Steelers Make Potentially Telling QB Move for Rookie Will Howard

Rookie quarterback Will Howard has become a forgotten storyline for the Pittsburgh Steelers early during the 2025 regular season. But that could possibly change soon.

The Steelers announced making a change to their quarterback room Tuesday. The team announced on social media the organization parted ways with quarterback Logan Woodside.

The 30-year-old was on the Steelers practice squad.

That leaves the Steelers with only two healthy quarterbacks — Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph.

But the team has two more signal-callers on injured reserve. Howard and his former college teammate, Skylar Thompson, have been on IR since early September.

With the release of Woodside, the Steelers could be indicating either Howard or Thompson are ready to return.

Howard has been sidelined since fracturing his pinkie finger in his throwing hand on August 5. The rookie quarterback didn’t play at all in the preseason and began the regular season on IR.

Steelers Planning to Activate Will Howard?

The Steelers didn’t announce a corresponding move with Woodside’s release. When that happens, there might be a clearer indication of what the Steelers plan to do without Woodside as the team’s default QB3.

Based on what The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac said this week, though, it’s not at all a slam dunk Woodside’s release paves a path for Howard to return.

“I think they are going to keep their fingers crossed with two QBs until there is an injury for now,” said Dulac, via PennLive.com’s Nick Farabaugh.

That throws cold water on Howard returning in Woodside’s place. Having said that, Dulac made that prediction with the assumption the organization would continue to have Woodside as insurance on the practice squad.

The Woodside safety net is gone after his release. The Steelers will really have “their fingers crossed” with only two healthy quarterbacks on the active roster or practice squad.

The Steelers can’t active Howard and then place him on the practice squad. So, the team would have to make another move to the active roster to clear space for the rookie quarterback.

According to Dulac, the Steelers are reluctant to do that. They prefer having the extra roster spot instead of three active quarterbacks.

But one thing the Steelers could do is release a player from the 53-man roster, activate one of their quarterbacks from IR and then try to re-sign that released player to the practice squad.

In that situation, the Steelers would be risking the released player not clearing waivers. But that might be a better risk than hoping Rodgers and Rudolph don’t suffer injuries.

Could Steelers Be Close to Activating QB Skylar Thompson?

If Dulac is correct and the Steelers don’t plan to activate Howard anytime soon, then perhaps Woodside’s release indicates Thompson is on the verge of returning.

Thompson has been dealing with a hamstring injury since the start of the regular season. The quarterback was questionable on the team’s Week 1 injury report. Then ahead of Week 2, the Steelers placed Thompson on IR.

Thompson and Howard have been on IR together since then.

After a stellar preseason, Thompson earned the No. 3 quarterback role in Pittsburgh with Howard sidelined. Thompson has made three NFL starts and appeared in 10 games during his career.

If the Steelers value experience, Thompson is the preferred QB3 option over Howard for the rest of the 2025 season.

Despite 4 turnovers, Texans defense's pursuit of NFL history takes a hit on Monday night

After each of the last two wins that the Houston Texans notched over the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens, I've written about how the Texans defense was on pace to make modern NFL history. Over the last 25 years, only six teams have held their opponents to fewer than 13 points per game in the regular season. Following their Week 4 and Week 5 W's, Houston was on pace to become the 7th team to join that group.

But this pursuit of history took a hit on Monday night in a 27-19 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Now, as Week 7 is officially in the books, it's time to take another look at how close the Texans defense is to joining this illustrious and exclusive group.

So yes, for the time being, the Texans have had their membership card for the Under 13 Club revoked, but it's important to note one key takeaway in the aftermath of their Monday Night Football loss... it's really tough to put the burden of blame on the shoulders of the Texans defense, despite allowing a season-high in points to the Seahawks.

Texans defense held strong for much of the night versus Seahawks

So while admittedly, 27 points on the scoreboard doesn't look great for Houston's, it's important to understand the context

In total, Seattle had five scoring drives -- three touchdowns, two field goals. On two of Seattle's three drives that ended with a touchdown, the Seahawks offense needed to move the ball only 44 and 39 yards down the field following a Texans punt and a turnover on downs. Seattle's third touchdown drive, which came early in the 1st quater, went 80 yards over the course of 10 plays.

On the two drives that Seattle came away with field goals, they needed to accumulate just 31 yards and 33 yards to get into range for Jason Myers.

It's also important to remember these impressive statistics... one of Houston's two touchdowns came directly by the defense, as Will Anderson Jr. hit the triple crown on one play midway through the 3rd quarter, coming up with a sack, a strip and a fumble recovery in the end zone to cut Seattle's lead to 17-12. Houston's other touchdown drive came after the Texans forced a three and out late in the 4th quarter.

In total, Houston's defense forced four turnovers, forced Sam Darnold into his worst passer rating of the season (73.7) and limited Seattle's ground attack to under 4 yards per carry.

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