Steelers rookie QB Drew Allar has completed his first spring session with the Steelers; how is he looking so far? Reporters have only had limited access to practice thus far under new HC Mike McCarthy, compared to under Mike Tomlin. With that said, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shared his thoughts on the third-round pick’s May and June.
“I think good progress, and I think some of it probably isn’t even evident on the practice field when we get to watch them”, he said of Drew Allar on 93.7 The Fan. He contrasted how he’s learning here to what his former Penn State coaches taught him, a marked departure in professionalism. “When you take that onto the practice field, everything is different about the way he’s being coached. About the mechanical things they’re trying to fix with his technique, it’s all different”.
A former first-round projection, Drew Allar ultimately fell to the third round. In retrospect, many are attributing his uneven play for the Nittany Lions to the quality of coaching he had there. Even some of his former coaches have acknowledged as much, but that doesn’t guarantee that better coaching will turn him into an NFL starter. Or at least a quality one.
Thus far, Allar has had rookie minicamp, OTAs, and veteran minicamp to work on his techniques and learn the offense. McCarthy has a thorough and detailed plan about how to develop quarterbacks, and Allar is his first new pupil with the Steelers from start to finish.
“There are some times where he looks really mechanical and somewhat clunky in some of these individual drills because he is trying to learn new footwork and new technique”, Fittipaldo said. “But there are other times where he’s thrown in there in the team periods and he’s just letting his talent fly and you could just tell the arm ability is there. The touch on the deep balls is there. He looks really good in some other instances, as well”.
“I think it’s gonna be an ongoing process, but I think overall, good spring for Allar”, he concluded. “Now he has to carry that over into a strong first rookie training camp”.
The Steelers did not draft Drew Allar with the 2026 season in mind, of course. They anticipated going in that Aaron Rodgers would return for one final season. And even then, they still have Mason Rudolph and Will Howard at quarterback.
Already, they have a decision on their hands about which three quarterbacks to take. Rodgers is a given, as is Allar as a third-round rookie. But no matter how the rest of the room shakes out, Allar figures to be the third-string quarterback. He’ll only dress for games as an emergency player. The focus this season will be on his continued development, both physically and mentally. And if last year is any indication, Aaron Rodgers should play a meaningful role in that, as well. According to Allar, he already has.
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