The opinions found in Asked and Answered do not reflect the views of the Steelers organization.
Let's get to it:
RICK STRINGER FROM STATE COLLEGE, PA: Not that QB types grow on trees, but I believe Drew Allar was the lone QB at the recently completed Rookie Minicamp. Seems there could be concerns of "over taxing" his arm, depending on the volume of passing drills, etc. In as much as the minicamp included 1-year veterans, I wonder if there was any thought to have included Will Howard, presuming of course he's not injured. I would think the extra work would benefit him, given his shortened rookie year.
ANSWER: According to NFL Operations, those eligible to participate in Rookie Minicamp include a team's drafted rookies and signed undrafted free agents, first-year players who never signed an NFL contract, and selected tryout players. There is a difference between a first-year player and a 1-year veteran, and since Will Howard was on the 53-man roster toward the end of the regular season he was not eligible to participate in Rookie Minicamp.
Drew Allar was the only quarterback at Rookie Minicamp by design, because Coach Mike McCarthy wanted to devote as much time as possible to beginning the process of working on correcting his fundamentals. And for the most part, what took place during the weekend had to do with installing and teaching fundamentals. There wasn't an abundance of 11-on-11 work that could have led to "over taxing" his arm.
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SCOTT RANDALL FROM CONWAY, SC: Do you think the team will re-sign Payton Wilson, or let him test the open market after his final year? Do you think he will want to be the third guy in the rotation?
ANSWER: The third guy in what rotation? Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen are at the top of the depth chart at ILB, and as a third-year pro he cannot become an unrestricted free agent until March 2028.
MIKE CLAPPER FROM BEDFORD, PA: When the NFL schedule is released to the public at 8 p.m. on Thursday, are the players and coaches finding out at the same time or do they get it sent to them earlier in the day?
ANSWER: The league office typically sends ownership their team's schedule earlier that day, and then ownership can choose to distribute it within their organization however they choose.
JOE SCHMAELING FROM PITTSBURGH, PA: So far, it looks like the roster experts are about evenly divided between Will Howard and Drew Allar as the Steelers next franchise QB. If Aaron Rodgers decides to move on, don't you think Mason Rudolph gives us the best chance this year? His college stats were comparable or better than Howard's or Allar's, except for Howard's national championship. His years of NFL experience make him the clear front-runner if Rodgers is not here. What do you think?
ANSWER: What I know is that the "roster experts" are only guessing, and they will have absolutely no input into whatever decision is made regarding the Steelers starting quarterback in 2026. What I "think" is that competition is going to be what drives the ultimate decision.
ABE LOBONO FROM LA MIRADA, CA: Were you as shocked as I was that Bill Belichick did not make the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first try?
ANSWER: Honestly, I was not surprised. There was a significant issue during his coaching career that came to be known as Spygate, and that ultimately resulted in punishment from the league and there were occasions when both New England Owner Robert Kraft and Coach Bill Belichick apologized at a meeting of NFL owners. Commissioner Roger Goodell fined the Patriots $750,000 and docked the team its first-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. Under the headline, "Timeline of events surrounding Patriots' videotaping scandal," the following appeared in a story on NFL.com on May 13, 2008:
• December 18, 2006: CBS analyst Charley Casserly alleges that Patriots were warned by League to stop using a camera to steal opposing signals.
• September 9, 2007: Camera and videotape seized from a Patriots employee who was stationed on the New England sideline and suspected of filming New York Jets defensive coaches who were relaying signals during the Patriots' 38-14 victory at Giants Stadium.
• September 12, 2007: Bill Belichick apologizes "to everyone who has been affected."
• September 13, 2007: The Patriots and Coach Bill Belichick were fined a total of $750,000 and lost a 2008 first-round draft selection.
• February 2, 2008: Reports surfaced that an unnamed source has claimed a New England Patriots employee secretly videotaped the St. Louis Rams' pregame walk-through the day before Super Bowl XXXVI.
• February 2, 2008: Matt Walsh, a former Patriots video assistant suggested to ESPN that he has information that could have exposed the Patriots prior to the situation at the Jets game.
• February 2, 2008: Senator Arlen Specter wants to know why NFL destroyed Patriots spy tapes.
• April 1, 2008: Owner Robert Kraft and Coach Bill Belichick made the rounds at owners meetings apologizing for and explaining the videotaping scandal. In an emotional speech before NFL owners, Kraft and Coach Belichick apologized for the franchise's involvement in the scandal.
I don't believe that Spygate should, or will, prevent Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft from being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame but the voters making them wait is a reasonable response to what in my opinion was a significant and embarrassing on-field transgression.
ZACH RAVES FROM SCOTTSDALE, AZ: Does every team have the same budget for coach/staff salaries?
ANSWER: No. The salary for a team's head coach, the number of assistants on his staff, and what all of those people are paid do not fall under the salary cap. There is no league rule covering any of that either.
JOHN SPATHAROS FROM NORTH LAS VEGAS, NV: Since your Magic 8 Ball did not have a definite answer on Drew Allar or Will Howard starting, I flipped a coin as you invited. It came up heads Aaron Rodgers! By the way, tails was Aaron Rodgers, too.
ANSWER: And as Art Rooney Sr. always believed, in a coin toss you always let the other guy call it.
DONNIE BROWN FROM VAN BUREN, ME: Chris Boswell has been, I believe, a historically good NFL kicker, and was very deserving of a market-setting contract from the Steelers. What are some of his best moments?
ANSWER: I'll give you two of the many examples of games where Chris Boswell excelled, and in both of those games it's possible to make the case that his contributions were the difference in the outcome.
• In a 2016 Divisional Round Game vs. the Chiefs in Kansas City, Boswell was successful on 6-of-6 field goal attempts (from 23, 38, 35, 45, 43, and 43 yards) in an 18-16 win that sent the Steelers to the AFC Championship Game in New England against the Patriots.
• In the 2024 regular season opener against the Falcons in Atlanta, Boswell again was successful on 6-of-6 field goal attempts (from 57, 51, 44, 56, 40, and 25 yards) in an 18-10 win in which the offense finished with fewer than 300 total net yards.
ED JOHNSON FROM GERMANTOWN, OH: I found the question about the color of a college uniform possibly influencing the Steelers' draft picks quite funny. It made me think of the stories I have heard about why the Iowa Hawkeyes uniform resembles the Steelers' so much. Do you know why this might be?
ANSWER: Before the 1979 college football seasons, Iowa Coach Hayden Fry contacted the Steelers and asked for permission to copy their black-and-gold design and color scheme. The Steelers granted the request, and here is the story behind that as it was told to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Dale Arens, who is currently the Trademark Licensing Director at the University of Iowa:
"He recognized ... at a time when collegiate licensing and branding was in its birth stages, he had the foresight to recognize you need to have an identity and a brand. To paraphrase Fry, 'You know, we're going to look like winners.' He knew Chuck Noll and the Steelers were winners and they happened to have the same color scheme as the University of Iowa. He called Chuck Noll and asked for permission to replicate the uniform."
Arens said the Steelers went so far as to send a jersey for Iowa to use as a template, and the Hawkeyes went so far as to measure the width of the stripe on the pants for authenticity.
"Some of the younger people may not know this story," Arens said. "Any Iowa Hawkeyes fan over the age of 40 knows this story."
CHRIS LIPPART FROM ST. ROBERT, MO: All these questions about QB are making me dizzy. Don't people realize it was like 20 years between Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger? And Cleveland is a perfect example of a high draft pick not being a guarantee. Can't people just be a fan and assume that the people in charge know what they are doing?
ANSWER: How dare you inject logic into this. Is that even allowed?
ERIK WIELY FROM NEW MIDDLETOWN, OH: What is your opinion of players who have come from the Service Academies? It seems to me, every time Pittsburgh has had a player from any of the Academies, they always seem to make an impact?
ANSWER: The Steelers don't have a lot of tradition with players from Service Academies, and really very few teams in the NFL do. Rocky Bleier served in Vietnam, but he played college football at Notre Dame. Alejandro Villanueva, a former Army Ranger from West Point, had a very nice career with the Steelers, but he broke into the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles. I do believe the new regulations that allow a Service Academy graduate to defer his active duty service if he can make an NFL roster could lead to better high school talent choosing to play their college football at an Academy. There are a lot of positive traits an Academy graduate would bring to an NFL roster, in my opinion.
CHRISTOPHER WINKLER FROM FRANKLIN, PA: Why do so many people seem to think Aaron Rodgers should have made his decision regarding whether he would return to the Steelers this year any sooner than he did last year? I see no reason why he would, and I don't expect to hear anything until early June once again.
ANSWER: I agree completely.
KEN SCALET FROM STANLEY, VA: Analytics is transforming baseball. Can you share what the Steelers are doing to expand their analytics capabilities and employ analytics to win games.
ANSWER: Analytics don't win games. And if you are correct in that it is analytics that has made baseball what it is today vs. the sport I grew up with, then at least I know what's to blame. In 1968, Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals was 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA, 268 strikeouts, and 28 complete games. Analytics would never allow that to happen.
BENSON MILDENHALL FROM KENNESAW, GA: Do you think Aaron Rodgers will return for another season? And will the Steelers try to get a first-round QB in a draft sometime soon? Also do you think the Steelers will sign JuJu Smith-Schuster to help get our QB more wide receivers?
ANSWER: Yes. Yes. No.
