Throughout the first two months of 2026, numerous reports insisted that Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan and recently hired head coach Mike McCarthy are high on quarterback and 2025 sixth-round draft pick Will Howard.
However, NFL reporter Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk revealed in late February that he knows “people around the league who have been skeptical of this claim that [the Steelers] really want Will Howard.”
During the latest edition of the “Kaboly + Mack” program, Steelers insider Mark Kaboly of “The Pat McAfee Show” attempted to clear up how people within the organization truly feel about Howard.
Are Steelers being “phony” about Will Howard?
“There is some talk about the Steelers just being phony about what they believe in him, how much,” Kaboly said about Howard, per Jeremy Pike of Steelers Depot. “Trust me, I really do believe Mike McCarthy likes him for the fact of his intangibles.”
Howard was viewed as a developmental project before he suffered a hand injury during his first NFL training camp and then took zero in-game snaps as a rookie. That said, Steelers sources have seemingly told anybody who will listen that they strongly believe 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers will return to serve as the team’s starting quarterback for another season. Assuming such a scenario plays out, Howard could continue to develop as a QB2 or even a QB3 while he learns from a future Hall of Famer.
What Steelers reportedly like about Will Howard
“He’s a winner,” Kaboly added about what the Steelers see in Howard. “He’s a big-bodied guy who is a smart guy. Everything else, [McCarthy] can teach him. He views him as a moldable block of clay. He thinks that if he has a year or two with him, he can mold him into something and teach him because he’s smart.”
Such takes are easy to share at a time when it appears that Howard isn’t all that close to receiving the keys to the Steelers’ offense. How Pittsburgh reacts if Rodgers either retires or goes to a different club will say plenty about what Khan and McCarthy truly think about Howard after his red-shirt rookie season.