Pittsburgh Steelers Predicted to Make Difficult Quarterback Decision

Heading into the 2026 NFL season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have put together a roster that could very well contend in the AFC. However, there are major question marks.

Most notably, the Aaron Rodgers question remains. Is he still the kind of quarterback who can power a team to the Super Bowl? Or, is he going to show more decline now that he is 42 years old?

Only time will tell the answer to that question.

Mike McCarthy and the Steelers' coaching staff will also need to make some difficult decisions at the quarterback position. Rodgers is the clear-cut starter, but there are other question marks behind him.

Right now, Pittsburgh has three quarterbacks vying for the backup and third-string jobs. Those signal callers are veteran Mason Rudolph, second-year quarterback Will Howard, and rookie Drew Allar. The Steelers are going to have choose two to keep and one to cut or trade.

Keeping that in mind, ESPN's Brooke Pryor has weighed in with a prediction about the quarterback depth chart in Pittsburgh. She believes that McCarthy and the Steelers will end up cutting Rudolph when all is said and done, even though that would be a risky decision to make.

“It’s undoubtedly risky to go into the season without a veteran No. 2 quarterback to back up a 42-year-old starter, but the Steelers need to know what they have in both Howard and Allar before next year’s draft,” Pryor wrote.

“The organization could be in a position to draft a first-round quarterback out of a strong class, but they need to see how Howard and Allar stack up first. Keeping both of them on the roster to develop them — and potentially step on the field if Rodgers gets hurt — allows them to get a complete evaluation ahead of a pivotal draft.”

Ben Roethlisber, a Steelers legend, has also urged the team to move on from Rudolph.

Rudolph spent the first four years of his career in Pittsburgh after being selected by the team with the No. 76 overall pick in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. After those four seasons, he headed off to the Tennessee Titans for the 2024 campaign before returning to the Steelers on a two-year deal last offseason.

At the end of the day, Rudolph is the only other quarterback on the roster outside of Rodgers with NFL starting experience. Having that experience could come in clutch if the future Hall of Fame quarterback went down with injury.

However, the Steelers are also very high on both Howard and Allar.

It will be interesting to see what Pittsburgh chooses to do at quarterback. For now, Pryor believes that it will be Rudolph who ends up being the odd an out of the room.