As the Pittsburgh Steelers look ahead to the 2026 season, their quarterback options in the first round are extremely limited. With projected No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza expected to be long gone, Alabama’s Ty Simpson may be the only rookie passer realistically worth a look—despite ongoing debate about whether he’s worthy of that draft slot.
According to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, the Steelers have been doing their homework on the intriguing quarterback.
“In his latest mock draft, ESPN’s Field Yates has the Steelers using their No. 21 pick on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. The Steelers have closely watched Simpson, who threw for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns and five interceptions in his lone season as a full-time starter for the Crimson Tide. But while there is an upside to Simpson, he also struggled with decision-making late in the season. He completed a season-low 49% of pass attempts in the SEC championship loss to Georgia, and four of his five interceptions came in the final six games.”
If you rewind back to late October, top draft analysts like Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. both viewed Simpson as a first-round talent. Each analyst had the same four potential first-round QB options at the time—Fernando Mendoza, Dante Moore, Simpson, and LaNorris Sellers—though two of those prospects opted to return to school.
The question now is which version of Simpson evaluators should trust, the quarterback who flashed early in the season, or the one who struggled to maintain that level of play down the stretch.
Yates and many others have paired the Steelers with Simpson because of the obvious need. If you ask former NFL QB Chase Daniel, he’s definitely worth the look.
“Ty Simpson was the nation’s best QB before he got hurt & the Steelers at 21 make so much sense. You can’t do it any better than this…the way he gets to his 4th progression is perfect…great pocket presence,” Daniel wrote on X.
According to Yahoo Sports, Simpson was battling multiple injuries throughout the season. His rib injury during the Rose Bowl was well-known, but there was a separate back issue that he suffered against South Carolina. That may have been more significant than many realized.
If you look at Simpson’s box score from game to game, his production took a turn for the worse after that South Carolina game. Before South Carolina, he completed 70.2 percent of his attempts for 1,931 yards, 18 TDs, and one INT with two additional rushing TDs. After the injury, his completion rating dipped to 60.4 with 1,383 yards, eight TDs, and four INTs. His rushing production also dipped to basically zero.
Perhaps the injury is a reasonable excuse and the first half of the season is the real Ty Simpson.
Coincidentally, the Steelers had scouts in attendance at that South Carolina game. They also had scouts on-site for Florida State, Missouri, and Auburn.
It’s reasonable to assume the Steelers did their homework on all of the quarterbacks in the class. Jeremy Fowler reported that the Steelers have done “a ton of homework” on the class.
Recency bias has many firmly against Simpson as a first-round option, but the Steelers might see things differently. If he doesn’t get drafted in the first round, maybe he becomes a priority second-round option that Pittsburgh could reasonably trade up for with some of their 12 picks.
The Steelers don’t need to agree with consensus—but prepare for the Kenny Pickett-level reach narrative if he ends up being their pick.
Recommended for you