Noah Hiles: The Steelers would be wrong to roster four quarterbacks in 2026

Noah Hiles, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Aug 22, 2026

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — Two Steelers quarterbacks played in the team’s 17-0 loss to the New York Jets on Friday evening. Two of them did not. All four signal-callers should be on an NFL roster this fall. But not all four should be wearing black and gold come Week 1.

We all know that Mike McCarthy loves his quarterback room. He has a long history with Aaron Rodgers, seems to have complete faith in Mason Rudolph as a backup and is creating as many looks possible for the youngster duo of Will Howard and Drew Allar.

There’s been talk of the Steelers rostering all four quarterbacks this regular season, which would be a rarity for today’s NFL. That decision wouldn’t shock me, but I think it would be a mistake.

Not long from now, McCarthy must decide the 53 players who will make the regular season roster. Those spots should go to players capable of helping this year’s team win games, as winning now has been the stated goal. Having three of those spots occupied by a quarterback that won’t likely see the field unless something goes wrong goes against that initiative.

The Steelers know who their starting quarterback will be. This team will likely go as far as Rodgers can take it. Rudolph is the clear No. 2 — at least for now, anyway.

Howard and Allar could potentially change that, although it looks to be a longshot. They still have about one week left to make it happen. If it doesn’t then one of them needs to go.

I’m willing to admit that both Howard and Allar are fine low-risk, high-reward projects. While I don’t see either ever becoming a franchise quarterback, there’s no harm in giving either one a year to develop under McCarthy’s leadership. It’s OK to allocate one roster spot toward a lottery ticket, but not two. Not when it could go toward another running back, lineman, defensive back or literally any other position player that could contribute on special teams.

If we were going off what we saw Friday evening, Howard would be the odd man out. He struggled mightily in his first preseason start, throwing a pair of interceptions in the first half — both coming on third down. Overall, he completed 10 of 15 passes for 74 yards, along with his two turnovers.

“Performance wasn’t up to par,” Howard said after the loss. “Just the little details. It’s a shame, because those were both good drives. I thought we were moving the ball really well. One of the first things we talk about is protecting the football. Gotta be better and learn from it.”

Allar was better, but didn’t exactly overwhelm. The Penn State product flashed his raw athleticism for the second straight game, most notably on a 38-yard deep ball to Lake McRee midway through the third quarter. But he also had a few misses through the air and all of his action came against lesser competition.

In the end, he completed 11 of his 23 pass attempts for 110 yards.

“Not good enough,” Allar said when asked to assess his individual performance. “Not going out and putting any points on the board. … I need to do a better job, especially earlier in drives, just kinda taking what’s given.”

It would be wrong to judge either youngster off one preseason performance. Remember how excited some were with both just one week prior? The Steelers have been evaluating their quarterback room all summer.

McCarthy and Co. will be evaluating the full picture. It’s likely that Howard and Allar will once again split all the quarterback reps Thursday in the preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills. And while it’s fine to give both one final shot to prove their worth, the Steelers should already be exploring trade packages for the man they project to be the odd man out.

Quarterback is far and away the most important position in football. But it’s not important enough to hinder your active roster with the hope that one of two longshots could eventually pan out to be something more than a long-term backup.

Either put your faith in the duo of Howard and Allar to be a better collective backup option than Rudolph for this season, or decide which of those two will be your potential future moving forward.

You can’t have it all. Well, I guess the Steelers can, but it would make this year’s team worse by doing so.

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