{"id":921644,"date":"2026-07-22T05:17:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/four-players-the-steelers-cant-afford-to-lose-to-injury\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T05:17:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:17:51","slug":"four-players-the-steelers-cant-afford-to-lose-to-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/four-players-the-steelers-cant-afford-to-lose-to-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Players The Steelers Can\u2019t Afford To Lose To Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s only June, and the Pittsburgh Steelers could still look to build out parts of their roster. But as it stands, there are some positions where the team is better equipped to handle injuries than others.<\/p>\n

With training camp a month away and injuries a part of the game, it\u2019s inevitable that guys will get banged up. But when those bumps and bruises become injuries that force players to miss time, that\u2019s where things can get dicey for the Steelers.<\/p>\n

Below are four players that the Steelers can\u2019t afford to lose to injury.<\/p>\n

AARON RODGERS<\/h3>\n

The QB2 situation is still unsettled, and I understand it might be intriguing to get some eyes on Will Howard and see what he can do. But losing the starting quarterback isn\u2019t a good thing. The Steelers lost the lone game Rodgers missed last season, a Week 12 battle against the Chicago Bears. Pittsburgh doesn\u2019t have much hope if Rodgers has to miss significant time. While it could help the Steelers get a better evaluation of Howard, even if he winds up QB2, it would most likely sink their chances of winning this year.<\/p>\n

JOEY PORTER JR.<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve actually been somewhat positive about the team\u2019s depth at cornerback, with Asante Samuel Jr. and Daylen Everette being a solid duo as backup outside corners. But if Porter goes down, the Steelers lose their alpha at cornerback and the player they plan to use to take away No. 1 receivers. Jamel Dean would likely move into the top role, and while he\u2019s solid and a good No. 2, I don\u2019t see him working as the No. 1 week after week.<\/p>\n

DARNELL WASHINGTON\/PAT FREIERMUTH<\/h3>\n

Lumping Washington and Freiermuth together here. Tight end is the Steelers\u2019 thinnest position. They did select Riley Nowakowski in the draft, though he\u2019s expected to play fullback, and the options behind Washington and Freiermuth are Robert Tonyan, Jaheim Bell, JJ Galbreath and Lake McRee. Come the start of the season, only one of those players will likely be on the 53-man roster behind Washington and Freiermuth.<\/p>\n

With the rise in tight end usage across the league, losing one of those two would be a huge blow for the Steelers. They both provide somewhat different skillsets, Washington functioning as one of the best blockers in the league and Freiermuth a more capable receiver. But they\u2019re equally as important to this team and the lack of depth would be a real issue if an injury struck.<\/p>\n

CAMERON HEYWARD<\/h3>\n

I guess I lied in the headline and we\u2019re looking at five players here. Yes, the Steelers shored up their defensive line depth a little bit this offseason. But Heyward is the anchor and the engine for this group. His effort level never wanes and he\u2019s still far and away the best run defender along the defensive line. There\u2019s no one who can replace Heyward, and Pittsburgh\u2019s defense would be considerably worse if he were sidelined.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Joe Clark
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s only June, and the Pittsburgh Steelers could still look to build out parts of their roster. But as it stands, there are some positions where the team is better equipped to handle injuries than others. With training camp a month away and injuries a part of the game, it\u2019s inevitable that guys will get<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":921645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3555,3486],"tags":[6669,8642],"class_list":["post-921644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-players","category-steelers","tag-players","tag-steelers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}