The Pittsburgh Steelers have been looking for their next franchise quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger retired. While they’ve taken some swings, nothing has panned out yet. The latest young quarterback that they’ve added is Drew Allar. The Steelers spent a third-round pick on him in this year’s draft, and while he has flaws, he also has some impressive physical gifts. However, Ben Roethlisberger is concerned about Allar after seeing videos of him practicing.
“When I’m watching him do three-step drops, that makes me incredibly nervous,” Roethlisberger said Tuesday on his Footbahlin’ podcast. “You might say, ‘Why? You’re refining things.’ There’s a difference in refining things and teaching. When we did football camps, the first thing you’re teaching the youngest kids is how to do a three-step drop…
“Maybe they’re working on his three-step drop to be more efficient. But it looked to me like it was baby steps, teaching… I could be completely wrong. All I’m saying is that it makes me a little nervous to watch it and be like, ‘They’re working on a three-step drop.’”
The videos of Allar working on his footwork caused a stir among Steelers fans. It didn’t look pretty. That was one of the biggest knocks against him coming into the draft, too.
However, reports indicated that the team is trying to uninstall everything Allar learned in college. Therefore, it makes some sense why they could be starting at the very beginning with him. Allar has a massive arm and an ideal NFL frame. The issue is that his mechanics need a lot of work.
Roethlisberger played quarterback at the highest level for almost 20 years, so his opinion carries some weight. The Steelers having to completely break Allar down before trying to build him back up again doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence.
Still, Mike McCarthy has a reputation as a quarterback guru. He’s helped many signal callers improve their game, including Aaron Rodgers, Matt Hasselbeck, and Aaron Brooks. He might deserve a little patience in his work with Allar.
The good thing is that Allar should be allowed to sit and learn for his entire rookie year. That should give him time to try to fix some of his issues. While he might never become a quality NFL starter, overreacting to practices in the spring doesn’t feel fair, either. He hasn’t even experienced his first NFL training camp yet.
Maybe training camp and the preseason will reveal that Roethlisberger is right to be concerned about Allar. It’s still too soon to write him off, though. The Steelers didn’t draft him to start this year. He’s a lottery ticket, with a low risk and high reward. However, patience is important with young quarterbacks.