The move to place rookie quarterback Will Howard on Injured Reserve as he continues to recover from a broken pinky wasn’t a surprise, considering he hasn’t taken a snap or thrown a football since suffering the injury on August 5.
But there was more behind the decision to place him on IR than just allowing him more time to recover.
According to Pat McAfee Show correspondent Mark Kaboly, who co-hosted the latest episode of the Kaboly + Mack Show, the decision to place Howard on IR was for the Steelers to avoid any potential arm or shoulder injury as Howard ramps up throwing.
“I also told you, the reason why is they’re not really worried about Will Howard’s finger. They’re worried about his shoulder,” Kaboly said of the decision to IR Howard, according to video via the show on X. “They’re worried. Trust me, I’ve heard this from the highest level you could possibly go to that they’re worried that they throw him in there, he hasn’t thrown in a month, all of a sudden he starts having shoulder problems because he’s out there, goes from zero to a hundred.
“I’m telling you, that’s what they were concerned about.”
That makes sense, considering Howard hasn’t thrown a football since that August 5 practice in Latrobe, let alone taken a single snap. He’s gone through some mental reps, but there’s a big physical adjustment going from throwing a football to stopping altogether to going right back to throwing consistently.
Avoiding a shoulder or arm ailment for Howard is a smart move by the Steelers, if that’s the reason why the Steelers decided to shelf the rookie for at least the first four weeks. Of course, it could have also just been because they wanted to keep Skylar Thompson as QB3 and had a way to get around keeping four quarterbacks on the roster or risk losing Thompson on the practice squad.
Even if Howard stayed on the 53-man roster and wasn’t placed on IR, it’s not as if he would have a ton of practice reps as is. He was the QB4 with very few reps in training camp and wouldn’t have many reps during practices leading up to games each week in the regular season.
The Steelers might have been wary about an arm or shoulder injury, but the more likely reason is that they had a workaround to keep all four quarterbacks, and they used it.
