Steelers: Injury Updates

The Steelers have a couple of injuries. It has begun again. Let’s take a look the who’s who of the injured black and gold and estimate where things stand.

The Steelers are dealing with some injuries. Some of those have occurred in the preseason and others have occurred in training camp. In one notable instance it may even date back to last year. Let’s catch up with all-star IR the Steelers put together.

Now, is this the beginning? Or are each of these isolated incidents with minimal consequence? That could clear up fast? It’s tough to tell but fans should hesitate to assume it’s going to be another injury ruined season before it actually becomes that. Hopelessness is no fun.

Regardless, time to understand where each player is and handle it on a case by case basis. Her we go.

Ladarius Green

The mysterious status of Ladarius Green is hard to pin down. As if injuries are not frustrating enough the Steelers tend to be very tight lipped about them. This can lead to speculation. Officially Green is dealing with an ankle injury but NFL Media Reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala reported a source within the Steelers said Green was suffering from recurring headaches.

The Steelers, including Green quickly squashed those rumors and maintain it is the ankle. Regardless there is still no timeline for his return. Jacob Klinger of PennLive.com reported as much and also pointed out Green had just recently added weight bearing exercises to his rehab. While this is encouraging, it suggests week 1 is not in the cards.

Cam Heyward

Cam Heyward left the previous preseason game against the Saints with an ankle injury. He was pretty high on his ability to instantly bounce back. Since then there’s been evidence it is slightly more serious than that, but not too serious.

Dan Scifo of the AP has indicated it a high ankle sprain is straddling Grade 1 and Grade 2, mild and moderate. It’ll be a close call but no worries, it’s certainly not a long term thing. Heyward still expects to be on the field week 1, which is likely, but if we have to wait until week 2 so be it.

Marcus Gilbert

Gilbert’s issue is similar to Heyward’s in that it happened last week against the Saints, but inverted in a sense. This is not just because it’s to the arm, but because it’s an injury that will likely impact him longer but allow him to play despite it. He apparently hyperextended his elbow.

Gilbert claims, “I can play on it now. It’s something that just has to heal. It’s not going to be something that keeps me off the field.” He went on to explain that it may need surgery in the future, but he can put it off. It’s unclear at the moment how much he’s being optimistic versus realistic but based on the scant evidence we have he should play.

Senquez Golson

Golson had to miss all of the previous season with an injury. Now he will likely miss all of the current season with an injury. Yep. Word is he has a Lisfranc injury that will require surgery according to Tomlin.

He seems optimistic that he might be back back much later in the season but at the moment it’s another lost season for Golson and largely will be if he’s out all year or in the unlikely event he gets back. At this point, Sean Spence should be his idol.

Bruce Gradkowski

Apparently Gradkowski is outski and Vaughn is gone. Gradkowski tore his hamstring, per ESPN.com, pretty quickly during the season. This is probably the end of his career. So Landry Jones is number 2. A lot of people will not be happy about that but it could be worse. Dustin Vaughn was supposed to move into the number 3 spot but he’s been injured and released.

Honorable Mentions

Bud Dupree has been absent with a groin injury according Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. He’ll likely be out until week 1 just a precaution but he should be ok in the long run. Burns has an injured quadricep but like Dupree his continued absence is more out of precaution than necessity. Finally, Shamarko Thomas left the last game but the severity of that injury remains unclear.

Next: Steelers Player Spotlight: Vince Williams

So to recap, although the Steelers have started their traditional everybody injured shenanigans they’ve managed to avoid a critical injury to a critical player. Golson’s absence will be felt. Gradkowski’s absence hopefully will not be felt. But overall things are still ok on the injury front in Pittsburgh.

Home/Steelers News