{"id":219981,"date":"2025-07-19T17:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T17:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/219981\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T17:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T17:31:11","slug":"fittipaldo-next-two-drafts-loaded-with-qbs-including-4-6-expected-first-rounders-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/219981\/","title":{"rendered":"Fittipaldo: Next Two Drafts ‘Loaded With QBs,’ Including 4\u20136 Expected First-Rounders In 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the all-in approach for the 2025 season by the Pittsburgh Steelers, they managed to do so without sacrificing their prospects of landing a franchise quarterback in next year\u2019s 2026 NFL Draft. GM Omar Khan has repeatedly stated the importance of stacking 2026 picks<\/a>, and it\u2019s easy to see why, with the QB class projected to be very strong in the first round.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u2019s Ray Fittipaldo gave the latest on what he\u2019s hearing about the upcoming quarterback classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they have a really good year and they qualify for the playoffs, and let\u2019s say they win a game, it\u2019s gonna be hard to trade up from No. 24 or No. 25\u2026But all indications are that there\u2019s gonna be four or five, six quarterbacks drafted in the first round this year,\u201d Fittipaldo said via WMBS Radio\u2019s Sportsline with George Von Benko<\/a>. \u201cThe one thing I\u2019ve been told about not only the \u201926 draft, but the \u201927 draft, both drafts are really good for quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cGMs and coaches know what\u2019s coming down the line, and it\u2019s not just the \u201926 draft. The \u201927 draft is loaded with QBs as well. So if you don\u2019t get one in \u201926, you could always go get one in \u201927.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers have clearly oriented themselves towards landing a quarterback in the 2026 draft, but he makes a fair point. The Steelers did everything they could to be competitive in 2025, so chances are they won\u2019t have a very good draft pick to work with in the first round. How the college quarterbacks perform this year and where the Steelers draft in the order will dictate their strategy.<\/p>\n

They are currently projected to have 12 total draft picks, including five in the top 100. That should be sufficient ammunition to move up, but moving from No. 25 to the top 10 is much costlier than moving from No. 18 to the top 10. A strong 2027 class opens up options for every QB-needy team in the NFL.<\/p>\n

I put together a list of seven teams<\/a> that could potentially be competing with the Steelers for a first-round quarterback next year. Many will likely be picking higher in the draft order than the Steelers. But some of those teams will maybe conclude that they can hold out for one more season with a loaded 2027 class on the horizon. That could work in the Steelers\u2019 favor.<\/p>\n

Our Jonathan Heitritter put together a list of six quarterbacks to watch for the 2026 draft<\/a>, but some players will inevitably rise while others fall. And not all of them will choose to declare in 2026 if it\u2019s a crowded field with NIL money keeping players in college for longer these days.<\/p>\n

Five or six QBs with first-round grades would be ideal for the Steelers and ensure they are able to get one even if they win a playoff game or two with Aaron Rodgers in 2025. Keep in mind that they will be making that selection in Pittsburgh as the city prepares to host the NFL\u2019s biggest offseason event next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite the all-in approach for the 2025 season by the Pittsburgh Steelers, they managed to do so without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[4955,7,31245,7827,691,45814],"class_list":{"0":"post-219981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-george-von-benko","11":"tag-ray-fittipaldo","12":"tag-trending","13":"tag-wmbs-radio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114881094272396480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}