The Pittsburgh Steelers will have to play at least one more game without wide receivers Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson. Both wideouts remain on injured reserve while Ben Skowronek still has a calf injury.
Without those three receivers the past two weeks, the Steelers have elevated wideouts Brandon Smith and Brandon Johnson from the practice squad.
On Wednesday, quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared to indicate he’d like Marquez Valdes-Scantling to be one of the team’s practice squad elevations against the Cleveland Browns this Sunday.
“I love Marquez. I mean, he’s one of my favorite teammates I’ve ever been with,” said Rodgers. “Super smart guys. Knows the game really well.
“We’ll see what happens. It would be nice to get him up.
“He’s played a lot of football. Super, super instinctive player on the field. He’s got really good hands, and I think he’s just carve himself out a really nice career with being a super-fast guys. Now he’s a fast guy with really great instincts and great football intelligence.”
The Steelers signed Valdes-Scantling to their practice squad last week. He played five games for the team at the end of last season. Valdes-Scantling also spent four years with Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers.
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There was chatter last week about whether Valdes-Scantling could play against the New Orleans Saints. Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy didn’t appear to rule out the possibility when he addressed the receiver’s arrival multiple times.
“Looked good in practice yesterday. So, it was great to see him. It’s been awhile, but yeah, we’ll see,” said McCarthy of the veteran wideout on Friday. “He’s off to a good start. Looked like he stepped right in, like he never left.
“You could just see the way the guys reacted to him.”
Ultimately, the Steelers elected to go with Smith and Johnson as practice squad elevations again.
A week and a half isn’t a long time to be back with a team. That’s how long Valdes-Scantling will have with the Steelers by the time they face the Browns on November 2.
But Valdes-Scantling’s prior experience with Rodgers should serve him well. He also played in McCarthy’s offense as a rookie in 2018.
The Steelers will have to do something different with their practice squad elevations this week. Smith finally caught a pass — two of them for 24 yards — against the Saints. But the Steelers have already elevated Smith three times, which is the maximum allowed per practice squad stint. Johnson has been a practice squad promotion the past two weeks.
McCarthy could try Valdes-Scantling on offense Sunday to see if the veteran can provide a spark at WR3.
Rodgers has previously spoken highly of Smith and Johnson. But the quarterback would pretty clearly not be opposed to Valdes-Scantling playing against Cleveland.
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