{"id":81938,"date":"2025-08-23T08:50:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T08:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=81938"},"modified":"2025-08-23T08:51:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T08:51:17","slug":"will-howards-steelers-dreams-in-jeopardy-shocking-injury-prognosis-threatens-to-derail-rookie-qbs-future-in-pittsburgh-%f0%9f%8f%88%f0%9f%98%b1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=81938","title":{"rendered":"Will Howard\u2019s Steelers dreams in jeopardy! Shocking injury prognosis threatens to derail rookie QB\u2019s future in Pittsburgh! \ud83c\udfc8\ud83d\ude31"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2231378008.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2231378008.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2231378008.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2231378008.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Will Howard Receives Bad Prognosis on Immediate Steelers Future\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette&#8217;s Gerry Dulac predicted Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Will Howard to begin the 2025 NFL season on injured reserve.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There was so much excitement about the potential Will Howard might show as a sixth-round rookie for the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n<p>But Howard missed the preseason because of a hand injury. Then in his place, his former college teammate, quarterback Skylar Thompson, played well.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u2019s Gerry Dulac argued Howard might not dress at all during his rookie campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Dulac predicted Friday that the Steelers will place Howard on injured reserve for Week 1. That will require Howard to spend the first four weeks of the season on IR.<\/p>\n<p>But with the quarterback not expected to play during his rookie campaign, there\u2019s little reason for the Steelers to rush him back.<\/p>\n<p>Dulac also predicted that in the meantime, the Steelers will move forward with Thompson as their QB3 behind Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThompson has earned the right to be the backup to Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph after he finished the preseason with another impressive performance Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers,\u201d wrote Dulac.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it will also allow the Steelers to place rookie Will Howard on the reserve injured list to start the season and not worry about leaving him unprotected \u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHoward would have to stay on IR for at least four games, but it would not be unreasonable if he remained there for the entire season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Thompson and Howard joined the Steelers this offseason. The Steelers signed Thompson to a futures contract in January. Then in the 2025 NFL Draft, the team drafted Howard at No. 185 overall in the sixth round.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Steelers Value NFL Experience QB Skylar Thompson Has<\/h2>\n<p>Pundits viewed Howard as the team\u2019s fun developmental quarterback project prior to his hand injury on August 5.<\/p>\n<p>Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held out hope\u00a0Howard could make his debut in Week 3 of the preseason. But that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Thompson shined with a more extended opportunity. On Thursday against the Carolina Panthers, he completed 11 of 13 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown. Thompson averaged 11.7 yards per attempt.<\/p>\n<p>More than anything, though, Thompson\u2019s play worked as a reminder of the experience that he has, which Howard doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Tomlin suggested in his postgame press conference Thursday that the Steelers value that trait in Thompson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s got playing experience,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cThis guy started games in Miami, and I think that experience shows.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re talking regular season games.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thompson started three games with the Miami Dolphins and appeared in seven other games over three seasons. He also started a playoff game in January 2023.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Will Howard to Face Redshirt Rookie Season?<\/h2>\n<p>If Thompson hadn\u2019t played well, then the Steelers probably wouldn\u2019t be as motivated to place Howard on injured reserve to begin the season. But since he did, the move is a bit of a no-brainer.<\/p>\n<p>Placing Howard on IR allows the Steelers a quarterback roster spot for Thompson. Essentially, the team can keep all four signal-callers with Howard on IR.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeams are allowed to place two players on IR before rosters are pared to 53 players. Those moves have to be made on the day of final cuts, which is Tuesday. Howard, who has a fractured bone in his throwing hand, is the perfect candidate,\u201d wrote Dulac.<\/p>\n<p>Landing on IR, though, isn\u2019t the best for Howard\u2019s immediate future. He won\u2019t be able to practice with the team even if his hand heals before the end of Week 4.<\/p>\n<p>If Rodgers, Rudolph and Thompson are all healthy and playing well entering Week 5, there\u2019s little motivation for the Steelers to activate Howard.<\/p>\n<p>Getting the quarterback practice reps is probably the top reason to activate him. But QB3\u2019s don\u2019t typically get a lot of snaps at practice.<\/p>\n<p>For Howard to continue his hype train into the regular season, he needed to receive a lot of preseason playing time and excel. Not playing at all was very unfortunate because now Howard faces the possibility of not dressing at all as a rookie.<\/p>\n<p>By the time he gets the opportunity to dress, the Steelers may have added another new quarterback in the 2026 Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Dave Holcomb is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker. More about Dave Holcomb<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette&#8217;s Gerry Dulac predicted Pittsburgh Steelers QB Will Howard to begin the 2025 NFL season on injured reserve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Will Howard\u2019s Steelers dreams in jeopardy! Shocking injury prognosis threatens to derail rookie QB\u2019s future in Pittsburgh! \ud83c\udfc8\ud83d\ude31 - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=81938\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will Howard\u2019s Steelers dreams in jeopardy! 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