Steelers Now
With the Aaron Rodgers saga stretching into June, many are starting to wonder if the four-time league MVP will ever sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers. If that’s the case, former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum thinks rookie sixth-round pick Will Howard has a real chance to be the Steelers’ starting quarterback in 2025.
“i think a new name we should really start talking about is Will Howard. Is there something about the Steelers that they think Will Howard, who, but for a pretty bad workout at the Combine may have been a top three round pick,” Tannenbaum said Monday on Unsportsmanlike. “But the Steelers have made a lot more [good] decisions than bad one, guys. And if you look at Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and the years of continuity they’ve had in those respective offenses, as great as Aaron Rodgers once was, he’s gonna be 42 in December.
“Like, are we better off with a young Will Howard that has everything in front of him that’ll be (chomping) at the bit? So, to me, the Aaron Rodgers thing, like what are we really getting now at the end of the day?”
Tannebaum would even take Kirk Cousins over Rodgers.
“Seven years younger, played better than he did a year ago. It’s a more reasonable bet to say that Kirk Cousins would have a better year than Aaron Rodgers. One of the mistakes that we have all made in the front office room is what is the player going to do today? Not what he once was.”
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said last month that the Steelers have Cousins as a fallback option if Rodgers doesn’t work out.
“So Rodgers Plan A, Kirk Cousins could be a viable Plan B,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “After making some calls today, I do believe he’s been on their radar. If something were to fall through with Rodgers, certainly they could reconvene, call Atlanta, and see if they could shake something out. But right now, Rodgers is their guy.”
There's a new name that @RealTannenbaum thinks we should be talking about with the Pittsburgh Steelers: Will Howard. pic.twitter.com/XraaGJRyFE
— UNSPORTSMANLIKE Radio (@UnSportsESPN) June 2, 2025
Despite being in competition for the Steelers’ starting quarterback spot, veteran Mason Rudolph has been an open book for Howard. He’s not giving the former Ohio State signal-caller the same treatment that he received from Ben Roethlisberger back in 2018.
“He’s been awesome,” Howard said. “I just think the vibe in the quarterback room is really cool. Super good dude, super welcoming. Meeting Mason, I knew we’d hit it off, and he’s a great dude, man. He’s helped me a lot and look forward to continuing to work with him.”
Howard is getting acclimated to the NFL with the first few days of OTAs in the books. However, he revealed it hasn’t gone as smoothly as he would have liked.
“The first day was a work in progress,” Howard said. “I didn’t feel great about my first...
