The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted the eighth quarterback off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft in Ohio State’s Will Howard. Their division rivals, the Cleveland Browns, selected two different quarterbacks ahead of Howard. One college coach was puzzled by that decision.
“I don’t see the evaluation of [Dillon] Gabriel over Howard,” one Power 4 defensive coordinator told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. “I’m not saying either one of them is more talented than [Shedeur] Sanders, but Will Howard’s a better pro prospect than Gabriel with the size, arm strength, the passing tree that he had to throw at Ohio State.”
Gabriel and Howard were two of the most successful quarterbacks in college football last season. Oregon finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation with Gabriel a big part of its success. Howard’s Ohio State Buckeyes won the national championship largely because of his stellar play throughout the playoffs.
But the two players couldn’t be more different from each other. Gabriel was the smallest QB prospect at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine at 5111, 205 pounds while Howard was the biggest at 6042, 236 pounds. A lot of teams cross off quarterbacks under a certain height. There are exceptions to the rule like Russell Wilson and Drew Brees, but they are extremely rare.
Howard is much closer to your prototypical quarterback size, and there are certain advantages that come with that. He is also a year younger than Gabriel, which usually matters to teams that are looking for long-term upside.
Gabriel is college football’s all-time touchdown passes leader with 189, but part of that is because of his six years of healthy starting play across three different programs. He is one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the class, but his arm strength is not as good as Howard’s. And nobody is framing Howard’s arm strength as elite. Gabriel doesn’t have the strength to consistently push the ball deep down the field while Howard does.
When it comes to athleticism, they had very similar rushing production in college. I wouldn’t give a definitive edge to either player but may lean toward Howard since he has some size behind that athleticism to shake off tacklers and gain tough yards more consistently.
Other than Sanders falling, Gabriel being the fifth quarterback off the board was one of the biggest surprises in this quarterback class. The Browns also took Sanders, but now they have quite the mess to sort through with Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Gabriel and Sanders. And all with the media pressure that comes with a player like Sanders and his ever-present father Deion’s opinions.
The Steelers were the winners in some of these puzzling decisions as they were able to land Howard at No. 185 overall in the sixth round. Some, including Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden, are calling that a steal for the Steelers.
