The Pittsburgh Steelers have now identified their protected practice squad players for Week 8, and this week’s list is exactly the same as the Week 6 list.
Protected by the Steelers on their practice squad for Week 8 were outside linebacker Taco Charlton, defensive back Karl Joseph, wide receiver Steven Sims and wide receiver Anthony Miller. Those four players were the four that the team protected in Week 6. The team did not have to protect practice squad players last week on their bye week.
Charlton has been protected by the Steelers every week since he was signed to the practice squad several weeks ago. As for Joseph, this makes the sixth consecutive week that he has been chosen as a protected practice squad player. Joseph was elevated to the Steelers Active/Inactive gameday roster ahead of the team’s Week 5 game and ultimately played a few defensive snaps in that contest. He reverted back to the Steelers’ practice squad that following Monday.
The Steelers protection again of Sims and Miller probably shouldn’t be very surprising on the heels of the team losing wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster for the remainder of the season to a shoulder injury a few weeks ago. Sims has been on the Steelers practice squad for quite a while and Miller was signed to that unit a few weeks ago.
Currently, there is no indication that the Steelers will need the services of any of the four protected players when they face the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Should they indeed decide to use any of the four protected players, activations from the practice squad to the Active/Inactive roster will take place on Saturday afternoon.
