The Steelers used Friday’s draft to change the shape of their quarterback room, selecting Penn State’s Drew Allar in the third round and making Will Howard’s path to the starting job far less direct. Howard had entered the spring as one of the most talked-about sixth-round picks in recent memory, but the new pick put him 109 spots behind Allar in the team’s draft order and left the organization with two young passers to sort through.
That matters because the Steelers spent all offseason talking up Howard. Omar Khan said at the NFL Scouting Combine that the team was excited to work with him, and later added, “Coach McCarthy, he’s talked about how much he liked Will coming out, and him and I have spent some time watching his (Steelers) practice tape.” Art Rooney II said the candidates could not wait to work with Howard. Mike McCarthy was even more direct, saying, “I love the way he plays the game,” and adding, “If I was drafting players (last) year, he wouldn’t be around in the fifth or sixth round. I valued him higher than that. I think he’s a real prospect as a starting quarterback.”
Howard’s resume still has the kind of moments teams point to when they want to believe in a quarterback. He won the biggest college games, including a national championship. Allar, by contrast, went 0-6 against top-five opponents in college. The Steelers have already shown they are willing to bet on college production over clean projection, but this pick also introduced a problem they can’t ignore: it is not realistic to develop multiple young quarterbacks at the same time behind a starter, and one of them would be shortchanged if both were pushed forward together.
Howard’s issue is that he never got the chance to build any momentum in an NFL setting. He got hurt in the preseason and did not play a preseason game, which means the Steelers have not seen him in live action against another team. Aaron Rodgers is still being awaited by the Steelers, and that makes the depth chart even more crowded. If Howard has a way to seize this job, it likely comes by outperforming Allar in a pressurized situation with limited reps. For now, the draft has made the path narrower, not wider.
