The Pittsburgh Steelers have now released their Thursday injury report and the offering shows that a few defensive players are still unable to practice ahead of the team’s Sunday road game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Not practicing again on Thursday for the Steelers were fullback Roosevelt Nix (knee), cornerback Joe Haden (shoulder), inside linebacker Vince Williams (hamstring), outside linebacker Anthony Chickillo (foot), and inside linebacker Mark Barron (not injury related).
While Haden failed to practice again on Thursday the veteran cornerback did indicate earlier in the day that he expects to be able to play Sunday against the 49ers.
“It’s feeling pretty good,” said Haden, according to Teresa Varley of steelers.com. “It feels better today at this time than it did last week at this time. I think it’s more now just getting me another day of rest. I should be out there at practice tomorrow.”
Nix has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the 49ers by head coach Mike Tomlin and it’s not looking like Williams and Chickillo will be healthy enough to play in that road game. Both were injured during the Steelers Week 2 loss. As for Barron not practicing on Thursday, it appears as though he was just given a veteran day off and that looks like it will be standard practice throughout the season on Thursdays.
Like Barron, Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree (ankle) was a Thursday injury report addition after he was limited during practice. We’ll have to see if Dupree is able to return to practice fully on Friday.
Tight end Vance McDonald (back) and running back James Conner (knee) both practiced fully on Thursday, according to the team’s daily injury report. McDonald was listed as being a limited participant on Wednesdays report while Conner was previously listed as sitting out. Both seem to be very likely to play Sunday against the 49ers. Conner injured his knee this past Sunday around the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter.
