You’ve heard takes that Mason Rudolph is the odd man out. Or that Mike McCarthy secretly isn’t a big fan of Will Howard. Now, Chris Simms is floating the idea that Drew Allar could become a rare example of a third-round pick who doesn’t make the initial 53-man roster.
Responding to Mike Florio’s take that Howard could feel the squeeze, Simms thinks the pressure is on Allar.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if it was the other way around,” Simms said on their NBC Sports podcast, referring to Allar being cut for Howard to be kept. “For all the things you just said about Drew Allar. It’s raw. That’s why I couldn’t get behind the pick. I like the kid. He’s big. His arm is strong.
“But the throwing motion, the drops, the offense that he was in, it’s all bad…he could be so raw that they get through training camp and they go, they can’t make him the third either.”
Simms thinks that if Allar struggles in the preseason, no other NFL team will want him, allowing Allar to pass through waivers unclaimed and land on Pittsburgh’s practice squad.
As we noted last week, the Steelers’ last third-round pick who failed to make the initial roster for non-injury reasons came in 1980. Pittsburgh traded third-round pick TE Ray Sydnor, a talented but troubled player, to the Philadelphia Eagles before he ever made the team. The last NFL example came in 2020 when the Las Vegas Raiders drafted RB/WR Lynn Bowden 80th overall, only to deal him to the Miami Dolphins that September.
In other words, moving on from a third-round pick out of the gate is extremely rare.
Simms used the moment to share intel that the NFL personnel he talked to believed Pittsburgh over-drafted Allar.
“He wasn’t a third-round pick on a lot of teams’ radars…I think that caught a lot of people in the NFL by surprise,” Simms said.
Allar opened up OTAs as the fourth-string quarterback behind Aaron Rodgers, Will Howard, and Mason Rudolph. It’s no surprise Allar is at the end of the depth chart, a project who isn’t anywhere near ready to play. That doesn’t mean, however, that Allar is in danger of losing his roster spot. Given that Mike McCarthy seemed to vouch for and want Allar, the team will give him at least a full year to take his new coaching and show he can realize his potential.
Pittsburgh could have a difficult quarterback situation to make. Even releasing Rudolph wouldn’t feel easy, a known veteran whose absence would leave a young room behind a 42-year-old Rodgers. But unless something unbelievable happens, Allar will be on Pittsburgh’s Active/Inactive roster to begin the year, likely as the team’s No. 3 quarterback.
Recommended for you