After missing the entire preseason and the first seven weeks of the 2025 season, Pittsburgh Steelers’ rookie quarterback Will Howard now has a chance to get back onto the 53-man roster after having his 21-day window opened earlier this week.
Howard suffered a broken finger August 5 in training camp on a snap, leading to him landing on Injured Reserve on August 27 following final roster cuts coming out of training camp.
Since then, Howard has been behind the scenes, working to learn the game under Aaron Rodgers, while taking on some responsibilities from a preparation standpoint. In that time, Howard became jokingly known as “Coach Will” behind the scenes, but now he has a chance to get back into action.
For Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, who spoke with Steelers.com’s Bob Labriola for a piece Sunday morning, he’s looking for some key things from Howard in his 21-day window before making a decision to activate him.
“More than anything I want to see what he has learned while he’s been out. Some people are capable of learning through watching others; some people have to absorb the physical reps themselves,” Tomlin said of Howard, according to Steelers.com. “As a new guy, I’m interested in how he learns. Was he able to be productive during the time he was out? Was he able to learn by watching Aaron and Mason and others? And if he has been able to do that, then that aids in his return to us.”
While Howard was on the shelf, he was busy behind the scenes putting in the work from a preparation standpoint. Rodgers, who stated he wanted to do everything in his power to help mentor Howard when he joined the Steelers in June, gave the Ohio State product special projects each week to make him feel part of the QB room.
During an appearance on the “Not Just Football” podcast with Cam Heyward back in mid-September, Howard stated he was running some meetings offensively, particularly ones in which he was revealing hand signals, which Rodgers assigned to him.
That’s allowed him to feel like part of the group, and has kept him engaged while on Injured Reserve.
In his return to practice Wednesday, Howard was giddy, and rightfully so. It was his first work with the team since suffering the injury in training camp. The only issue with Howard’s window being opened is that he needs reps to develop, and he’s just simply not going to get those reps during the season as the potential No. 3 quarterback behind Rodgers and Mason Rudolph.
That’s one concern Tomlin has that he’s keeping an eye on in Howard’s window.
“If he’s a guy who needs physical reps and effort to perform, then that doesn’t help him, because to be quite honest with you, there are not a lot of physical reps during the course of this journey for a No. 3 quarterback type, because it’s just the reality of our business,” Tomlin added regarding Howard. “We spend a lot of our time getting Aaron ready to play, first and foremost, and then who is potentially backing him up. So his ability to learn from watching others is what I’m looking at.
“That’s what’s being tested. If he checks those boxes, that’ll be a major component of the decision.”
Though Howard’s window was opened and the Steelers have 21 days, there’s no guarantee that they activate him off of Injured Reserve and carry him on the roster. There’s a chance the Steelers could let the window close, keeping him on IR the rest of the season, allowing him to utilize a redshirt season of sorts in the NFL.
The Steelers are carrying just two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster currently with Rodgers and Rudolph, and there doesn’t appear to be a huge need for a third quarterback right now. Other potential needs like linebacker Malik Harrison and cornerback Cory Trice Jr. could come off of IR soon, too, making it an even harder decision with Howard to carry a third quarterback.
It will all come down to what Tomlin sees in the practice settings with Howard before a decision is made.
