During his Tuesday press conference previewing the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 1 matchup against the New York Jets, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin offered an update on the team’s health ahead of tomorrow’s first injury report. Per Tomlin, rookie DL Derrick Harmon is the only player who has been ruled out of the game due to a preseason knee injury. EDGE Nick Herbig is questionable due to a hamstring injury.
“Derrick Harmon is the only guy at this juncture that I would characterize as out,” Tomlin said [via the team’s YouTube channel.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oXEeqENiCE) “I would characterize Herbig as questionable. He had a really good day yesterday. We’ll leave the door ajar for him and see where work leads us during the course of the week. Certainly, his participation and the quality of his participation will be the key variables in terms of our decision making and if we choose to use him or not.”
Tomlin noted everyone else is expected to play, including WR Calvin Austin III after missing the summer with an oblique injury.
Predictably, the Steelers are relatively healthy two weeks removed from their preseason finale and exhibition slate that saw most of the veterans sit out or log limited snaps. [Herbig’s suffered a hamstring injury](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/08/lb-nick-herbig-ruled-out-ls-christian-kuntz-injured-in-preseason-game/) in the second preseason game and missed the finale. If he can’t play, rookie Jack Sawyer will serve as the No. 3 outside linebacker behind T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. It’s also possible the team will elevate veteran EDGE DeMarvin Leal from the practice squad.
Harmon suffered an MCL sprain in the Steelers’ preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers. He fortunately avoided what appeared to be a season-threatening injury and avoided injured reserve, a move that would have knocked him out for at least the first four games of the season. Still, he will miss the first game of the regular season. Keeanu Benton and Cam Heyward will see the bulk of the defensive line reps, but the team will still need to replace Harmon’s left defensive end spot in its base 3-4 defense. Veterans Isaiahh Loudermilk and Daniel Ekuale along with rookie Yahya Black are candidates to see increased reps while Logan Lee made the roster after missing 2024 due to injury.
“Other than those two instances, we’re largely a healthy group,” Tomlin said.
Since roster cutdowns, the Steelers have placed three players on injured reserve: QB Will Howard, CB Donte Kent, and CB Cory Trice Jr. All three will miss at least the first four games of the season. Howard broke a finger on his throwing hand, Kent suffered a right foot injury early in training camp, and Trice pulled a hamstring on Aug. 1. A handful of other Steelers are on season-ending injured reserve: TE Donald Parham Jr. (Achilles), DL Dean Lowry (ACL/right knee), DL Jacob Slade (knee), DL Domenique Davis (unknown), and CB Cameron McCutcheon (hamstring).
The Steelers will release their first injury report Wednesday with the final status report Friday. Pittsburgh and New York kick off Sunday at 1 PM/EST.