![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775751502_410_GettyImages-2219071110_2c0897.jpg\")
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Will Howard could compete for the starting quarterback job with the Pittsburgh Steelers if the team is unable to re-sign Aaron Rodgers.<\/p>\n
For the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, their entire focus of the offseason thus far has been on the whereabouts of Aaron Rodgers and whether he\u2019ll return for another season.<\/p>\n New head coach Mike McCarthy has said he and Rodgers speak daily<\/a>, yet there has been no real mention of his future.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter spoke on this<\/a>, saying that if they\u2019re speaking that often, it would be surprising if it didn\u2019t eventually lead to a Rodgers return.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, for now, the Steelers appear to have a quarterback \u2014 at least on the outside. On the inside, they don\u2019t seem to be sweating it, according to ESPN\u2019s Matt Miller<\/a>.<\/p>\n Steelers May Not Force QB Decision Despite Aaron Rodgers Uncertainty<\/p>\n Many believe the Steelers will either use their No. 21 overall pick to wait on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson or even trade up in the first round to grab him. Miller, however, says this isn\u2019t the case at all.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Steelers might not have a clear-cut quarterback of the future on the roster, but one internal source said that they won\u2019t be forced to draft one this year. That source noted Pittsburgh will play the board first and that Will Howard, last year\u2019s sixth-round pick, has fans in the front office,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n Howard has been getting a lot of praise from within the Steelers organization all offseason long. Whether this is true confidence in their second-year quarterback or just a way to build him up, the praise hasn\u2019t been scarce.<\/p>\n Even McCarthy recently stated that if he had been part of last year\u2019s draft, Howard likely wouldn\u2019t have lasted until the sixth round.<\/p>\n For Steelers fans, though, this may be a bit of a scary situation. Howard was drafted in the sixth round last year and hasn\u2019t played a single down in the NFL<\/a> yet after suffering an injury in training camp.<\/p>\n Sure, he has 50 games of college experience between Kansas State and Ohio State. But the transition from college to the NFL is never an easy task.<\/p>\n Steelers Could Still Target Quarterback Later In Draft<\/p>\n Just because the Steelers may not go after a quarterback in the first round doesn\u2019t rule out what they could do with their other picks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems unlikely the Steelers will use their first-round pick on a quarterback, but don\u2019t rule it out on Day 2 or Day 3, even if Aaron Rodgers returns,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Brooke Pryor said. \u201cNew head coach Mike McCarthy and the scouting staff have been doing their homework on several prospects in the quarterback class, including Carson Beck (Miami), Drew Allar (Penn State) and Garrett Nussmeier (LSU). Both McCarthy and GM Omar Khan have been transparent about their signal-caller wish list: long arms, big hands and a knack for thriving in the cold weather.\u201d<\/p>\n At 6-foot-4, 236 pounds, and having played in cold-weather environments at both Kansas State and Ohio State, that fits the bill for Howard \u2014 and maybe not as much for some of the others in this year\u2019s draft. Drew Allar could be the lone exception on that list.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tShane Shoemaker<\/a> Shane Shoemaker is a sports journalist covering college football and the NFL for Heavy.com. His work has also appeared in The Sporting News, Athlon Sports, USA TODAY, and ClutchPoints, along with high school sports coverage for the Marion Tribune. More about Shane Shoemaker<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Steelers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Will Howard could compete for the starting quarterback job with the Pittsburgh Steelers if the team is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-862424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-pittsburgh","11":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","12":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","13":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116375658505399628","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862424","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=862424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}