Mike McCarthy’s praise for second-year QB Will Howard has been consistent since being hired as the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach. Despite the Steelers drafting Drew Allar in the third round, that praise has only intensified during McCarthy’s few opportunities to speak to the media since the draft.
“Will Howard is someone I’m extremely excited about,” McCarthy said via Mad Dog Sports Radio with Adam Schein last week. “I think our time together, this short time, there’s a lot there to work with. And I think he’s gonna be definitely a starter in this league.”
For those wondering if his Howard praise was a smoke screen all offseason, there’s no longer any reason for that to be the case with the draft in rearview. After just a short time working together at organized team functions, McCarthy is already confident that Howard can become a starter in the league.
That’s a lofty statement on its own about Howard, but what does that say about Drew Allar? They would have only drafted him at No. 76 overall if they thought he had even greater upside than what’s already on the roster. If they think Howard is sure to become a starter, what do they view as Allar’s ceiling?
Potential is just that. Potential — latent ability, or the possibility for future development. In many (or even most) cases, potential is never fully realized. Until either quarterback plays a snap in the league against NFL-caliber competition, it’s unusual for McCarthy to be making such lofty proclamations.
That said, it’s hard to find many coaches with a deeper track record evaluating starting quarterbacks than McCarthy. He’s coached Hall of Famers like Aaron Rodgers, Joe Montana and Brett Favre, along with long-time NFL starters such as Dak Prescott, Rich Gannon, Alex Smith, Andy Dalton and Aaron Brooks. In other words, he’s seen just about every version of what “starting-caliber” looks like in the NFL.
The more interesting question may not be whether McCarthy believes Howard can start — but what that belief implies about how the Steelers stack both quarterbacks. Because if Howard is already viewed as a future starter, then Allar’s draft status suggests a different kind of projection entirely.
If they truly see that much upside in both young QBs, we might be thinking about the 2027 draft class all wrong. They may truly believe the long-term starter is already on the roster.
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