Jon Gruden Believes Steelers Landed Late-Round ‘Steal’

Jon Gruden clearly has a lot of respect for Steelers rookie quarterback Will Howard.

Gruden, the longtime NFL head coach and current Barstool Sports personality, believes Pittsburgh landed a “steal” in the sixth-round when it selected Howard.

“When you look at these quarterbacks this year — I’ll tell you this, and I’ll go on record here: The Pittsburgh Steelers got a steal in Will Howard,” Gruden said when he appeared on Sirus XM last week. “Let me tell you something, that guy’s a stud.”

Gruden previously compared Howard to Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen given Howard’s size (6-foot-4, 236 pounds) and running ability — not to overlook Allen’s NFL MVP award in 2024.

“I want you to get a feel for how big this guy is,” Gruden said. “He can run the direct power plays, he can run the zone reads. He has four touchdown runs of over 70 yards.

“He won big at Kansas State. He won it all at Ohio State. And he can play in cold weather, which you got to do to beat Buffalo, or you got to beat Kansas City on the road, and not a lot of people can play in bad weather.”

It’s yet to be determined whether Howard will be the Steelers starting quarterback his rookie season. There’s certainly a chance he could jump veteran Mason Rudolph on the depth chart, but if Aaron Rodgers signs with Pittsburgh then Howard will get to develop behind the four-time NFL MVP.

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