The Pittsburgh Steelers kicked off OTAs this week, which also marked the return of Aaron Rodgers for his second season with the organization. And while the vast majority of attention is rightfully on QB1, the battle for QB2 is also sparking several conversations.
Will Howard has taken the second-team reps throughout the first week of practices, which has led to many a debate. Are the Steelers planning on making him the backup? Or will they cut ties with the former sixth-round pick in favor of keeping the long-time backup behind Rodgers while focusing on developing Drew Allar? One former Steelers coach says that the current labels are nothing to put much investment in.
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On the most recent episode of The Pump Fake, former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley says the label of QB2 this time of year largely means nothing.
“There’s no games,” Haley said. “So the first, second, third, fourth [quarterback] thing is not a thing, in my opinion. I’m sure there were conversations with Mason saying, ‘Listen, we need to see these young guys and what they look like.’ They know what Mason is. I don’t think that’s going to change drastically in any way over the course of OTAs and training camp. They know what he is and they have to figure out what they have in the young guy, Will Howard and Drew. So none of that is shocking at all.”
Rudolph appeared in five games in 2025, most notably across a two-game stretch when Rodgers suffered a wrist injury against the Cincinnati Bengals. Rudolph played the second half of Pittsburgh’s 34-12 win over Cincinnati, going 12-of-16 for 127 yards and a touchdown. In his lone start of the year against the Chicago Bears, he went 24-of-31 for 171 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 31-28 loss.
The Steelers will continue OTAs next week on May 26.
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