Steelers may keep four QBs on 53-man roster
Chris Simms and Mike Florio discuss the Steelers' quarterback situation and examine if Pittsburgh will actually roster four signal callers in 2026.
Video Transcript
Tuesday edition of PFT Live.
The Pittsburgh Steelers currently have four quarterbacks on their roster.
Aaron Rodgers is the starter, if you haven't heard.
Mason Rudolph is a guy that Mike McCarthy was raving about last week.
He's the only guy that has any on-field experience, regular season or preseason.
Will Howard had a broken pinky last year that kept him from participating in any of the preseason games.
He hasn't played at all in the NFL.
Drew Aller, a rookie, he hasn't played.
What do you do- Uh-huh if you're the Steelers?
Right.
Do you keep all four?
Do you try to slip Howard or Aller through waivers?
Good luck with that.
You know, Chris, it occurred to me last week, and you used to be the guy who did this in Tennessee.
The veteran, the vested veteran gets cut, doesn't have to sign through waivers, hangs around, re-signs to the roster, signs to the practice squad.
They could put Mason Rudolph on the practice squad, elevate him to the active roster, send him back down, do that a few weeks, and then do it all over again.
Release him from the roster, nobody signs him, they have a wink, nod that he's not gonna sign, goes back to the practice squad and keeps coming up on game days.
They could do that.
Yeah.
They could do that in order to avoid carrying four and avoid putting Will Howard or Drew Aller in a position where someone could claim them on waivers.
Yeah, it, it's interesting to see what happened.
I, I would have a hard time thinking, yeah, Drew Aller I don't think it would look very good on their team if they released Drew Aller and then tried to get him on the practice squad, right?
They, they drafted him in the third round.
That, that, just, really, like, that's stupid then.
You drafted a guy to cut him to put on the practice squad in the third round?
Yeah.
So, like, there's no way they're gonna do that.
The, their egg will be on their face by you, by me, and a lot of people.
Yeah, the Will Howard situation is interesting.
You know, Mike McCarthy spent the whole off-season trying to wax poetically about Will Howard.
Now, I don't know if they thought, "Hey, maybe Will Howard can be the backup, and then maybe Mason Rudolph, we trade him late in camp or whatever.
We don't need him.
And then we have Rodgers, you know, Will Howard, and then Drew Aller."
But that's, man, that's dicey.
It's unproven commodities.
Like you just said, I mean, Will Howard hasn't played since the national championship game two years ago.
You're gonna make him the backup of your football team?
So, th- they're, they're in a spot here where, yeah, it's gonna be odd if they keep four, because that'll be considered dumb team building to have four quarterbacks this day and age in the NFL.
Or, you know, is a guy like Will Howard, yeah, is he in trouble, right?
Is he in trouble?
Is he the guy that ends up getting released and then put on practice squad and all that?
I, I could see that happening, but yeah, I'm interested to see how they handle this situation, Mike.
He's the first guy I thought when they drafted Drew Aller was out.
He's out.
If Rodgers comes back, he's out.
Yeah.
Because they need the veteran presence in Mason Rudolph, and they used a third-round pick on Drew Aller.
If any of the four go, it's going to be Will Howard.
And speaking of Howard, here he is on playing in the preseason, which may be a factor in whether or not the Steelers find a way to keep him on the roster.
Yeah.
You know, just to be out there in, in live, live game reps, 'cause I haven't played, you know, in, in over a year s- in, in live game reps. You know, I think the last time was the national championship.
So, I've been chomping at the bit for a while to get out there with the guys in, in real, you know, game, game-like settings with the uniform on, with the helmet on.
And I'm j- I just can't wait.
You know, getting out there in, in a live setting in a real football game I think is just different.
You know, it's, it, it is at the college level and it is at this level.
And, you know, I still haven't seen it, so I'm excited to get the, get out there and experience it.
I know everyone says preseason isn't, isn't real football, but to me it is.
It's not regular season football, but it's still football, and it's going to be an important opportunity for Will Howard to impress the Steelers so that they would consider keeping a sixth rounder who was the 185th pick overall last year on the roster as the fourth quarterback because he's shown enough that they don't want to risk losing him on waivers as they would slip him through to the practice squad.
And it doesn't happen very often that a team will carry four quarterbacks.
It is extremely rare.
Extremely rare.
There is one example that comes to mind.
Yeah.
Do you know who I'm thinking of?
Well, I, I don't.
Is it the Browns?
Who is it?
What is it?
No.
No?
No.
No.
Sixth-round pick.
I'll give you a hint.
Sixth-round pick.
Okay.
The Patriots?
2000, the Patriots had Drew Bledsoe, John Fries, Michael Bishop, and they kept Tom Brady in order to avoid exposing him to waivers if they had released him.
Wow.
So they did it with Brady, and what a move that was.
And it's unconventional, because if you keep that fourth quarterback, that's one less spot where you're gonna be short-handed.
Yes.
You got 53 spots.
Exactly.
And that's why teams don't keep four quarterbacks.
You need that spot for something else.
But they knew, or at least they suspected they may have something in Brady, so they, they kept him around.
Yeah.
Even though he didn't play at all his rookie year.
Well, and like you said, then those spots are valuable.
That's why a lot of teams just have two there and, and because of that.
Because once, especially once you get into the season and guys get beat up, you go, "Oh, man, we'd like to have an, an, a ninth offensive lineman dra- dress," or, "Oh, we have a receiver banged up.
We, we gotta have another receiver to, to dress up today, and he also plays special teams."
So yeah, th- that's, that's what it is.
But yeah, it's, it's so rare, and I'll, I'll be interested to see what happens.
Maybe Will Howard, can he do well enough?
Has he done well enough in training camp to this point and then do well enough in the preseason to where he could be the backup and they could feel comfortable about that?
Maybe, but I feel like that's far-fetched.
I do.
And so that's where it does feel like, yeah, he could be kind of the odd man out in this situation.
They need to be evaluating these guys for the future, too, because the one thing we know, Aaron Rodgers isn't coming back next year.
He's made that clear.
If we can believe him, he's made that clear, and I'm not sure we can.
Yes, he's been immunized.
If he's truly done- after this year, then they need somebody for next year.
And let's see what we have in Will Howard and Drew Aller.
That's why the, the Steelers' preseason games are gonna be very interesting, too.
We're gonna learn a lot about Will Howard and Drew Aller, as will they- Yeah as they begin the process of making decisions.
Because these trains come fast.
It's gonna be 2027 before you know it.
Rodgers is gonna be gone before you know it.
And we're gone for now until tomorrow.
We'll see you at 7:00 AM Eastern for another edition of PFT Live.
