Steelers Receive Very Bad News From Adam Schefter About 2027 Franchise Quarterback Pursuit

When the 2021 NFL season wrapped up and the Pittsburgh Steelers were preparing to finally hear that Ben Roethlisberger would be retiring, no one figured that four years later, the team would still have no clue about who would be the next to lead the franchise long-term. It has been a rigorous process that has yet to work out for the organization, and as it stands in the 2026 offseason, the decision-makers still have literally no clue what the future holds. Will Howard has received a bunch of hype, but it's not out of the question that the positive commentary could be a smokescreen to hide the actual plan of General Manager Omar Khan.

The Steelers played the compensatory pick game back in 2025 free agency, which greatly benefited their draft situation in 2026. Khan is expected to have a total of 12 picks at his disposal, but it might make sense to offload some of them during draft weekend. The chances are slim to none for any NFL organization selecting a dozen prospects that all of them make the roster.

Adding one or two future picks in 2027 would only help the pursuit of a quarterback. Unfortunately, it does not seems as if the Steelers aren't going to be out-smarting any other executives with an approach such as that. On the latest episode of Adam Schefter's podcast, the league's top insider brought a new report to light. Every front office is holding onto 2027 draft selections because of how much talent is going to be available.

"The most underrated part of free agency, the least talked about, most significant thing that I heard from the last couple of weeks was how much teams are trying to look for draft picks in 2027," Schefter said. "It's amazing how, when these trades come up, often times, teams are targeting draft picks in the draft of 2027. They are looking at that quarterback class. They are looking at all the great players in next year's draft and saying, 'I want in' because the value of those player right now is greatly anticipated."

This directly hurts Pittsburgh's potential plans to find its future in 2027. It's over a year away, but it seems as if everyone throughout the NFL has the same idea, meaning a strategy of stockpiling picks with the hopes of maybe trading up is going to be that much harder. Khan and co. appear to be a year too early in a quarterback class that is rather weak.

Schefter continued to discuss what has teams planning for 2027, and it's more bad news for the Steelers. There will be a lot of talent; however, the main draw is absolutely the signal-caller position.

"It is going to be a quarterback deep, strong draft. which is going to add to the value of those picks," Schefter noted. "There are a number of other great players at other positions and it feels like when team are having trade discussions, they want picks not in 2026 in a draft that will be held in a little over a month in Pittsburgh, they wan draft picks in 2027 in the NFL Draft that will be held in Washington D.C."

Franchises seem to be desiring a ton of selections in 2027 to have the option to move up if the right situation presents itself. This now being out in the air will make general managers think twice about making trades, something that Khan has always been good at getting the upper hand with.

Steelers' Potential Patrick Queen Trade Now Makes More Sense

It was reported just as the legal tampering period began that Pittsburgh could have interest in dealing linebacker Patrick Queen to the Dallas Cowboys. The asking price was allegedly a fifth-round selection, something that Dallas does not have in 2026. However, the Cowboys could have passed along a 2027 fifth-rounder to the Steelers for Queen's services. Instead, it seems as if Jerry Jones is up to date on the memo that 2027 draft selections will be like gold to hold onto.

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