Steelers Training Camp Notebook: Rodgers’ Rep Count, McCarthy’s QB2 Shakeup and Allar’s Breakout Night

Pittsburgh’s quarterback room has three storylines running at once this training camp, and none of them is big enough to carry a headline on its own. Together, they tell you exactly how Mike McCarthy plans to manage a 42-year-old starter, who’s actually next in line if something goes wrong, and which rookie is quietly making a case for himself.

Rodgers Is on a Pitch Count, and That’s the Point

McCarthy isn’t hiding the plan. Aaron Rodgers, entering training camp on what he’s already called his final season, will get roughly 40 to 50 percent of the first-team reps and will be managed on a rep count, McCarthy told reporters, a detail first relayed by ESPN’s Brooke Pryor and confirmed by The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo on X.

That’s not a benching or a controversy. It’s a 42-year-old quarterback’s team building in recovery time on purpose, a full season before it matters in December. McCarthy and Rodgers spent 13 seasons together in Green Bay, from 2006 through 2018, a stretch that included a Super Bowl title and three of Rodgers’ four career NFL MVP awards. McCarthy already knows what a Rodgers offense needs to function. What he’s building now is the maintenance plan around it.

Mason Rudolph Jumped the Line for QB2

The more consequential move happened lower on the depth chart. McCarthy confirmed that Mason Rudolph has taken over as the No. 2 quarterback behind Rodgers, with Will Howard and rookie Drew Allar now splitting QB3 reps, DeFabo reported. That’s a reversal from the spring: Howard ran as the backup during organized team activities, with Rudolph third.

The logic isn’t complicated. Rudolph has spent most of his NFL career as Pittsburgh’s backup and has actual regular-season snaps on his résumé. If Rodgers were to miss time, McCarthy is betting on the guy who’s already done the job rather than the guy who hasn’t. It doesn’t close the door on Howard, who still has camp and preseason to make a different case — but for a team managing a starter on a pitch count, having a proven QB2 isn’t a small detail. It’s the whole reason the pitch count is survivable.

Where Allar Fits — and What He’s Actually Working On

Allar, Pittsburgh’s third-round pick out of Penn State, has had a bumpier ride. Early in camp, a viral clip of him missing a practice net during a drill set off fan debate about his footwork relative to Rudolph. That’s the backdrop for what happened during the Steelers’ night practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium in front of 8,499 fans: Allar connected on a series of deep balls, including completions to DK Metcalf, Brandon Smith and Robert Tonyan in 7-on-7 work.

Asked about it afterward, Allar pointed to a specific fix and a specific source. “It’s been something I’m working on in terms of the trajectory of the throw,” Allar said, via 93.7 The Fan. “I’m kind of picking Aaron’s brain on it, maybe a week or so ago.” He described the difference between drilling it in practice and doing it “in a live setting” against real coverage.

That detail matters more than the highlight throws themselves. Allar was never known for his deep ball at Penn State, where the offense didn’t ask much of it. Trajectory on a downfield throw is a mechanical, coachable thing — arm angle, release point, ball flight — and it’s exactly the kind of granular fix a quarterback with Rodgers’ track record for accuracy and touch is positioned to teach. McCarthy has separately praised Allar’s growth in camp, saying there “has not been a day where he hasn’t made a throw where you say, ‘OK, that’s a young man taking a step,'” according to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Brian Batko.

What It Means Together

None of these three items is a stand-alone story. A rep-count plan is procedural. A QB2 swap between two players not currently starting is a depth-chart footnote. A rookie’s good practice is one night. But stacked together, they describe a coherent approach: McCarthy is protecting his 42-year-old starter’s workload, has settled on his answer if that starter needs a spell, and is using that same starter to develop the rookie who might matter in a year or two. It’s less a quarterback controversy than a quarterback plan — one built for a team that made the playoffs on the final weekend of last season and doesn’t want a repeat of a one-game exit.

Pittsburgh opens its 2026 season at home against the Atlanta Falcons on September 13.