As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Tuesday that guard Willie Colon has been put on injured reserve with a knee injury to make room for running back Rashard Mendenhall, who was reinstated by the team on Monday following his one week suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.
This marks the third season in a row that Colon has been placed on injured reserve. He was lost for the entire 2010 season with an Achilles injury suffered prior to the start of training camp and last season the Steelers guard, who was then the starting right tackle, was placed on injured reserve after suffer ring a triceps injury in the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens.
Colon was signed to a 5-year $29 million dollar contract back in late June of 2011. He restructured his 2012 base salary prior to the start of the season to help lower his cap number.
Colon made the move from right tackle to left guard this past offseason and started there the first 10 games this season before suffering a knee injury in the week 11 game against the Ravens. He missed the next two games as a result, but reinjured the knee in the loss to the San Diego Chargers in Week 14. The injury required surgery last Monday.
