The Pittsburgh Steelers played their 2024 preseason opener on Friday night at Acrisure Stadium and as expected, several players on the roster did not participate in that contest.
After HC Mike Tomlin said last week during his pregame press conference that seven players were set to sit out the Friday night preseason opener against the Texans, 13 in total did not see action in the game.
QB Russell Wilson, ILB Patrick Queen, K Chris Boswell, WR Roman Wilson, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, ILB Cole Holcomb, OLB Alex Highsmith, G Isaac Seumalo, RB/KR Cordarrelle Patterson, OLB T.J. Watt, DL Dean Lowry, NT Breiden Fehoko, and DT Cameron Heyward were the 13 players who were held out Friday night against the Texans. Overall, that’s a short list of players to not see action in a first preseason game, if we’re being honest.
On Thursday, Tomlin listed Wilson, Queen, Fitzpatrick, Highsmith, Seumalo, Watt, and Heyward as the seven players that surely would not play Friday night. Wilson has been battling a calf injury since training camp got underway. While Fitzpatrick has been limited during training camp the last few weeks, he’s not supposedly dealing with anything serious, if anything at all. Highsmith sustained a groin injury ahead of Friday’s game and that’s the reason he likely missed the preseason opener. As for Queen, he has been dealing with a minor undisclosed injury since the team’s Friday night practice. As for Seumalo, Watt, and Heyward, it is presumed that they were held out Friday night against the Texans as they are all experienced veterans.
Wilson, the team’s first of two third round draft picks this year, missed the Friday night preseason game with an ankle injury that has sidelined him since July 30. The hope is that he might be able to resume practicing before the preseason ends.
When it comes to Fehoko not playing against the Texans Friday night, he presumably sustained a shoulder injury last week in practice. The Steelers ultimately placed Fehoko on the Reserve/Injured list Saturday afternoon, which is obviously not great news for him.
The Steelers have K Matthew Wright on their roster right now and that allowed the team to rest Boswell Friday night.
While Patterson was activated from the Active/NFI list just ahead of the Friday night preseason game, he did not see any action against the Texans. Patterson, who has missed all of training camp so far with a hamstring issue, is expected to finally start practicing next week.
The two remaining players I’ve yet to get to, Lowry and Holcomb, both remain on the team’s Active/PUP list. Holcomb, who is rehabbing a serious knee injury that he sustained in the middle of the 2023 regular season, isn’t expected to be ready by the start of the 2024 regular season. As for Lowry, who continues to rehab a 2023 pectoral injury that required surgery, he seems to be close to coming off the Active/PUP list, according to our own Alex Kozora, who has watched every training camp practice so far this year.
The Steelers had Saturday off and the team will resume their training camp practices on Sunday with four sessions taking place prior to next Friday’s preseason game at home against the Buffalo Bills. The Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday practices will be at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa while the Thursday session will be a joint session against the Bills at Acrisure Stadium.
As for the players who did see action Friday night against the Texans, we’ll have a snap count post from the game on the site soon.
