As the 21st century dawned, the Steelers faced the new millennium with one arm tied behind their backs. Kordell Stewart had just produced two miserable seasons there was as much misery as there was substandard performance and there appeared no reason to expect better in the future. The solution to this problem was directly in front of them. They owned the No. 8 pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. They almost certainly would have the opportunity to draft Chad Pennington.Seems hilarious now, right?This was what draft experts such as ESPNs Mel Kiper were insisting, though, that the Steelers would err ma sively by pa sing on the opportunity to select Pennington, a star quarterback for the Marshall Thundering Herd. They instead chose wide receiver Plaxico Burre s. Pennington stayed on the board through another nine picks until the Jets chose him at 18th overall. He appeared in Atlanta Falcons Hoodies Sweatshirts six career playoff games, won two and never was chosen to a Pro Bowl.The Steelers won two playoff games in the next four years, with Stewart and then Tommy Maddox at QB, then drafted Ben Roethlisberger in 2004 and won two Super Bowls before the decade was finished.This is something to remember, as one can find, including , features the Steelers selecting a quarterback in the first round of Thursdays draft. No one can say theyre wrong until Roger Goodell calls out, With the 20th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers select MORE NFL DRAFT: | But I can declare the Steelers would be mistaken to follow that course.Of 10 mock drafts from major media or NFL-centric outlets, only one does not have the Steelers selecting a quarterback. Thats from Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com, who has them selecting Derek Stingley Jr. of LSU, the third cornerback chosen in his projection. Of the others, three have the team choosing QB Desmond Ridder of Cincinnati, three have Libertys Malik Willis falling to their position, two have Jonathan Bullard Jersey the Steelers getting hometown hero Kenny Pickett of Pitt and one suggests Matt Corral of Ole Mi s.With the po sible exception of Willis, theres not a long-term star QB in the bunch. There are players who did a great job improving in college, best exemplified by Picketts advance from 3,098 yards and 13 touchdowns as a junior to 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns as a super senior in Colby Gossett Jersey the 2021 season. There are serial winners, such as Ridder, who posted a 43-6 record as a starter and led Cincinnati to perfect regular seasons in his final two seasons. There is Corral, who consistently was challenged in college footballs most competitive conference, the SEC.Is there a chance one of them could become a high-level NFL starter? Sure, and its probably a better chance than me buying the half-billion dollar Powerball ticket at the Circle K down the street. But how much better?As evidenced by Bill Benders terrific chosen through the Super Bowl era with each pick of the NFL Draft first round, there arent many Super Bowl QBs left once the first dozen or so players are selected. Among first-rounders, only Aaron Rodgers from the 2005 draft ever won the Big Game," and only Dan Marino and Rex Gro sman started and lost.MORE: Since 2010, the only Super Bowl QBs not chosen in the top dozen picks were Tom Brady (sixth round, 2000), Colin Kaepernick (second round, 2011), Ru sell Wilson (third round, 2012), Nick Foles (third round, 2012) and Jimmy Garappolo (second round, 2014). Eleven different top-12 picks appeared in the game in that period.I watched nearly every game of Ridders career and loved his spirit, his eagerne s to improve, his intelligence about the game. But he mi sed too many easy throws to feel comfortable that the increase in competition level wont be too great a hurdle for him. I saw the majority of Picketts games at Pitt, as well, and its hard to get past the reality it took him five years to become exceptional. In normal times, the season in which he became a star would not have been available to him.One can watch highlight tapes of Willis and see a cleverne s about his approach to finding receivers and getting them the ball Julio Jones T Shirts that is reminiscent of Patrick Mahomes the ability and willingne s to adjust arm angles to deliver the ideal pa s but he does not appear to be quite as elusive and dynamic. On several runs when he got into the secondary, Willis did not reveal the speed to leave defenders well behind, and the fact he has declined multiple times to produce a 40 time might be connected to this. If he were to fall to the 20th pick as Pro Football Focus, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated and ESPNs Todd McShay have suggested, he might be worth the pick. Trading up to select him seems a needle s risk Deion Sanders Jersey .There are at least three po sibly more quarterback prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft cla s who would be the best of this lot if they were eligible to be chosen in 2022. It would be much more prudent to be drafting a future quarterback from that group than to be reaching for a slice of hope Thursday night.Think of it like a marriage. When the Steelers draft their next quarterback, theyre hoping for an enduring relationship like the one with Ben Roethlisberger that lasted nearly two decades and came to a natural end. Its not wise to jump on a dating app and seek to marry the person with an attractive profile.Its OK to date Mitch Trubisky for a while until the perfect match comes along.