The day after the Pittsburgh Steelers lost the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz field in Week 5, running back Jaylen Samuels needed his knee scoped due to an injury he sustained in that contest and head coach Mike Tomlin then indicated during his weekly press conference that the second-year player was “roughly going to be out a month.”
Samuels, who predictably sat out the team’s Week 6 Sunday night road game against the Los Angeles Chargers, updated his condition on Wednesday during his locker room session with the media
“I’m feeling good,” Samuels told Missi Matthews of steelers.com. “Just taking it day-by-day. Got out there today a little bit. Ran around a little. Did some cutting yesterday, it felt good. So, they wanted me to get out there today and do a little bit of individual drills so that’s what I did, and I felt pretty good. So, just got to see how it looks the rest of this week.
Samuels was then asked if there’s a next step for him or a predicted date when he can return to the field.
“Nah, I don’t know the answer to that,” Samuels said. “Like I said, just trying to go day-by-day. Just hoping I feel better every day and not take any step back.”
In short, it doesn’t sound like Samuels, who has rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown on 18 total carries so far this season, in addition to catching 13 passes for another 83 yards, will be healthy enough to play in the Steelers Monday night home game against the Miami Dolphins. Instead, he’ll likely be one of the team’s seven inactive players Monday night like he was against the Chargers.
Assuming Samuels makes it through the rest of this week without any issues with his knee, perhaps he’ll have a chance to play in the Steelers Week 9 home game against the Indianapolis Colts. At the very least, one would think that he should be ready to play in the team’s Week 10 home game against the Los Angeles Rams.
With Samuels likely sidelined again Monday night, running back Trey Edmunds, who was signed to the Steelers 53-man roster from the practice squad a few days ahead of the game against the Chargers, will likely dress against the Dolphins and serve as a backup to fellow running backs James Conner and Benny Snell Jr. The Steelers are also hoping to have fullback Roosevelt Nix back from his knee injury Monday night as well and his predicted availability should be expected to help the offense’s running attack.
“So, I haven’t taken any step back since surgery, so been looking good,” Samuels said Wednesday.
