The Pittsburgh Steelers clearly hope that rookie Will Howard having future Corridor of Famer Aaron Rodgers as a mentor will assist the 2025 sixth-round draft choose develop into a quarterback able to successful regular-season video games as quickly as subsequent 12 months.
Throughout an look on the “Breakfast With Benz” podcast, Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Arth revealed how Howard has impressed members of the employees this summer time.
“He is a really good participant, a really assured participant, and he pertains to his teammates properly,” Arth mentioned about Howard, as shared by Jeremy Pike of Steelers Depot. “The second’s by no means too huge for him. He has the flexibility to only step in and be himself and go on the market and execute. What I really like about Will is he performs the sport so properly from the pocket. He sees it, he is so snug within the pocket, strikes rather well within the pocket right here. He is a really correct passer.”
Numerous stories main as much as the 2025 NFL Draft linked Pittsburgh with Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Some analysts then criticized the Steelers for passing on Sanders a number of instances earlier than the Cleveland Browns took him with general choose No. 144.
Ideally, Howard will study life within the NFL whereas spending a red-shirt rookie season beneath Rodgers and longtime backup Mason Rudolph on the depth chart. That mentioned, Arth sounds assured that Howard may impress onlookers when Pittsburgh opens the preseason with a matchup on the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 9.
“We’re excited in regards to the future that he has,” Arth added about Howard. “…We’re very happy with the event that we have seen so far.”
Rodgers has vowed to assist Howard “develop into a greater participant this 12 months” earlier than the 41-year-old likely rides off into the sundown of retirement. Howard has spent parts of the summer time picking Rodgers’ brain because the veteran prepares to start out Pittsburgh’s Week 1 sport on the New York Jets on Sept. 7.
“I have been impressed with Will,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith mentioned throughout a Monday interview on Pittsburgh radio station 93.7 The Fan, per Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot. “…He is very mature from the neck up. He is pretty much as good as any younger man by way of recall, huddle command. He is nonetheless a rookie. All of them have to regulate to the velocity, however Will’s carried out a pleasant job.”
One wonders if the Steelers will give Howard a official alternative to win the QB2 job over Rudolph if the 23-year-old produces some highlight-reel moments at Jacksonville’s EverBank Stadium on Saturday.
