S.I.’s Albert Breer Talks Steelers, Browns, Raiders, Rams & More with Rich

Albert Breer's run on the show was a four-team tour of the quarterback position, and the lesson by the end was that there is no such thing as a settled quarterback room in May.

Start in Pittsburgh, where Aaron Rodgers is reportedly inbound. Breer believes the choice was Rodgers's to make and that Pittsburgh was always the only fit.

"For him, this is about enjoying playing football," Breer told Rich. "He struggled to find a way to do that in his two years in New York. There was just so much going on there."

What Pittsburgh offered, Breer said, was permission to just be a football player. Mike Tomlin is the face. The locker room is veteran. The team's offseason moves, Mike McCarthy as head coach plus the additions of Rico Dowdle, Michael Pittman, and Jamel Dean, were the loudest signal of all.

"Does that seem like a team that's ready to roll Will Howard or Mason Rudolph out there at quarterback?" Breer said. "No."

The Cleveland section started with money. By the end of this year the Browns will have invested roughly $230 million in Deshaun Watson, plus three first-round picks.

"What would be worse than just striking out on this," Breer said, "would be striking out, not giving him a chance this year, and then seeing him go and ball out somewhere else in 2027."

It is also, Breer argued, much easier to pull the plug on Watson midseason and go to Shedeur Sanders than the other way around. He also leaned on history. Recent NFL examples of first-round quarterback reclamation projects working out, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, vastly outnumber third or fifth-round picks becoming stars.

Then Rich asked which rookie quarterback will start the most games in 2026. Breer's ranking was Mendoza first, with Carson Beck the one that gives him pause.

"Beck was the smartest of the quarterbacks that they sat down with," Breer said, relaying what scouts had told him ahead of the draft. A six-year college quarterback with the football IQ to match, in his read, projects ready to play.

The wrinkle is what each team is doing around its rookie. Breer does not expect Mendoza to start Week 1 in Las Vegas. The Raiders have Kirk Cousins, and history says if a veteran has a team in contention, that is the only scenario where a first-round quarterback redshirts the full year. If the Raiders struggle, Breer thinks Mendoza is in by game five, seven, or nine. He noted the translation Mendoza has to make from the spread at Cal and the RPO-heavy system at Indiana to a pro offense, and said the Raiders will want him learning at game speed once they are out of contention.

Arizona is the team most likely to break the redshirt pattern early. The Cardinals know what they have in Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew. If the season turns, Beck gets a real look.

The Rams piece was the cleanest projection. Breer thinks Ty Simpson is a pure redshirt in 2026.

"This is not a like move for the future only," Breer said. The 13th overall pick on a quarterback now frees Los Angeles to use future picks as in-season capital. He pointed to the trade for Trent McDuffie, made with the 29th pick, as evidence that the Rams are operating as contenders.

"They got their quarterback of the future, and they're sort of liberated to operate like the Rams have traditionally operated in the past because they don't have to worry about Matthew Stafford's replacement anymore," Breer said.

The supplemental draft conversation closed the segment. Breer named four teams in real position to swing for Brendan Sorsby in July: the Jets, Cardinals, Browns, and Dolphins. The June 30 declaration deadline, he noted, is where this conversation gets real.