The regular season is here, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are taking their practices at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, formerly known and still referred to as the ‘South Side’ facility of Heinz Field. While the real work is now upon us, there is plenty left to be done.
And there are plenty of questions left unanswered as well. The offseason is just really the beginning phase of the answer-seeking process, which is lasts all the way through the Super Bowl for teams fortunate enough to reach that far.
You can rest assured that we have the questions, and we will be monitoring the developments in the regular season and beyond looking for the answers as we look to evaluate the makeup of the Steelers as they wade through a regular season in which they are, at least supposed to be, among the favorites to win the Super Bowl.
Question: Does Ladarius Green get activated today?
There has been quite a bit of discussion about Ladarius Green in light of the fact that he has not played a snap this season, and has never played with the Steelers before. In fact, I have read many people in the comments section basically saying that they are tired of hearing about him. They say we should stop talking about him until he catches a pass.
I say, for my money, that that is ridiculous, and that any news pertaining to the Steelers’ $20 million free agent acquisition is worth passing along. But even if you are tired of hearing about Green, today’s question is different, and one that we have never asked before: is he, by the end of the day, going to be a member of the 53-man roster?
Green told reporters yesterday that essentially he is as ready as he is going to be, and that he was going to discuss today with Head Coach Mike Tomlin whether or not he would be activated in advance of Sunday’s game against the Cowboys.
If Green is activated, it is going to happen very, very soon, because it has to happen before 4 PM on Tuesday, which is when his 21-day window will close from the time that he started practicing. If that time passes, then he will remain on the PUP List for the season.
From the sounds of it, I would guess that it is unlikely at this point that he does not play this season, so that means that he is going to be activated in the coming days. If that is so, then the question is simply whether it comes before or after the Cowboys game.
One would think that they would only activate him today if they intend to play him tomorrow, so if they think that he is still a week away, they will wait until Monday or Tuesday to activate him. It would make no sense to activate him before the deadline for a game in which he will not play.
