The Pittsburgh Steelers' 2026 regular season is rapidly approaching, as the calendar sits just less than a month away from their season opener at home against the Atlanta Falcons. Head Coach Mike McCarthy and his staff are busy at work with practices as they continue to evaluate talent and finish out preseason play with roster cuts needing to happen prior to 6:00 PM ET on August 30th. Several rookies received their chance last Thursday at home against the Green Bay Packers to showcase their skills to their coaching staff. As preseason continues to unfold, there is one other NFL team to keep a close eye on.
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Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike McCarthy during 2026 training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
Steelers rookie quarterback Drew Allar shined bright last Thursday. After an underwhelming end to his college career, fans were encouraged by his first-ever preseason performance in the Steel City. His teammate at quarterback, Will Howard, also got a chance to finally have some NFL playing time following a 2025 season in which he never saw game action due to injury. While neither will start with Aaron Rodgers back for one final season, their performances gave an important first step towards having hope for the long-term answer at the position.
Speculation has been running wild as to what the quarterback situation will look like when the final roster is made come September. Veteran backup Mason Rudolph most likely gives the Black and Gold the best chance to win if needed in spot starts, which is something he had to do last year when Rodgers went down. However, team insider Nick Farabaugh discussed Tuesday on an episode of Steelers Breakdown one potential trade partner with the organization should they decide to not keep all four quarterbacks on the roster.
“One team to watch for either Rudolph or Howard to me is pretty clear right now watching last week in the preseason,” Farabaugh said. “The Miami Dolphins are in absolute quarterback backup h---. The only way to describe it. Quinn Ewers wasn’t very good. They really suffered; Ewers is now hurt. They need a backup quarterback for Malik Willis.”
The one thing that makes this theory from Farabaugh very interesting is that the front office has not been a stranger to making deals with the Miami Dolphins. In fact, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was traded from Miami to the Steel City back in 2019. The front office then sent him back to the Dolphins in June of 2025 via trade. The safety also recently opened up about a big mistake he made during his playing time with the Steelers as he has since been acquired by the New York Jets.
All in all, the Dolphins should be a team the Steelers keep an eye on with such a crowded QB room, and the desperation the Dolphins could soon be experiencing.
Steelers Have Huge Quarterback Decision Looming
The organization is in quite a conundrum when it comes to who they will want to keep at quarterback on the 53-man roster. While the young quarterbacks showed great flashes in their first NFL preseason game, respectively, the situation has to be evaluated with perspective, as they were going up against backups for Green Bay. With that said, consistently solid play through the rest of the regular season could really make things difficult for McCarthy and his staff when it comes to determining how they approach the quarterback situation behind Rodgers.
There is one aspect to Rudolph's NFL career that does give him a leg up on both Allar and Howard ahead of the 2026 season. The experience factor is the biggest thing that could play into his favor and keep him on the final roster. While more good play from the young quarterbacks make a strong case for keeping them both, having a veteran just in case the 42-year old starting quarterback goes down for a couple games like he did in 2025 may be the best way to approach this.
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Steelers' Mason Rudolph during mandatory minicamp in 2026.
Allar was known to have a lot to work on following his college career at Penn State while Howard had not played a game since January of 2025 until Pittsburgh's first 2026 preseason game. Regardless of what direction the organization may be leaning, if things continue to look brutal in Miami, the Steelers' front office may want to see if they become desperate to acquire backup help as mentioned. If that happens to where they may overpay for a backup quarterback, the phone lines should at least be open to discuss.
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