From the outside world, QB Will Howard remains a blank slate. A training camp hand injury prevented him from throwing a pass in the preseason. Pittsburgh’s Week 17 upset loss to the Cleveland Browns prevented the chance of debuting Howard in a meaningless regular season finale against the Baltimore Ravens. But behind the scenes, Howard’s been working. General manager Omar Khan likes what he sees.
“We’re excited to work with Will,” Khan told the media at the podium of Indianapolis’ 2026 NFL Combine, including our Ross McCorkle. “Coach McCarthy, he’s talked about how how much he liked Will coming out and him and I have spent some time watching his practice tape.
“Obviously, we didn’t have the ability to watch him in games, which would’ve been good. He got hurt in the preseason. But we watched all the practice tape and seen the progression and there’s some exciting stuff to see.”
Since being hired in January, McCarthy has praised Howard potential. With McCarthy’s reputation for developing quarterbacks, including late-rounders and undrafted names like Matt Hasselbeck, Matt Flynn and Jake Delhomme, Howard hopes to be next in-line.
Beginning the season on injured reserve, Howard returned midway through the season. Though he never attempted a pass in a game, he gained meaningful practice reps. For a rookie, every snap is a chance to learn, grow, and for the team, be evaluated. Aaron Rodgers served as a quality mentor along the way.
Howard’s role with the 2026 Steelers remains unclear. In theory, he could be in the mix to start should Rodgers not return and Pittsburgh fail to land a slam dunk starting option. But most likely, Howard will compete with veteran Mason Rudolph for the immediate backup job.
As our Scott Brown noted, history is working against Howard’s odds of success. But Howard’s arguably more talented than a typical sixth-round pick, and with a head coach known for coaching quarterbacks, he’s in a better environment to succeed.
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