Steelers President warns not to look for QB in first round of the 2026 NFL draft

We are less than a week from the 2026 NFL Draft and we are still up in the air about who the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to take with their first-round pick. If you scan mock drafts on the internet, you see wide receiver, offensive guard, offensive tackle, cornerback, and safety as picks.

But one position you can probably check off your wish list is quarterback. Steelers team President Art Rooney II wasn't willing to say what position the Steelers are planning to target early, he did give a pretty strong hint at the one it won't be.

"I think I can tell you one thing, it's probably not going to be a quarterback," Rooney said while speaking to WTAE on Friday. "But beyond that, it's wide open.

There have been plenty of pundits who have wondered out loud if the Steelers might take a flyer on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. We've always felt like after the team crashed and burned with the Kenny Pickett choice, there's no way they want to risk repeating that mistake, even if it means they miss on a good quarterback.

While we believe Rooney that there won't be a Steelers quarterback at pick No. 21, we don't at all rule out a quarterback being selected later on. In fact, we would say that any point past the Steelers' second-round pick is fair game for a rookie quarterback. The Steelers head into the draft with a full 12 picks, but there's very little chance the team uses them all, and it's highly likely they use some of those Day Three picks to move around in the middle rounds.

This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Steelers President warns not to look for QB in first round of the 2026 NFL draft