It was looking like Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver Martavis Bryant was going to dress for the first time all season Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, but the team ultimately decided to promote safety Ross Ventrone from the practice squad instead because of his ability to play on special teams.
During his Tuesday press conference, Mike Tomlin was asked if Bryant needs to become a better special teams player if he is going to get a helmet moving forward.
“It helps his effort and ours if he is, but its not a single pre requisite, no,” said Tomlin.
Tomlin, however, did state that we could see Bryant Monday night against the Houston Texans regardless of his special teams ability.
“Given some of the things that’s happened, particularly in the red area, and our lack of execution in situational football, we’ll explore the possibility of utilizing him this week,” said Tomlin.
Tomlin didn’t sound too happy Tuesday with the play of wide receivers Markus Wheaton, Justin Brown and Lance Moore this past week against the Browns, so depending on how the final numbers shake out injury wise, there’s a decent chance that either of the latter two might not dress Monday night. If neither sits, then this would mark the first time all season that the team has dressed all six of their wide receivers for a game.
The Steelers drafted Bryant in the fourth round out of Clemson back in May. The 6’4″ wide receiver caught six passes for 68 yards and a touchdown during the preseason on top of drawing several penalty flags.
