Steelers' injuries mount heading into Pittsburgh's preseason finale

Sometimes, when NFL teams play ugly games, injuries seem to be synonymous with these poor performances. Saturday night, the Steelers' preseason game against the Bills proved no exception to that unwritten rule.

The positive, if there can be a positive when the Steelers play in such games, is that none of the injuries sustained in the Bills game should have a long-term impact on the Steelers 2024 season. This week's only injury of major significance occurred before the bill game in practice.

As a side note, Tyler Matakevich did injure his ankle in the game with the Bills, but he was not listed on the ESPN injury report after the game. Here are the injuries this week in practice and the Steeler's preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.

Steelers injured in preseason loss vs. Bills

Anthony Averett, CB: questionable (hamstring)

Averett is a bubble player fighting for a roster spot this season. An injury to Averett does not affect the Steelers in a major way. Hamstring injuries are always difficult to assess in terms of seriousness. Thus, we don't know if it will directly affect Averett's chances of making the squad when Mike Tomlin trims the roster to the final 53.

Concussions are never a fun injury to deal with or see, but they will happen in football. Payton Wilson is not the player you want to see it happen to with his training camp success and how well he played in his first preseason game. However, the good news is that he will be ready to go in week 1 of the NFL season unless anything unexpected occurs during his recovery. Possibly, he could be ready for the last game against the Lions, although there is no real reason the Steelers should rush him back if he is and just let him heal up for week 1.

Payton Wilson, LB: questionable (concussion)

Concussions are never a fun injury to deal with or see, but they will happen in football. Payton Wilson is not the player you want to see it happen to with his training camp success and how well he played in his first preseason game.

However, the good news is that he will be ready to go in week 1 of the NFL season unless anything unexpected occurs during his recovery. Possibly, he could be ready for the last game against the Lions, although there is no real reason the Steelers should rush him back if he is and just let him heal up for week 1.

Jaylen Warren, RB: questionable (hamstring)

It's a disappointing injury, but we should see them in the preseason rather than the regular season. It's unlikely Warren will return for the Lions game, but he is not a bubble player and will make the cutdown to the 53-man roster.

If they let him heal up, he should be fine for Week 1 unless his hamstring is very acute; perhaps he could miss a few games at the start of the season.

Injuries prior to the Steelers vs. Bills game

Nate Herbig, OG: questionable (arm)

We have not heard much as to the extent or nature of the injury aside from it's an arm or shoulder injury, but he did get hurt in practice. We do know the Steelers expect him to be out for an extended period of time.

Hearing that in the preseason generally means he will miss some time in the regular season. How much time is another question? The injury is significant because the Steelers have been using him as the center until Zach Frazier assumes the role in 2025.

The injury means Zach Frazier will now assume those duties much sooner than we anticipated, but Frazier is more than capable of rising to the occasion if called upon.

Injured Reserve listings

Tarik Black, WR: out for season (undisclosed)

Suffering from an undisclosed injury, the Steelers placed Black on the injury reserved list after being unclaimed in waivers. Black was a longshot to survive the final roster cutdown at best. However, being put on injured reserve will at least allow him to stay on the team and have a shot at making the 2025 roster.

These are the injuries of concern this week. In the Lions game, we can expect a few more bumps and bruises ahead of the start of the regular season; however, hopefully, they will be relatively minor, as they were this week.