The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Ohio State teammates Jack Sawyer and Will Howard in the 2025 NFL Draft. No doubt, Howard was excited to be reunited with Sawyer (and former Kansas State teammate and QB mentor Skylar Thompson). And why wouldn’t Howard be excited to play again with Sawyer?
After all, the two won the national championship with Ohio State last season. That’s a heck of a way to go out when it comes to a college career. And Sawyer, a stat-stuffing OLB, made an incredible play at the end of the College Football Playoff Semifinal, picking off Texas QB Quinn Ewers and returning it for a touchdown. That cemented Ohio State’s place in the title game.
But what is surprising is that a title-winning quarterback fell to the sixth round. Sawyer expected a higher draft spot for Howard.
“I was surprised he was still there,” said Sawyer per video from the team’s SteelersLive X/Twitter account. “Will’s just like, he’s everything you want [in] a quarterback, you know what I mean? Obviously, I’m biased, I won a national championship with him. But he is confident, he presents himself well, he handles himself well, and he goes about preparation really hard. I haven’t seen it from anyone else. So, Will’s a great guy and a good leader, and I think he’s gonna have a good career.”
Now, not every championship-winning quarterback is valued by the NFL. Former Georgia QB Stetson Bennett was the starter for both the 2021 and 2022 title-winning teams but was drafted in the fourth round in 2023. But out of the five title-winning quarterbacks before Howard, four of them were first-round picks. Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy was selected 10th overall by the Minnesota Vikings in 2024. Alabama QB Mac Jones was taken 15th overall in 2021 by the New England Patriots. The Cincinnati Bengals took LSU QB Joe Burrow first overall in 2020, and the Jacksonville Jaguars took Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence first overall in 2021.
Recent history tells us that the NFL tends to like national championship winners. So, while Will Howard may not have an elite arm, you can forgive Jack Sawyer for being surprised that the Steelers got him in the sixth round. And Sawyer isn’t the only one. One college defensive coordinator, speaking anonymously to ESPN, couldn’t understand why Howard went after Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel, whom the Browns drafted in the third round.
Now, no one is saying that Will Howard should have been a first-round pick. He doesn’t have the same tools as players like Burrow. But he certainly is prepared for playing quarterback mentally, as Sawyer said. He’s shown an ability to overcome adversity, which is what he says sets him apart from other quarterbacks. And evidently, he was a good leader at Ohio State despite only playing one season for the Buckeyes. To be able to step into that environment and show players at a blue-blood college program like Ohio State that you can be a leader is impressive.
It also doesn’t hurt that Howard can execute a game plan at a pretty high level. NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell praised Howard for how well he operates in the pocket. He also has shown that he can run quite well, something Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith will like.
If Will Howard shows the ability to respond to everything he sees in front of him like he did in college, he could very well outperform that sixth-round draft spot.
And that won’t surprise Jack Sawyer at all.
