Rookie tight end Zach Gentry appears slated to miss just one game with the injury that kept him out of last week’s contest against the Kansas City Chiefs. Per this Chris Adamski tweet, Gentry told reporters he’s good to go for Sunday night’s tilt versus the Tennessee Titans.
Gentry missed the final two practices of training camp with some sort of upper body/chest injury. He sat out last Saturday’s game costing him some valuable reps. But fellow tight end Christian Scotland-Williamson also missed with a hamstring injury so internally, Gentry didn’t lose much ground. He played well in the opener, catching his first touchdown pass.
Tight end is considered the weakest position depth-wise on the team but if Gentry plays well, could chance the team’s mind. He’s currently the odds on favorite to be the #3 if the Steelers don’t explore outside options. Kevin Colbert has a recent history of adding someone from the outside at the end of the preseason, last year it was Ryan Switzer, but the tight end market is very thin.
As usual, Tomlin kept things vague when talking about the health of the rest of the group.
“Just like we’ve done throughout the first couple of preseason games, there’s a number of guys battling day-to-day injuries and missed practice time. But we weigh this element of the evaluation heavily so we’ll leave the light on for those guys. We won’t eliminate anybody as we stand here right now. Maybe even a couple guys will have workouts at the stadium to give them every opportunity to participate.”
With camp over and us no longer attending practice, it’s unclear exactly who those players are. Joe Haden said he doesn’t expect to play this weekend while rookie wide receiver Diontae Johnson seems questionable after dealing with another nagging injury. Vince Williams will hopefully return to action and it’ll be critical for Scotland-Williamson to get back into the mix. Sutton Smith is another rookie who can’t miss out on more playing time.
When asked, Tomlin said he didn’t have an update on Ola Adeniyi, who suffered a knee injury in the preseason opener.
“I hadn’t asked. I’m sure we’re gonna provide some clarity there and I’ll provide more detail as it becomes required.”
