Will Howard has received a significant amount of hype proportionate to his status as a sixth-round rookie. That could be because the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fan base is starved for a franchise quarterback or because they simply don’t want to deal with the Aaron Rodgers drama. There are a growing number of fans who would rather have Mason Rudolph start the season and eventually work Howard into the starting lineup. One Steelers insider warned against this idea after watching him during the first week of OTAs.
“Just like he said, he looked a little overwhelmed at first,” Kaboly said via [Kaboly + Mack on Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13i9QyPrEQ&pp=ygULa2Fib2x5K21hY2s%3D). “You’re looking at this process right now as a process. He just needs to continually check off things getting better at, if it’s feeling more comfortable, if it’s…some of the coverages in disguises. He just obviously had no clue what was going on because he never saw it before in the college ranks.
“He has obviously a long way to go to get to that point.”
Howard admitted that his [first day of practice was rough](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/05/will-howard-quickly-improving-after-rough-first-day-of-practice/). It’s one thing to be at rookie minicamp, but it’s difficult to get thrown into the deep end with veterans at OTAs. It’s still teaching time for the team as a whole, but coaches aren’t dumbing things down for the rookies when they have 60-plus other veteran players to also coach up. It’s sink or swim and Howard was sinking a bit after the first day of practice.
With three days of practice this week, Howard said he started to feel more comfortable as it went on. That’s all you can hope for with a rookie at this point in the process. He could catch on quickly and look good later in the summer, but there are only six more practices before training camp.
A lot of things would have to happen for Howard to see the field in 2025, and even then it probably isn’t a great idea.
“If he’s in a game this year, you might be getting your top-10 pick,” Kaboly said. “That’s nothing against him. That’s just the fact that he’s a sixth-round pick and he’s not ready. And he’s not going to be ready. Maybe next year at this time we can have this conversation.”
One of the issues for Howard is that if he doesn’t get any opportunities in his rookie year, he may be permanently leapfrogged on the depth chart by a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. While that’s an issue for him, that shouldn’t be an issue with the fan base. If the Steelers draft a first-round quarterback who does well, everybody will quickly forget about wanting Howard to start.
At the end of the day, the NFL is a meritocracy. Supreme talent eventually rises to the top. If Howard has it, then that will reveal itself at some point down the line.