NFL Draft: Sans Star Power There's Intrigue at Quarterback

There are plenty of years where the main storyline at the NFL Draft is which quarterback is going to be the top selection. This isn’t one of those years.

Nonetheless, there are still up to six names that could potentially be selected in the first two rounds of this year’s draft, beginning on Thursday night from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Whether that’s Kenny Pickett, Malik Willis, Desmond Ridder, Sam Howell, Matt Corral, or Carson Strong, some of these names will be selected in Round 1.

Maybe these signal-callers aren’t getting the attention they normally would from the public because none of them are from traditional big-time football schools, but that doesn’t mean some won’t pan out.

Daniel Jeremiah, of NFL Network, spoke about the unpredictability that might come of this draft, specifically with these top quarterbacks.

“We don’t know where these quarterbacks slot in and where they’ll end up going,” said Jeremiah.” It provides a lot of intrigue. We might not have those star-stars that we’ve had the last couple years up at the top, but I don’t believe we’re ever had more intrigue than we do this year with this draft.”

There was chatter around a quarterback potentially not going off to the board until the Pittsburgh Steelers at 20, but there are multiple teams ahead of them that still have a potential need at that position, including the Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, and Atlanta Falcons.

The Steelers are likely looking for the successor to Ben Roethlisberger, who retired this offseason, and will develop them with Mitch Trubisky as a safety net for the time being.

In terms of the Steelers, Jeremiah sees Kenny Pickett, a Pittsburgh native, as a potential fit.

“My No. 1 quarterback. I’ve kind of stuck with him through this whole process. If it was up to me, looking at that team and the best fit, I actually would probably lean towards Kenny Pickett,” said Jeremiah.

Pickett is currently listed at +350 to be selected by the Steelers on the FanDuel Sportsbook, while Malik Willis is listed at +200.

Jeremiah continued on to say that there may be more action in the back half of the first round as it pertains to quarterbacks.

This could be one of those years where it’s a big game of cat and mouse, to see where the first domino ultimately falls in terms of quarterbacks, and who follows suit after it does.