Will Howard isn’t supposed to sniff the field as a rookie. He’s expected to be the No. 3 quarterback, hold a clipboard and absorb all he can behind Mason Rudolph and, likely, Aaron Rodgers. If Howard enters the lineup, something has gone wrong. _Very wrong._
But it’s the NFL. Little goes as planned. As the league has consistently shown, a handful of teams each year have to turn to second, third, and even fourth-string quarterbacks. Put the numbers to the test. Since the NFL expanded to a 17-game schedule in 2021, here’s the number of quarterbacks who started at least one game league-wide and the number who started for the Steelers.
Year
Starting QBs (NFL)
Starting QBs (PIT)
2024
59
2
2023
67
3
2022
70
2
2021
62
2
**Average**
**64.5**
**2.3**
On average, each NFL team is starting essentially two quarterbacks each season. Some seasons are even higher. In 2022, 70 different passers got the call, a staggering number. Of the four years, 2024 saw the fewest with 59, but it’s reasonable to expect 60-something quarterbacks to get into the lineup throughout the season. Pittsburgh is no exception. Post-Ben Roethlisberger, they’ve started at least two each season and three in 2023: Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph. Whether it’s due to injury or ineffective play, teams go deep into their Rolodex of names at quarterback.
But even if we assume those numbers will apply to the 2025 Steelers, that still doesn’t put Howard in the lineup. So long as Rudolph and another veteran, Rodgers or someone else, Howard doesn’t become anything more than the No. 2. Still, that puts him one snap away from playing where any mid-game blip could get him into the lineup even if it’s not an actual start. That [happened to Kyle Allen last year](https://steelersdepot.com/2024/10/mike-tomlin-not-surprised-by-backup-qb-kyle-allen-showing-confidence-against-cowboys/), who was subbing in for Justin Fields for a pair of plays against the Dallas Cowboys, while Fields was required to be checked for a concussion. Allen completed one 19-yard pass to TE Pat Freiermuth.
Taking it one step further, a good fraction of the league gets especially snakebitten. Below is a list of teams that started at least three quarterbacks in one season, 2021-2024. Teams that started with more than three are noted. There has been at least one such example every season over that span.
#### Teams Who Started 3+ QBs (2021-2024)
**2024 (8):** CLE (4), DAL, LVR, MIA, NO, NYG, PHI, SF
**2023 (8):** ARI, CLE (5), LAR, LVR, MIN (4), NYG, NYJ (4), PIT
**2022 (15):** ARI (4), ATL, BAL, CAR, CHI, HOU, IND, LAR (4), MIA, NO, NE, NYJ (4), SF, TEN, WSH
**2021 (8):** BAL, CAR, CHI, CLE, NO (4), NYG, NYJ (4), WSH
In three of the four years, exactly one-quarter of the league, eight teams, started at least three. That includes the Steelers in 2023. In 2022, the league was rocked with nearly half of the NFL, 15 teams, going deep into their depth chart.
In fairness, there are examples of a quarterback starting in a regular-season finale because it was meaningless. Either because a playoff team had nothing to play for or a team was giving a new face a look at the end of a lost season (Dallas’ Trey Lance in 2024). Neither scenario is likely to apply to Pittsburgh. The Steelers won’t be one of the best or worst teams, having played just one “meaningless” game in the Mike Tomlin era, the 2012 regular season finale.
Still, the vast majority came from unforeseen circumstances in the middle of a season. _Hopefully, Pittsburgh avoids that rotten luck. But nothing is guaranteed. If history continues, 25 percent_ of the NFL will start a third-string quarterback. For the Steelers, that’s Howard.
Assume Rodgers and Rudolph open the season ahead of him. That makes Pittsburgh’s starter a 41-year-old (who will turn 42 by season’s end). Rodgers has been durable but tore his Achilles four snaps into his 2023 season and played hurt for much of 2024. Rudolph has taken literal and figurative lumps and could play behind an offensive line that enters the season as an – at best – average unit.
The best rookie season Howard can have is an uneventful one. He dresses as the emergency third-string quarterback but doesn’t see a snap. But all it takes is one injury for him to go from being in-the-hole to the on-deck circle. And another for him to step into the batter’s box.