Quarterback is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest question mark currently. While they made a lot of moves in free agency, they still don’t know who their starter under center will be. While the free agent options are thin, the NFL draft is still on the horizon. Rumors have connected the Steelers to Alabama’s Ty Simpson in the first round, but draft expert Todd McShay shut that down, while also revealing that he’s heard Pittsburgh associated with a different quarterback.

“The question is, who’s their quarterback…” McShay said recently on his podcast. “It’s not Ty Simpson at 21, I can tell you that for a fact. I have heard them linked with Carson Beck, so that’s just something to keep an eye on… I think Round 3 probably would be the range.”

Simpson is seen by most as the second-best quarterback in this draft. While he’s inexperienced, he has traits to like, so it wouldn’t have been too surprising if the Steelers went after him. They met with him at the Combine, so there was some interest.

However, Simpson wasn’t the only signal-caller the Steelers met with there. They also had a formal meeting with Beck, who is not viewed as highly as Simpson.

Beck played at the University of Miami last year, helping them get to the National Championship game, although they ultimately lost. He threw for 3,813 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.

Before that, he spent five years at the University of Georgia, but he only started for his final two seasons there. Beck threw for 3,941 yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions in 2023. Then, in 2024, he put up 3,485 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.

Beck doesn’t have Simpson’s lack of experience, with almost 1,400 pass attempts in college under his belt. However, he has his own issues. The biggest of which is arguably his lack of arm strength. That could hold him back in a big way at the NFL level. He doesn’t have elite athleticism, either. It’s tough to project Beck as a high-level starting quarterback at the next level.

Taking a swing on Beck in the third round wouldn’t be awful, but at that point, the Steelers should just stick with Will Howard. The odds aren’t great for him to become a franchise quarterback, but at least the Steelers could save that pick they’d spend on Beck and use it somewhere else. This is an ugly quarterback class, so maybe it would be better to avoid the position altogether.