Steelers Now
Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger offered some advice to rookie quarterback Will Howard on the latest episode of his Footbahlin podcast. The future Hall of Fame quarterback thinks the newest Steelers’ signal-caller needs to play like he has nothing to lose.
“He needs to understand, and I would tell him this: you don’t have pressure, bud. You’re a sixth rounder. There’s no pressure,” Roethlisberger said. “He should go into this thing with like, [the attitude of], I can play free. I have no pressure.”
Howard, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 235 pounds, cemented himself as a Buckeyes legend during just one season in Columbus. He started all 16 games for Ohio State, setting single-season and career completion percentage records by hitting the mark on 71.4% of his attempts.
“He should come in here with the mindset of this is my job,” Roethlisberger said. “ I want to be the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers for the next 15, 18, 20 years. That should be his mentality. Now I hope and I would tell him to do it the right way.
“It’ll naturally unfold itself if you’re out here preparing yourself and you’re not trying to undermine the starter and cut his legs out. … All of a sudden, you’re performing a little better in practice, and it’s like, okay, now go ahead and get your shot with the ones.”
The latest episode of Hey Rookie: Welcome To The NFL captured Howard’s anxious draft day journey. It was a long wait for the West Chester, Pa. native, but the Pittsburgh Steelers gave him the call that he was hoping for at No. 185 overall in the sixth round. The former Ohio State quarterback even manifested landing with the Black and Gold.
“Please pick me, Pittsburgh. Please pick me, please!” Howard said while anxiously waiting on Day 3 of the draft.
Howard was projected to be drafted much earlier, ranked as the No. 102 overall player on the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board. Despite dropping to the sixth round, he feels like he landed with the perfect organization.
“I think 100% the right team picked me. And I’m a Pennsylvania kid, it just makes a lot of sense,” Howard said. “And, the Steelers, I feel like, is an organization that I’ve had a lot of respect for a lot of years, and coming into this process, I was honestly hoping that the Steelers would take me, just because I felt like it was a great situation. I loved everybody in the organization, and I’m so blessed.”
Howard sent a stern message to teams who passed on him in the 2025 NFL Draft. Quite simply, the former Buckeye is on a mission to prove the naysayers wrong.
“I feel like my whole career, I’ve been overlooked. I didn’t have an offer from Pitt. I didn’t have an offer from Syracuse. I didn’t have an offer from Boston College, Penn State, Duke, Carolina. None of those schools offered me. I was...
