{"id":901727,"date":"2026-05-26T12:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T12:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/901727\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T12:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T12:36:28","slug":"dulac-talks-palpable-improvement-from-will-howard-in-year-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/901727\/","title":{"rendered":"Dulac Talks ‘Palpable’ Improvement From Will Howard In Year Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Steelers re-signed Aaron Rodgers and drafted Drew Allar this offseason, complicating matters for Will Howard. Although he was drafted a little over a year ago, he\u2019d have to prove himself to make the roster, as the Steelers currently have four quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

According to Steelers beat writer Gerry Dulac, he\u2019s doing just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Steelers get ready for their second week of organized team activities, the difference in Howard compared to a year ago is palpable,\u201d Dulac wrote Monday in an article for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a>. \u201cEverything about Howard looks smoother, faster, more comfortable, which the Steelers were hoping to see in Year 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still very early, but Dulac isn\u2019t the only one<\/a> raving about Howard so far. The new coaching staff talked up the young quarterback throughout the offseason, and they\u2019re giving him reps to prove himself, which he seems to be running with.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s still just OTAs. It\u2019s going to be a few months before the Steelers put pads on. It\u2019s even longer until the first preseason game. This is something Howard didn\u2019t participate in last year, not taking a preseason or regular-season snap. He finished his college career on a high note. But he hasn\u2019t played an in-game snap since that national title game. That\u2019s something to keep in mind with all the praise coming in.<\/p>\n

However, we can still glean things from OTAs, especially regarding the quarterback position. Little things like commanding a huddle, communicating at the line of scrimmage, and understanding a new offense are all important. Each must happen with and without pads, and Howard seems to be on top of things so far.<\/p>\n

As the summer progresses, Howard\u2019s going to continue to get his chance. The Steelers are putting Mason Rudolph\u2019s reps on the <\/a>back burner as of now. And with Rodgers\u2019 age and knowledge of Mike McCarthy\u2019s system, most of the snaps, even into training camp, will go to Howard and Allar. As Mike McCarthy looks for his quarterback of the future, he\u2019ll be working with those two very closely.<\/p>\n

Rodgers\u2019 and Allar\u2019s roster spots are surely safe for 2026. Will Howard is battling with Rudolph for the backup role. But if he continues showing as much progress as it sounds like he\u2019s making, he feels like a safe bet to win that job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Steelers re-signed Aaron Rodgers and drafted Drew Allar this offseason, complicating matters for Will Howard. Although he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,6600,12744,691,2183],"class_list":["post-901727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-gerry-dulac","tag-pittsburgh-post-gazette","tag-trending","tag-will-howard"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116640912789671074","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901727","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=901727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}