The Pittsburgh Steelers’ first preseason game is almost here, and Thursday night will be many players’ first NFL action. That includes Will Howard, who missed the preseason last year because of a hand injury. There’s been a lot of excitement around Howard, but he’s still battling to be the Steelers’ backup quarterback. Despite not playing at all as a rookie, Howard is confident that he’s improved.
“I think there’s been a lot of different areas I’ve made strides in,” Howard said Monday via the team’s website. “I think my consistency in my mechanics has been a lot better. Just the consistency of how I’m throwing the ball, where my arm slot is, and the way the ball’s coming off my hand feels really good right now. I think the second thing is the footwork and dialing that in…
“There’s certain little nuances that I’m starting to figure out, what I like versus what Aaron [Rodgers] may like. Obviously, it’s very uniform, but there are a couple little differences where you can pick and choose how you want to make it your own.”
Howard said earlier this offseason that he tweaked his throwing mechanics, and it sounds like that change is going well for him. While he won a national championship in college, Howard was still a sixth-round pick, showing that he had a lot to work on in order to become a quality NFL player.
Also, it’s interesting that Howard mentioned working on his footwork. A lot was made of Steelers rookie quarterback Drew Allar rebuilding his footwork earlier this offseason. However, it seems like he wasn’t the only one working to grow in that area.
That is likely due to Mike McCarthy. The first-year Steelers coach is a quarterback guru, helping develop a handful of quality starters over the years. He’s been very complimentary of Howard since getting to Pittsburgh. However, he has said Howard’s footwork is one area he needs to work on. It sounds like the second-year signal caller has been hard at work trying to improve in that department.
It remains to be seen if the Steelers keep all four quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. Rodgers is a lock and Allar is a near-lock with Howard and Mason Rudolph battling for maybe one spot.
That makes the preseason even more important for Howard. If he shows that he’s improving, the Steelers might be more inclined to keep him, even if they also keep Rudolph and Allar. Howard is confident that he’s a better player now, but we’ll see if it’s enough to keep him in Pittsburgh.
