{"id":428791,"date":"2026-01-25T10:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/428791\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T10:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:19:09","slug":"pelissero-mike-mccarthy-very-intrigued-by-the-upside-of-qb-will-howard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/428791\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelissero: Mike McCarthy ‘Very Intrigued By The Upside’ Of QB Will Howard"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Mike McCarthy\u2019s primary tasks over the next five years of his head coach contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers is to identify and develop their next long-term answer at quarterback. According to NFL Network\u2019s Tom Pelissero, 2025 sixth-round QB Will Howard has McCarthy\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do have other options on the roster. Mason Rudolph is still under contract. Will Howard, a late-round draft pick last year out of Ohio State that they are really high on in the building. My understanding is Mike McCarthy also is very intrigued by the upside on Will Howard,\u201d Pelissero said in a clip posted by Bridget Condon on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Aaron Rodgers retires or finishes his career with another franchise, the Steelers will turn to either Rudolph, Howard, or a drafted rookie. It seems unlikely that they will delay the inevitable with yet another veteran on the free agent market. Given how weak the 2026 QB class is expected to be, Howard could be the option with the most upside to take a swing on developing next season.<\/p>\n

Rodgers poured significant time and effort into helping Howard in any way he could. Howard proved to be a receptive student, diligently taking notes<\/a> and absorbing the insights Rodgers passed along.<\/p>\n

If Rodgers says he has a \u201cchance to be great,\u201d<\/a> it\u2019s worth listening.<\/p>\n

The reality is that very few sixth-round picks ever become NFL starting quarterbacks. The odds are undeniably stacked against Howard, but it\u2019s not impossible. Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Brock Purdy, and Kurt Warner are just a few examples of late-round picks\u2014or quarterbacks who went undrafted\u2014who went on to accomplish great things in the league.<\/p>\n

The fact that McCarthy was hired just hours ago and Pelissero is already reporting nuggets about Will Howard tells us something. He was discussed in the interview process, and both sides are aligned on wanting to see what he can do.<\/p>\n

The Steelers never got that chance in 2025 because of a freak hand injury that sidelined him for the entire preseason. But expect a lot of chatter about Howard moving forward as the team charts its 2026 plans at the most important position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Mike McCarthy\u2019s primary tasks over the next five years of his head coach contract with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[163972,140989,349,13319,99,169163,31714],"class_list":["post-428791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-bridget-condon","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-network","tag-sports","tag-tom-pelissero","tag-will-howard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}