Most of the football universe was shocked by the precipitous slide of former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders from the top of the NFL draft all the way to the early portion of the fifth round.
One of the more surprising passes on the gutsy, accurate signal caller who regularly played his best in the biggest moments during his collegiate career came from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Pittsburgh chose not to select Sanders with three different picks (Nos. 20, 83 and 123) and still doesn't appear have a true starting quarterback on the roster between Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and sixth-rounder/national champion Will Howard out of Ohio State.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson.
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated revealed on the Friday, May 30 edition of "The Bill Simmons Podcast" that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was high on Sanders and may have exercised his considerable influence within the organization to bring the quarterback into the franchise fold were it not for one factor -- the fallout left behind in the wake of Russell Wilson.
Wilson was already gone from the team when the draft rolled around in late April, inking a one-year contract to join the New York Giants. However, it was at Tomlin's insistence that Pittsburgh continued to roll with Wilson down the stretch of what proved a frightful end to last season, which Breer suggested kept the coach's foot off the gas pedal in the team's internal Sanders debate.
"A lot of that building really wanted them to go back to Justin Fields. And it was something where Tomlin was kind of, again, all on his own on that one," Breer said. "Tomlin liked Shedeur going into the draft, but I don't think he wanted to press that button again at quarterback after what happened with Russell at the end of the year."
Sanders is now a member of the Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh continues to wait on Aaron Rodgers to commit to joining the team as the player who would easily be the Steelers' most plausible starting QB in 2025, even heading into his age-42 campaign.