Player: QB Will Howard
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The Steelers officially opened Will Howard’s 21-day practice window yesterday, all but ensuring he will reach the 53-man roster. Having spent all season to date on the Reserve/Injured List, he seemed destined for a redshirt season. After Skylar Thompson’s injury, however, the window opened for him, and he’s about to climb through.
Will the Steelers’ future franchise quarterback soon be on the 53-man roster? While they have future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers doing his thing, Will Howard has returned to practice. The rookie sixth-round pick has spent all season on the Reserve/Injured List thus far, but that will change in the coming weeks.
At least barring some unforeseen setback, Howard appears to have leapfrogged Skylar Thompson for the QB3 job. Of course, were it not for Howard’s original injury, that likely never happens. Thompson did enough to make the 53 in light of Howard’s injury. But now that the rookie is healthy, the Steelers want him on the roster and working.
And he finally got to work yesterday in a formal setting for the first time in months. In a freak accident, Will Howard injured his pinky while taking a snap. Afterward, he couldn’t even grip a football, and he missed the entirety of the preseason.
There was external debate over whether the Steelers would carry Howard on the initial 53-man roster as the third quarterback despite the practice that he missed. They ultimately chose to put him on IR and kept Thompson.
One imagines they might have been content with that arrangement all year, but circumstances changed. Thompson also suffered an injury and himself is on IR now. We don’t exactly know his health status, but it didn’t seem to be a long-term injury. It would seem the Steeler chose Will Howard over Skylar Thompson. But now he has to prove it, and on limited reps.
With regular season underway and the roster in place, it’s once again time to “take stock”. It took a while, but we finally saw some of thatchange the team talked about after the season ended. Certainly, the move to trade for WR DK Metcalf qualifies as a change, not to mention the accompanying contract. Oh, and they also traded some guy named George Pickens, which people found significant.
After a long offseason, we finally know what this Steelers team will look like for the 2025 season. The dust is long settled on both free agency andthe 2025 NFL Draft, and now we’re into the real thing . What final moves might the team make, if any? They’ve certainly made a flurry of moves, though some question whether they make much difference. This is a Steelers team starving for postseason success, but how desperate are they for a playoff win in 2025?
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