Did Will Howard fall in the 2025 NFL Draft because Shedeur Sanders’ slide stalled the movement of quarterbacks selected? The second-year Steelers quarterback would like to think so, and he brought it up recently. Chopping it up with teammate Christian Kuntz on the latter’s podcast, he discussed his draft day experience.
“I thought there was a chance I was gonna go on Friday”, Howard recalled, also mentioning that he received multiple prank calls that day. “I was hearing that, and I remember talking to some of the guys with the Steelers, and it was, really, that whole Shedeur [Sanders] situation, him sliding really hurt a lot of the other quarterbacks in our class. Just because he was ranked a little higher and nobody wanted to take guys like me or Riley Leonard or Kyle McCord, Quinn Ewers”.
“We were all, like, late, late picks”, Howard added. “If we would’ve gone this year, would it have been different? You never know”. Now, it is true that many evaluators had Will Howard going in the fourth or fifth round. Some felt he could go in the third round, but the sixth round isn’t entirely outside the realm of reality, regardless of Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders, of course, was projected by many as a first-round pick. Ryan Clark was beside himself when the Steelers passed on him in the first round, which remains amusing. While Sanders made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, only his blindest supporters put any stock in that. Will Howard was just about as deserving of the accolade for his work on IR.
Cam Ward went first overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, followed by Jaxson Dart at 25th. The Saints drafted Tyler Shough in the second round, but only Jalen Milroe and Dillon Gabriel came off the board by the end of Friday. Nobody drafted a quarterback in Round 4, and Shedeur Sanders finally went in Round 5. The rest, including Will Howard, waited until the sixth round or later. Just four quarterbacks came off the board between Rounds 2 through 5, and he watched every single pick.
Falling that far in the draft, of course, Howard knows he could have ended up any number of places. Talking to Kuntz, he admitted there was one other team that had his interest. But, for several reasons, he’s glad that didn’t work out.
“The two that I was kind of hoping for [were] either the Raiders, which, obviously, I’m so thankful that didn’t work out”, he said. “Because the only reason really was because of Chip Kelly, because he was their OC and there was a lot of familiarity.” The other team, obviously, is the team that ended up drafting him, the Steelers.
But the Steelers, shockingly, didn’t stop drafting quarterbacks after taking Will Howard. They added Drew Allar, who should have a guaranteed roster spot, in the third round last month. With Aaron Rodgers on his way, it figures to come down to Howard and Mason Rudolph. And if Pittsburgh leans on veteran experience, Rudolph is the only one who has any.
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