Fans often view college transfer moves through the lens of championships and playing time, but RJ Young’s blunt assessment has pulled back the curtain on the raw financial politics driving elite athletes. At the center of the storm is Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard, whose confession regarding his time at Kansas State is sending shockwaves through the sport.
RJ Young Explains the Financial Politics Behind Will Howard’s Transfer
RJ Young broke down the whole situation on his YouTube channel “Adapt & Respond” and pointed out, “Toward the end of his career, he (Will Howard) felt he was being underpaid. And one of the reasons he thought he was being underpaid, one of the reasons he felt that Kansas State was taking advantage of him, is he had to go out and find his own sponsorships.”
“Will Howard didn’t want to do that anymore. And in going to the portal, he found out he didn’t have to. He got a better job, right? Ends up at Ohio State.”
“It’s that people looked at him and treated him differently when he’s the guy that’s getting money. And that’s true across the board. If everybody knows you’re the highest-paid player on the team, or one of the highest-paid players, the respect that is owed is given.”
Howard was the gritty leader of the Kansas State Wildcats. He led them to a Big 12 title and stabilized a program known for its blue-collar identity. But in a world where teammates were beginning to see organized, six-figure collective payouts, Howard had to work as his own marketing agent just to see a fraction of his market value.
So, Howard hit the portal, and in the past, he had claimed that the starting point for negotiations was $500,000 at Kansas State. The contrast was immediate. At Ohio State, Howard didn’t just find a seven-figure NIL package that included a luxury car and housing; he found a different level of social standing.
At Kansas State, Howard felt the sting of politics during his final season, particularly as the program began to pivot toward freshman phenom Avery Johnson. So, by moving to Ohio State, he wasn’t just chasing a trophy; he was reclaiming his QB1 status. Howard even ended the 2024 season as the 2nd best QB in the country, per PFSN CFB QB Impact.
So, it was no surprise that he claimed recently, “Everything I did was on my own. They kind of took advantage of me and got me for cheap, so I decided to go somewhere else and make a little money.”
Now in his second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Howard finds himself in a bizarre financial paradox. Because of the massive success of the Ohio State NIL collective, Howard actually earned more in his final year of college than he did as an NFL rookie.
