PITTSBURGH (93.7 the Fan) The Steelers’ final injury report before Sunday’s Wild Card game in Kansas City is encouraging, reflecting positive developments for veteran guard Trai Turner and rookie running back Najee Harris. Both went full Friday and although Harris is officially listed as “questionable” he was upbeat after practice.
There is one potentially important player who practiced again Friday who is not listed on that injury report - receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who joined his teammates for a second straight day. JuJu is still on injured reserve and since he is not on the active roster, Mike Tomlin doesn’t even have to acknowledge is participation.
But after Smith-Schuster was “designated for return” from IR earlier this week and popped up at practice Thursday, Tomlin did speak about him, albeit briefly and in the vaguest of terms while acknowledging that the rules would allow for JuJu to return Sunday. Diontae Johnson was more forthcoming, sharing his surprise and excitement at seeing his teammate on the field.
Smith-Schuster was with his teammates again today but media members who are allowed to watch are not permitted to report what we see, from JuJu or anyone else for that matter. Tomlin was not available, however a few of his teammates did speak after practice and here’s what they had to say.
TJ Watt – “I think Diontae said he best. He looks good out there in practice. Don’t know if that mean he’ll play or won’t play; that’s above my pay grade. Good to have him back, though. I know it’s tough to come back from an injury like that.”
Ahkello Witherspoon – “I’m not sure what his status is for Sunday but he’s already helped us come Sunday just by his energy during practice. We definitely feel his presence out there and we’re better defensively the last few days just off that energy. It’s always nice to see a guy get back to honor and acknowledge that journey that he’s been on to recover from that injury, just to give (him) that ultimate respect because it’s such a challenging aspect of the game.”
Najee Harris – “JuJu’s an amazing player. To see him back at practice after, I don’t know, week 3 or 4, whenever it happened, obviously everybody was pretty energized asking around if he’s playing. I don’ know if he’s playing or not, I’m not the coach, but just to see him out there and practicing that gives a big boost to everybody, gives us even more energy. That’s big.
It might even bigger if – and possibly when – JuJu is able to play Sunday night.