The Steelers had almost a fifth of their active roster off the field for Wednesday’s practice.
A longer Wednesday injury report than usual isn’t a great shock given the fact that the Steelers played the Giants on Monday night and not every player on the list was sitting out because of an injury. Center Maurkice Pouncey and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger were both given rest days.
Some of the ones who were out for injuries were expected. Right tackle Zach Banner is out for the year with a torn ACL, right guard David DeCastro didn’t play against the Giants due to a knee injury, running back James Conner was forced out of that game by an ankle injury and guard Stefan Wisniewski had to leave with a pectoral injury.
Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee) and Diontae Johnson (toe) played the whole way on Monday before sitting out on Wednesday. Left tackle Alejandro Villanueva (illness) and defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt (Achilles) rounded out the group of non-participants.
Thursday and Friday’s injury reports may prove to be more telling about who will actually be facing the Broncos on Sunday.