Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool suffered an ankle injury during the team’s Tuesday training camp practice at Heinz Field, and while that ailment is deemed to be not too serious in nature, the 2020 second round draft pick out of Notre Dame has still yet to return to practice as of Thursday afternoon. Will Claypool be healthy enough to play Saturday night in the Steelers third preseason game? Judging by what Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Thursday during his morning press conference, it sounds like there’s a chance he might.
“Just like the others, we’ll have an inclusive mentality,” Tomlin said Thursday when asked if Claypool might play Saturday night at Heinz Field against the Detroit Lions. “We’re not ready to draw the line in the dirt here over 48 hours out from the contest. We’ll gain some clarity about he and some others as we get closer.”
While we wait to find out if Claypool will ultimately play Saturday night, we’ll also have to wait to see if a few veteran Steelers players such as defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, cornerback Joe Haden and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick will all see their first preseason action of 2021 against the Lions as well, as Tomlin would not provide definite information on any of them Thursday morning.
“We’ll have an open-door mentality regarding participation,” Tomlin said when asked about Heyward, Haden and Fitzpatrick all possibly playing Saturday night against the Lions at Heinz Field. “We hadn’t finalized participation to this point. All that are healthy will have an opportunity to play in the game. We’ll determine what level of health that is as we get closer. Just know that we’re inclusive in terms of our mentality regarding player participation in this one.”
The Steelers are expected to have a few players that missed the team’s last preseason game due to injuries back on the field Saturday night against the Lions and that group includes running back Benny Snell Jr., running back Kalen Ballage, wide receiver James Washington and wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud.
