The Pittsburgh Steelers seventh training camp practice of 2018 will take place later on Thursday and that means this year’s time at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe is almost half over for the team. Wide receiver Eli Rogers has failed to participate in any training camp practices thus far as he remains tucked away on the team’s Active PUP list after being re-signed a little more than week ago.
Will Rogers, who was spotted doing some running on the side during the team’s Wednesday training camp practice ultimately be removed from the PUP list ahead of the start of the regular season? It’s hard to answer that question right now and general manager Kevin Colbert certainly didn’t during an interview on 93.7 The Fan a few days ago.
“Eli Rogers will be on PUP until we feel he’s healthy and ready to go,” Colbert said a few days ago of the former undrafted free agent wide receiver out of Louisville. “And that could be at any point in this training camp, or if he doesn’t make it by the end of the camp, then he’ll be out the first six weeks. We know that and we’re fine with that and we’re comfortable with where he is and where he may be when it’s all said and done.”
Rogers, in case you forgot, tore the ACL in his right knee late in the Steelers playoff loss last season to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Rogers reportedly had his ACL repaired on January 17, so his recovery time still hasn’t even hit the seven-month mark. In short, Rogers, who recently signed a one-year, $655,000 contract with the Steelers, might ultimately not come off the Active PUP list before the start of the regular season.
Assuming Rogers isn’t ready to resume practicing and thus not be removed from the Active PUP list by the end of the preseason, he’ll undoubtedly be moved to the Reserve/PUP list at that point and that means he’ll be ineligible to play for the first six weeks of the regular season. Him starting the regular season on Reserve/PUP list could then result in a player such as Marcus Tucker or Damoun Patterson making the initial 53-man roster potentially as a sixth wide receiver, should the team ultimately decide to keep that many.
Regardless, the Steelers have plenty of wide receivers to look at right now in training camp and thus there’s no reason to rush Rogers along in his recovery. While he’s now running on the side during training camp practices, that might ultimately be all he’s allowed to do this year during his time at Latrobe.
