It’s still unknown as to whether or not Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Ladarius Green will be able to be removed from the team’s Reserve/PUP list in a few more weeks but he did say Thursday that he’s feeling better as he continues to rehab the ankle that he had surgically repaired earlier in the year.
“I’m feeling better, definitely feeling better,” Green said Thursday, according to Chris Bradford of The Beaver County Times.
While Green, who signed a four-year, $20 million free agent contract with the Steelers that included a $4.75 million signing bonus back in March, refused to put a timetable on his possible return on Thursday, one would think and hope that he should be able to start practicing after Week 6 of the regular season. That is, of course, as long as he’s still not experiencing any recurring headaches that he’s reportedly been suffering from for several months as a result of previous concussions that he’s endured.
Should Green still be unable to start practicing after Week 6, then one could easily speculate that the recurring headache reports were indeed true and that that was the real reason as to why he has spent the entire season on the team’s PUP list. Either that, or perhaps he had suffered some sort of setback with his ankle, which isn’t likely to have been the case.
When and if Green does resume practicing, the Steelers will then have 21 days from that point to place him back on their 53-man roster.
While it’s been a few weeks ago, Green said in September that he was hoping to be back for Steelers Week 7 game against the New England Patriots.
“It’s a good possibility,” Green said at the time, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We’ll see. I don’t want to jinx it, but the rehab is going good. My ankle feels good running.”
In the meantime, the Steelers will continue to use tight ends Jesse James, Xavier Grimble and David Johnson in various forms and fashions on offense until Green is able to make his debut with the team. The three have combined to catch 17 passes for 161 and 3 touchdowns so far this season. Additionally, the Steelers might get fullback Roosevelt Nix back this week for their Sunday home game against the New York Jets as he has practiced fully so far this week after missing the team’s first four games of the regular season with a back injury.
