{"id":221980,"date":"2025-07-20T12:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T12:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/221980\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T12:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T12:27:11","slug":"you-just-see-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/221980\/","title":{"rendered":"You Just See The Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>\u00a0have been in quarterback purgatory ever since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger<\/a>\u00a0after the 2021 season. He was the starting quarterback for the team for 18 seasons, and he had a ton of success as he helped Pittsburgh to win a pair of Super Bowls. The Steelers are desperate to become contenders in the AFC, but that is hard to do without a franchise quarterback. The organization has not been in position to draft a franchise quarterback, and missing on first-round pick Kenny Pickett\u00a0back in 2022 set the franchise back a couple of years at the position.<\/p>\n

\"Steelers'<\/p>\n

Dustin Satloff \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers warms up before a New York Jets preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have been finding band-aids at the quarterback position for the last couple of seasons. Aaron Rodgers<\/a>\u00a0is set to start the 2025 season, while Russell Wilson\u00a0was the starter for most of the 2024 season. A strategy like that is not sustainable, which is exactly why fans are desperate to find a franchise player at the position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The franchise drafted Will Howard<\/a>\u00a0in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and while the expectations are low for a sixth-round pick, Roethlisberger has some belief in the quarterback. He shared this on the Sports Spectrum Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The Steelers took Will Howard in the sixth round this year.” Roethlisberger said. “Quarterback, Ohio State, National Champion. He gets drafted sixth round and tears pouring down his face, his dream of playing in the NFL. At least he has a chance. Doesn’t mean he’s going to make it; sixth round, but he’s excited about it. You watch other guys, and they get drafted and are like, ‘Let’s throw a party. Let’s have cameras.’ I’m not trying to bash any one person. But you just see the difference sometimes in the love of the game.”<\/p>\n

Roethlisberger could tell Howard’s love and appreciation for the game of football was unique, and that is something that could help propel him into becoming a pretty good professional player. As a sixth-round pick, he is going to have to be patient in waiting for his opportunity, but there is a good chance that a promising opportunity will come while playing in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\"Steelers<\/p>\n

Karl Roser \/ Pittsburgh Steelers<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard (18) participates in the Steelers rookie minicamp at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, Friday, May 9, 2025 in Pittsburgh, PA.<\/p>\n

Some were shocked that Howard went as low in the draft as he did. He was coming off of a National Championship with Ohio State\u00a0during the 2024 season, and he has all the physical tools a team could want in a quarterback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His build is strong, and he can move around in the pocket and make things happen if a play falls apart. Pittsburgh was lucky that he fell to them in the sixth round of the event, and he could be a guy that is competing for the starting job in 2026 if Rodgers follows through on his plan<\/a> to retire after the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Roethlisberger seems to believe in Howard, which is good to see as that was not the approach he took with Pickett. Pickett was the first quarterback in Pittsburgh after Roethlisberger’s retirement, and the former quarterback came out and said he wasn’t necessarily rooting for Pickett. The approach is different with Howard, and hopefully things work out with the rookie.<\/p>\n

\"Steelers'<\/p>\n

Alysa Rubin \/ Pittsburgh Steelers<\/p>\n

Steelers’ Will Howard tries on his helmet in Pittsburgh for the first time.<\/p>\n

Steelers Need To Prioritize Howard’s Development<\/p>\n

Fans should not expect Howard to start a game or see the field at all during the 2025 season. However, his development should be prioritized during training camp and practices throughout the year. He should be the backup behind Rodgers, as the team already knows what it has in Mason Rudolph, there is no need for him to take the majority of the secondary reps when they could be going to Howard. This would be good in the long-run for the Steelers, and for Howard as a player.<\/p>\n

What do you think about Roethlisberger’s comments on Howard? Let us know in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0have been in quarterback purgatory ever since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger\u00a0after the 2021 season. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[1586,6594,198,7,2394,560,6,74,57,572,426,2395,2183],"class_list":{"0":"post-221980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-ben-roethlisberger","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-forum","13":"tag-mason-rudolph","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-ohio-state-university","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","17":"tag-russell-wilson","18":"tag-steelers","19":"tag-steelers-news","20":"tag-will-howard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114885561199571226","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}