The Steel Beat

The long national nightmare is over, everyone. Aaron Rodgers has signed on for another (final?) year with the Steelers and all is well in the Burgh.

Right?

Right?

Maybe. 

Outside of a horrible injury between now and the home opener vs. the Falcons, #8 will be behind center, with almost a fully new complement of shiny weapons. Pittman, Bernard, Dowdle have been added to the offensive room. Add them to the mix with DK, Muuth, Darnell, Warren and Roman Wilson, and that’s a pretty formidable lineup for Rodgers to work with.

The training camp story really begins there. 

Who will be the backup to AR?

I’ll cut to the chase:

It better be Will Howard.

Drew Allar is not ready to play in the NFL. He has high level talent and is very raw. Also, his floor is really low. McCarthy spent a 3rd rounder on him because he thinks he can work with him. All that being said, he’s nowhere near being ready to take meaningful, regular season snaps for a team that wants to contend for the AFC North, a playoff win and beyond.

We know what Mason Rudolph is. He’s a mid-level backup QB who can come in and play “meh” football. He subbed one year for Roethlisberger vs. a winless Lions team and managed to somehow walk out of the stadium with a tie. 

Will Howard has to be QB2 coming out of training camp and the preseason. The coaching staff has been talking him up since they were hired. McCarthy has even gone as far as saying if he were coaching in the NFL in 2025, Howard would not have lasted to the 6th round. 

Howard has championship pedigree. Yeah, I know it was in college and with immense talent around him. But that same talent didn’t win a playoff game last year in the college football post-season. 

You have to see what you have in Howard and Allar. Prior to Rodgers officially signing, most of the Steeler fan base was calling for the team to just go with Howard or Allar as the starter and see what they have there. 

Now that Rodgers is in the fold, you can’t just abandon that mindset and move on from Howard. 

Rudolph is the odd man out. Wait until after the preseason is done and see if there is a QB2 needy team that will give you a late 3rd day draft pick in 2027 for Rudolph’s services. 

QB1: Rodgers

QB2: Howard

QB3: Allar