{"id":100906,"date":"2026-01-30T17:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/100906\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T17:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:53:14","slug":"will-howard-receives-high-praise-from-all-pro-edge-rusher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/100906\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Howard Receives High Praise from All-Pro Edge Rusher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard during a practice on Dec. 17, 2025. — Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

On the latest episode of his The Rush podcast<\/a>, All-Pro Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby<\/a> gave Pittsburgh Steelers second-year quarterback Will Howard<\/a> a ringing endorsement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think Aaron [Rodgers] probably stays another year,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cBut, when you have a guy like Will Howard to sit there and learn another year behind Rodgers, and you have [Mike] McCarthy locked in for five years, you let Rodgers get another year, and then you have Will Howard step in after that, sitting for two years, and then let him go and be the guy. Because I know some people have their opinions on Will Howard and this and that. I\u2019m a Will Howard believer. I\u2019m not going to lie, I think he\u2019s a hell of a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy<\/a> has helped tutor a handful of star signal-callers in his career, ranging from Joe Montana to Dak Prescott.<\/p>\n

He is chomping at the bit to develop Howard next. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited about Will Howard,\u201dMcCarthy said<\/a>. \u201cI think he\u2019s someone that really came on at Ohio State. I\u2019m anxious to work with him. It would be great to have Aaron back, but Will and Mason, I\u2019m really excited to get started with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard at practice on Oct. 23, 2025. \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger<\/a> recently endorsed Howard<\/a> to get a shot as the Steelers\u2019 starting quarterback in 2026. This was before the McCarthy hire, which it now seems like a return of Aaron Rodgers is more likely. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf Aaron\u2019s not in the scenario, I would go with Will Howard this year. But what I would do is, I would bring in a veteran quarterback,\u201d Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Roethlisberger praised Howard\u2019s toughness and blue-collar approach to the game. He thinks Howard\u2019s a perfect fit for the city of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love his heart, his fire, I think he is Pittsburgh,\u201d Roethlisberger said. \u201cI think he\u2019s tough, he\u2019s gritty, he\u2019s going to get you what you want. Could be completely wrong, but I think you have a guy in there.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I think Will Howard is a top-10 quarterback of all time, like by the time he\u2019s done? Maybe, probably not. But that doesn\u2019t mean he can\u2019t be a top-five guy in the league for numerous years. Or top-10 guy. And that guy can get you Super Bowls.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers reinstate<\/a>d Howard from the injured reserve list on Nov. 12.<\/p>\n

Howard had returned to practice on Oct. 23<\/a>, meaning the team had to reinstate him from injured reserve this week, or he would be forced to spend the entire season on the IR list.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s sixth-round pick out of Ohio State in the 2025 NFL Draft, Howard suffered a broken right pinky finger in training camp, an injury that forced him to miss the entire preseason. Howard was active for just one game in 2025, the Week 12 game against the Chicago Bears when he served as a backup for Mason Rusdolph. He did not receive any snaps.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> Maxx Crosby<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> Will Howard<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard during a practice on Dec. 17, 2025. — Ed Thompson \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6548,37946,73,75,74,1833,1829,22891,39813],"class_list":["post-100906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-maxx-crosby","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news","tag-will-howard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}