The Pittsburgh Steelers Wednesday injury report included third-year cornerback Curtis Brown as not practicing and it was not because of an injury. Being as he has been inactive for the last two games, you have to wonder now how much longer he will remain on the roster or if there is something else going on with him.
In the games that Brown has dressed for so far this season, he has played only on special teams outside of one snap played on defense in the game against the New York Jets. Being as he had built a reputation in his first two seasons as being a special teams ace, he really has no value to the team at this point if he can’t get on the field.
On Wednesday, the Steelers added undrafted cornerback Devin Smith back to the practice squad once again despite all of the members of their secondary presumably being fully healthy. That is a sign they needed an extra body for practice because they knew Brown would not be available to them this week.
In weeks two and three, Brown was listed on the Steelers injury report as having an illness. He was inactive for the game against the Cincinnati Bengals, but dressed for the game against the Chicago Bears. Following the game against the Baltimore Ravens, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said the Texas product didn’t dress for the game because he hadn’t been performing like a top-flight special teams player. Was that the real reason, or is there something more to this illness of his.
Several years ago, something similar took place with wide receiver Limas Sweed and he wound up being placed on the reserve/non-football illness list. Sweed would later say that he just had some personal things going on in his life and that his family and the Steelers organization were very supportive of him.
Should Brown not dress for the Sunday game against the New England Patriots, it might be time again to ask Tomlin to comment on his status.
