For much of the NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ plan for adding a third quarterback was that they didn’t seem to have one.
They didn’t select one on the first day, passing on Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart. Or the second when they again passed on Sanders.
Tyler Shough was taken before the Steelers’ pick came up in the third round, and Jalen Milroe and Dillon Gabriel were poached before Friday night was completed.
The third day opened without a quarterback being taken by anyone in the fourth round. Sanders finally went in the fifth, whereas the Steelers traded back to acquire an extra seventh-rounder.
It wasn’t until the sixth round that the Steelers acted. Will Howard became the eighth quarterback drafted, coming off the board a few picks after Kyle McCord went to Philadelphia.
Before they took Howard, who led Ohio State to a national championship last season, the Steelers used two draft choices on defensive linemen (Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black) and one each on a running back (Kaleb Johnson) and outside linebacker (Jack Sawyer).
“We were guessing like everyone else,” general manager Omar Khan said. “You just don’t know, and it just sort of fell that way.”
That the Steelers had the patience to wait until the penultimate round of the draft before taking a quarterback proved a few things. They believed they had more urgent areas to address, and any quarterback they selected would not be expected to contribute immediately.
Team president Art Rooney II said as much Friday night in an interview with Steelers Nation Radio when he said any quarterback decision would not be made with Aaron Rodgers’ uncertainty in mind. Rodgers remains a free agent while he ponders an offer from the Steelers.
“If we do draft a quarterback — and we still might — it’s probably not going to be somebody who is going to start for us this year,” Rooney II said prior to the second round. “It’s going to be somebody who is developing and may play down the road.”
Howard gives the Steelers a third arm for training camp behind veterans Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson. Khan has said repeatedly the Steelers will have four in camp. Rodgers or another veteran acquisition presumably will round out the group.
“There is always a transition for what they’re being asked to do,” offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said, referencing developmental quarterbacks. “Certainly, how you manage reps, preseason snaps, like, they’ve got to play. Having guys (like that), giving them the opportunity to hang around certainly helps. And then a guy emerges.”
Brock Purdy is a recent example of a late-round draft pick flourishing when given a chance. Selected with the final pick of the 2022 draft by San Francisco, Purdy started five games his rookie season, going 5-0, and he has been the 49ers’ starter ever since.
The Steelers used two veterans last season in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. They went through three in 2023, finishing the year with Rudolph under center.
“History will tell you during the season, eventually you end up playing a lot of guys,” Smith said. “That’s what is so critical this time of the year, when those guys come in really during training camp, to make sure you’re trying to develop everybody.”
Howard entered the draft as a potential third-round pick, and he was surprised as anyone that he waited until the sixth round to be drafted, watching seven other passers get taken before him.
“It’s not about when, it’s where,” Howard said. “And that was what I kept saying to myself.”
With the Steelers, Howard will have to get used to sitting on the bench, at least at the outset of the season no matter if Rodgers or Rudolph is the starter. Howard started 44 of the 50 games he played in college between Kansas State and Ohio State. After starting 28 games at Kansas State, Howard transferred to Ohio State and started all 16 games on the Buckeyes’ run through the inaugural 12-team college football playoff.
“He’s a national champion, and that says a lot about him,” Khan said. “Just feel really good about knowing where we got him, that we got the player here.”
Howard impressed the Steelers with the way he rebounded from Ohio State’s regular season-ending home loss to Michigan. In the four-game playoff run, Howard completed 75.2% of his passes for 1,150 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions.
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“How he responded to that adversity at the end of the regular season and the leadership and play-making that he displayed throughout the playoffs was really attractive,” Tomlin said. “It’s really what NFL football is about. There’s going to be some adversity. How you respond to it defines you and your football team, particularly from the quarterback position.”