{"id":969621,"date":"2026-08-10T19:30:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/969621\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T19:30:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:30:51","slug":"steelers-qb-will-howard-ready-to-make-the-most-of-long-awaited-nfl-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/969621\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers QB Will Howard ready to make the most of long-awaited NFL debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Thursday\u2019s preseason opener for the Pittsburgh Steelers isn\u2019t just the beginning of exhibition play and the first time the team will step onto the field in live-game action, it also marks a long-awaited day for second-year quarterback Will Howard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The former sixth-round pick out of Ohio State didn\u2019t play at all in 2025 &#8211; preseason or regular season &#8211; due to a hand injury he suffered in training camp. After a long wait, the former Buckeye is chomping at the bit to get on the field.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI\u2019m so fired up,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MarkKaboly\/status\/2086868526745125227?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Howard told the media on Monday<\/a>. \u201cI can\u2019t wait for the game, but obviously I\u2019m trying to take it day by day. It\u2019s still camp. But, you know, sometimes you can\u2019t help but look forward a little bit and start getting excited just to be out there in live game reps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">For Howard, Thursday will mark the first time he\u2019s played in any game since January, 2024 when he led Ohio State to the National Championship &#8211; a 19 month gap from his last collegiate snap to his first NFL play.\u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI\u2019ve been chomping at the bit for a while to get out there with the guys in real game-like settings. Put the uniform on, put the helmet on. I just can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">For Howard, this isn\u2019t just the first time he\u2019ll take the field in an NFL game, it\u2019s also a job interview &#8211; something he\u2019s very aware of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI know everyone says preseason isn\u2019t real football, Howard said. \u201dBut to me it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Pittsburgh and Green Bay will square off in Acrisure Stadium with kickoff set for 7:00 PM.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Let us know what you think in the comments. Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday\u2019s preseason opener for the Pittsburgh Steelers isn\u2019t just the beginning of exhibition play and the first time&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":969622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,6,26584,51016],"class_list":["post-969621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-training-camp","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-preseason"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117072880204891570","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=969621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/969622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=969621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=969621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=969621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}