The Steelers kept Skylar Thompson on their 53-man roster—but Will Howard is there too, which prolongs their trade window. Although they could place Howard on the Reserve/Injured list at any time, they may well hope they don’t need to. If a team offers them fair compensation for Thompson, they could deal him on the spot.
The question is how long the Steelers are willing to carry both Thompson and Howard if they can’t pull off a trade. Would they bring both into Week 1, or is that their cutoff point for placing Howard on IR? Reports indicate they plan to do that, yet it’s entirely unnecessary.
Earlier this week, HC Mike Tomlin confirmed that Howard is nearing full participation in practice. If he is healthy enough to practice, Pittsburgh may well choose to ride with him as its emergency quarterback. Retaining Skylar Thompson, however, gives them the flexibility of having an experienced veteran in that role.
Quarterbacks are always a valuable commodity, and we’ve seen some trades already take place. The Raiders traded for Kenny Pickett in exchange for a fifth-round pick. Also, the Eagles traded for Sam Howell and a sixth-round pick, sending the Vikings fifth- and seventh-round picks in return. Depending on where the Steelers stand with Howard’s readiness, they may be willing to trade Thompson for peanuts.
Or they might not trade him at all. We don’t know, largely because we don’t know their feelings about Will Howard. More accurately, we don’t know how they evaluate his readiness to play. He missed the entire preseason and much of training camp with a broken finger. It’s possible the Steelers really don’t trust him to dress right now, which would take a Thompson trade off the table—for now.
But as long as he’s on the roster, it remains an option. And Pittsburgh has been very active about securing draft picks for next year. While it’s not all about ammunition to move up for a quarterback, the more resources you expend to do that, the fewer draft picks you’ll have later in the draft, which makes every pick valuable. Even a seventh-round pick for Thompson, if the Steelers view Howard as their third quarterback, is good trade value.
Not every team even keeps three quarterbacks on its 53-man roster, though more do that now since the NFL reinstated the emergency third quarterback. The Steelers have long believed in rostering three, though they did not dress three when there was no emergency slot. The return of the emergency quarterback, though, only reinforced their commitment to carrying three. Of course, the Steelers currently have four, until they trade Skylar Thompson or more Will Howard to IR. One or the other will happen at some point, but by retaining both, they’ve extended the deadline.
