Steelers Now
The latest episode of Hey Rookie: Welcome To The NFL captured Will 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.
Will Howard manifested the @Steelers drafting him:
"Please pick me, Pittsburgh. Please pick me, please!" #HeyRookie Season Finale airs 9:30 pm ET tonight on ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/qwNIEs7Uw4
— NFL (@NFL) April 29, 2025
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 trying for years,” Howard said on the latest episode of “Hey Rookie: Welcome To The NFL.” “I went to Kansas State and I said, ‘I want to prove those people wrong. I hope Penn State looks back and says, ‘Damn, we missed out on Will Howard.’ When I get the NFL, I don’t want you guys to miss out on me because every single team that picks a quarterback in front of me, I’m going to make it my mission to make sure that they regret not picking me.”
Howard was a driving force behind Ohio State’s College Football Playoff national title run this past season. Having been drafted in the sixth round by the Steelers on Saturday, he brings some of the requisite tools needed to succeed in the professional ranks.
“I just cannot wait to delve into this situation, and to really give my all to this team. Because that’s how I do things. I don’t do things half- in. I go all in,” Howard said. “And I have every expectation that this next step with the Pittsburgh Steelers is going to be amazing for me. It’s going to be...
