Ever since the Steelers selected Drew Allar in the NFL Draft, the drumbeat for Will Howard has started to quiet. Some of that is to be expected. Allar, as a Pennsylvania product following his time at Penn State, was a higher draft pick than Howard. He was also a 5-Star prospect who had legitimate first-round buzz heading into this season. From a physical tools perspective, Allar stands out with an A++ arm.
But that doesn’t mean that Howard is a slouch. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette certainly doesn’t think so, as he recently discussed Howard’s early returns at OTAs on the Rich Eisen Show.
“I know it’s OTAs, but when you watch Will Howard yesterday in practice, you could see how much more comfortable he is,” said Dulac. “The throws he’s making, you don’t sit there and go, well, you know, there’s not a strong arm there.”
Dulac went on to say that if you weren’t paying attention to who was throwing the ball, you might mistake Howard’s passes for one of the other quarterbacks. While Howard is bigger at 6’4 and roughly 240 pounds, scouts knocked him in the 2025 NFL Draft for his middling arm strength. Here’s what NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein said on him:
“He doesn’t hold defenders at bay with his eyes and lacks the arm strength to beat tight man coverage on second- and third-level throws.”
Hearing that Howard is throwing similarly to Rodgers and Allar is certainly a sign of improvement in the arm strength department. According to Dulac, he should get ample opportunities this offseason to show off his improved arm.
“I think it’s safe to say 90-95% of the snaps in the preseason are going to be between Will Howard and Drew Allar,” said Dulac.
That’s a welcome sign for Howard, who missed the entire preseason last year due to injury. Currently, he has just as much NFL live rep experience as Allar, and both quarterbacks could benefit from real game action. In that action, the team will “hope, hope, hope” that one of the two of them will prove that they can become the team’s franchise quarterback.
But for now, it’s good news that Howard seems to be improving before getting a large bulk of reps this summer.
