The Pittsburgh Steelers are gearing up to face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
It is the second meeting between the two teams. The first game saw 64 points scored, with the Bengals coming out on top 33-31.
This is Aaron Rodgers’ first season in Pittsburgh, and he’s already thrown for 1,853 yards, 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Mason Rudolph has been the backup so far this season, with rookie Will Howard out with an injury.
Howard suffered a broken pinky finger on his throwing hand while taking a snap in a practice during training camp.
The Steelers have since gone every game this season without an emergency third-string quarterback but things will change very soon.
On Wednesday, the Steelers activated Howard ot the active roster from the Reserve/Injured List. The team announced the news while sharing other roster moves.
“We have activated QB Will Howard to the Active Roster from the Reserve/Injured List, signed CB Asante Samuel Jr. to the Practice Squad, waived RB Trey Sermon from the Active Roster & released DB Darrick Forrest from the Practice Squad,” the Steelers said.
Howard was drafted in the sixth round of this past NFL draft by Pittsburgh.
He played his college football at Kansas State for four years before finishing out his career at Ohio State. There, he led the Buckeyes to a national championship victory.
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Jon Heyman of the New York Post has reported that the New York Yankees “like” free agent right-hander Lucas Giolito, a 31-year-old veteran who spent last season with the Boston Red Sox. While Giolito may not headline this winter’s pitching class, his connection to new Yankees ace Max Fried makes the interest especially intriguing. The two aren’t just peers—they’re old friends who anchored one of the most legendary high school rotations in baseball history.
Giolito and Fried’s friendship dates back more than a decade, to their days at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, California, where they shared a rotation alongside Detroit Tigers‘ starter Jack Flaherty. Under the guidance of coach Ethan Katz—who would later become an MLB pitching coach—the trio developed into elite arms, bonding through competition, adversity, and mutual respect.
“There is a special bond,” Katz told The Athletic in 2020. “Everywhere I coach, everyone asks me questions about them.”
That bond never faded. Giolito even attended Katz’s wedding, and Fried has long credited Katz for “opening my eyes to preparation and what it takes” to succeed as a professional pitcher. Both players endured Tommy John surgery early in their careers, leaned on each other through their recovery years, and eventually fulfilled the promise they showed as teenagers—Fried becoming a Cy Young winner, and Giolito throwing a no-hitter for the White Sox in 2020.
Now, more than ten years later, a reunion in pinstripes could bring their journey full circle.
According to Heyman, the Yankees are monitoring Giolito’s market closely after Boston declined to extend him a $22 million qualifying offer. That decision means New York wouldn’t need to forfeit draft-pick compensation to sign him—an important factor for a team already balancing luxury-tax considerations after adding Fried.
Giolito posted a 3.41 ERA with 121 strikeouts in 145 innings for Boston in 2025, stabilizing a middle-of-the-rotation that desperately needed consistency. His underlying numbers—including a 4.17 FIP and 1.18 WHIP—suggest he’s more of a reliable No. 3 or No. 4 starter than a frontline ace. But his mix of durability, competitiveness, and command fits perfectly with what the Yankees need behind Fried, Carlos Rodón, and Luis Gil.
The right-hander’s arsenal remains largely intact from his White Sox days: a four-seam fastball he throws nearly 50% of the time, a fading changeup, and a biting slider. Though the fastball has lost a tick of velocity since his 2024 elbow surgery, his vertical movement and sequencing continue to generate weak contact.
For the Yankees, Giolito represents a rare blend of affordability and familiarity. Spotrac projects his market value at roughly three years, $61 million, while MLB Trade Rumors predicts a shorter two-year, $32 million deal. Either price could be reasonable for a franchise seeking a mid-rotation stabilizer who already shares chemistry with their new ace.
Signing Giolito wouldn’t just make baseball sense—it would make narrative sense. Reuniting with Fried would rekindle one of the sport’s most remarkable prep baseball stories, one that began on the sun-soaked fields of Southern California and could now continue under the lights of Yankee Stadium.
After years of facing each other from opposite dugouts, Fried and Giolito could finally share the same mound again—only this time, chasing a World Series title together.