The Pittsburgh Steelers may not have gotten a surefire starting quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft, but they did address the position with a national champion. Will Howard had an amazing playoff run, and that led to him being selected by Pittsburgh in the sixth round. The most likely scenario is that he will be a career backup, which is still respectable for how late he was picked. Even then, there is still some upside to his game. He most likely won't be a full-time starter, but the odds are still greater than zero.
While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, Mark Kaboly talked about those expectations for Howard. Despite how low they are, Kaboly said that the Steelers should still make an effort to make him a starter or, at least, treat him better than their more recent rookies.
"I don't think there's a lot of expectations for [Will Howard] but let's hope [the Steelers] approach his development a little better than they approached, say, Kenny Pickett's early-stage development or Mason Rudolph's early-stage development, where they basically just ignored them," said Kaboly.
While the Steelers have not been able to find their Ben Roethlisberger replacement, that is partially their own fault. Mason Rudolph has shown flashes of greatness, and Kenny Pickett was a former first-round pick who had a knack for making clutch plays, so there was obviously some talent there. The amount of talent they each have/had can be up for debate, but there was still some hope.
The Steelers have been known to be sticklers about how they approach the development of rookies, especially quarterbacks. They tend to wait until they absolutely have to to give their young guns a chance to start, but while that's happening, they put all their focus on the starter. At times, it feels like the new passers have to fend for themselves or get help from their teammates.
Rudolph's relationship with Roethlisberger was rocky after he was first drafted as a third-round project. There were multiple rumors and subtle jabs being thrown around about how the veteran was a bad mentor and was not really available to help out his potential successor. That led to Rudolph being a very late bloomer, as he didn't get a real chance to start again until the end of 2023, when he took the league by storm.
Meanwhile, Pickett was seen as the most pro-ready option out of the entire 2022 draft class, yet he entered his rookie season as a scout-team quarterback and had that role throughout all of training camp and most of preseason. He only got the chance to start because Mitch Trubisky had gotten in a heated argument with one of his wideouts in the locker room.
Even after getting the starting job, Pickett was handcuffed by the coaching staff in numerous ways. It didn't help that the offense was run by Matt Canada, who was so toxic that the Steelers were forced to fire him. Pickett then showed what he was capable of in the very next game before getting injured in the contest after that, which effectively ended his tenure in Pittsburgh.
What do Steelers need to do to help rookies develop?
First of all, rookie quarterbacks have a lot to learn about this new league full of better defenses and smarter coordinators that can take away their biggest strength. No passer can figure out how to adjust on his own, whether or not he is a first-round pick or an undrafted free agent. They need as much attention from the coaching staff and other quarterbacks on the roster as possible.
When the rookie gets his chance to start a game, the Steelers can't handcuff him. There is no better teacher than failure, and the team has to accept that the rookies will make mistakes. That's how they learn and grow. There's no point in taking away the middle of the field or their right to call audibles when the box is obviously stacked. If they don't realize this, Howard won't develop into anything, and neither will anyone who succeeds him.
