Drew Allar had strong sophomore and junior seasons at Penn State. His senior season cost him.
Allar played in only six games due to a broken ankle, and didn’t do enough to impress NFL scouts into moving him up draft boards.
Allar still ended up in a decent spot. He went to the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 12th pick of the third round, 76th overall. Allar is from Ohio andgrew up as a fanof the Cleveland Browns, and now he joins the Browns’ rival. It’s a spot that could have an opening at quarterback soon. The Steelers will probably get Aaron Rodgers signed at some point this offseason to start in 2026, but as he enters his age-43 season, he could retire after any season.
Whether that answer is Allar remains to be seen. He needs plenty of development to get to the point where he could be trusted as a starter. But the Steelers did use a valuable pick on him. The Steelers will need someone to step in when Rodgers is done. Pittsburgh just drafted Will Howard in the sixth round last year and have talked him up this offseason, though they’re clearly not sold there to use a pick on Allar, who is a project with some positive traits.
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Allar has NFL size and a good arm, and showed some athleticism at Penn State as well. The problem has been consistency and accuracy. That was an issue coming into last season and he didn’t show enough improvement in those areas during his final six games in college.
The good news as Allar heads into the NFL is he has the physical tools to last for a while in the league. He has plenty of work to do to refine his game, but he won’t have the same pressure to develop quickly that he would have had as a higher pick.
Allar isn’t the first toolsy quarterback that has been drafted, with the hope that he develops his game to match his arm strength and size. He should be given some time to do that in Pittsburgh.
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