Recently, the Pittsburgh Steelers made headlines when they did not take Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the NFL Draft, instead letting him fall to the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers ultimately drafted Will Howard but still don't have a clear answer at quarterback for 2025, with some speculating that the team will try to bring in Aaron Rodgers at some point this summer.

Now, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN is providing more insight as to the inner debate the Steelers had about taking Sanders, son of NFL legend Deion Sanders, but why that still doesn't make their decision any less controversial.

“The Steelers were comfortable with Shedeur Sanders as a distributing point guard type, which makes it a mild surprise they didn't take him with their fourth-round pick,” reported Fowler. “To borrow another basketball analogy, those inside the Steelers' building did not reach a consensus on Sanders as a slam dunk pick. But the debate was close enough to justify taking him.”

Sanders ended up falling all the way to the fifth round despite at one point being projected as one of the first quarterbacks to be taken off the board.

An interesting decision for Pittsburgh

Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) runs drills at the University of Colorado NFL Showcase at the CU Indoor Practice Facility
© Michael Ciaglo-Imagn Images
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Each of the Pittsburgh Steelers' two starting quarterbacks from last season has headed east for the Big Apple, as Justin Fields is now in a New York Jets uniform, while Russell Wilson signed with the New York Giants.

Meanwhile, there is still quite a bit of doubt hanging over Rodgers and whether or not he will actually sign with the Steelers–or anyone for that matter–this offseason or instead call it an NFL career and retire.

Quarterback is certainly the biggest need on a Steelers roster that remains one of the better defensive units in the league and also recently brought in DK Metcalf for some wide receiver help (although Wednesday's trade of George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys in some ways may have undermined that).

In any case, the Steelers have some big decisions to make before they take the field for the 2025 NFL season, which is slated to get underway in September.