Steelers coach adds to Will Howard hype amid Drew Allar reports, uncertainty

While Aaron Rodgers is on track to serve as the Pittsburgh Steelers' starting quarterback for what may be the final season of his Hall of Fame career, 2025 rookie Will Howard is presumably competing with veteran Mason Rudolph for the right to serve as Rodgers' primary backup. 

Previously, first-year Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy suggested that Howard could eventually become the club's long-term answer at the position. While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Arth gave the Howard hype train some additional fuel. 

Will Howard is "exceeding expectations" ahead of his second pro training camp

"He’s doing everything and more that we can ask of him," Arth said about Howard, per Jeff Hathhorn of Audacy. "He is exceeding expectations. We couldn’t be happier with where he is at."

A 2025 sixth-round pick, Howard took no in-game regular-season snaps as a rookie before a coaching staff that didn't draft him scouted and then acquired Drew Allar in the third round of this year's player-selection process. Some immediately assumed that the Steelers' drafting of Allar showed the club was ready to give up on Howard, but it now appears that McCarthy and Co. view Allar as a project for the future. 

"He’s performed well here in OTAs up to this point, but once we get to training camp and into preseason, I think that’s where the true evaluation will start to take place," Arth added about Howard.

Steelers have this Will Howard hope after drafting Drew Allar?

The Steelers reportedly don't plan to carry four quarterbacks on their active roster this September. Allar almost certainly will be Pittsburgh's QB3, so the math shows that either Howard or Rudolph will be the odd man out by the end of August. Arth hinted that the Steelers want Allar's presence to push Howard from the team's final springtime workouts through the club's last preseason game.

"I’m very excited to see how that continues to play out as we get into training camp, as we get into the preseason," Arth said while speaking about Howard and Allar. "How the two of them bring the best out in each other, because I think ultimately that’s what our goal is, is to bring the best out in each other. When you are looking at it from a competitive standpoint, you always respect the person you are competing with because they always bring out the best in you."

Whether or not Howard's discovery of his best form will cause the Steelers to make Rudolph available to other clubs shall be seen.