Total Pro Sports
New Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard, coming off a national championship-winning season at Ohio State, shared a problematic story related to NIL (name, likeness, image) deals.
After years of controversy, the NCAA changed its rules and allowed their athletes to make money through NIL deals. Top athletes like Shedeur Sanders, Livvy Dunne, Travis Hunter and Arch Manning were able to secure NIL deals worth millions.
There are many folks, though, who have issues with the structure of NIL contracts.
This includes legendary college football head coach Nick Saban, who met with President Donald Trump last week to discuss the matter. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that President Trump “is considering an executive order that could increase scrutiny of the explosion in payments to college athletes.”
Appearing on the “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast hosted by the former Pittsburgh Steelers star quarterback, Will Howard raised another issue about NIL contracts.
“Going into the (transfer) portal, there were a couple of teams reaching out. Miami was texting me a lot. Their big pull is they have a lot of money. They were throwing around money.”
Howard recalled that when he entered the transfer portal, he wanted to compete for a national title and enhance his NFL Draft stock. That led to him transferring from Kansas State to Ohio State, where he quarterbacked the Buckeyes to a national title.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that President Trump “is considering an executive order that could increase scrutiny of the explosion in payments to college athletes.”
Will Howard’s comments are noteworthy because they outline the issue of top programs like Miami throwing money at top athletes. Before the NCAA legalized NIL deals, athletes would just go to the team that they felt gave them the best opportunity.
Miami landed former Georgia QB Carson Beck in the transfer portal after agreeing to a $4 million NIL deal. Surely, the Hurricanes will continue to use that money to their advantage as long as the current NCAA rules stay in place.
The Steelers picked Howard in the sixth round (185th overall) in the 2025 NFL Draft, making him the eighth signal-caller taken. Assuming Aaron Rodgers makes up his mind soon and joins the Steelers, Howard will likely be the No. 3 QB behind the four-time MVP and Mason Rudolph.
