Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Drew Allar had one defining trait coming out of Penn State that made him so tantalizing as a potential franchise quarterback: his arm strength.
Though his mechanics, mental processing and overall decision making were major questions, Allar clearly has an NFL arm.
He put that on display Saturday night at Latrobe Memorial Stadium in the Steelers’ annual practice under the lights.
Allar made a few big-time deep throws, connecting with DK Metcalf, Brandon Smith and Robert Tonyan for big plays, particularly in 7-on-7 drills.
Speaking with reporters following practice, Allar spoke about his deep balls and how he’s worked on that aspect of his game in training camp.
“Yeah, I felt really good, and it’s been something I’ve been working on, in terms of the trajectory of the throw,” Allar said, according to video via 93.7 The Fan on X. “I’ve been picking Aaron [Rodgers]’s brain on it [for] like a week or so. So, to kind of be able to have the chance to do it in a live setting, even though it’s 7-on-7, but against live DBs in tight coverage, I felt really good.
“But, I mean, Bobby [Tonyan] and B Smith [Smith] had great catches on those, too, so I wouldn’t be able to do that without them.”
Allar never really uncorked the deep ball at Penn State. That was largely due to the Nittany Lions’ offense, which never really played to Allar’s strengths.
He’s able to play to his strengths more in Pittsburgh, and that means uncorking more throws down the field. While he’s still honing his technique in the pocket from his footwork to his throwing mechanics, his arm strength remains high level, and on Saturday night Allar put that on display.
Smith made some impressive catches Saturday night, according to Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora, continuing to build on a camp in which he’s made a handful of plays.
As for Allar, he remains QB4 behind Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph and Will Howard to this point. But on Saturday night, Allar displayed the one trait that had NFL teams so intrigued with him. Hopefully it continues into the preseason, rather than just in 7-on-7 settings.
