PITTSBURGH — Drew Allar made his clearest move yet in the Steelers’ second week of OTAs, looking more comfortable in individual work and with his new receivers as the team wrapped the session Friday. The rookie quarterback also showed touch downfield, connecting on two very nice passes to DK Metcalf and Germie Bernard about 30 yards deep with coverage.
That is why Allar is drawing attention now. The Steelers are not simply watching a rookie learn the playbook; they are tracking whether he can build enough trust and timing to matter in a future quarterback battle, and his progress in Week 2 gave them something real to evaluate. Bernard, meanwhile, has been one of the early standouts, giving Allar a target who has already helped make the workouts look sharper.
Allar, a third-round pick out of Penn State, was named one of Noah Strackbein’s winners of the week after a noticeable step forward from Week 1 to Week 2. The evaluation was encouraging because it was specific: better comfort in drills, better rhythm with a new wide receiver core, and enough accuracy on those deep throws to show that the ball can get where it needs to go when coverage is there.
Still, the praise came with a hard edge. There is a long way to go before Allar can be called a franchise quarterback, and that matters because the Steelers are not judging him for today alone. They are looking at what he might become by 2027, when he could put himself in position for a real fight to be the Week 1 starter.
That gap between encouraging and finished is where the story lives. One strong week of OTAs does not make a quarterback, and one cleaner practice does not erase the work ahead for a player still trying to prove he can handle everything that comes after the easy throws. The Steelers will test him again in mandatory minicamp next week, then get one more round of OTAs from June 8-12 before the long six-week break that ends with a July 28 report date to Latrobe for training camp.
For now, the takeaway is simple: Allar is moving in the right direction fast enough to keep the conversation alive, and fast enough to make the next few sessions matter.
