Throughout the spring, first-year Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy told just about anybody who would listen that he believes 2025 rookie Will Howard is “definitely a real prospect as a starting quarterback.”
During a Wednesday appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan, Steelers insider Mark Kaboly of “The Pat McAfee Show” shared a gloomy outlook regarding Howard’s status with the team.
Steelers’ Will Howard hype “was a little premature?”
“I still think the whole offseason, ‘I really like Will Howard,’ was a little premature. I think it was,” Kaboly explained, per Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot.
A Steelers team that has 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers serving as its QB1 made promising prospect Drew Allar a third-round pick during the 2026 NFL Draft. Pittsburgh also reportedly isn’t thinking about moving on from longtime backup Mason Rudolph as of the early days of the league’s summer break.
Despite what has been said and written over the past couple of months, numerous outsiders have speculated that the Steelers won’t have four quarterbacks on their active roster in September. Thus, Howard’s future with the organization is understandably up in the air.
Win-now Steelers can’t afford to have an unproven QB2 behind Aaron Rodgers?
Bringing Rodgers back for another campaign was among several all-in moves made by the Steelers this offseason. That has led Kaboly and other Steelers reporters to believe that McCarthy and Co. will want a proven commodity to enter the season as Rodgers’ primary backup.
“I don’t even know that if he has a flawless camp you keep him, because they put so much into this year and I’m just not willing — or the organization should not be willing — to just go with a guy, a sixth-round pick, 185 overall, who has no career snaps…to maybe get us through a week or two [if Rodgers goes down with an injury],” Kaboly added about Howard.
Kaboly did say that the Steelers could ultimately try to stash Howard on the practice squad. For now, it appears that Howard will be given an opportunity to compete with Rudolph for a roster spot through the end of the preseason.
