Aaron Rodgers Will Howard
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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.
For the Pittsburgh Steelers, their entire focus of the offseason thus far has been on the whereabouts of Aaron Rodgers and whether he’ll return for another season.
New head coach Mike McCarthy has said he and Rodgers speak daily, yet there has been no real mention of his future.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter spoke on this, saying that if they’re speaking that often, it would be surprising if it didn’t eventually lead to a Rodgers return.
Nevertheless, for now, the Steelers appear to have a quarterback — at least on the outside. On the inside, they don’t seem to be sweating it, according to ESPN’s Matt Miller.
Steelers May Not Force QB Decision Despite Aaron Rodgers Uncertainty
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’t the case at all.
“The Steelers might not have a clear-cut quarterback of the future on the roster, but one internal source said that they won’t be forced to draft one this year. That source noted Pittsburgh will play the board first and that Will Howard, last year’s sixth-round pick, has fans in the front office,” Miller said.
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’t been scarce.
Even McCarthy recently stated that if he had been part of last year’s draft, Howard likely wouldn’t have lasted until the sixth round.
For Steelers fans, though, this may be a bit of a scary situation. Howard was drafted in the sixth round last year and hasn’t played a single down in the NFL yet after suffering an injury in training camp.
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.
Steelers Could Still Target Quarterback Later In Draft
Just because the Steelers may not go after a quarterback in the first round doesn’t rule out what they could do with their other picks.
“It seems unlikely the Steelers will use their first-round pick on a quarterback, but don’t rule it out on Day 2 or Day 3, even if Aaron Rodgers returns,” ESPN’s Brooke Pryor said. “New 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.”
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 — and maybe not as much for some of the others in this year’s draft. Drew Allar could be the lone exception on that list.