Steelers Might Have Some Seriously Bad News For Will Howard And Drew Allar

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been in the headlines numerous times during the 2026 offseason. Pittsburgh hosted the NFL Draft, which was a massive success due to the great turnout at the event. Most recently, the team held rookie minicamp so the newest members of the Black and Gold could showcase what they are able to do in front of the new coaching staff. The team made a bit of a surprising selection the third round, as it took quarterback Drew Allar from Penn State. While the franchise is still awaiting a final decision from Aaron Rodgers, the pick only made the future at the position more confusing.

New head coach Mike McCarthy is believed to be high on quarterback Will Howard and what he has seen from him. However, Howard missed most of the 2025 season due to injury in his rookie year in the NFL. 

Assuming Rodgers does return for one more year, the quarterback picture remains a bit unclear still for 2027 and beyond. On Friday, Chris Carter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette held his weekly chat and shed some light on the situation regarding the future of the quarterback position for the franchise.

"I think there is a 0.00001% chance there's enough to be seen in OTAs/training camp/preseason from Drew Allar or Will Howard to convince the Steelers to not target a first round quarterback if next year's class turns out to be a really good one," Carter wrote.

It is not uncommon for NFL franchises to keep taking swings at the quarterback position via the draft until they finally find their guy who they fully believe in to be their long-term franchise guy. It appears that following the low-risk pick of Howard in 2025 on top of the the third-round selection of Allar in 2026, the team is keeping an open mind as to who its next guy could be for the long haul. 

The 2026 quarterback draft class was supposed to be an extremely deep and solid one. However, a couple of quarterbacks decided to stay in college like Dante Moore of Oregon and Arch Manning from the University of Texas. 

While 2026 was not the class it was originally expected to be, 2027 appears to be more likely to be that way with quarterbacks. Carter's comments reveal the honest truth that the organization is not entirely sure who its future signal-caller will be. It could be Howard if he ends up showing something in his game and turns heads, and the same could be said for Allar.

Steelers Need To See Good Work From Both Young Quarterbacks

The team needs to see work from both of their young quarterbacks when it comes to Allar and Howard. Allar has some things in his game mechanically that need re-worked and that was seen last weekend in rookie minicamp. The knock on Allar in college was also that he could not win the big game, whereas Howard led Ohio State University to a college football playoff National Championship in 2025 before being drafted by the franchise.

The one common piece of praise Allar has gotten is that he has all the physical traits to become a successful NFL quarterback despite his shortcomings at the collegiate level. Howard has never received that kind of praise, despite being 6-foot-4, which is just an inch shorter than what Allar is listed at. With McCarthy being high on him, that may give him the inside track in 2027 over Allar, but it would not be shocking if the Black and Gold drafted another quarterback in the 2027 NFL Draft.

The state of the quarterback position long-term for the Steelers is basically the same as it was this time last year. While they did select yet another quarterback in this year's draft, there looks to be a looming position battle there next offseason. Even with that considered, the team could add a third young quarterback in next year's draft to the mix to compete with them.

#SteelerNation