Red flags raised over NFL Draft quarterback who resembles ‘late career Aaron Rodgers’ amid Steelers links

The Pittsburgh Steelers have all options on the table as questions remain – for now – at the quarterback position.

With Aaron Rodgers‘ future seemingly no closer to a resolution, Carson Beck is among the draft options on the Steelers’ radar.

Getty

While Rodgers is widely expected to return, the only QBs under contract at the moment are second year Will Howard and veteran Mason Rudolph.

It’s natural that eyes will turn to the draft and in particular a class that, beyond presumptive No 1 pick Fernando Mendoza, offers intriguing projects more than readymade starters.

23-year-old Beck led the Miami Hurricanes on an improbable run to the College Football Playoff National Championship, only to come up short against Mendoza’s Indiana Hoosiers.

Heading into the draft with two National Championships to his name from his five seasons as a member of the Georgia Bulldogs, some scouts have touted Beck as “the college version of late-career Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers.”

This is due to his quick release of the football, in which he averaged 2.51 seconds to throw the ball.

In his six-year collegiate career, in which he played 55 games, Beck recorded 11,725 passing yards at a 69.5 percent completion rate for 88 touchdowns to just 32 interceptions.

This puts him up there as the most experienced quarterback in the class of 2026.

However, ESPN’s Bill Connelly has highlighted Beck’s biggest flaw as an NFL prospect – his lack of raw upside.

“Beck was a quick pitch-and-catch guy in all ways good and bad, and if the read wasn’t there, something bad was happening,” Connelly wrote in his latest analysis of the 2026 quarterback draft class.

“He never extended plays — only 7.1% of his passes were outside the pocket (second lowest in the sample), and though he rarely was pressured, those pressures frequently turned into sacks (21.7%, 64th).

Getty

Getty

“Plus, despite rarely going deep, he still ranked 54th in interception rate (2.6%).

“Give Beck a nice tight end and some quick options, and he’ll use them. But when opponents adjust to that (and they always do), it’s not clear he’ll be able to develop further.”

Links to Steelers, Cardinals, Jets

Despite the concerns surrounding Beck’s ability to be able to develop his game at the highest level, that hasn’t stopped him from being linked with multiple teams across the league.

With a quarterback class that, aside from Mendoza, lacks that superstar-level talent, it is anyone’s guess where the other quarterbacks will land in the draft.

The Steelers, though, could look to draft a signal caller depending on what the outcome of 42-year-old Rodgers is, as he continues to make a decision over his NFL future.

In 2026, Rodgers led Pittsburgh to their first AFC North title since 2020, completing 65.7 percent of his passes for 3,322 yards and 24 touchdowns to just seven interceptions.

getty

What Pittsburgh won’t do, though, is use their first-round draft pick (No. 21 overall) on a quarterback.

“The Steelers have little intention of taking a quarterback with their No. 1 pick because they don’t believe there is another first-round quarterback after Mendoza,” Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote on Sunday. 

“But one of the reasons they like Miami’s Carson Beck is he has started 43 games, counting his time when he won a national title at Georgia.”

In the latest mock drafts, Beck has been touted as a third-to-fourth round pick, with the Steelers having five total picks in those two rounds that they could use should he still be on the board.

But they aren’t the only ones interested in Beck, with the Arizona Cardinals – who are currently tipped to enter the 2026 campaign with veteran Jacoby Brissett under center following their release of Kyler Murray – also having demonstrated interest.

The New York Jets – who are once again on the hunt for a franchise quarterback after trading Justin Fields to the Kansas City Chiefs – are also among other interested parties.

Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.