The Pittsburgh Steelers have had quite the busy offseason thus far, headlined by their hiring of Mike McCarthy to be their new head coach following Mike Tomlin’s abrupt exit. The biggest question remaining for the Steelers heading into next season is who will be the team’s starting quarterback, as Aaron Rodgers’ future is currently hanging in the balance.
Recently, McCarthy broke down what he sees in rising second-year quarterback Will Howard, whom the team drafted in 2025 following his time with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
“He has all the traits to be a starting quarterback,” said McCarthy, per Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on X, formerly Twitter.
Adamski also reported that McCarthy “Says if he was in charge of a draft last year that Howard would not have lasted at all into the 6th round.”
Howard won a national championship with the Ohio State Buckeyes in his lone season in Columbus, but spent most of last year injured with a broken hand during his rookie season with the Steelers.
As far as mentors go, a rookie couldn’t hope to have a better player to look up to than Rodgers, who was up and down during the 2025 campaign in Pittsburgh. Rodgers upped his level of play during the stretch run of the season for the Steelers, including in their thrilling win over the Baltimore Ravens to get them into the playoffs, but he and the offense crashed and burned in the Wild Card round against the Houston Texans, causing some to wonder if that might have spelled the end of his future Hall of Fame career.
If that is indeed the case, it seems that McCarthy has confidence in Howard to be able to carry the torch forward.
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