Former Penn State quarterback Drew Allar is getting a legitimate chance to overtake Will Howard in the Steelers' quarterback battle.
Penn State quarterback Drew Allar looks like a totally different player in his first NFL offseason in Pittsburgh.
Allar was largely considered a disappointment in his time at Penn State, and after last year's total debacle, along with his major injury, he fell far in the draft. Had he come out in 2025, he would have been a first-round pick.
Instead, he fell all the way to the fourth round, and the Steelers picked him up to try to find a diamond in the rough.
Steelers' head coach Mike McCarthy announced that Allar would get the full second half of Friday night's game against the New York Jets.
After his first preseason game, the hype for Allar simply could not be higher. Allar finished preseason week one going 10-for-13 for 153 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also ran one in after his huge 74-yard completion. What he showed in that game was what Penn State fans had been yearning for for years.
Allar is going to get another big-time opportunity in week two to overtake the player in front of him, former rival Will Howard.
Howard, the former Ohio State quarterback, was drafted by the Steelers in 2025 in the sixth round and is also having a great camp. Normally, the discourse around the backup quarterback position wouldn't be significant, but really, this is a competition for the first go at replacing Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers is set to retire after this year, and one of the young signal callers is going to take over for him. Whoever wins this quarterback battle will be first in line for it next year, or later on this year if Rodgers gets hurt again.
Allar's future in the NFL certainly isn't dictated by what happens on Friday night, but it could go a long way in setting him up positively for the future.
There is a growing belief around the Pittsburgh building that Allar is going to be the quarterback of the future. He has the NFL body type; he has the NFL arm, but he just needs the NFL consistency. If he can find that, Penn State may have just accidentally produced another starting quarterback in the NFL.
The list of successful Nittany Lion NFL quarterbacks is a short one. It is really just Todd Blackledge (1983-1989) and Kerry Collins (1995-2011). Collins unquestionably put together the best career of anyone to ever wear the blue and white, but Allar has the potential to match it.
