After today, the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t practice again until Monday, which will be game week ahead of their Week 1 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. Rookie WR Roman Wilson suffered an ankle sprain during the team’s first padded practice of training camp on July 30, and he hasn’t been able to practice since then. Wilson told reporters today that he’s unsure if he’ll return to practice on Monday, per 93.7 The Fan on Twitter.
The Steelers are only carrying five receivers on their active roster, and with Wilson being out almost a month already, it won’t be a good sign at all for his Week 1 availability if he misses practice next week. The Steelers may need to go outside the organization to add a receiver just to have some more depth at the position if they only have four healthy guys for Week 1.
In better injury news, rookie OT Troy Fautanu and RB Jaylen Warren both said they would practice on Monday, which gives them a chance to get on the field for Week 1. Warren’s already said that he’ll play in Week 1 after suffering a hamstring injury in the team’s second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. Fautanu suffered a knee sprain in the preseason opener against the Houston Texans.
Being as healthy as possible Week 1 is going to be important for the Steelers, and even if Wilson does log some practice time next week, there’s still a chance he doesn’t play in Atlanta given how much time he’s missed. Even if does get on the field later in next week, if he misses practice early in the week it’s probably safe to say that Wilson won’t be much of a contributor in Week 1.
We’ll see what happens, but it doesn’t sound great for Wilson’s availability that he still isn’t sure if he’ll be able to practice next week.
