This offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Aaron Rodgers to be their starting quarterback. However, they also added some youth to that room, drafting Will Howard in the sixth round. While that doesn’t make Howard the heir apparent to Rodgers, there’s been a lot of excitement within the fan base about his potential. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get on the field in the preseason because of a hand injury. Now on injured reserve, Howard detailed what ultimately put him there.
“It was an under-center snap, was how it happened,” Howard said of his injury Wednesday on the Downs 2 Business podcast. “The doctors were like, ‘We’ve never seen anything like this happen.’ Snapped it into my hand and jammed my pinky out and it broke this bone right here. It was crazy. Everyone was like, ‘I thought you just jammed your finger.’ I finished that drill, had a couple plays, then I went to the next drill.
“I couldn’t even grab the football. I was like, ‘Something is messed up, I have to get this checked out.’ And I went up, I was like, ‘I’ll be right back down. I’m just going to get X-rayed, make sure I’m cool.’ Went up there, sure enough, it was broken.”
It’s unfortunate, but in the NFL, accidents happen. At the time of his injury, it was unclear how much time Howard would miss. Mike Tomlin even left the door open for him to play in the preseason. However, it ended up being more severe than anyone realized.
Luckily, it doesn’t sound like Howard should be hampered by his injury for much longer. He recently revealed that he’ll start throwing again soon. While that doesn’t mean that he’s coming off injured reserve anytime soon, it’s a good sign that Howard won’t be affected by this issue in the long run.
Even after the Steelers activate him, assuming they do, it’s unlikely that Howard will get into an actual game this season. Rodgers is the starter, and Mason Rudolph is the backup. Currently, Skylar Thompson is third on the Steelers’ depth chart at quarterback. Pittsburgh would need to have very rotten injury luck for Howard to get on the field.
That makes him missing the preseason sting even more. Those reps would’ve been valuable for Howard. Now, he has to focus on the mental side on the game.
This was always going to be a developmental year for Howard, though. Not many Day 3 quarterbacks develop into franchise guys. However, he’s got an opportunity to sit behind Rodgers and soak up as much knowledge as possible. That could do a lot for his NFL career. Howard had some bad luck with injury, but hopefully, he doesn’t let this set him back too much.
