Officially, Steelers starting right guard and backup center Darnell Stapleton is out indefinitely after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on Friday to fix his balky knee.
Unofficially, the team is bracing for Stapleton to be out for the entire season.
Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the “word going around” the team’s training camp is that Stapleton might not be able to play at all in 2009.
The fact that the Steelers brought in veteran Alex Stepanovich and rookie Alex Derenthal on Friday for workouts would seem to heighten concerns that Stapleton is done.
Stapleton appeared in fourteen regular-season games and started in the final 12 of the year. He also started all three postseason games, including Super Bowl XLIII.