While the Steelers’ 53-man roster picture is coming together, the Will Howard and Ryan McCollum injuries are muddying the water. When teams have injuries and IR or releasing is not an option, they sometimes have to carry excess positional numbers. Without clarity on Howard or McCollum’s status, it’s hard to say if Pittsburgh will have to do that.
While Will Howard—and thus Skylar Thompson—is the bigger topic, I’ll start with Ryan McCollum. McCollum entered the 2024 season as the backup center, only after Nate Herbig suffered a season-ending injury. In two games filling in for Zach Frazier, however, he seemingly solidified his status in that role.
McCollum is currently dealing with an injury of unknown severity, so we don’t know if he will be available as the Steelers’ backup to open the season. In his absence, Max Scharping is functioning as the second-string center. If McCollum’s injury isn’t serious enough to land him on the Reserve/Injured List, which is also likely true for Howard, what do the Steelers do?
Because neither McCollum nor Howard are vested veterans, the Steelers cannot release him. If cut, they would be put on waivers, which would allow all 31 other teams to claim them. Pittsburgh doesn’t want to risk losing either player, I’m sure. And if they are not injured by cut-down day, the Steelers can’t risk putting them on IR and potentially facing discipline.
A number of teams opt to carry only two quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, though that number has declined since the NFL brought back the gameday emergency quarterback. Importantly, and I can’t stress this enough, the Steelers have never been one of those teams. As a rookie, Will Howard would serve in that role for the Steelers. But he is likely to miss the entire preseason, so we don’t know how comfortable they would be with him. He would have no playing NFL experience, and would be low on physical reps.
That’s why Skylar Thompson is a name people are increasingly discussing, with even beat writers talking through the idea of carrying four quarterbacks on the initial roster until the Steelers deem Howard ready. While they signed Logan Woodside, they clearly prefer Thompson. Woodside would be the fallback option, though, as a vested veteran who has familiarity with Arthur Smith.
As for the Ryan McCollum injury, the Steelers don’t necessarily have to carry 10 linemen to accommodate him. Max Scharping is guard-center capable, and he even played tackle for the Steelers last year. Pittsburgh could also work in repping Spencer Anderson more tackle, with Dylan Cook a practice squad option and Calvin Anderson the swing tackle.
Just last year, the Steelers’ initial 53-man roster included eight defensive linemen, albeit temporarily. They soon shifted Logan Lee to IR, but they still carried seven, which is a high, atypical number for them. But all teams have dealt with atypical numbers in the face of injuries. Until we have a clear picture on Will Howard and Ryan McCollum, we won’t know what the Steelers’ initial 53-man roster will look like. More specifically, we won’t know what they will have to do to accommodate for them.
