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Yes, the Pittsburgh Steelers have floated the unrestricted free agent tender on veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who led the team to a 10-7 AFC North title last season…but he still hasn’t signed a contract, and we don’t know for sure who the team’s starting quarterback is in 2026.
That brings us to second-year quarterback Will Howard and rookie Drew Allar. Who prefers Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger – the franchise’s leader with 64,088 passing yards and 418 passing touchdowns?
“I don’t know yet if I love him or hate him. I don’t watch a lot of Penn State games. When I watched him, he never jumped out at me,” Roethlisberger said of Allar, who Pittsburgh selected with the No. 76 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, on his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast.
“Is he big? Can he move? Can he throw? Yes. But there was never a moment where I was like, ‘Whoa.’ …The jury is still out on me at this point. Again, nothing jumped out at me. Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know. We’ll see about this one. »
As for the other former Big Ten signal-caller?
“Will Howard stood out to me a lot more than Drew. [Allar] did it,” Roethlisberger said.
The Steelers selected Howard in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Howard spent the first four seasons of his college career with the Kansas State Wildcats (2020-23) before playing for the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2024, with whom he won the national championship.
During said championship season (2024), Howard totaled 4,010 passing yards, 35 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a 175.3 passer rating, while completing 73.0% of his passes. Howard led the Big Ten in passing yards, passing touchdowns and completion percentage, while totaling 226 yards and seven touchdowns. He did not appear in any games during his 2025 rookie season.
As for Allar, the former five-star recruit’s 2025 campaign at Penn State was cut short after six games due to a broken ankle. In his two healthy seasons as the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback (2023-24), the 6-foot-5 Allar averaged 2,979 passing yards, 24.5 passing touchdowns, five interceptions and a passer rating of 145.2 per year, while completing 63.2 percent of his passes. In 2024, Allar helped Penn State reach the College Football Playoff semifinals and led the Big Ten with 25 passing touchdowns in 2023.
In total, Pittsburgh’s quarterback room currently includes Allar, Howard and Mason Rudolph, who has made a total of 14 starts during his two stints with the Steelers (2018-23 and 2025-present).
