{"id":716639,"date":"2026-01-30T13:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/716639\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T13:58:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:58:27","slug":"hes-a-hell-of-a-player-raiders-pass-rusher-maxx-crosby-is-a-will-howard-believer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/716639\/","title":{"rendered":"‘He’s A Hell Of A Player’: Raiders Pass Rusher Maxx Crosby Is A ‘Will Howard Believer’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quarterback has been a problem for the Pittsburgh Steelers since Ben Roethlisberger retired. Kenny Pickett wasn\u2019t the answer, and his failure has left the Steelers in purgatory under center. They\u2019ve taken to kicking the tires on veterans in recent years. That\u2019s produced regular-season success, but no playoff wins. Now, they\u2019re left with uncertainty at quarterback once again. Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby thinks Will Howard could be their long-term answer,<\/a> though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Aaron [Rodgers] probably stays another year,\u201d Crosby said recently on his podcast.<\/a> \u201cBut when you have a guy like Will Howard to sit there and learn another year behind Rodgers, and you have [Mike] McCarthy locked in for five years, you let Rodgers get another year, and then you have Will Howard step in after that, sitting for two years, and then let him go and be the guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I know some people have their opinions on Will Howard and this and that. I\u2019m a Will Howard believer. I\u2019m not going to lie. I think he\u2019s a hell of a player\u2026I think Will Howard\u2019s got the size, he\u2019s got the intangibles, he\u2019s talented, he\u2019s a smart quarterback. I think Will Howard sitting there learning behind McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers for another year is going to do that franchise a lot of great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of Steelers fans feel the same way as Crosby. While Howard hasn\u2019t played in the NFL yet, he\u2019s got a lot of support. Part of that is because he came to the Steelers after winning a National Championship with Ohio State. There\u2019s hope that he can bring a championship to Pittsburgh, too.<\/p>\n

Crosby\u2019s suggestion doesn\u2019t sound bad for Howard, either. Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks ever, and he was helping Howard last year. However, it remains to be seen if Rodgers wants to return. He\u2019s a free agent, so he could join a different team. Just as well, he could retire.<\/p>\n

Even if Rodgers doesn\u2019t re-sign with the Steelers, McCarthy has a long history of developing quarterbacks. He helped Day 3 picks such as Matt Hasselbeck and Aaron Brooks find success. Also, he\u2019s excited to work<\/a> with Howard.<\/p>\n

However, it might be wise to pump the brakes on Howard slightly. The Steelers shouldn\u2019t hand him the keys to the franchise, even if he sits behind Rodgers for another year. While it\u2019s a long way away, the 2027 draft looks to be rich with good quarterback prospects.<\/p>\n

The Steelers shouldn\u2019t ignore an upgrade at quarterback for Howard. He was a sixth-round pick. Not many quarterbacks selected that late pan out. Maybe the Steelers have enough confidence in him to give him a shot at the starting job.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no guarantee that he\u2019ll become a franchise quarterback, though. Hopefully, Howard will be healthy for the preseason this year. That should give a better idea of where he\u2019s at. However, there\u2019s no reason to<\/a> crown Howard yet.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quarterback has been a problem for the Pittsburgh Steelers since Ben Roethlisberger retired. Kenny Pickett wasn\u2019t the answer,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[7,1744,393,2455,2454,6563,6,57,525,21526,2183],"class_list":{"0":"post-716639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-las-vegas","10":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","11":"tag-lasvegas","12":"tag-lasvegasraiders","13":"tag-maxx-crosby","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","16":"tag-raiders","17":"tag-the-rush-with-maxx-crosby","18":"tag-will-howard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115984407447629273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716639","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=716639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}