Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert got a lot of close-up looks at the 2022 rookie quarterback class at the Senior Bowl a few weeks ago.
This week, they'll get to see them all together when the NFL holds its annual Scouting Combine in Indianapolis after a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
The value of seeing all the prospects, regardless of position, in one setting, can't be overstated.
"There's good players that all have a different skill set," Colbert said last week. "And that's what was really unique about watching them compete at the Senior Bowl because the majority of them were there. So, they're all different. And I know that some of them will be starting quarterbacks, winning quarterbacks, and that's exciting."
Pitt's Kenny Pickett, Malik Willis of Liberty and Matt Corral of Ole Miss are considered the top three prospects available. But North Carolina's Sam Howell, Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder and Carson Strong of Nevada also are all considered potential high picks in this year's draft. All but Corral, an underclassman, were at the Senior Bowl.
So the Steelers got a good initial look at the group as they begin the process of looking for a potential long-term replacement for Ben Roethlisberger.
This week, they'll get more medical information, an opportunity to sit down with the prospects again -- interviews also take place at the Senior Bowl -- and watch them work out on field.
But the thoughts on the group are already starting to materialize.
"Ready to play right now, I would say Pickett. Pickett has got a lot of experience," said NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah of the group. "He, to me, is somebody when you watch all these guys and you kind of watch them all one after another, he's just different with how quickly he operates, just getting through progressions, getting the ball where it needs to be. He doesn't have wow arm strength. He doesn't blow you away with that, but he's got really good vision. He throws with anticipation and timing. I think he'd be ready to come in and play right away.
"In terms of the upside, I don't know how you'd see anybody other than Malik Willis just in terms of what he can do once he gets it all figured out, but he's got a huge arm. Not real tall obviously, just a little over 6 feet tall, but he is built. He is a powerfully built guy who can drive the ball. You saw it at the Senior Bowl when it was raining and everybody else was struggling. He didn't have any issues whatsoever. This guy can really power the football. He can make off-platform throws. He can create. You can use the -- you know, design quarterback run game with him and he's outstanding with that. He's just so strong and physical. I think he would be the one with the most upside."
In his most recent mock draft, Jeremiah has the Steelers selecting Willis with their first-round pick, which is 20th overall.
But if the former transfer from Auburn performs as well as expected this week in on-field testing -- he's anticipated to run a sub-4.5-second 40-yard dash -- it could cause his stock to rise considerably.
"He's the one where, OK, yeah, there's risk involved with any of these quarterbacks, but he provides the upside to warrant taking the risk," Jeremiah said. "If you're going to take a, quote-unquote, flier on a quarterback at the bottom of the first round, I sure as heck would like to have a big payoff at least as a possibility. He's that guy.
"When you look at the quarterbacks in this draft, he's the one with all that upside. I think you could look at some of the other guys and say, OK, they've got a chance to be starters, but I don't know that anybody is saying they've got a chance to be high-end starters. I think Malik Willis, while there's obviously plenty of risk and that's why he could be there at the end of the first round, there's also the potential of a big payoff. That would be the one that I could kind of target if he was there."
The other interesting sub-plot to the position is none of the teams with picks in the top 5 of this year's draft have a need for a rookie quarterback. But the Panthers with pick 6, Falcons at 8, Broncos at 9, Commanders at 11 and Saints at 18 are all teams that figure to be in the market for a quarterback.
Some of those teams, however, could prefer to wait a year or fill their need in free agency.
"It's going to be fascinating to see who kind of blinks when it comes to these quarterbacks," Jeremiah said. "I don't have one with a top-10 grade, but I also don't have a dying need for the position personally in the Jeremiah household. I'm curious to see who the first team is to say, OK, yeah, we're all in on one of these guys."
We'll start to get a better handle on all of that starting this week. But it won't mean they've got their mind made up on anything by any stretch.
The Steelers also could be one of the teams that choose to pass on waiting to take a quarterback in the draft. They could instead choose to add to the position in free agency. Or, they could choose to go with Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins and try again next year.
"We’ll sort through all of that over the next two months. We have preliminary ideas going into it," Colbert said. "Every step we learn something new. We come out of the college season, we go to the Senior Bowl, we’ll go to the combine, we’ll go to pro-days. And then we’ll look at what we did in free agency. That could change it. If you spend millions on a position, you may not draft that position even though it’s the best option prior to free agency. So, there are so many questions we’ll be answering to ourselves over the next two months that I really can’t nail it down at this point."
