Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard was all smiles after Thursday’s practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. The rookie out of Ohio State, who was just designated to return off injured reserve on Wednesday, is chomping at the bit to get back on the field.
Howard has been sidelined with a broken pinky finger since early in training camp.
“It was like all that joy of being a little kid playing football again came back. … It was scout team, I handed the ball off. I don’t think I’ve ever smiled more on two handoff plays in my life,” Howard said Thursday when asked about returning to practice.
Howard took on a coaching role with being on IR for the first seven weeks of the season. He even earned the nickname “Coach Will.”
“They gave me that name for a couple of weeks there, but now I’m back to player Will, which is pretty damn nice,” Howard said.
Aaron Rodgers has been helping Howard while he’s been on injured reserve. Howard said Rodgers has been great as a mentor.
“He cares. He cares about giving back, which is rare,” Howard said of the four-time NFL MVP. “I really, really appreciate that ’cause not all people are like that. It shows what kind of person he is.”
Quarterbacks coach Tom Arth revealed earlier this month that Howard has progressed well during his time out.
“Will has handled the injury as a professional, just as we would expect him to. Really appreciative of our athletic training staff, our strength and conditioning staff. They’ve done a fantastic job working with Will,” Arth said. “I think he’s in great shape right now. He’s been in as good a shape as he’s been since he’s been a Pittsburgh Steeler.”
Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has also been impressed with Howard. He’s glad that the rookie is getting reps at practice.
“It goes back a little bit to the philosophical (discussion) about developing quarterbacks,” Smith said on Thursday. “How do you develop young guys without playing games? And so, we put a lot of work into it. It was unfortunate what happened. He didn’t get to play in the preseason. But I think it’s important for him to practice. If you try to sit a guy out the whole year, I think it’s important to get those reps. We’ll see how the season unfolds.”
The Steelers released quarterback Logan Woodside from their practice squad, the team announced on Tuesday.
It’s likely that one of Howard or Skylar Thompson will return this week. Third-string reps have been very sporadic for the Steelers through the early part of the season, though with a stretch of 11 games in 11 weeks coming up, the team may being to give 41-year-old starter Aaron Rodgers some rest on practice days.
Woodside was first added to the Pittsburgh roster mid-training camp, after Howard’s injury. He was among the team’s final cuts in August.
A native of West Chester, Pennsylvania, Howard...
