{"id":45300,"date":"2025-05-01T02:32:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T02:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=45300"},"modified":"2025-05-01T02:32:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T02:32:45","slug":"breaking-ben-roethlisberger-delivers-bold-message-to-steelers-qb-will-howard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=45300","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Ben Roethlisberger Delivers Bold Message to Steelers QB Will Howard.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2209299955.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2209299955.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2209299955.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2209299955.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Will Howard\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"692\" data-dom-ready-time=\"714\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">On his latest podcast episode, former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gave Pittsburgh Steelers sixth-round pick Will Howard advice.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0have received criticism from draft experts for not selecting a quarterback before the sixth round in the 2025 NFL Draft. Former signal-caller Ben Roethlisberger, though, had a different take on the newest episode of his\u00a0<em>Footbahlin Podcast<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Ohio State\u2019s\u00a0Will Howard\u00a0could be Pittsburgh\u2019s future behind center.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the attitude Roethlisberger encouraged Howard to have when the retired quarterback offered the rookie advice Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe should come in here with the mindset of this is my job,\u201d\u00a0Roethlisberger said. \u201cI wanna be the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers for the next 15, 18, 20 years. That should be his mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers selected\u00a0Howard at No. 185 overall in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He will join a Pittsburgh offseason roster that has\u00a0Mason Rudolph\u00a0and\u00a0Skylar Thompson\u00a0as the only other signal-callers on the team\u2019s quarterback depth chart.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>How Will Howard Should Approach His Rookie Season According to Ben Roethlisberger<\/h2>\n<p>While \u201cBig Ben\u201d encouraged Howard to have a very confident attitude immediately upon arriving with the Steelers, Roethlisberger clarified that Howard has a tightrope to balance.<\/p>\n<p>According to Roethlisberger, Howard should see himself as Pittsburgh\u2019s future while not disrespecting the veteran quarterbacks already in the locker room. By the summer, that could include four-time MVP\u00a0Aaron Rodgers.<\/p>\n<p>The former Steelers quarterback then said hard work in practice will eventually lead to Howard getting his opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019ll naturally unfold itself if you\u2019re out here preparing yourself and you\u2019re not trying to undermine the starter and cut his legs out,\u201d\u00a0said Roethlisberger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBig Ben\u201d came to Pittsburgh as a first-round pick in 2004, and the Steelers clearly viewed him as their future starter. Heading into 2025, the organization seems to see Howard as a developmental project.<\/p>\n<p>But the Steelers didn\u2019t thrust Roethlisberger into the starting lineup as a rookie. In that way, the two signal-callers could have similar rookie training camp and preseason experiences.<\/p>\n<p>By Week 3 of his rookie season, though, Roethlisberger became the team\u2019s starter because of an injury to Tommy Maddox.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Steelers Rookie QB Will Sit Behind Aaron Rodgers?<\/h2>\n<p>The media criticism behind Pittsburgh\u2019s decision not to take a quarterback earlier in the draft was due to the fact the team doesn\u2019t have a clear starter on the roster.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers, though, appear confident Rodgers will eventually sign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re still kind of getting the same signals we\u2019ve been getting recently that he does want to come here,\u201d\u00a0team president Art Rooney II said before the second round. \u201cI do think we may get word soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin\u00a0told reporters\u00a0that Rodgers wouldn\u2019t impact the team\u2019s draft strategy.\u00a0Some pundits argued\u00a0that he did, but it\u2019s just as probable the Steelers didn\u2019t select a signal-caller before the sixth round because they didn\u2019t like the quarterbacks available before that point in the draft.<\/p>\n<p>Also, a lot of draft analysts expected Howard to go off the board earlier.\u00a0ESPN\u2019s draft rankings rated\u00a0Howard a fourth-round pick.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers could have drafted the Ohio State signal-caller in the fourth round. That would have made pundits feel better about the team addressing the position earlier. But instead, the Steelers found value with a fourth-round graded QB (according to ESPN) in the sixth round.<\/p>\n<p>If Rodgers comes to Pittsburgh, Howard won\u2019t have as much of an opportunity to play as a rookie. He could spend the season as the team\u2019s emergency quarterback.<\/p>\n<p>But that doesn\u2019t mean Howard won\u2019t have the chance to develop into Pittsburgh\u2019s eventual starter. If he follows Roethlisberger\u2019s advice, Howard will work hard to prove he\u2019s \u201cthe guy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty On his latest podcast episode, former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gave Pittsburgh Steelers sixth-round pick Will Howard advice. The\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0have received criticism from draft experts for not&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Ben Roethlisberger Delivers Bold Message to Steelers QB Will Howard.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=45300\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Ben Roethlisberger Delivers Bold Message to Steelers QB Will Howard.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty On his latest podcast episode, former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gave Pittsburgh Steelers sixth-round pick Will Howard advice. 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