Former Steelers' legend Ben Roethlisberger pleads his case for former Ohio State Buckeye Will Howard.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a little bit of a quarterback purgatory at this point in the 2026 NFL offseason.
They are still waiting on the status of Aaron Rodgers to determine if he is coming back to play in 2026, and if he does, it is still unknown if he will be playing one of his final seasons in Pittsburgh.
If Rodgers does move on from either the sport or the Steelers, Pittsburgh's quarterback room is left with former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard.
It has been quite some time since Will Howard has been between the white lines. The last real game that he played in was the National Championship on Jan 20, 2025.
That day was the exclamation point on what was an incredible final season in college for Howard. He finished that year wearing the College Football crown and putting together a season to remember. He finished the year with 4,010 yards, 35 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. He etched his name as football royalty, and it was just the start of his ride.
He then went into the draft season and worked his way from being a Day 3 draft pick to one of the best franchises in the entire NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He was able to spend the entirety of his rookie season learning under Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph, and now, he may be looking at taking the reins in Western PA.
He will need to win the hearts of a lot of teammates over, but one guy he has already convinced is former Steelers' legend Ben Roethlisberger. On Roethlesberger's podcast, Footbahlin, he talked about the Steelers' quarterback position and what he is expecting for the competition.
"I would stick with Will Howard. I would bring in a veteran guy on a one-year deal... I know there are some people out there who are just totally against him, and I don't get it. How can you be against someone that you have never seen play at this level?"
The context of this delivery is that if you discover that it works, you have your quarterack of the future. If it doesn't, you have a top pick in next year's draft. Either way, you have a path forward.
The way that Buckeye fans know and remember Will Howard is that the likely outcome will be the former. Howard is a true competitor and a guy that you can build an organization around. He just needs his chance.
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