Steelers Quarterback Gives Big Injury Update After ‘Freak Accident’

It’s been one week since Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard suffered a broken finger on his throwing hand.

The rookie sixth-round pick lamented the injury on Tuesday, which stems from a “dumb” situation that occurred in a “freak accident.”

Howard picked up the injury during training camp practice on Aug. 5 when the ball “hit his finger in the wrong place” after taking a snap from center, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“It sucks,” the 23-year-old said, according to Fittipaldo. “Every ounce of me wants to be out there playing. I’m just kind of sitting here and doing nothing. It kills me, especially with something that felt dumb to me. It was a freak accident.”

The Steelers signed 30-year-old signal-caller Logan Woodside on Thursday in the wake of Howard’s injury. Woodside joins a quarterbacks room that includes Howard, starter Aaron Rodgers, veteran Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson.

Howard is considered week-to-week with his injury, but said on Tuesday that he hasn’t been given a timeline and won’t need surgery.

Fittipaldo wrote that the first-year pro is “holding out hope he can play in the final preseason game next week in Carolina,” though the idea “seems far-fetched.”

“As much as I’m trying to be a good teammate and pump my brothers up, I’m trying as hard as I can not to be bugged by this,” Howard said. “The competitor in me would tear my left arm off if I could go back in there.”

The Steelers host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their second preseason game on Saturday, before concluding the exhibition slate on August 21 on the road against the Carolina Panthers.

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