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5 hours ago
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In a proposed idea by Mike Moraitis, the Pittsburgh Steelers could ‘ditch’ Will Howard after just one year to pursue Arizona State Sun Devils football star Sam Leavitt.
But while Pittsburgh could be really bad this year with no real quarterback. The sixth-round pick had a simple request after being drafted by the Steelers:
“Ohio State quarterback Will Howard conveyed on Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft how excited he was to be going to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then the next day, he showed his excitement with a request.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Devin Jackson reported on April 30 that Howard waited one day into his Steelers tenure before asking quarterbacks coach Tom Arth for the team’s offensive playbook.
According to Howard’s mother, the quarterback wanted an early jump on studying the team’s plays.
“It left Arth impressed,” relayed Dave Holcomb of Athlon Sports.
Howard is a competitor and wants to win, whether it was in college, what he did at Ohio State, or the NFL. Mike Nicastro’s idea of embracing Howard is a better idea because he not only lets the team potentially be bad enough to maybe pick in the top ten next year, but if he’s winning, then that’s not a bad situation to be in either.
This is what Mike had to say:
“Here’s the key — this FINALLY gives them an excuse to be bad. It’s an opportunity to lower expectations for the first time in two-plus decades. Even the most optimistic fan should admit that Howard isn’t going to lead the black and gold to the Super Bowl. But fans will be happy with giving the kid a chance in what most agree is probably a lost year, regardless,” Nicastro said.
“It’d be a luxury season. It’s hard to be disappointed in losing when you’re playing with house money.”
This makes a lot of sense for the team to do.
Leavitt is No. 8 on Andrew Boardwine’s top 15 quarterbacks for the 2025 season. If there is such a huge difference between players like Arch Manning, Cade Klubnik, and LaNorris Sellers, then why wouldn’t the Steelers go after one of those quarterbacks? Especially a Sellers if he produces like he was at the end of last season.
I do agree, however, that Pittsburgh shouldn’t be leaning so heavily on Aaron Rodgers to be their quarterback for the 2025 season. He’s 42 years old and not the franchise face you want in the Steel City.
Just as I said about the Saints before, if you're going to be bad, then be bad. But if there's even an inkling that Pittsburgh could be good this year, then Howard, on his work ethic alone, gives them their best chance to either be really good or really bad.
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