The Steelers still hope for Aaron Rodgers to re-sign, but if he doesn’t, do they view Ty Simpson as the best alternative? A potential first-round draft pick out of Alabama, he could be available for Pittsburgh as Jaxson Dart was last year. They passed on Dart, though, and Ray Fittipaldo believes they would pass on Simpson, too.

“If the Steelers were serious about taking him, I think they would have had their full contingent at his Pro Day”, he said on the #1 Cochran Sports Showdown last night. “They did not. Sometimes you’ve got to read the tea leaves, and I don’t think they’re all in on him at this point”.

Notably, on the day of the Alabama Pro Day, the Steelers had most of their boots in Ohio at the Buckeyes’ Pro Day, their focus down south being more on defensive backs than Ty Simpson. Neither GM Omar Khan nor HC Mike McCarthy were in Tuscaloosa. While the new head coach means there will be new scouting patterns, franchise quarterbacks are always paramount.

And Ty Simpson is almost inarguably the best quarterback the Steelers might have a shot at drafting. At least one analyst has pretended that he believes Simpson is better than Fernando Mendoza, in fact. Though they were not a major presence at his Pro Day, the Steelers did have a formal meeting with Simpson at the Combine, which reportedly went well. But will he even last long enough for them to take?

“I saw a report that he’s gonna work out for the Jets, and the Jets have two first-round picks and they’re both before the Steelers’ pick at 21. I don’t think it’s in play for the Steelers. I think they have so many other needs”, Fittipaldo said about the prospects of the Steelers drafting Simpson. “With this not being a great quarterback class and with 2027 looking like it’s gonna be good, I don’t think he’s in play there. I think it’s a lot of smoke”.

That is not smoke coming from the Steelers, of course, because they haven’t blown any regarding Ty Simpson or the draft. But many question the authenticity of their enthusiasm for second-year QB Will Howard, a sixth-round pick.

The bottom line is that the Steelers need a franchise quarterback and Ty Simpson is likely the best quarterback available to them in the draft. The dots, in that regard, are easy enough to connect. But Kenny Pickett was the best quarterback available to them in 2022, or so they thought. It turned out to be Brock Purdy, but nobody can be blamed for whiffing on that evaluation. Maybe it helps explain their enthusiasm for Will Howard, though.

The Steelers have brought in two quarterbacks for pre-draft visits thus far, Ty Simpson not among them. It’s worth noting that one of them is Carson Beck, another one of the quarterbacks with whom they had a positive formal meeting at the Combine. There is still time before the draft to bring him in, though.

And whether they do or not doesn’t mean they can’t draft him. But it’s true that there aren’t glaringly obvious signs they see him as a franchise quarterback. And if they don’t, there is no compelling reason to believe the Steelers will draft Simpson.