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On Thursday the Pittsburgh Steelers did not practice, as head coach Mike Tomlin gave the team off for Thanksgiving Day.
But the Steelers did make a few roster moves, one of which was to place running back Trey Edmunds on injured reserve. Edmunds suffered a hamstring injury against the Cincinnati Bengals on November 15th and he missed last weekend’s 27-3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now that he is on injured reserve, he will miss at least the next three games, which are scheduled to be against Baltimore, Washington and Buffalo. He will be eligible to return when the Steelers play the Bengals in Cincinnati on December 21st.
By sending Edmunds to IR, the Steelers cleared room to activate tight end Vance McDonald, who returned to practice earlier this week after spending two weeks on the team’s COVID-19 Reserve list. Pittsburgh currently has just one player on its COVID-19 Reserve list, that being rookie offensive guard Kevin Dotson, who has been sidelined since November 14th.
Baltimore Ravens COVID-19 Update
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Ravens—who are currently scheduled to play the Steelers at Heinz Field on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. (no fans permitted)—are still adding players to the team’s COVID-19 list on a daily basis.
On Thursday, the Ravens placed defensive end Jihad Ward on the COVID-19 list, making him the eighth player added this week, following in the wake of running backs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins (Monday), nose tackle Brandon Williams and outside linebacker Pernell McFee (Tuesday), defensive end Calais Campbell and offensive linemen Matt Skuka & Patrick Mekari (Wednesday).
Assuming the Ravens-Steelers game isn’t postponed again, the Ravens face a significant shortage of manpower on the defensive line, with offensive line and running back currently the next-most-challenging situations.
At the moment the Ravens have only Yannick Ngakoue, Derek Wolfe, Justin Ellis, Justin Madubuike and Broderick Washington available to play on the defensive line. Ngakoue is a fifth-year defensive end, Wolfe is a ninth-year defensive end and Ellis is a seventh-year defensive tackle. But after that the Ravens have little in the way of experience. Madubuike (Texas A&M) and Washington (Texas Tech) are rookie defensive tackles.
The Ravens also have a rookie defensive tackle (Aaron Crawford out of North Carolina) on the practice squad, and fullback Patrick Ricard (6-foot-3 and 311 pounds) is also listed as a defensive line option on the team’s roster.
As for the team’s OL situation, earlier this week the Ravens claimed sixth-year offensive tackle Jake Rodgers off waivers to boost the team’s depth. Rodgers, 29, was a seventh-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 2015 (Eastern Washington). He has spent time with eight different NFL teams, including the Steelers (2017-18).
Steelers Injury/Participation Update
Meanwhile, on Thursday the Steelers also issued as “estimated” injury report. Had the Steelers held a practice on Thanksgiving Day, running back Jaylen Samuels would have been a non-participant with a quadriceps injury, while cornerback Joe Haden would have been a limited participant due to his knee injury.
Running back Trey Edmunds would have been a non-participant as well, in advance of being placed on IR.
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