Will Howard contract: How much will Steelers QB earn in his rookie season?

Will Howard led the Ohio State Buckeyes to a national championship in the 2024/25 season. The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Howard in the sixth round of this year's draft.

Howard enjoyed a successful collegiate football career, starting at Kansas State and culminating in a CFP national championship game Offensive MVP award in the big game. He's one of 14 Buckeyes to be selected in this year's draft.

Howard enters a Steelers quarterback room with Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson, who are on the depth chart. With the 2025 season in a couple of months, let's look at Howard's rookie contract.

How much will Will Howard earn in his rookie season?

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Will Howard with the 185th pick of the 2025 draft. His first contract will be derived from the NFL rookie contract scale.

According to the scale, Howard will earn $4,275,831 in his first four years in the league. Howard will make $892,708 in Year 1, $1,012,708 in Year 2, $1,127,708 in Year 3 and $1,242,708 in Year 4. These figures are culled from Spotrac.

Howard was the eighth quarterback taken in this year's draft. He'll enter training camp with a genuine chance of starting, barring the arrival of a certain four-time MVP winner. The Steelers have been constantly linked with Aaron Rodgers. But, the future Hall of Famer hasn't put out anything concrete to suggest that he'll accept Pittsburgh's offer.

Will Howard is aiming for a Week 1 start

So, at the moment, Will Howard's competition for the Pittsburgh Steelers' starting quarterback role is veterans Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson. Both players have spent the majority of their professional football careers as second stringers and likely joined Mike Tomlin's side in that capacity.

The Steelers needed a quarterback in this year's draft. However, the team opted to wait until late on Day 3 to draft their quarterback of the future, which fueled further Aaron Rodgers rumors.

That being said, Howard will fancy his chances of starting for the Steelers in Week 1. His collegiate success and the relative weakness of the current quarterback room put him in a great position to open his NFL career starting for a perennial postseason competitor.