Will Howard and Drew Allar get extra reps as Steelers enter final OTA stretch

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ organized team activities entered a new phase this week, and with it came a rare practice window for two of the team’s younger quarterbacks. During Tuesday’s OTA session, reports indicated that the Steelers were missing multiple established options on the field, including Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph. With fewer senior quarterbacks available to take reps, Will Howard and Drew Allar saw more work than they typically would in a normal OTA week, turning the practice into a high-leverage evaluation stretch for both players.

The Steelers’ OTAs are voluntary workouts staged under NFL off-season rules. They are structured as multiple sessions that allow the coaching staff to install elements of the playbook, refine timing in routes and protection, and test chemistry across position groups. This week, the sessions carry added importance because mandatory minicamp already took place, making the current OTAs an end-of-cycle look before the calendar moves toward training camp.

Howard and Allar’s increased workload matters less as a standalone measure and more as an opportunity to build timing and decision-making habits under live practice conditions. One of the challenges for young quarterbacks in OTAs is consistency, the ability to convert mental reps into repeatable reads and accurate throws. When a quarterback is taking the majority of the game-script reps, he has more chances to learn from mistakes immediately, and he can carry lessons forward into subsequent sessions.

Allar, in comments reported by 93.7 The Fan, described the week as “definitely a big week” and emphasized that taking mental reps throughout practice is different from being the quarterback logging the physical repetitions. He said he is trying to take the process “a play at a time” and grow from both positive and negative outcomes, framing the extra work as an investment in memory and recognition as the Steelers move through the offseason.

Howard’s role, meanwhile, is typically defined by development and competitive depth chart positioning. For Pittsburgh, the quarterback room is not only about who starts week one, but also about who can execute the offense cleanly if the starter is limited or unavailable. OTAs do not replicate the physicality of the regular season, but they do surface whether a quarterback can run the system smoothly, manage protection responsibilities, and process coverage information quickly.

The situation also underscores how team-building under a veteran presence can create uneven reps for younger players depending on availability. If Rodgers and Rudolph were not on the practice field as reported, then the coaching staff had fewer experienced quarterbacks to share the workload, which automatically concentrates practice reps among the remaining group. In that setting, a quarterback’s job becomes not just learning, but converting practice time into sharper communication and more efficient decision-making.

What to watch next is whether Howard and Allar retain a similar level of involvement as the Steelers finish OTAs and head toward the rest of the offseason program. If practice reps normalize once more senior options return, the short-term advantage will matter primarily for the momentum it creates. If, however, the quarterback reps stay concentrated, the Steelers could get an unexpectedly clear glimpse of which young quarterback is prepared to handle higher-volume, first-team responsibilities.

Taken together, the extra OTA work gives Pittsburgh a closer look at its future at the most important position on the roster. The Steelers are using the late OTA window as a practical audition for development, and for Howard and Allar, these sessions may be the most meaningful reps they get until camp begins. The next step is to see whether that opportunity translates into sharper execution when the competition tightens and the offseason moves into more consequential work.