Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Antown Blake surprisingly showed up on the teams Wednesday injury report with a thumb injury and being as he reportedly is wearing a cast on it, it makes you wonder if he’ll be ready for Sundays game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Should Blake be unable to play against the Chiefs, Ross Cockrell would more than likely start opposite William Gay in the Steelers base secondary. In the team’s sub package nickel, however, one would think that Brandon Boykin would then be given the opportunity to be the third corner in the slot.
Boykin, who was acquired by the Steelers during training camp via a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for a conditional fifth-round draft pick, hasn’t played many defensive snaps so far this season. In fact, that number is just 13 heading into Week 7 and the last time that he saw the field on defense was in the Week 3 game against the St. Louis Rams.
While with the Eagles, Boykin played quite well in the slot. Should he indeed get the call to play this Sunday against the Chiefs, he might just find himself covering tight end Travis Kelce quite a bit. So far this season, Kelce has 29 catches for 416 yards and two touchdowns.
The Steelers Thursday injury report should provide us a little more clarity as it relates to Blake and his status for the upcoming game.
