The Pittsburgh Steelers are certain to be without OL Nate Herbig for their regular season opener against the Atlanta Falcons. And it looks like a coin flip if RB Jaylen Warren will be on the field, either. Warren suffered a hamstring injury in yesterday’s game against the Buffalo Bills. Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Warren will miss “multiple” weeks and isn’t guaranteed to play Week 1.
“Warren will be out multiple weeks due to a hamstring injury sustained Saturday and his status for the season opener is up in the air, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported Sunday,” wrote NFL.com’s Grant Gordon.
Appearing on NFL Gameday, Pelissero said the Steelers are optimistic about Warren returning ahead of the Sept. 8 opener but his chances are “up in the air.”
“My understanding is he did undergo testing here,” Pelissero said. “The current expectation is that Jaylen Warren will miss multiple weeks and his status for Week One against the Falcons right now is up in the air. All in all, this is not the worst case by any stretch for Jaylen Warren. Not ideal to have a soft tissue injury this time of year, but considering he got hurt in the second preseason game, they are hopeful he’s gonna be back out on the field sooner than later.”
Warren and Najee Harris make for one of the NFL’s best tandems and also one of the most durable. Since Warren entered the league in 2022, he’s missed just one game and appeared in all 17 last season. Warren carried the ball 149 times for 784 yards and four rushing scores in 2023 while finishing second on the Steelers with 61 receptions.
Warren finished Saturday’s game with one rushing attempt for 1 yard along with two receptions for 14 yards as Pittsburgh’s offense struggled to sustain drives throughout the game. The team initially labeled him as doubtful to return and now will hope to get him back for the start of the regular season.
If Jaylen Warren can’t return in time, Najee Harris will have a prominent role in the Steelers’ backfield and should see most of the carries as opposed to the 60-40 split between the two that existed throughout last season. Veteran Cordarrelle Patterson, who missed most of training camp with his own hamstring injury, could see additional work. Patterson returned healthy for the end of camp and played against the Bills, recording one carry and one reception.
Veteran RB Jonathan Ward, who impressed during training camp, also has a hamstring injury suffered during the final day of training camp. He did not play yesterday. Other options towards the end of the Steelers’ running back depth chart are La’Mical Perine, Aaron Shampklin, and Daijun Edwards. Pittsburgh could make a roster move to add depth for the final week of the preseason. They worked out rookie RB Jaden Shirden earlier this week.
