As the countdown to the kickoff of the NFL regular season continues to tick, the Pittsburgh Steelers are approaching a deadline to make some tough roster decisions.

The Steelers still have their third and final preseason game to play on Thursday, but they won’t have much time after that to finalize their initial 53-man roster for the 2026 season. By Sunday at 6pm, teams must have their rosters trimmed down to size.

And here in Pittsburgh, the position of most interest when it comes to roster cuts and shaping is, unsurprisingly, quarterback. Four quarterbacks currently occupy spots, led by 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers who is set to embark on a farewell season with the Steelers.

Behind him is established veteran Mason Rudolph, 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard, and this past spring’s third-round selection, Drew Allar. All three men played in the team’s first preseason game, and the two young tossers drew particular buzz for their performance.

Rudolph, now in his ninth year as a professional, did not appear in the team’s second preseason match, a snoozefest for the Steelers and a 17-0 loss to the New York Jets. Howard and Allar did, however, and neither performed all that well. Allar, after a solid performance a week prior, certainly won that battle; Howard was picked off twice, though fans and film-watchers debated on Twitter/X as to how much the intended receiver on both picks, Roman Wilson, was at fault.

Regardless, it was an objectively discouraging start for Howard, one that could have made him a roster casualty in a matter of days. However, reporting from the Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac suggests that the Steelers intend to keep both Howard and Allar on the 53-man roster. Dulac also says that the Steelers had made that decision before the game against the Jets.

The retention of Howard, who missed last year’s preseason with injury and took no on-field snaps, as well as Allar, someone new head coach Mike McCarthy has described as a “first-round pick” despite falling to 76th overall, leaves a bit of a logjam at the position.

At the end of the day, only one guy can take the snaps from the center. As long as he is healthy, that is Rodgers. But, if Dulac’s reporting is true and the Steelers keep both Howard and Allar, what does it mean for Rudolph? Is the 2018 third-round pick, once talked about the same way Allar is now, still the backup to Rodgers? Should the Steelers try and take advantage of a desperate team and trade him, similar to Joshua Dobbs back in 2019?

Today, let’s examine in the argument for and against retaining Rudolph.

The Argument For

Rudolph never lived up to that “first round grade” then-Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert had on him when Pittsburgh took him 76th overall back in 2018. He had his first real shot to take control when Ben Roethlisberger went down for the year in Week 2, but he struggled in the starter’s role and eventually was benched for folk hero Devlin “Duck” Hodges.

If you are banking on Rudolph to be your starter, as Tennessee did in 2024, you likely aren’t going very far. However, as a backup quarterback, Rudolph is one of the premier players of that group. He’s a pocket guy who can effectively run an offense that gives him protection, and his one patented skill of the deep ball is what has helped him stick around for as long as he has.

He has a track record of stepping in and keeping the team afloat when the Steelers have needed him. He did that for Rodgers last year, but his most famous appearance was down the stretch in 2023, when he led a 7-7 Steelers team to three straight wins and a surprise playoff appearance.

He’s an insurance policy, and a good one at that. He’s someone you can trust, someone who you know exactly what you are getting, and someone who doesn’t need to learn anything on the fly. He also fits the mold of what this year’s Steelers are.

Despite the departure of Mike Tomlin and the arrival of McCarthy, this is not a team planning to take a step back. They didn’t bring Rodgers back, hand out millions upon millions in extensions, and make splashes in free agency for a developmental year.

The Steelers want to compete, and having a reliable option behind the 42-year-old Rodgers, who is highly unlikely to start and finish all 17 games at his age, is smart football.

We saw what happened in 2019, ironically when Rudolph was the young kid who couldn’t get it done. But if the Steelers need someone to help stabilize the ship when the captain goes down, it has to be Rudolph…right?

The Argument Against

Like I said before, it’s highly likely that Rodgers does not start and finish all 17 games. Putting an old, immobile quarterback in front of this offensive line feels like asking for trouble, and the Steelers could consider themselves lucky that Rodgers missed as little time as he did in 2025.

So, with that probabilty in mind, it’s easy to understand why Rudolph is the backup to go with. He’s the safe pick, no question.

However, while he might fit the trajectory of this season for the Steelers, the 31-year-old does not fit the long-term trajectory of this franchise. He’s made a decent career for himself and made it farther along the football journey than 99% of his playing counterparts, but he won’t be the long-term starter in Pittsburgh.

Maybe one of these young guys won’t ever be the long-term starter in Pittsburgh either. But the difference between Rudolph and Howard/Allar is the mystery. We have the answer on Rudolph. We don’t on Howard or Allar.

For the sake of argument, let’s use Allar the rest of the way.

Part of the allure of hiring McCarthy, who was not a popular hire upon first announcement, was his ability to develop quarterbacks. If McCarthy is honest in believing Allar has first-round talent, he should feel confident in inserting Allar into a game if needed this season.

And while this is not the best roster configuration for the 2026 Steelers, perhaps it’s the best one for the 2027 Steelers, and 2028 Steelers, and so on and so forth. At a certain point, wouldn’t you want to see actual meaningful reps for your young quarterback before next year’s draft takes place?

The worst position the Steelers can be in once April of 2027 comes is needing a quarterback and having no data on the ones they’ve already drafted. If things go according to their plan, that’s exactly where they are heading. Putting Allar in the backup spot gives him legitimate reps in practice, and puts him on a fast-track to NFL action this year.

From there, you can much better determine whether you have something in Allar, or need to stop hoping to acquire first-round talent in anything but the first round.