The NFL’s Supplemental Draft has an interesting history, with notable players like QB Bernie Kosar and WR Cris Carter entering the league this way.
This year, all eyes are on QB Brendan Sorsby. He transferred to Texas Tech ahead of the 2026 college season, but he declared for the supplemental draft after the fallout from a gambling issue.
The Steelers are one of the teams that have been linked to Sorsby. It makes sense, because they still don’t have a definitive long-term answer at quarterback.
However, the Steelers do have two young quarterbacks they’re trying to evaluate. They drafted QB Will Howard in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft and took QB Drew Allar in the third round of this year’s draft. So, how would that work out?
“You have to figure out. Does that mean they’re out on Will Howard, or they don’t care as much about Drew Allar?” analyst Steve Palazzolo asked Friday on 93.7 The Fan’s The PM Team. “I mean, Sorsby’s probably a slightly better prospect than Allar because he played better football on the field. Doesn’t maybe have as good of an arm but is a better runner and has better tools. I think Howard probably played better football than both of those guys, but with a great supporting cast at Ohio State his final season.”
Palazzolo already made his belief known that the Steelers will select Sorsby. Now he’s diving a little deeper into why he thinks the Steelers would take Sorsby.
The comparisons with Allar are very interesting. You almost have to go back to Allar’s 2024 to get a good comparison, since he only played in six games in 2025 before suffering a season-ending injury.
In 2024, Allar attempted 394 passes and completed 66.5 percent of them. He threw for 3,327 yards and 24 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
In 2025, Sorsby attempted 336 passes for Cincinnati and completed 61.6 percent of them. He threw for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns to only five interceptions.
Allar threw a touchdown on 6.1 percent of his attempts, while Sorsby did so on 8 percent of his attempts.
However, as Palazzolo pointed out, Sorsby offers something that Allar never did: a quarterback rushing threat. In 2024, Allar averaged 3.1 yards per carry and scored six times. In 2025, Sorsby averaged 5.8 yards per carry and ran for nine scores, his second straight year doing so.
Palazzolo doesn’t get into a tools discussion between Sorsby and Howard. He simply said that Howard had the best final year out of any of the quarterbacks. He does note that Howard was surrounded by elite talent at Ohio State. There is no question that Sorsby was not playing with the same level of players around him.
No one is saying that Sorsby is a guaranteed franchise quarterback. Palazzolo said that a lot of the buzz around Sorsby is a combination of his physical traits and potential.
“He’s got a pretty good arm,” Palazzolo said. “He runs well. He’s fast and he makes good decisions as a runner and he’s big. I mean, he just has tools, and I think he was the perfect quarterback where you just put him on the watch list and say, ‘If he has a good final season, he could go in the first round.'”
We never got to see Sorsby play that final year. So, everyone here is projecting the continued ascension of Brendan Sorsby. Do the Steelers feel like he offers better tools than Drew Allar and Will Howard? Palazzolo thinks so. The bigger question is how much better his tools are than the other young quarterbacks.
If Sorsby is a more physically gifted quarterback than either Allar or Howard, the Steelers have to figure out what kind of risk is involved in drafting a quarterback who is leaving school early because of a gambling problem. This is not simply a talent evaluation, though that’s a big part of it.
This is also about the Steelers trying to find a franchise quarterback and having to figure out if Brendan Sorsby can be the face of a franchise.
Beat writer Mark Kaboly said a while ago that the Steelers were “snooping around” Sorsby. Every single decision-maker in Pittsburgh has to ensure they do their due diligence here. If they feel comfortable with both the on-field and the off-field stuff, then maybe the Steelers will pull the trigger to take another shot at finding their franchise quarterback.
After all, it’s the most important position in football. A great quarterback can be the difference between a good team and a great team.
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