Pittsburgh Steelers: James Conner to have MCL surgery

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back, James Conner, will undergo knee surgery.

The Steelers lost another player to injury during their Sunday loss to the New England Patriots. Rookie running back, James Conner, went down with a knee injury, according to Mike Tomlin during his post-game press conference.

Now, reports are turning up that Conner will undergo surgery to repair the MCL following the injury.

As of right now, there is no timeline for his return to the field.

The Steelers weren’t too injury ridden during the game, but lost two major offensive factors in Conner and Antonio Brown. Brown, who left for the hospital with a partially torn calf, is expected to return to the field in the postseason. Conner is going to have to take his recover week by week as he tries to get back into action after surgery.

Depending on the team’s trust that Conner will return during the playoffs, there are a few options for the Steelers in filling the roster spot.

Right now, Fitzgerald Toussaint and Le’Veon Bell are the only two active running backs on the roster. If the team believes Conner isn’t going to be back in time this season, they could place him on injured reserve and promote Terrell Watson back to the active roster. They could also make a different roster move and send Watson up.

DeAngelo Williams is still an option as well. Knowing the offensive system, Williams remains unsigned and could step into a role immediately if brought back to the team. Although, most of this would depend on his physical condition after not playing for most of the 2017 season, but Williams has made it known he’d still like to play if given the opportunity.

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How Pittsburgh will handle this situation is still up in the air, but for right now, they’ll need to figure out how they’re going to replace the rookie running back before the playoffs.