Whats everyone’s beef with giving Howard a shot? Why are we looking to bridge QBs am bringing in vets past their prime?

50 comments
  1. I (and this sub) have nothing to do with it. If someone in the organization thinks he’s worth a shot I hope they speak up. I don’t think public opinion should dictate our roster.

  2. Giving him a shot to battle for the starting job and hailing him as day 1 starter right now today are two COMPLETELY different things.

  3. Because he is a 6th round rookie who hasn’t taken a single snap including preseason. Although he’d certainly help us tank I don’t think we’re going to openly do that unless we’re far out of the race at midseason (which is possible). In which case he might get a shot if our starter isn’t doing well

  4. I keep saying this in every post about this but there is a 0.0% chance a new head coach and OC are gonna come in and give a 6th rounder pick the starting job without ever taking a snap.

    These coaches are going to want to introduce a style of play to build upon for years to come. You can’t do that with a guy who has 0 experience and several significant flaws (throwing mechanics, going through his reads, athleticism, etc.) First impressions are important and a coaching staff running a college playbook that gets outschemed every game will not be pretty.

    The Steelers will bring in another qb option to be #1 on the depth chart. He’ll start 3rd on the depth chart. If he has an incredible preseason, he may jump Mason and be the backup.

    If he does get a shot at starter, it will be because of injury, or it will be later in the season when there is little left to play for.

    He isn’t going to be the day 1 starter. It’s just never going to happen.

  5. Can’t wait til the first throw of the first game of preseason(after Howard looks like prime Ben at OTAs) and it’s incomplete and a third of this sub will shit talk for a week lmao

  6. I think Malik Willis is the best option for next season, but if we can’t sign him I’m down with giving Howard a chance but also think we should take a QB in the third if there’s someone there we like.

    I think people are being harsh on this class. There isn’t going to be any class in this modern era anymore that looks amazing coming out of school because colleges just don’t develop QBs anymore. We need to find someone we can develop, and get a staff who can develop him.

  7. It’s about risk management really. I think Howard deserves a shot to start but he won’t be starting week 1. Mason will prob be starting week 1 honestly.

    Like either we fill our 3rd QB with a vet like brissett and he starts or we draft a QB this year who will prob default to 3rd string.

  8. If Mason Rudolph is on the roster and Howard can’t out perform Rudolph in the offseason then Howard should not be the starter.

  9. If it was me I would bring a veteran QB and have them compete with Howard. If Howard proves it then let him start game 3 or later.

  10. Nobody in here sees him practice every single day. This new parasocial thing with football fans is fucking bizarre

  11. You can’t go into a season expecting to compete with Rudolph and Howard. You’ve all watched too many underdog movies.

  12. Contrary to what fandoms say and the occasional dolphins owner, everybody is trying to win no matter what. Nobody *wants* to tank. Players have incentives, pride, and futures. Coaches have pride and futures. Any football operations personnel actively engaging in commanding the tank will find it very hard to get a job in the future.

    That’s why we’re talking about bringing in bridge qbs and vets past their prime. Nobody *wants* to lose. The rooneys have a brand. This is a franchise that has only had SEVEN losing seasons since nineteen seventy one. Do you realize how insane that is? They are winners and will do whatever they can to preserve that.

  13. From what I hear and read, it has more to do with him being a sixth round pick that didn’t show anything due to injury

  14. In a vacuum, sure… Will would be great project if the actual worst case scenario is that we get a great draft pick. Unfortunately, there are many dynamics at play.

    By not signing a vet, you risk losing the entire locker room if Will isn’t the guy. You have to remember, every individual on the team is impacted by this decision. If Will stinks, and we don’t have a bridge… the offense will be atrocious… Which can play a major part in players and coaches careers and future contracts.

    The coaches know roughly what they have in Will. If he makes a MASSIVE leap next year, then he will have a chance to compete.. he wasn’t a great prospect coming out, so I wouldn’t count on him being ready.

  15. If he’s good, then we have our QB

    If he’s not, then we’ll have our best draft spot in 20 years to go get a QB.

    Win/win

  16. I haven’t seen a beef with starting Will Howard. In fact, many posts seem to want to give Howard the starting job without ever snapping the ball in the nfl. Howard should be in the mix with the likely 4 qbs brought to camp and may the best player win.

    I think Howard gets that shot, but I’m more worried about hiring ahead coach and assistant coaches right now. Qb’s position battles at camp seem irrelevant at this point.

  17. Why are people so opposed to an open competition at training camp and bringing in another QB for it? He hasn’t taken a single snap so idk why people want to anoint him as QB1. A

    The Rooney’s have a standing mandate to compete every year, and the new coach is gonna play who gives us the best chance to win. Khan is gonna bring in some competition.

  18. No beef, but he’ll get a shot for the starting job in preseason. And two other veteran quarterbacks will fight for the starting job.

  19. What is it with your obsession over a 6th round draft pick that couldn’t beat Rudolph out of the backup role? I don’t have anything against having an open camp, but bring in someone to compete.

  20. Will Howard being a stud would be a dream come true with his low contract BUT we also need to be realistic. They’ll get a bridge regardless because he has yet to take a snap. He’ll get his shot but we have genuinely no idea if he’s great or not. We’ve heard good things from Aaron and Ben but that could be pleasantry’s. His playoff rise was really great to watch and he seems like a good “Field General” type of game managing QB.

    We need to be realistic though.

  21. Loved him at OSU but I think I’ll let him take at least one snap in the pros before trying to annoint him or discount him as the next franchise qb.

  22. The Pittsburgh Steelers do not tank. If Howard wins the starting job, great. But deciding to start him in January based on feelings is silly.

  23. I don’t understand it either! Ppl keep acting like we need a #1 QB RIGHT NOW.

    We don’t… And we’re not even close.

    We need to build the core first and worry about a QB later. We aren’t even close to needing a top tier QB, without anybody around to help him out. Our WR core sucks so bad that a #1QB wouldn’t even matter. Can’t expect one guy to do it all.

    Build around Howard for a couple years. Maybe he develops, maybe he doesn’t. Maybe we should get some actual play makers to help out first, then worry about it.

  24. I think you have to give him a shot just out of necessity. He’s the only untested QB on the roster. Either he sucks and we get a high draft pick to get the guy in 27, or he’s good and you can look to build around him. We don’t need Mason showing us what we already know. Unless we bring in or draft somebody this year, Will Howard is the obvious choice imo. There’s noone thats going to move the needle enough to make us SB contenders with the current roster.

  25. There’s nothing to suggest that he can be the guy yet. He hasn’t played a down. This is a professional football team, no a single team in the league would look toward a completely unproven 2nd year 6th round pick at qb. He can totally have a shot at the job in training camp, but you need to bring some sort of competition in. We only have 2 QBs on the roster anyway, we’re going to need to add somebody at minimum.

  26. Jesus Christ. This sub is one big Groundhog Day. Tomorrow it’s my turn to say yes to 18.

  27. The future franchise championship caliber QB is not on another roster. And they aren’t on our roster. I have no beef with giving Howard a chance, but he will probably sooner be a head coach than win meaningful playoff games.

  28. I like Howard. I’m rooting for him. He hasn’t even attempted a pass in the NFL after being one of the last QB drafted. I hope he’s the next Dak, I do, but it would be lunacy going into the season with that happening as your plan. Another QB needs to be drafted, traded for, or signed no matter what.

  29. Clickbait tittle, you’ll do anything for engagement won’t you? Calling Aaron Rodger’s a vet past his prime is idiotic. He’s the main reason why the Steelers made it so far this season

  30. It’s simple statistics. Look at the success rate of non 1st round QBs? Did you take a look? That’s why.

  31. First off no QB drafted by Tomlin ever had a shot. There’s an old saying referring to North Carolina coach Dean Smith “He’s the only guy to hold Michael Jordan below 20 points”. The same philosophy is true of Tomlin. Remember the famous clip of him giving Ben grief…”No more John Wayne”.. Tomlin was just too conservative for any rookie to ever be successful at QB!

  32. Will Howard does not have the talent, pedigree, NFL experience, or rapport with the coaching staff (because they will all be new) to be seriously considered the starting QB at this point. By all means he will get a chance to compete, but people advocating for him to be the outright starter are just not being realistic. That just does not happen in the modern NFL.

    Also there are more successful QBs right now who were high picks and had to bounce around the league than late round picks. So from what I know about the Steelers and the NFL in general I just don’t see a realistic scenario where he is our first option to start next year.

  33. I think he’s gonna come out with something to prove and looking like the best QB on the roster

  34. It’s no beef man, he should get an opportunity to compete just like every player that attends practice should. If he is the guy he will show flashes. Talent pops. But expecting a 2nd year 6th round pick QB to be handed the keys just doesn’t make sense.

    Plus you have an owner that doesn’t want anything to do with tanking and losing, paired with the player’s expectation to compete year in and year out with a new coach? You are most likely looking at another bridge QB this year (hoping for Willis). It’s just the way they operate. The Steelers are going to play whoever they think gives them the best chance to win and they will see it in practice. I just think the idea of him beating out whoever they decide to get and Mason is pretty hard to believe.

    That being said it would be sweet if he was the guy. No reservations on that. Cheering for him the whole way. I just think the expectations for him are a bit overturned.

  35. Honestly, Tomlin was not good at evaluating talent. Only one first round draft pick over the last decade got a second contract. If there’s talent there, a new head coach should be able to see it.

  36. Idk maybe because he hasn’t played a snap in the NFL yet smh. Jesus Christ man

  37. I have no beef whatsoever with giving Howard a shot. I don’t think he’s a starter, but we need to draft high in the 2027 draft to secure a long-term starter. That’s why I say play the sixth rounder and let’s see what he’s got.

    Let him sink or swim. If he swims, great! Use the pick on something else. If he sinks, as I would expect, that’s also great because it puts us in a great spot to get a good quarterback in next year’s draft.

    I don’t see any wisdom at all in trying to sign Kirk Cousins or someone of that nature. All that does is keep you right in the same purgatory we’ve been mired in for the past five or six years.

    If you want to get off the treadmill of mediocrity, you have to lose your way off it. You typically have to lose big before you can win big – that’s just how the NFL works.

    I’m ready to lose big in 2026. Give me Will Howard as our starting quarterback and let’s go, baby! What’s Duck Hodges up to these days?

  38. After seeing Roman Wilson get zero chances, I’ve decided to trust our coaches. I thought Wilson would be special, but he’s looked slow and off every snap he played, so if Howard doesn’t get a chance to compete, then I’ll trust the new HC on that one.

  39. Some people are still delusional that this roster is a playoff team, and refuse to entertain anything below 9 wins…

Leave a Reply