{"id":854238,"date":"2026-04-05T00:25:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T00:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/854238\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T00:25:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T00:25:33","slug":"steelers-have-uninspiring-quarterback-plan-if-aaron-rodgers-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/854238\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Have Uninspiring Quarterback Plan If Aaron Rodgers Retires"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the NFL<\/a> Draft less than three weeks away, the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> are still uncertain who’ll be their starting quarterback.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers<\/a> had an efficient 2025 season for the Steelers, completing 65.7% of his past attempts last season for 3,322 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. However, he’s not sure if he plans on suiting up this fall.<\/p>\n

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Steelers owner Art Rooney II\u00a0has made it known that he wants Rodgers to make a decision by the start of the NFL Draft, which is on April 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not talked to him. Coach [McCarthy] has been in contact with him pretty regularly,\u201d\u00a0Rooney told ESPN\u2019s Brooke Pryor<\/a>. \u201cI think a decision is probably coming soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jan<\/p>\n

Jan 12, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) warms up before an AFC Wild Card Round game against the Houston Texans at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images\u00a9 Barry Reeger-Imagn Images&period;<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Barry Reeger-Imagn Images&period;)<\/p>\n

According to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, there’s a “very real possibility” the Steelers select a quarterback during the late stages of the 2026 NFL Draft. While that may sound enticing, they’re expected to only target the position on Day 3.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s a very real possibility that they could draft a quarterback, maybe not in the first round,\u201d Pryor said. “They have other needs to address, but a later-round guy.”<\/p>\n

Pryor also pointed out that Steelers coach Mike McCarthy likes what he has in second-year quarterback Will Howard. The Ohio State product has a chance to boost his stock this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited about Will Howard,\u201d\u00a0McCarthy said<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s someone that, I thought, he really came on there at Ohio State.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Oct<\/p>\n

Oct 26, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard warms up for a game against the Green Bay Packers at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images\u00a9 Barry Reeger-Imagn Images&period;<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Barry Reeger-Imagn Images&period;)Is there an Option B for Pittsburgh?<\/p>\n

If the Steelers aren’t convinced Howard is capable of being an NFL starter, they should consider targeting a quarterback like Ty Simpson in the draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like Will Howard \u2013 I don\u2019t like Will Howard as much as Ty Simpson. I don\u2019t even think they\u2019re in the same stratosphere as far as their ability to throw the football. I think Ty Simpson is a guy who, right now, based upon how the season ended \u2013 and we\u2019ve talked about it a lot and we\u2019re going to be talking about it a lot more,\u201d\u00a0ESPN analyst Louis Riddick said, via On3.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cBased upon how the latter half of the season ended, which wasn\u2019t all on him. The guy was banged up, offensive line is very inconsistent, the running game is nonexistent and the wide receiver corps was up-and-down from week to week. And then, he turns it around in the playoffs against Oklahoma and brings his team back from a 17-point deficit. He\u2019s tailor-made for Mike McCarthy\u2019s system \u2013 and Mike has coached some good quarterbacks.”<\/p>\n

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Simpson threw for 3,567 yards with 28 touchdowns and five interceptions last fall. There’s no question he’s got talent.<\/p>\n

For now though, the Steelers are hoping Rodgers will return for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by The Spun<\/a> on Apr 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL<\/a> section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the NFL Draft less than three weeks away, the Pittsburgh Steelers are still uncertain who’ll be their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1586,115671,7822,7,345,253,6,15,520,57,1257,20708,2183],"class_list":{"0":"post-854238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-barry-reeger-imagn","10":"tag-brooke-pryor","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-green-bay-packers","13":"tag-houston-texans","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-draft","16":"tag-pittsburgh","17":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","18":"tag-quarterback","19":"tag-ty-simpson","20":"tag-will-howard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116349262664040035","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854238","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=854238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}