A preseason top-two Penn State team collapsed into a coaching change by midseason, and Drew Allar's draft stock fell right along with it. Three months later, he's a Steeler learning behind Aaron Rodgers.
A senior season that changed everything
Penn State opened 2025 ranked second in the country. Three weeks later, the season was already unraveling. A double-overtime home loss to Oregon dropped the Nittany Lions to 3-3, a collapse severe enough that Penn State became the first FBS program to lose back-to-back games as a 20-point favorite. James Franklin was fired midseason. Interim coach Terry Smith took over, and the program limped to a 6-6 regular season before beating Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl to finish 7-6. Drew Allar started every one of those games.
PFF's draft recap noted that Allar struggled with accuracy in 2025, but that his elite arm talent and toolsy overall profile still made him worth a developmental swing in the third round, a notable fall for a player who entered his senior year with first-round buzz.
Pittsburgh still made the pick
The Steelers took Allar 76th overall, one of ten picks GM Omar Khan made in a draft class that also included Arizona State tackle Max Iheanachor in the first round and Alabama receiver Germie Bernard, acquired by trading up with the Colts in the second. Pittsburgh hosted the 2026 draft itself, and a hometown-state kid with a five-star pedigree going to the Steelers was the kind of moment the weekend was built for. The rest of the class filled out with cornerback Daylen Everette and guard Gennings Dunker in the third round, receiver Kaden Wetjen in the fourth, fullback Riley Nowakowski in the fifth, defensive end Gabriel Rubio in the sixth, and safety Robert Spears-Jennings and Navy do-everything back Eli Heidenreich, whose 92.9 PFF grade led the entire class, in the seventh.
A long shot worth filing away
Whether you're sizing up how this draft class will play out or setting your own fantasy board for the season, a fantasy football and NFL mock draft tool is a useful gut check against where analysts actually had these rookies pegged before the real thing happened. Speaking to RotoWire, the premium fantasy sports and sports betting data platform, one observer said, "Allar has zero redraft value this year behind Aaron Rodgers, and that's fine. The interesting question is dynasty leagues, where a toolsy third-round arm sitting behind a 42-year-old is exactly the kind of long-term stash worth rostering now."
No quarterback controversy this year
Newsweek confirmed Aaron Rodgers is returning for a second season in Pittsburgh under head coach Mike McCarthy. Mason Rudolph returns as the veteran backup, and Will Howard, a sixth-round pick a year ago, is still developing behind both of them. That leaves Allar fourth on the depth chart heading into camp at Saint Vincent College, with every rep this summer aimed at proving he belongs on the roster at all, not at winning a job.
"Watching a Penn State kid go to the Steelers is exactly the kind of thing this whole region gets invested in," a fan said. "Doesn't matter that he's buried on the depth chart. Give it two or three years and see where he is."
Nobody's chasing Allar in a redraft league this year, and that's fine. Worth tracking is a different thing, andour own look at how Penn State is trying to rebuild under new coach Matt Campbell is a good next read for anyone still sorting out what happened in State College this past year.
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