Steelers Still Searching for Answer at Quarterback as Aaron Rodgers’ Final Season Nears

Aaron Rodgers has made it official: 2026 is it. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback has repeatedly shut down any talk of playing beyond this season, according to ClutchPoints, leaving the Steelers with a clock they can no longer ignore. The roster around him looks solid. The quarterback plan after him does not.

The defense is expected to carry this team again. The offense has real weapons in DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. But every conversation about Pittsburgh’s future keeps circling back to the same unresolved question: who plays quarterback in 2027?

Stephen A. Smith Calls Out the Front Office

That frustration boiled over on First Take this week. Stephen A. Smith didn’t hold back when discussing the Steelers’ long-running quarterback search.

“We’ve been saying the quarterback piece for over six years. Those of y’all who don’t play, you get paid to make these decisions. Find a d–n quarterback, and they haven’t been able to do that in many, many years,” Smith said.

Smith posted the clip on X on August 5: “Find a damn quarterback.” @stephenasmith weighs in on the QB room in Pittsburgh

"Find a damn quarterback." 😭@stephenasmith weighs in on the QB room in Pittsburgh ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/90Wn4J6FfI

— First Take (@FirstTake) August 5, 2026

It’s not an unfair shot. Pittsburgh has cycled through Ben Roethlisberger’s successors for years now, landing on stopgaps and reclamation projects before Rodgers arrived in 2025. Rodgers has stabilized the position. He hasn’t solved what comes next.

A Crowded, Unsettled QB Room

The Steelers used a third-round pick, No. 76 overall, on Penn State’s Drew Allar in the 2026 NFL Draft, according to NFL.com. He joined a room that already included second-year passer Will Howard and veteran Mason Rudolph.

Howard was the presumed backup entering camp after going undrafted-round-six a year ago, but a hand injury wiped out his entire rookie preseason. That opening let Rudolph reassert himself. Head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed Rudolph is now working as the No. 2 quarterback, with Howard and Allar splitting reps behind him, according to ClutchPoints.

McCarthy hasn’t ruled out an unusual roster move: keeping all four on the 53-man roster once the season begins. Speaking with reporters at training camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, McCarthy said he’s open to it even though he’s never started a season with four quarterbacks before. “Don’t know why it wouldn’t be,” he said of the option, adding he’s “not philosophically opposed” to carrying the best players available, per ESPN.

That approach would buy the Steelers development time for Howard and Allar without forcing a decision now. It would also mean thinner depth somewhere else on the roster — a real trade-off for a team trying to win now.

Why Pittsburgh Might Actually Let This Play Out

Keeping four quarterbacks only makes sense if the Steelers view this season as a bridge. Rodgers gives them their best chance to win in 2026. Howard and Allar give them optionality for 2027, when the position opens up for good. Rudolph, meanwhile, offers a proven fallback if Rodgers can’t finish the year — he’s made 36 career appearances and knows McCarthy’s system.

The pressure on that developmental group is real, and it’s not going away just because Rodgers is playing well. Every rep Howard or Allar takes this preseason gets scrutinized as evidence for what Pittsburgh does next. Camp battles like this usually clarify themselves by the final exhibition game, once padded practices and preseason snaps separate the roster locks from the roster bubble.

Rodgers, for his part, sounds at peace with how it ends. He’s framed this season less as a farewell tour and more as a chance to compete one more time alongside a coach he trusts. What he can’t control is what Pittsburgh does once he’s gone — and that’s exactly the piece Stephen A. Smith is pushing the front office to figure out now, not later.