Will Howard
Will Howard
Can Will Howard shine in his preseason debut?
The only person more excited about Will Howard’s preseason debut than his legion of fans—including the media—is Will Howard. Thanks to a hand injury around this time last year, he hasn’t played a game since he won the college national championship. Given that he is in his second year in the NFL, it’s been a while.
A sixth-round pick in 2025, Howard has accumulated quite a following. Many believe, or want to believe, that he has starting NFL talent. Of course, barely anybody has actually had the opportunity to see him in the NFL. Unless you attended a training camp practice, you’ve seen nothing more than a handful of clips on the internet up to this point.
So his preseason debut is a long time coming. Especially since the Steelers don’t plan for him to play in the regular season at all. Unless Will Howard is the backup and the Steelers are in a blowout, one way or another, he shouldn’t be taking any snaps this year.
The idea is, of course, that he would be in contention to start after Aaron Rodgers retires following the 2026 season. But there’s also Drew Allar in the mix, and they can draft yet another quarterback. But Will Howard is here, so you might as well see what you have in him.
Thus far through training camp, Howard hasn’t done anything spectacular to distinguish himself. In fact, the coaches seem to have reserved a lot of their praise for Mason Rudolph. If the season were to begin today, certainly, Rudolph would be the backup.
And if Rudolph were the backup, would Howard even be on the team? Well, that will depend on what he looks like during the preseason. Mike McCarthy could crow about his practice tape from last December or whatever, but what matters now is what he does from this point forward. If he looks like an NFL quarterback—whether a starter or otherwise—then you can start having a conversation. Right now, there’s just not much to say that has any meaning. Because there’s not much to know.
The Steelers have a long road ahead of them under Mike McCarthy, along with his cadre of quarterbacks.With seven consecutive postseason losses and no wins in nearly a decade, they are under fire for their repeated playoff failures. While we have seen many changes, none could dream of topping Mike Tomlin resigning.
We’re already into training camp, with free agency and the draft already reshaping rosters. The Steelers, of course, are used to early offseason mode as a team thatloses by the middle of January all the time. Enjoy the ride, even the turbulence, because it’s the only way we know how to travel anymore.