Steelers Owner Explains Surprising Will Howard Draft Decision

The Pittsburgh Steelers solved their quarterback question earlier this month by signing Aaron Rodgers to a one-year, $13.65 million contract in free agency. But for much of their offseason, the quarterback spot was a big question mark, with Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson, and rookie sixth-round pick Will Howard manning the depth chart.

The decision to select Howard in the 2025 NFL Draft was a surprising one. There’s no doubt that the Steelers need to work on identifying their quarterback of the future, but they passed up on several passers in this draft class that they were believed to be interested in.

Eventually, they ended up grabbing Howard with the No. 185 pick in the draft. While Howard led the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship last season, he’s not exactly a sure bet to succeed in the NFL and eventually turn himself into the passer Pittsburgh is looking for.

Howard will have time to develop behind the scenes, though, and who knows, maybe that will help him excel once he finds his way onto the field. So far, the Steelers have gushed over Howard since his arrival in the building, with their owner, Omar Khan, recently explaining why Howard was the only quarterback they selected in this draft class.

“We did lots of homework on him,” Khan said on “The Standard.” “I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with him through the process and getting to know him. Just can’t say enough about what he meant to that Ohio State team … The fact that he was able to just really take charge of that offense and that team in a lot of ways, it’s just really, really impressive.”

In his lone season with the Buckeyes, Howard threw for 4,010 yards and 35 touchdowns, while also rushing for 226 yards and seven more scores. Howard led all Big Ten quarterbacks in both passing yards and touchdowns, while also posting the highest completion percentage among qualified passers at 73%.

In Year 1, though, he’s going to spend his time working behind Rodgers and the rest of the quarterback depth chart, as the Steelers attempt to mold him into a starting-caliber quarterback. The selection of Howard may have been a bit controversial, but Khan and the rest of the team are fully invested in him, and that should prove helpful as he looks to find his footing in the NFL.

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