Latest Steelers News on Drew Allar's Development With Mike McCarthy Amid Aaron Rodgers Rumors

The Pittsburgh Steelers are reportedly trying to give former Penn State quarterback Drew Allar a fresh start before his first season in the NFL.

According to ESPN's Brooke Pryor, Allar moved through throwing and footwork drills "at half speed" during last weekend's rookie minicamp.

"The coaching staff essentially uninstalled his old hardware and began rebuilding his fundamentals from the ground up," Pryor wrote.

The Steelers selected Allar with the No. 76 pick of the 2026 draft. Steelers coach Mike McCarthy praised him Saturday as "physically gifted."

McCarthy said the Steelers started out their development of Allar, like the team had begun work with Will Howard and Mason Rudolph, by sitting down with the quarterback and going over game tape.

"He's no different than any other young quarterback that I've had the opportunity to work with... the first thing that we did with Drew, and no different than we did with Will and Mason— we have a profile tape, so we were able to to that yesterday, evaluate that, and tried some things today that he responded to very favorably," McCarthy said. "He made a very good first impression."

Allar told reporters after Saturday's minicamp practice the Steelers had focused so far on his footwork and his familiarity with the team's playbook.

McCarthy said there was overall "a lot of newness" to the things his staff is teaching Allar, who entered the draft after four seasons at Penn State.

"What we're teaching him is different than the way he's played before. He hasn't spent a lot of time under center. He was a run-and-shoot guy in high school, he played from nine yards deep... it's really the same types of stuff that we went through with Will four weeks ago," McCarthy said.

"These are two young guys that have a lot of football in front of them, got a lot of work to do, but gosh, they're definitely wired the right way."

The Steelers are heading into this week's mandatory OTA workouts and minicamp with Rudolph leading the depth chart in front of Howard and Allar.

Only Rudolph has NFL experience out of that group. Howard, a sixth-round 2024 draft pick, didn't see the field during his rookie season after injuring his hand in training camp.

Whether Howard and Allar are battling for a backup role or a third-string position by training camp will depend in large part on incumbent starter Aaron Rodgers, who reportedly visited Pittsburgh last week but has yet to decide whether he will re-sign with the Steelers ahead of his age-43 season.

Pryor said in a Monday appearance on ESPN's SportsCenter the Steelers had May 18, the start date for team OTAs, "circled" as their next potential decision deadline for Rodgers.