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The Pittsburgh Steelers must decide if Russell Wilson will be the answer for them under center in 2025. But, if he isn't, the team has to pivot to another player, either through the draft or free agency, or quite possibly both.
The Steelers are not going into rebuild mode at all. Instead, they're going to try and retool a bit with the goal of competing in 2025, which is why we fully expect Wilson or another veteran signal-caller to be under center in Week 1.
But Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News has a different idea. He predicts that the Steelers will use their first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers.
"The Steelers can't try to piecemeal quarterback again after getting familiar limited results from Russell Wilson and Justin Fields," he wrote. "They need someone with a strong arm who plays well off the run and also can supplement that run with his own athleticism at times. Ewers checks the boxes with his experience and upside, and he should pan out much better than 2022 first-rounder Kenny Pickett."
In 2024, Ewers completed 65.8% of his passes for 3,472 yards and 31 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. For his collegiate career, Ewers' completion rate sits at 64.9% and is accompanied by 9,128 passing yards and 76 total touchdowns to 24 picks.
Ewers entered the 2024 season widely considered the top quarterback for this year's class. However, he has since seemingly been surpassed by Miami's Cam Ward and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders.
Projections for Ewers have been all over the place, from Day 1 to Day 3. Thus, depending on who you ask, taking Ewers at No. 21 could be a good or bad pick.
According to The Draft Network's Keith Sanchez, Ewers should go on Day 2. He also projects Ewers as a "winning starter."
The biggest question for Ewers as a prospect is arm strength. While Ewers has enough arm strength to get the ball down the field, ball velocity will be questioned. Routes that require plus-level arm strength such as deep comebacks and deep dig routes may challenge Ewers and his ability to consistently make the throw without defenders being able to break the pass up.
Overall, Ewers is a highly skilled quarterback who has a natural understanding of how to play the quarterback position and projects well to be able to operate an NFL offense. He possesses the requisite tools from a physical, intelligence, and instinctual perspective.
Prospect Projection: Day 2 — Winning Starter
Again, we highly doubt the Steelers are going to hand the keys to the car to a rookie quarterback in 2025. But what they can do is have a veteran in place to start, and then draft a signal-caller to develop behind the veteran.
In that scenario, we wouldn't expect the Steelers to spend an early pick on the position because of their desire to add someone who can help now. Instead, Pittsburgh will likely draft a quarterback on Day 2 or 3, if they do so at all.
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