Mike McCarthy appears to be leaning toward keeping four quarterbacks in Pittsburgh, and one Steelers insider thinks the coach may actually get his way.
After Tuesday’s comments, where McCarthy said having four quarterbacks on the roster "only enhances what the regular season would look like," The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo laid out why the Steelers could carry both Mason Rudolph and Will Howard into the season - even if it means squeezing the rest of the roster elsewhere.
DeFabo pointed to the organization’s apparent desire to give McCarthy every possible shot at finding a long-term answer at quarterback. He wrote that the franchise, “starting at the top,” seems willing to hand the new coach as many “lottery tickets” as possible, and that the Steelers may still be able to hide some difficult cuts on the practice squad.
For now, Aaron Rodgers and 2026 third-round draft pick Drew Allar are locked into the roster on the morning of Aug. 31, as long as they stay healthy. Rudolph has already shown he can win the occasional game as a spot starter, while Howard is still waiting for his first regular-season pass attempt.
Howard’s case took a hit in the preseason loss to the New York Jets on Aug. 21, when he went 10-of-15 for 74 yards with two interceptions. Pittsburgh closes the preseason at Buffalo, and McCarthy said Tuesday the Steelers "definitely will focus on" getting Howard and Allar into that game.
Still, DeFabo believes Howard’s path to the 53-man roster remains open. He noted that Howard entered the league as the 185th pick of the 2025 draft and was passed over 184 times, with seven quarterbacks going ahead of him: Cam Ward, Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough, Jalen Milroe, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and Kyle McCord. With that in mind, DeFabo suggested the Steelers may be able to slip Howard through to the practice squad depending on how he performs against the Bills.
His update also made one thing clear: Howard has little chance of moving ahead of Rudolph on the depth chart over the next few days. The real question is whether he does enough in the final preseason game to stick around as Pittsburgh’s Week 1 QB3.
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