For the NFL team that currently has the smallest allotment of quarterbacks on its roster, the Pittsburgh Steelers sure do attract attention when it comes to their prospects at the position.

While being without a bona fide, proven starter seven weeks into the new league year is less than ideal, the Steelers brain trust portrayed an almost defiant sense of calmness in its current situation at the sport’s most important position.

“I assure you,” general manager Omar Khan said moments into a news conference Tuesday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, “we’ll have four (quarterbacks on the roster) when we get to Latrobe (for the start of training camp).”

But with the free-agent crop long since picked through and an incoming draft class that is widely regarded as weak at quarterback, how do the Steelers supplement a position room that presently features only Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson?

Barring an increasingly unlikely pen-to-paper moment with an Aaron Rodgers signing over the next 48 hours, the first step in filling out the QB room comes via the draft Thursday through Saturday.

“I’m really comfortable with the amount of research we’ve done on this (quarterback draft) class,” coach Mike Tomlin said, “and our preparedness in that area.”

Among the most likely options for the Steelers in the draft at quarterback — particularly in the first round — is Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. He was one of four quarterbacks the Steelers hosted for an official pre-draft visit this spring.

Though Sanders isn’t the draft’s highest-rated QB — Cam Ward is expected to go to the Tennessee Titans with the first overall pick — Sanders is the biggest name and highest-profile, due in large part to his Hall of Fame father and college coach, Deion.

Tomlin said that unique circumstance won’t have any effect on the younger Sanders’ NFL career prospects. Sanders’ celebrity likewise did not alter the format of the visit.

“I’ve obviously known his father for a long time,” Tomlin said. “It was my first time meeting (Shedeur), and to be quite honest with you, we didn’t talk a whole lot about my relationship with his father. It was a normal pre-draft visit to spend time with a young man, to talk ball, to get to know him as an individual, to get to see how he processes and sees the game and how he articulates his football experience. From that standpoint, it was a very normal visit and a very productive one.”

Though it should be noted that Tomlin on Tuesday coyly reiterated his stance that some of his maneuvering in the lead-up to the draft is an intentional smokescreen, Tomlin was effusive in his praise for Sanders.

“The things that stood out were evident in his video,” Tomlin said. “There’s a toughness there that doesn’t get talked about enough. There’s a competitive spirit there that doesn’t get talked about enough. I know he’s very talented and made a lot of plays for his university and his team, but the intangible qualities displayed on tape were impressive to me.”

The Steelers also hosted Louisville’s Tyler Shough, Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart and Kyle McCord of Syracuse for visits, and they are known to have met with Will Howard of Ohio State among others.

“I think it’s a good quarterback class,” Khan said, defying the consensus opinion of the draftniks. “I really do.”

If things don’t fall the Steelers’ way this weekend or the organization passes on its rookie quarterback options, the most likely veteran option remains Rodgers, the four-time NFL MVP.

Tomlin again did not reveal any deadline for Rodgers to make a decision, even saying he “hadn’t pondered” how he would react if the 41-year-old decided to join the Steelers after organized team activities or minicamp.

Tomlin also said the unresolved status of Rodgers joining the team “does not” affect the Steelers’ plans headed into the draft.

Tomlin did, however, ever-so-subtly hint that the opposite might be true — if the Steelers draft a viable quarterback, it might make a deal with Rodgers less likely.

“I think what you do in the draft oftentimes affects maybe some talent acquisition that happens after,” Tomlin said. “But we’ll see how the acquisition goes this weekend.”

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