Yes, the Pittsburgh Steelers placed the unrestricted free-agent tender on veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who led the team to an AFC North title at 10-7 last season … but he still hasn’t signed a contract, and we don’t definitively know who the team’s 2026 starting quarterback is.
That leads us to second-year quarterback Will Howard and rookie Drew Allar. Who does Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger — the franchise leader with 64,088 passing yards and 418 passing touchdowns — prefer?
“I’m not sure yet if I love it or hate it. I don’t watch a lot of Penn State games. When I did watch, he never jumped off the page to me,” Roethlisberger said about Allar, whom Pittsburgh selected with the No. 76 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, on his podcast, “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger.”
“Is he big? Can he move? Can he throw? Yes. But there was never a time when I was like, ‘Whoa.’ … The jury’s still out for me right now. Again, there was nothing that just jumped off the page for 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 jumped off the tape to me way more than Drew [Allar] did,” Roethlisberger said.
The Steelers selected Howard in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Howard spent the first four seasons of his collegiate career with the Kansas State Wildcats (2020-23) before transferring to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2024, with whom he won the National Championship.
In 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 rushing for 226 yards and seven touchdowns. He didn’t appear in a game 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. Over 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 145.2 passer rating per year, while completing 63.2% 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 all, Pittsburgh’s quarterback room currently includes Allar, Howard and Mason Rudolph, who has made a combined 14 starts over his two stints with the Steelers (2018-23 and 2025-present).
