The Pittsburgh Steelers’ crowded quarterback room will continue to be a hot topic of discussion throughout the offseason and heading into Week 1.
Speaking with reporters during the first week of OTAs, head coach Mike McCarthy stated that the Steelers have four players at the position they’re high on in Aaron Rodgers, Will Howard, Drew Allar and Mason Rudolph, which is a good spot to be in.
“Well, we have four. We definitely got four that we love. I can say that you always have to develop the room, that’s always been the approach,” McCarthy said. “So, we’re hoping Omar [Khan] can get the roster expanded to 55 and we can keep four. But it’s a really good room. This is a good place to be, having four guys that can play.”
Keeping all four signal callers around in the regular season wouldn’t be the smartest way for Pittsburgh to construct its 53-man roster, however, meaning some tough decisions are laying ahead.
How Will Steelers’ QB Situation Ultimately Shake Out?
Assuming Pittsburgh ends up carrying three quarterbacks, there’s already two spots locked up.
The first belongs to Aaron Rodgers, who will return for his second-straight season as the team’s starter after signing a one-year deal worth up to $25 million ahead of OTAs.
The second is Drew Allar’s after the Steelers spent the No. 76 overall pick in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft on the Penn State product.
Allar isn’t close to a finished product, but as a Day 2 pick who has an elite arm and great size, there’s no world in which Pittsburgh cuts ties with the 22-year-old this summer.
That leaves Howard and Rudolph to battle it out for the third and final slot on the depth chart.
Again, is it impossible for the Steelers to hang onto both of them and bring all four quarterbacks into the regular season? No, but the argument for them to do so is rather weak.
It’s understandable for Pittsburgh to want a veteran with considerable NFL experience like Rudolph around in case Rodgers goes down for any period of time.
Howard is a complete wild card due to the fact that he didn’t play in any preseason or regular season games as a rookie, but McCarthy has sung his praises on multiple occasions and appears confident in his ability to go into an NFL-level quarterback.
Unless the 2025 sixth-round pick takes steps back and shows worrying signs of stagnating in his development, it might be hard to rationalize cutting him and trying to sneak him onto the practice squad, which could be a tough task given how many teams out there would covet a young No. 3 quarterback with some upside.
Rudolph, who has been receiving third-team reps at the beginning of OTAs, profiles as the clear odd man out. He is a high-floor backup, which is valuable, but there’s just not much room in Pittsburgh for him unless the team decides he’s a necessary inclusion on the roster given the uncertainty surrounding Howard and Allar.
