Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is back with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and all is well in Terrible Towel Land, at least for the next year.
It’d be pretty wild to not start Rodgers this season, and he’s obviously expected to be the starter for the full season. This isn’t a Russell Wilson and the Giants kind of situation, where he’ll get benched after a few games. But, backup quarterback Will Howard is really showing his stuff, and he could be making a case to be the next franchise quarterback for the Steelers. Stranger things have happened.
In a piece for Steelers on SI, Jacob Punturi makes the case that Howard is absolutely Rodgers’ primary backup after his showing this offseason. Punturi doesn’t hedge, either.
Steelers’ quarterback situation makes for a wild story
“The most fun piece of this offseason is the competition for the quarterback spots,” he states in the piece. “With rookie Drew Allar around, the obvious odd-man out is veteran Mason Rudolph.”
He adds: “But call it a hunch, but I believe Allar finds his way to the practice squad or the injured list or something like that by the time the regular season kicks off.”
He also says that in his 53-man roster projections, Howard wins the QB2 job.
He’s not the only one. During an interview on 93.7 The Fan on Thursday, Ray Fittipaldo, who covers Pittsburgh for the Post-Gazette, says that Howard has been the “No. 2 guy in OTAs and minicamp, and he’s going to continue to be that in minicamp.”
The Steelers can rest easy that if Rodgers, God forbid, gets injured, they have a solid backup in Howard. If he does well this season, he could even be considered for the starting role in 2027, but there’s a lot of football to play before then.