Assessing Steelers’ QB Hierarchy Under Aaron Rodgers
After much ado, veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned to the Steelers on a new deal last weekend then, shortly after, announced his plans to retire following the 2026 NFL season. Both bits of news could influence the makeup of the quarterbacks room moving forward in Pittsburgh, and the possibilities of who might be the odd man out are extremely interesting.
Rodgers is clearly the starter, as he returns for his 22nd season of NFL play, but in his return, he joined an existing three-man group. New head coach Mike McCarthy is surely thrilled to be reunited with his longtime quarterback from the pair’s time in Green Bay together, but he has routinely carried no more than three quarterbacks on the active roster in any given year, sometimes going with two but sticking with three a majority of the time. With Rodgers in tow, it now becomes a question of which of the other three will be the odd man out.
The three likely competing for two spots are veteran backup Mason Rudolph, 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard, and rookie third-round pick Drew Allar. While a couple of combinations seem like obvious favorites, there are several arguments that make this an intriguing battle to watch.
One seemingly obvious conclusion would be that Rudolph must be one of the two backups; in fact, it would be a reasonable presumption to say that he should be the primary backup. Since being taken in the third round out of Oklahoma State eight years ago, Rudolph has appeared in 34 games, starting 19 but never functioning as QB1 for a team. He’s shown over time that he can keep a team afloat, but a limited ceiling is likely going to keep him from being the man to eventually take the reins from Rodgers.
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rudolph believes Rodgers’ presence bodes well for him. With Rodgers, he sees the Steelers as a “win now” team that could ride Rodgers off into the sunset on top. If they’re going all in on this one season to “win now,” they would need an experienced backup, in case Rodgers can’t make it all the way from start to finish. Fortunately for Rudolph, Howard and Allar have combined for zero NFL snaps as of today, and it’s hard to imagine the team would feel comfortable with either youngster coming off the bench right now in place of Rodgers.
Bucking against the obvious presumption, McCarthy, who has a penchant for developing quarterbacks, has expressed his preference for molding younger, less experienced arms. “I love the young guys, especially when you get them when they’re just starting out,” McCarthy said at rookie minicamp (per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor).
If that’s the case, then the argument could be made for holding on to the younger pair of backups. Howard has a slight advantage over Allar, having been on the team for a year longer, but Howard’s rookie-year redshirt was essentially a medical redshirt, keeping him away from many of the things that would’ve provided him a familiar edge over Allar. If McCarthy likes passers who are “just starting out,” Allar may be his perfect canvas. The Penn State-product didn’t even start playing the position until high school, and though he oozes potential, a lot of production failed to make it to the field in Happy Valley.
A Steelers correspondent on The Pat McAfee Show, Mark Kaboly seemed pretty of convinced of how things might shake out. He started with the obvious route, slotting Rodgers in at QB1 and Rudolph in as his experienced backup. Then, when choosing between Howard and Allar for the third spot, Kaboly opted for the higher-drafted Allar, who also has more years of team control remaining on his contract. Kaboly thinks this route also gives Pittsburgh its strongest chance to retain all four guys. Either young player would be placed on waivers, if cut, and be at risk of any team claiming them. Howard stands the best chance of clearing waivers to land on the practice squad, while Allar would likely draw a decent number of claims as a third-round pick with potential.
In a surprising update from just a couple days ago, though, Pryor reported that, at early practice activities, Howard has been taking QB2 reps over both Allar and Rudolph. As a third-round pick this year under McCarthy, it seems highly unlikely that Allar would be going anywhere, so Rudolph may just end up being the odd man out. We’d likely need to see this stack with much more consistency before truly believing that Howard has surpassed Rudolph on the depth chart, but it’s great experience for the Ohio State-product regardless.
To see where Rodgers’ retirement plans come into effect, one must fast forward a year. Further supporting the potential hierarchy Pryor noted, the notion Pittsburgh might move forward with Rudolph as the starter next year is highly unlikely. If it turns out the Steelers are not as competitive as they hope to be in Rodgers’ final year, McCarthy and Co. may be interested in seeing what they have in their younger arms.
There is so much time that will transpire before anything definitive decisions need to be made. Injuries or trades may make the team’s decision for them, or one of the three contenders could start to steal the show and run away with the job. While Rodgers is obviously the star of the room, it will be very interesting to see how the battle behind him plays out.
Ravens Exploring QB Contingencies?
Eight years ago, the Ravens hit the reset button, naming Eric DeCosta as only the second general manager during the team’s tenure in Baltimore and drafting a quarterback who would eventually take over for 10-year starter Joe Flacco. This offseason, the franchise named Jesse Minter as only the fourth head coach in Ravens history, and it seems a similar changing of the guard behind center was explored, as well, according to Jason La Canfora of Sports Illustrated.
Per La Canfora, an NFL general manager informed him that Baltimore was one of “two teams that quietly did the most work on quarterbacks who already have franchise quarterbacks.” While it’s natural to see that, after releasing backup Cooper Rush shortly into free agency, having only two quarterbacks on the roster makes adding, at the very least, some camp arms a priority. The Ravens did just that after the 2026 NFL Draft concluded, but La Canfora’s report refers more to the possibility that Baltimore could’ve used valuable draft capital in search of some possible contingencies should they not be able to reach an extension agreement with star passer Lamar Jackson.
Jackson has been the team’s starter since taking over halfway through his rookie year in 2018. Over that time, the former Heisman Trophy-winner has won two MVP awards, delivered three first-team All-Pro campaigns, and taken his team to the postseason in six of eight tries, reaching the AFC Championship just once. He currently ranks second in many of the franchise’s passing records (behind Flacco) while also ranking second in many of the franchise’s rushing records (behind Jamal Lewis).
Jackson is set to enter the 2026 NFL season on the second-to-last year of a five-year, $260MM extension the team signed him to in 2023. The process that landed him on the historic contract was a rocky one to say the least. A year after exercising the fifth-year option on Jackson’s rookie contract, the Ravens attempted to ink Jackson to an extended contract, but having just missed the last four games of the season and having notched a career-high 13 interceptions, the dual-threat passer turned them down, choosing to bet on himself under the belief that he could add value to any potential extension over another season of play.
Instead, Jackson’s 2022 campaign saw him miss the final five games of the year, complicating contract negotiations a bit. Unable to reach a consensus early into the offseason and with Jackson’s rookie deal coming to an end, the Ravens opted to place a non-exclusive franchise tag on their star quarterback, allowing outside teams to provide Jackson with contract offers knowing that the Ravens would have the ability to either match the offer or be compensated with draft capital if they allowed Jackson to walk. That stalemate ended — after some suspected league-wide collusion — when Jackson signed the five-year deal that is now threatening to end his time in Baltimore.
While the negotiations to keep him in purple and black this time around have not been so visibly contentious, it’s clear the two sides have been unable to come to a consensus. There’s been wide belief in recent weeks that, should the Ravens fail to ink Jackson to another long-term deal in the offseason, it may spell the end of the pair’s longtime union. La Canfora’s report seems to support that notion as it paints a picture of a Baltimore front office doubting its ability to secure Jackson for the future.
The Ravens’ moves post-draft have been those of a team employing camp arms for an offseason program that has, historically, not seen much of Jackson. At the moment, there are five arms in Charm City, consisting of Jackson, primary backup Tyler Huntley, veteran free agent addition Skylar Thompson, and undrafted rookies Diego Pavia and Joe Fagnano. None of the four currently in the room with Jackson pose much threat of giving the Ravens enough confidence to move on from Jackson, but had they succeeded in what La Canfora claims they were attempting to do in the draft, the story might have looked a bit different.
The other team the NFL GM mentioned above that did work on quarterbacks was the Eagles, who did end up drafting a solid passing prospect in North Dakota State’s Cole Payton in the fifth round. The assertion concerning Baltimore isn’t that they were looking to take a late-round flyer; instead, the GM source asserts the Ravens were doing their homework on the likes of Miami’s Carson Beck, Penn State’s Drew Allar, and Arkansas’s Taylen Green. These were late-Day 2, early-Day 3 considerations that ended up landing with teams in insecure quarterback situations where they have more than a slight chance to make an impact.
La Canfora’s GM and a second personnel executive source believe the Ravens were high on Green, whose rushing abilities most-resemble those of Jackson. The imposingly athletic passer ended up landing in Cleveland, where Jackson’s most recent offensive coordinator has just started his first tenure as an NFL head coach. Having failed to acquire any quarterbacks with much promise, the Ravens can simply brush these notions under the rug as they continue their efforts to convince Jackson to stay. If things had lined up differently, though, it seems there was a chance that DeCosta, Minter, and Co. could’ve used a draft pick on a quarterback contingency plan instead of furthering efforts to win now with the current roster makeup.
Steelers Not Expecting Will Howard, Drew Allar To Play In 2026; Latest On Aaron Rodgers
As was the case at this time last spring, the Steelers do not have an established starting quarterback. They are once again awaiting an answer from free agent Aaron Rodgers, who took until early June to join the Steelers last year. Rodgers was in Pittsburgh last week, though the future Hall of Famer did not visit team facilities. While no deal has materialized since then, “all signs” point to Rodgers re-signing, James Palmer of Bleacher Report says.
The Steelers’ decision to wait for Rodgers last year worked out fine during the regular season. The former Packer and Jet posted respectable production over 16 starts, during which the Steelers went 10-6. They lost to Chicago in his only absence, a Week 12 game in which Mason Rudolph started.
The Steelers’ 10-7 finish was good enough to earn an AFC North title, but the Texans trounced them in a 30-6 wild-card round matchup. After losing his seventh straight playoff game, 19-year head coach Mike Tomlin resigned.
Given his affinity for Tomlin, it initially appeared the 42-year-old Rodgers would either retire or play elsewhere in 2026. But the Steelers reopened the door for a second season with Rodgers when they hired Mike McCarthy to replace Tomlin. McCarthy coached Rodgers in Green Bay from 2006-18. The two won the only Super Bowl of their respective careers together in 2010, and Rodgers took home a pair of his four MVP awards under McCarthy.
Rodgers’ MVP form is long gone, but he still looks like the Steelers’ best bet to find a passable starter at this juncture of the offseason. The free agent market has dried up, the draft has passed, and there are no surefire upgrades available via trade.
In the unlikely event Rodgers does not re-up with the Steelers, it would leave them with Rudolph (a career backup), Will Howard and Drew Allar as in-house options. A previous report suggested the Rodgers-less Steelers could stage a competition between Rudolph and Howard, but Mark Kaboly of The Pat McAfee Show passes along different information. The Steelers “have no expectations” that Howard or Allar will play this year, according to Kaboly.
Pittsburgh spent a 2025 sixth-rounder on Howard, who won a national championship at Ohio State but has not garnered any meaningful NFL experience. Howard did not take a single snap in his first season.
As for Allar, the third-round rookie from Penn State has serious work to do before he steps foot on a regular-season field in the pros. McCarthy and QBs coach Tom Arth are rebuilding Allar’s mechanics “from the ground up,” Mike DeFabo of The Athletic reports. That suggests Allar could be in for a redshirt season in 2026, regardless of whether Rodgers returns.
The Steelers will continue molding Allar as they begin voluntary OTAs on Monday, which Palmer notes is a date many “have circled” for a potential Rodgers decision. If the Steelers are still without an answer then, Rudolph will presumably enter the proceedings as the de facto QB1. The 30-year-old has just 19 starts on his resume. Rodgers has made 257. Because they placed the uncommon UFA tender on Rodgers, the Steelers will have exclusive negotiating rights with him if he is still unsigned past July 22.
Steelers Draft QB Drew Allar At No. 76
The Steelers have not heard if Aaron Rodgers will play a 22nd season, and while they expect to hear from their 2025 starter that he will return soon, another quarterback is heading to Pittsburgh. Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, who visited with the team this month, is going to the Steelers at No. 76 overall as the fourth QB off the board.
Allar is a clear development pick; he didn’t even start playing quarterback until high school. At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Allar boasts a prototypical frame reminiscent of the late 2000’s and 2010’s battles between Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco. He has a decent arm and above average mobility for a passer his size, rushing for 732 yards and 12 touchdowns at Penn State. The Nittany Lions went 26-9 with Allar as the starter under center.
After coming off the bench as a true freshman, Allar’s first year as a starter drew interesting results. The highlights saw elite discipline as he threw for 25 touchdowns and only two interceptions, but those results came with a 59.9% completion rate and only 202.4 passing yards per game.
He improved greatly in his second year as the starter, increasing his completion percentage to 66.5, but in three more games, he threw one fewer touchdown and eight interceptions while averaging just 207.9 yards per game. His final year in Happy Valley got off to a rough start. When a broken ankle ended his season, the Nittany Lions were 3-3 and Allar was averaging just 183.3 yards per game.
The production never quite matched the potential or the physical tools for Allar. He showed an ability to make anticipatory throws and read a defense with efficiency. His low interception rate was a benefit but really came as a result of a conservative passing approach, leading too often to second-guessing and active scrambling. The lack of accuracy stemmed from a lack of consistency on drop backs, messy footwork, and a lack of touch to layer throws. A perceived lack of chemistry with his receiving weapons was considered a factor for Allar’s inability to produce big plays.
If there’s anybody who can develop the production out of a quarterback that has oozed potential for four years, its new Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy. Ideally, Rodgers does return to start as expected, allowing Allar to sit and develop while learning from McCarthy and a four-time MVP. If Rodgers doesn’t end up back in Pittsburgh, though, Allar should have an opportunity to compete for a role in the hierarchy with fellow Steelers’ draft picks Mason Rudolph and Will Howard.
Latest On Day 2 QB Outlook
Although the falls of Shedeur Sanders and Malik Willis defined days of past drafts this decade, earlier-than-expected quarterback picks (and rapid pre-draft rises) are a draft tradition. The Rams continued this with their Ty Simpson pick at No. 13, and considerable fallout emerged from the choice.
Simpson coming off the board before the first round’s midpoint surprised, and with the Rams choosing him, a few QB-needy teams that lacked Fernando Mendoza access are still without one as Day 2 nears. The destinations of Carson Beck, Drew Allar and Garrett Nussmeier may be known tonight.
The Cardinals are still a team to watch for on a quarterback. Several teams view Arizona as a potential fit for Beck, according to veteran insider Jordan Schultz. Arizona holds the Nos. 34 and 65 picks tonight, but Schultz adds the team is looking to move down. A slide down from 34 could put the Cards in better range for Beck, even if the recent CFP title game starter may have completed a late rise during the pre-draft process.
No team was more closely connected to Simpson than the Cardinals, but it turned out a trade-up from No. 34 was not going to be enough to land him. Beck came up late as a possible second-round option, though SI.com’s Albert Breer cautions it is still possible none of this trio goes off the board tonight. Breer does place Beck atop the QB queue, listing Allar and then Nussmeier next. Most teams view the LSU product third among this group, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, who cautions that is not a universal view.
The topic of this draft’s QB3 has come up frequently, and now that we have seen Mendoza and Simpson go off the board, it will be one of tonight’s centerpiece storylines. The Browns did a lot of QB work in this draft, Rapoport adds, though a Thursday report indicated Cleveland — after drafting Sanders and Dillon Gabriel last year — is not expected to select one.
The Rams and Jets worked out Nussmeier; the Colts did as well. Recent medical clearance on a spine injury also figures to matter significantly for the former first-round prospect. The Cardinals, Jets and Steelers used “30” visits on Allar. The Cardinals, Dolphins and Jets met with Beck.
The Dolphins, Jets and Steelers should be considered in the mix for these passers, though. And the Browns should not be ruled out just yet. That said, the prospect of a tantalizing 2027 QB crop could cause some of these teams to wait (this has come up as a Jets likely path). Then again, choosing a third-round passer this year would not exactly eliminate the prospect of a first-round choice next year.
LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier Receives Medical Clearance
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier struggled with an abdominal injury for much of the 2025 season, raising some questions about his long-term health.
But those have seemingly been answered, as Combine medical testing uncovered a cyst on his spine that caused his abdominal injury, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. He has been healthy through the pre-draft process, but could require minor, minimally invasive surgery if it flares up again.
“Either way, doctors say, there is no short- or long-term risk for Nussmeier, who is projected a mid-round pick in this week’s NFL Draft,” Pellisero adds.
Nussmeier threw for over 4,000 yards in 2024 but his injury limited time and production on the field. He has an NFL-caliber arm, but needs to refine his vision and awareness in the pros. At 24-years-old, he is older than preferred for a developmental player, but positive reports about his intangibles (via Dane Brugler of The Athletic) suggest he can take to coaching.
Nussmeier is one of three Power 5 passers with claims to the QB3 spot in the draft class behind Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson. His positive medical update may make teams more comfortable drafting him on Day 2. Penn State’s Drew Allar and Miami’s Carson Beck are also on that list, with Beck receiving some late hype as a potentially Day 1 (but more likely Day 2) pick. Allar was much-hyped entering the 2025 season, but a broken ankle that sidelined in him October deprived him of the chance to boost his stock.
All three of those players could fall to Day 3, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. Mendoza will be drafted by the Raiders with the No. 1 pick, and Simpson’s stock has been inflated by the dearth of talent at the position. The gap between him and Nussmeier, Allar, and Beck is seen as a chasm, and teams may prefer to spend their Day 2 picks on players they see as more likely long-term starters.
Draft Rumors: Stukes, Allar, Seahawks, Price, Chiefs, Mauigoa, Bolts, Banks
This draft figures to produce at least three first-round safeties, with Dillon Thieneman and Emmanuel McNeil-Warren following Caleb Downs off the board. Ely Allen’s PFR mock draft has Thieneman going 18th to the Vikings and McNeil-Warren heading to the Eagles at 23. A fourth safety looks to have entered the equation for Round 1, with CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz noting Arizona’s Treydan Stukes has made a push to go early on Day 2 or late on Day 1. Coaches have viewed Stukes favorably, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, who views the safety as a candidate to see slot time and potentially be a first-round pick.
Blazing to a 4.33-second 40-yard dash time (third among safeties) at the Combine, Stukes intercepted seven career passes (four last season) with the Wildcats. A six-year collegian (which is certainly no longer uncommon), Stukes looks to have made noise late in the pre-draft process. The versatile DB made 11 pre-draft visits, per ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano, who mentions meetings with the Chiefs and Seahawks. Although Daniel Jeremiah’s NFL.com big board places Stukes 48th (33 spots behind McNeil-Warren), the longtime draft expert’s final mock sends Stukes 29th to the Chiefs and leaves McNeil-Warren out of Round 1.
Here is the latest from the draft ranks:
- Francis Mauigoa‘s back issue has generated some concern. Some teams think he will need surgery to repair a herniated disk, and Graziano indicates some clubs are worried about the Miami tackle prospect’s health. A scenario in which Mauigoa — long hyped as being this class’ top O-lineman — falls behind Utah’s Spencer Fano and Penn State’s Vega Ioane is one to monitor as a result of the disk issue, per Graziano.
- The Chargers are hoping to trade down from No. 22, per The Athletic’s Daniel Popper, eyeing an increase to their five-pick total. Though, Popper cautions a few teams in this draft sector want to move down. This draft is not viewed as having a clear line of demarcation between talent beyond the top 15 or so, and teams eyeing drops to accumulate capital while still landing a comparable player after sliding down the board makes sense. The Bolts hold picks 22, 55, 86, 123 and 204 in this draft. If the Chargers do not move down, Popper points to Thieneman and fellow Oregon product Kenyon Sadiq as names to monitor. Ely had Sadiq going to the Panthers at No. 19 in his mock.
- As we covered Tuesday, the Seahawks have an extensive history of trading down in Round 1 under John Schneider. The two-time Super Bowl-winning GM confirmed he wants to move out of the first round, as the Seahawks hold a league-low four draft choices. Should Seattle stay at No. 32, however, Graziano connects the defending champions to Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price. It is possible Price could be there early in Round 2, depending on how far the Seahawks prefer to move down, but the Jeremiyah Love backup is viewed as this top-heavy RB class’ second-best option at the position. The Jaguars may loom as a Price suitor if he slips into Round 2.
- Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson and Central Florida edge rusher Malachi Lawrence are generating some late momentum heading into the draft, Zenitz adds. Allar’s college tape left plenty to be desired, per Zenitz, though one coach views Day 2 as an appropriate landing spot. Adam La Rose’s most recent PFR mailbag pegged LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier as this class’ No. 3 QB prospect, though it is not a lock any non-Fernando Mendoza or Ty Simpson options hear their names called before Day 3.
- Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks is recovering from a broken foot that required surgery. That has affected his draft stock, but ESPN.com’s Pete Thamel notes teams received a letter from Banks’ camp saying the ex-Gator will be ready for football work by early June. Banks broke his foot at the Combine; Jeremiah’s big board places him 51st.
Steelers Meet With QB Drew Allar
Today was the final day for teams to host 2026 NFL Draft prospects for top 30 visits, where they can evaluate future draft picks with a final round of interviews and medical evaluations. On this last day, as the Steelers continue to anticipate a concrete plan for veteran Aaron Rodgers, Penn State quarterback Drew Allar made his way to Pittsburgh for a final visit, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
This isn’t any sort of pointed message directed at Rodgers. Allar is not one of the two quarterbacks in his draft class expected to go within the first two rounds. Fernando Mendoza will almost certainly be the top overall pick for the Raiders, and Ty Simpson could go anywhere from the mid-first to early second-round, a range in which the Steelers don’t seem to be willing to draft him. Allar is in a group of passers in the next tier, with fellow quarterbacks Carson Beck and Garrett Nussmeier. Some have also included Cade Klubnik in this group, as well.
Each prospect in that third tier has his own reason for not being up there with, at least, Simpson. Beck’s ceiling has been called into question, as has his ability to make something happen after plays break down. After a strong first year as a starter, Nussmeier, showed how much he can impact games in good and bad ways, and he saw himself benched with injury, as a result. Allar spent his career oozing with potential, showing glimpses of what he could develop into, but never was able to put it all together and find offensive success at a high level.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler perfectly encapsulated Allar’s outlook by calling him “polarizing” but with “upside.” Per Fowler, there are some in the league who believe that Allar “has a footwork issue that can be fixed” and that getting him into the “right place/system” will finally unlock the potential Allar harnesses. Scouts have noted an issue where sloppy footwork puts his feet out of sync with his eyes and can take accuracy and power away from his throws. He has room for improvement in other areas, as well, but it appears there’s an idea that fixing the footwork is the key to unlocking the rest.
If taken by Pittsburgh, Allar would join Mason Rudolph and Will Howard as likely backups in a quarterbacks room presumably led by the eventual re-signed starter, Rodgers. The Steelers haven’t had a ton of success developing quarterbacks since Ben Roethlisberger retired, but new head coach Mike McCarthy is much more experienced in the process than Mike Tomlin ever was, so who knows what’s to come in Pittsburgh in 2026.
Cardinals Meet With QB Drew Allar
One of the reasons the 2026 quarterback class did not deliver on its advanced hype: Drew Allar suffered a season-ending ankle injury came after he had failed to reestablish his draft status. The Penn State product is not expected to be taken in Rounds 1 or 2.
But he almost definitely will be chosen next week, though it is not known who will be the third quarterback off the board in this year’s draft. The Cardinals are being given the best odds (by a slim margin) of drafting Ty Simpson, a move that would either involve Arizona’s No. 34 overall pick or a trade-up from that spot. But they are continuing to do work on lower-profile QBs. Allar is meeting with the NFC West team today, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets.
[RELATED: Allar Makes New York Visit]
An October ankle injury brought an abrupt end to Allar’s senior season. His performances up to that point had left plenty to be desired, something which wound up being true in 2025 of many signal-callers. When Allar went down, he was averaging just 6.9 yards per attempt. Although he posted a 25:2 TD-INT ratio as a sophomore in 2023, a 6.8-yard average and 59.9% completion rate accompanied it. Allar improved on his completion percentage and Y/A numbers in 2024, submitting 66.5 and 8.4 figures in those categories, but his stock dropped over the course of his college career.
ESPN’s Scouts Inc. ranks Allar 129th overall and fifth among QBs — behind Fernando Mendoza, Simpson, Garrett Nussmeier and Carson Beck — while The Athletic’s Dane Brugler slots the Cleveland-area native fourth at the position. Allar, 22, profiles as a player who will likely slot in as a developmental option in 2026. With Kirk Cousins on the Raiders, it is likely no 2026 QB draftee will be a Week 1 starter. The Cards’ third- and fourth-round draft slots come in at 65th and 104th; their Round 5 choice arrives at No. 143.
The Cardinals have two bridge options in Gardner Minshew and Jacoby Brissett. The latter would make sense as a trade candidate given his ties to the previous offensive staff (Drew Petzing coached him in Cleveland and Arizona), while Minshew joined to work with Mike LaFleur. I mentioned in the latest Trade Rumors Front Office piece how Monti Ossenfort‘s early GM work (15-36 through three seasons) would stand to leave him on shaky ground. It may not be a lock the GM remains in place for 2027, raising the stakes for his fourth Cardinals draft. After all, Ossenfort has not identified his own franchise-QB hopeful yet after keeping Steve Keim-era draftee/extension recipient Kyler Murray for three years.
While the Cards gave Keim and predecessor Rod Graves 10 years apiece in the GM position, Arizona struggling again in 2026 would certainly warm Ossenfort’s seat. Allar would seem more of a dart throw compared to Simpson, who would represent a true investment in the position, though the Cards eyeing the 2027 draft — where a more fruitful QB crop likely awaits — would make sense as well. Allar would allow the Cards to play both sides of the fence there.
‘Long Wait’ To Find Out Draft’s QB3 May Ensue
The identities of the top two quarterback prospects of the 2026 NFL Draft have been clear for some time now. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is all but Sharpied into the No. 1 overall draft slot, and though it’s unclear if he’ll hear is name on Day 1, Alabama’s Ty Simpson has distanced himself as QB2. According to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, though, “there’s no consensus opinion” on the identity of QB3, and there could be a long wait before we find out who will claim that honor.
For awhile now, it’s looked like a group of three passers has established itself as the next tier of draftable quarterbacks. This group contains LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Penn State’s Drew Allar, and Miami’s Carson Beck. Nussmeier looked like a promising first-round candidate after throwing for 4,043 yards in his first season as a starter. Having sat three years, waiting for the starting job to open, Nussmeier was primed to ride the momentum of his 2024 campaign to another solid year. Unfortunately, he was plagued by an abdominal injury, and after losing two games, Nussmeier ended up getting benched in two more before sitting the rest of the season.
Allar has looked the part of prototypical quarterback ever since he committed to the Nittany Lions as a consensus five-star recruit. As a sophomore, first-year starter, he showed outstanding discipline with 25 touchdowns to only two interceptions, despite only completing 59.9 percent of his pass attempts. He improved his completion percentage over the next two years but lost discipline as he threw 11 interceptions in 22 games. He also never ranked higher than 65th in the NCAA in passing yards per game. Having never quite reached his potential, Allar’s collegiate career ended with a season-ending injury.
Like Nussmeier, Beck’s time as a starter at Georgia came after sitting for three years. After watching his team win consecutive national championships, Beck’s legacy in Athens was established as a passer who always just came up short. Beck owned a two-year record of 24-3, but one of those losses was to Alabama in the SEC championship in 2023, and he was injured during the Bulldogs’ College Football Playoff run in 2024. Beck transferred to play for the Hurricanes, and in one season, led the team to their first College Football Playoff appearance and a run that ended in a loss at the national championship game.
Smith also mentions Clemson passer Cade Klubnik. A consensus five-star recruit, like Allar, Klubnik peaked as a second-year starter in his junior year. Finishing the season with an average of 259.9 passing yards per game with 36 touchdowns to only six interceptions, Klubnik was listed right alongside Nussmeier as a potential first-round candidate before the 2025 season.
Klubnik’s legacy may be highlighted by the end of a Clemson dynasty, though. After an 11-year span in which the Tigers never lost more than three games in a season and won two of four championship game appearances, Clemson lost four games in each of Klubnik’s first two seasons as a starter and six games in his final year. His scoring production also dropped drastically in his final year as he threw only 16 touchdowns.
Smith is also intrigued by Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green. The intrigue around Green comes mostly from his abilities as a dual-threat passer. Over four years as a starter — two at Boise State before joining the Razorbacks — Green never threw more than 20 touchdowns in a season, while his completion percentage hovered around 60 and his interceptions increased with each year. Green showed electric rushing ability, though, with 1,024 yards and 19 touchdowns as a starter at Boise State and 1,379 yards and 16 touchdowns at Arkansas.
Nussmeier and Klubnik may have killed their first-round potential with brutal results in 2025, but teams could still be really impressed by their ceilings. Meanwhile, Beck improved what looked like a lost career with a strong final season, and Allar and Green hold plenty of potential even if they didn’t produce the best results in college. All it takes is for one team to fall in love with any of these prospects and pull the trigger first. It will be extremely interesting to look out for which teams attach themselves to each quarterback and how early they’ll be willing to do it.