For a second straight season, the Pittsburgh Steelers will enter the NFL draft with their starting quarterback undefined. Yet, unlike 2024 and 2025, the Steelers are not turning over their entire quarterback room.
That sounds, but does it represent progress? And if so, how might it impact the Steelers plans at quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft? Let’s dive in.
This is the first article in our Steelers 2026 Draft series.
Will Steelers “run” it back with the trio of Rodgers, Rudolph and Howard? Photo Credit: Steelers.com
Steelers QB Depth Chart Entering the 2026 NFL Draft – The Starter
The NFL draft is 15 days away, and the Steelers don’t have a starting quarterback. Everyone from Art Rooney II, to Omar Khan and to Mike McCarthy both wants and expects Aaron Rodgers to be that man.
But Rodgers remains unsigned. Ergo he’s not the starter.
The Steelers QB Depth Chart Entering the 2026 NFL Draft – The Back Ups
There’s one name that you never hear bandied about when the Steelers discuss their quarterback situation. Yet, if Rodgers doesn’t sign, the odds favor him starting on opening day.
- The name is Mason Rudolph.
Rudolph was Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert’s “compromise” pick in the 3rd round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Rudolph was starting by the middle of week 2 in 2019. Then, save for a single start in 2021, Rudolph was all but forgotten about before coming off the bench in late 2023 to win three straight starts, save Christmas and secure a playoff berth.
Then the Steelers let him walk in free agency. Rudolph spent a year in Tennessee, before returning in 2025.
Mason Rudolph stands tall in the pocket. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Last year Mason Rudolph saw action in two games: First in relief of Rodgers against the Bengals at Acrisure and then in a start against the Bears at Soldier Field.
- Rudolph resembled a “starter-capable” quarterback coming off the bench in Pittsburgh.
- Unfortunately, his start in Chicago reminded us why the NFL only sees him as a backup.
Behind Mason Rudolph stands Will Howard, whom the Steelers drafted in the 6th round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Has Steelers Nation ever seen a more ballyhooed, untested, 6th round quarterback?
Perhaps Jim Miller could give Howard a run for his money if you control for the lack of social media. But even then, Tom Donahoe and Bill Cowher never dropped Miller’s name the way Omar Khan and Mike McCarthy are dropping Howard’s.
In many ways, Will Howard serves as a Rorschach Test for how you see the Steelers quarterback situation: Either he’s the next Tom Brady just waiting for his chance to prove himself, or he exemplifies just how badly the Steelers are managing the post-Roethlisberger transition.
That’s the only way to describe him, because although Howard looked good early in training camp last summer, he got hurt and spent most of his time at St. Vincents holding a clipboard, went on IR and remained there until November 12th.
- Mike McCarthy has said that Howard should have gone before the 6th round.
- Many draft experts agree.
Clearly McCarthy is ready to give Will Howard a chance to prove himself, but it is just as obvious that either Will Howard will have to do a lot of things right or a lot of other things will have to go wrong for him to end up starting games for the Steelers in 2026.
Steelers 2026 Draft Needs at Quarterback
“I’m not sure why you waste a year of your life not trying to contend,” declared Art Rooney II the day after Mike Tomlin resigned.
Agree or disagree, that is the franchise philosophy.
That being the case, signing Aaron Rodgers gives the Pittsburgh Steelers the best chance to compete, for the least risk and at the lowest possible cost in 2026.
Yet, if that’s true – and it is – then another inconvenient truth remains:
- The Steelers still lack a long-term solution at quarterback.
Most talent evaluators believe that, the long-term answer at quarterback isn’t there to be found in this draft. But that doesn’t alter the reality that heading into the 2026 NFL Draft the Pittsburgh Steelers needs at quarterback are High.
