Steelers reporter responds to latest Will Howard 'smoke screen' report

Ahead of this past weekend, a report suggested that talk about recently hired Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Omar Khan being high on quarterback Will Howard was "just smoke" to cover the fact that the club may try to select Alabama Crimson Tide signal-caller Ty Simpson in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. 

During a Monday appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan, Steelers reporter Mark Kaboly of "The Pat McAfee Show" addressed the latest Howard-related whispers hovering over the AFC North club this month. 

Is Will Howard, Steelers talk just a smoke screen?

"We see what plan B is," Kaboly said about what happens if the Steelers learn Aaron Rodgers won't serve as their starting quarterback for the 2026 season, per Ross McCorkle of Steelers Depot. "I mean they say his name every single time. It's gonna be Will Howard every opportunity they can potentially give him. I heard people saying that's just a smoke screen. I don't think it is." 

As recently as this past weekend, it was teased that the Steelers spent the first handful of days of the new league year acting like a club that knows Rodgers will confirm his return for the 2026 campaign at some point before the upcoming draft gets underway. Rodgers is a Howard fan and presumably would embrace the task of continuing to mentor the 2025 sixth-round draft pick who took no in-game snaps as a rookie after he suffered a hand injury during training camp last summer. 

Why Steelers' Will Howard chatter likely isn't just a smoke screen

"I think they got some really, really high marks on him," Kaboly added about the Steelers' alleged thoughts on Howard. "I think that he can be that guy that McCarthy can mold. But the question is, how long does it take him to mold somebody like that?"

Barring a surprising development, McCarthy should have plenty of time to mold Howard as the prospect sits behind both Rodgers and longtime backup Mason Rudolph through at least January 2027 before the club needs to make a meaningful decision about Howard's future. Then again, McCarthy presumably could talk himself into either Simpson or a different to-be rookie quarterback before the draft begins on the night of April 23.