The Pittsburgh Steelers are heading into their Week 1 matchup against the New York Jets with a relatively healthy roster. That includes two players who missed significant time in training camp.
Outside linebacker Alex Highsmith and wide receiver Calvin Austin III are healthy and set to play against the Jets, head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday.
Austin missed significant time with an oblique injury that frustrated him throughout training camp. He suffered the injury during the team’s Friday Night Lights practice and missed nearly a month of practice time.
Now, Austin seems fully healthy and ready to return to action. The Steelers seem confident in Austin’s growth and have him listed as their WR2.
Highsmith suffered a groin strain during training camp and missed three weeks with the ailment. He returned to practice in late August and has slowly ramped himself up to playing territory.
“I’m feeling great. Just been doing a lot of rehab over the past few weeks, just making myself right,” Highsmith said. “They’re working me back in slowly, but I’ve been doing a lot of team stuff this week, so I feel really good, really close to 100%. So just being smart. It’s definitely frustrating that this thing happened again like it did last year.”
Highsmith suffered a groin injury twice last year, once during training camp and another during the season, which forced him to miss three games.
The Steelers had a rash of soft tissue injuries in 2024 that forced multiple players to miss significant time, including Highsmith, who still rounded into a productive year despite missing time with that groin injury as well as an ankle injury.
The Steelers ruled out defensive tackle Derrick Harmon and outside linebacker Nick Herbig is questionable with a hamstring injury.
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