Under the increasingly shaky assumption that Aaron Rodgers will return for the 2026 season, the race is on to see who will be the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 2027 Week 1 starter between 2025 sixth-round QB Will Howard and 2026 third-round QB Drew Allar.<\/p>\n
The Pat McAfee Show\u2019s Mark Kaboly made his prediction via his mailbag on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if they take a quarterback in the first round next year (which is quite possible), it would be unlikely that he would be the starter in Week 1,\u201d Kaboly wrote. \u201cI\u2019d have to say Allar right now before he even steps on the field for the rookie minicamp at the end of the week. He\u2019s a higher pick, he has more of the tangibles to his game, and, maybe the most important, handpicked by [Mike] McCarthy.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike McCarthy made it clear when he was hired that he wasn\u2019t interested in throwing the baby out with the bath water. In other words, he wasn\u2019t going to significantly purge the roster in an effort to install his \u201cguys\u201d as many new head coaches often do. But there is an undeniable connection between McCarthy and Allar given that was his guy in the draft.<\/p>\n The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u2019s Gerry Dulac reported that Allar was always the target\u2014even if Carson Beck was still available\u2014and if McCarthy had one main influence on the draft class<\/a>, it was the selection of the high-upside quarterback out of Penn State. That matters in the NFL, especially when it comes to top-100 draft picks.<\/p>\n