Will the Steelers bring in QB Ty Simpson for a pre-draft visit?
While most fans and analysts seem to be against the Steelers drafting QB Ty Simpson, we don’t know their feelings. For all we know, they could be quite high on him and want to draft him. Although they didn’t send a big contingent to his Pro Day, they met with him formally at the Combine. If they were to bring him in for a pre-draft visit, that would be a big deal.
Now, Ty Simpson doesn’t fit the mold of the classic AFC North quarterback the Steelers are looking for. Then again, Kenny Pickett didn’t exactly have the hand size they would prefer and they took him. But he may be the best quarterback that they have a chance to draft, and that counts for something.
The question is, what does it count to the team? Some think the Steelers are too jumpy to take a chance on a quarterback like Ty Simpson after being burned on the Pickett selection four years ago. Maybe that’s true, but the scouting and coaching fraternity is different since then, too.
Simpson will be in attendance at the draft, and somebody could take him in the first round, even if the Steelers don’t. While the media has beaten the subject to death, though, I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that they would actually consider drafting him.
As of now, they don’t even have a starting quarterback, though we don’t know what they know. It’s possible that Aaron Rodgers has already told him when he’ll sign and that they’re comfortable with the timeline. That seemed to have been the case last year. But the Steelers won’t draft Ty Simpson just based on Rodgers’ presence or absence. If they draft him—in the first round, anyway—it will be because they see long-term starter potential in him. Now, if he were to happen to fall out of the first round, that could be a different story.
Especially recently, bringing in a player for a pre-draft visit has been a theme of the Steelers’ first-round picks under GM Omar Khan, so if they were to bring in Ty Simpson, it would raise his profile as a legitimate option. In that case, whether fans like it or not, we would have to take the possibility seriously.
The Steelers exited the playoffs in the first round yet again, a pattern going back to 2017.With seven consecutive postseason losses, and no wins in nearly a decade, they are facing another long, long offseason. No doubt we will see many changes, but none will top Mike Tomlin resigning.
The NFL has crowned its latest champion, but for us and the Steelers, we have been in offseason mode. That’s what happens when the team you coverloses by the middle of January all the time, but you’ve been around, so you know that already. Enjoy the ride, even the turbulence, because it’s the only way we know how to travel anymore.
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