Like many NFL teams, the Steelers held their first practice of mandatory minicamp today, which gave us a sneak peak at some of the storylines that figure to dominate our algorithms for the next few weeks as we brace ourselves for training camp.

Even though Will Howard doesn’t have elite arm talent, that doesn’t mean he’s relegated to journeyman QB hell at the NFL level. He’s got a few things going for him that can take his game to the next level if he hones in on them in the NFL; in fact, he stands on two of those things. Howard’s dual-threat-ability can be a forgotten part of his game…but you better keep a spy on that big sumbitch.

After several months of speculation, Aaron Rodgers arrived at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex in Pittsburgh early this morning to sign a one-year deal to play quarterback for the Steelers. The deal includes $10M guaranteed and maxes out at $19.5M if things go well for both sides.

Yahya Black is an awesome pick in the 5th round, and a great addition to our defense against the run. However, he is an early down rotational piece at best, specifically at NT, and we need to remember that as we track his progress this year.

And, we can argue up and down about whether or not the Steelers had the LUXURY of taking him with that pick when they did, but there’s no arguments to be made about the value of the player at 123rd overall.

Johnson showed big-play-ability in 2022 and 2023, but he really gained national popularity in 2024 when he rushed for over 1500 yards, and set the Iowa Hawkeyes’ single-season rushing touchdown record with 21. He also earned First-Team All-Big Ten, and Big Ten RB of the Year honors.

Despite the fact that I’ve been a vocal opponent of the idea of trading Pickens for a while now, even following the acquisition of D.K. Metcalf, I understand why the Steelers chose to make this move. As fans, we have to understand that we’re currently staring down the barrel of Mason Rudolph as our starting QB this season, and George Pickens playing on an expiring contract.

Harmon is a Pittsburgh Steeler through-and-through. I’ve already mentioned his rust belt background, but don’t take it from me; NFL execs feel that way too. Draft analyst Lance Zeirlein quoted an unnamed NFL executive as saying: “He plays like a Raven or a Steeler. Off the tape, he reminds me of a young Cam Heyward but bigger."

I have to say, just from following the draft all weekend, the board seemed to be falling extremely well for the Steelers. I’ll get into the details of that throughout this post, but based on the team’s pre-draft visits and team needs, they pretty much had free reign at a lot of guys they showed quite a bit of interest in.

This is simply a list of the guys that I think are the most likely to become Pittsburgh Steelers next Thursday based on the list of pre-draft visits put out by the team, countless mock drafts, recent news from around the league, and team needs. As I see it, the Steelers’ biggest team needs as of right now are: DL, RB, QB, DB, and WR (depending on who you ask).

So, while it sucks that our current QB1 is Mason Rudolph, we at least have a bit of clarity on what we can expect to happen to our QB room over the next several weeks. It’s alarming to me that we will have completely overhauled our QB room yet again heading into the 2025 season, and it really bolsters the feeling among many fans that this coaching staff is incapable of developing a QB. I’m not ready to call that notion gospel quite yet, but this is something that needs to get figured out in the next two years, or I fear heads may begin to roll, starting with Mike Tomlin.

We, as fans, are all frustrated with the quarterback debacle that we’ve dealt with for the last…well…while, but if you’ve watched any football in the last 6 years, then you probably cheered about as loudly as I did when news about this trade hit your algorithm.

Despite the perceived negligence surrounding the QB position, Omar Khan has made some moves so far this week that have, at the very least, made things interesting for us, and made good on my assumption that the Steelers absolutely intend to try and compete this year.

We’ve kicked the QB can down the road yet again, and now we’re set to enter free agency without a real QB under contract. How is Omar Khan expecting to get anyone to sign with the Steelers without ANY QBs?

His ability to not only track down the deep ball (thanks to his background as a baseball outfielder), but also to adjust to the ball with timing and anticipation and go up and get it, really stands out.

So, of course the Travis Hunters and Jahdae Barrons of the world sound nice, but thinking that they’ll be playing in the black and gold this fall feels like a pipe dream at this juncture. Jacob Parrish from Kansas State, though, feels like a reasonable place to start when thinking about corners that could be Pittsburgh Steeler(s) this fall. 

There is a slight bit of upside to all this, though. If this report came out under the Kevin Colbert regime, we would’ve never even considered the validity of this rumor, and we would’ve shot it down immediately. It’s refreshing that, under Omar Khan, we’re becoming known as a team that’s active in the trade market and free agency.

Grant is not the polished prospect that his Michigan partner in crime (Mason Graham) is, and that’s why Mason Graham is probably not going to be available when the Steelers are on the clock at 21st overall in the draft. Don’t be surprised, though, if the Pittsburgh Steelers take a chance on Kenneth Grant with that pick.

With that being said, the 2024 season marks the 3rd year in a row that Kupp has missed at least 5 games with an injury. The last time he played a full season, he fell just 17 yards short of the single season receiving yards record.

Johnson is a strong, workhorse type back like Najee Harris, except he has the one-cut ability and acceleration to break big runs, which is something that Harris struggled to do consistently.