Former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard may be looking for his second NFL team soon. Following the Pittsburgh Steelers' re-signing of Aaron Rodgers, there are only three long-term spots in a QB room that has four bodies, including Penn State Nittany Lions product and third-round 2026 NFL draft pick Drew Allar and veteran Mason Rudolph.
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio believes Howard is almost certainly on the way out of Pittsburgh at some point, even though new Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy shared admiration for the former national champion signal-caller.
"Now that Aaron Rodgers is back, the Steelers eventually will have a decision to make," Florio prefaced before saying, "One of the other three will be gone, via trade or release. Rudolph would be the obvious candidate to go, but they’ll need a veteran backup with playing experience in the event Rodgers is injured. That leaves Howard and Allar. Surely, they wouldn’t move on from Allar after using a second-day pick on him last month. Howard, a sixth-round pick in 2025, becomes the most likely candidate to be traded or released.
"Yes, Howard. The guy new coach Mike McCarthy supposedly loves. The moment they drafted Allar, the truth trickled out about their feelings as to Howard. For now, they need four quarterbacks. And it’s smart to keep all of them in the event one of them gets injured. Still, if all are healthy as August creeps toward September, someone will be gone. The most likely someone at this point is Will Howard."
Will Howard has a chance to stick in the NFL for a few more years
Howard's end of the road in Pittsburgh is hardly a bad thing. While seeing him play in Arthur Smith's offense would've been nice, Howard clearly wasn't ready for that. Sixth-round rookies don't tend to start for playoff teams in their first season. Especially a franchise like the Steelers, with a veteran head coach in Mike Tomlin, who won it all once and won the AFC twice.
That's okay. Howard will have a place in the NFL for a few more seasons after strong years in Columbus and the Little Apple, where he was a star with the Kansas State Wildcats before becoming a Buckeye. Winning a championship and managing the staggering amount of talent on Ohio State's offense in 2024 -- two NFL running backs, Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson, and the star receiving trio of Emeka Egbuka, Jeremiah Smith, and Carnell Tate -- will keep Howard on radars until further notice. While a starting role over a full season may never be in the cards for Howard, the opportunity to start will always be one strong training camp away.
With a rocket arm and lacking fear of contact in the red zone, at six-foot-four and 236 pounds, Howard has the size to convince a GM to give him a chance for at least two more offseasons. It'd be tricky for Howard in 2026 if Pittsburgh released him before the season, but injuries will happen across the league, and maybe Howard is someone who'll be in demand for teams with their backs against the wall.
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