Jaxson Dart latest pre-draft visit further confirms interest from team who could select him in first round of the 2025 NFL Draft
Jaxson Dart continues to be one of the more polarizing prospects in the entire 2025 NFL Draft. Some question his first round-ready arm strength or the scheme he played in with Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. Others question how many first round quarterback prospects there are in this year's class at all. However, that has […]
Jaxson Dart continues to be one of the more polarizing prospects in the entire 2025 NFL Draft. Some question his first round-ready arm strength or the scheme he played in with Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. Others question how many first round quarterback prospects there are in this year's class at all. However, that has not slowed down his rise this NFL Draft season.
Dart has quickly risen into consensus first round projection range, but that begs the question: Who will select him in round one?
Given all of the latest buzz, there's a real chance Jaxson Dart is gone long before he gets to pick 21, but the Steelers continue to express their interest. Could they be the team who lands Jaxson Dart?
Pittsburgh Steelers visit with Jaxson Dart
The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted former Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart at their facility on Friday (as well as a handful of other top prospects), and this is beginning to look a bit like a very specific pattern of interest. The Steelers staff has now met privately with Jaxson Dart three times throughout this NFL Draft process.
Initially there was some speculation surrounding Mike Tomlin's presence for Jaxson Dart's meeting with the team on Friday, but the head of Steelers PR quickly cleared that up (as you can see in the post below). It would look rather strange for the team's head coach to not be present for a visit with a quarterback the Pittsburgh may be selecting in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, after all.
It's hard to confidently suggest that a team is more interested in one quarterback versus the other, but where there's smoke, fire is quite often also present. If Shedeur Sanders falls to 21, the Steelers may take him, of course. There was a brief moment of "sourced" material that also suggested the team likes Jalen Milroe. However, the most actual points of contact and interest throughout this NFL Draft process has been spent with Dart; not the other two aforementioned quarterbacks.
Dart has also become the consensus first round selection to the Steelers in large sample mock draft data. Mock drafts are what they are, but several well-sourced draft analysts have suggested that Dart would indeed be a good fit. Why?
Well, beyond the obvious fact that Jaxson Dart just put up one of the most efficient passing seasons in college football history (top five in virtually every efficiency metric among FBS QBs last year) the Steelers have some staff who might favor Dart given his particular background.
Mike Sullivan (senior offensive assistant with the Steelers) spent several years as a position coach and offensive coordinator for Eli Manning (2004-2011, 2015-2017) with the Giants. Manning is of course a former Ole Miss great himself, and mentored Jaxson Dart when he was with the Rebels. Dart went as far as to say that the Mannings were one of the first families to reach out to him when he committed to Ole Miss. Manning and Sullivan have a close relationship, so it would only be fitting to recommend his alma mater's most productive quarterback to his good old friend with the Steelers.
Tom Arth (current QB coach for the Steelers) brings with him a bit of atypical experience as he spent significant time playing in both the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League. For those who have "schematic" questions on Dart, Arth's experience as both a player and a coach demonstrate that he doesn't mind working with quarterbacks from a variety of backgrounds and schemes.
The schematic questions with Jaxson Dart (because he plays in Lane Kiffin's system) are quite overblown anyway. Why? Mainly because while the Ole Miss Rebels system may look simple on the surface at times it certainly is not. In fact, I spoke with both Dart and his star wide receiver Tre Harris on this multiple times this spring. The amount of pre and post-snap reads in Lane Kiffin's system require a great deal of intelligence, quick decision-making, processing, accuracy, and execution. The main thing Dart said he felt was different between his system at Ole Miss and the pros was the verbiage.
When you combine the Steelers' perceived interest with all their visits, the potential staff connections, and accurate deep ball passing from Dart that pairs well with the perimeter wide receivers the Steelers look set to feature in DK Metcalf and George Pickens, the fit certainly makes sense. Now the Steelers just have to decide if he's worth pick 21 overall, or perhaps even consider trading up if they indeed deem him to be their primary first round target.
We'll be back with more Ole Miss Rebels coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
And if you want to see why the Pittsburgh Steelers and many other quarterback-needy NFL teams are considering Jaxson Dart in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft just check out his highlights from last season below!
