Steelers Aren’t Getting Their WR2 Back Anytime Soon

Steelers Aren’t Getting Their WR2 Back Anytime Soon

We spent a lot of time last week talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers hopefully getting Calvin Austin back before they even have to worry about it. And at times it looked promising. But we had to wait. We had to go through the bye-week and see where the Pittsburgh Steelers were and have them return to practice and get in the locker room so that we could actually talk to these guys and understand where the injury is and what happened and so on and so forth. And well, that happened. We got the guys back into the locker room and the media got an opportunity to talk to these guys and it turned out to be much worse than we anticipated. The Pittsburgh Steelers are probably not going to have Calvin Austin back for quite some time. And I’m not saying it’s season ending. I don’t even think that it’s a 10 or more gap between now and the next time he plays. However, thinking Calvin Austin comes back tomorrow or against the Cleveland Browns or against the Cincinnati Bengals is very, very far-fetched. So, right now it’s time to talk about where the Pittsburgh Steelers are and how they’re going to approach this because this is not a, oh, maybe he’s out for a week, Scotty Miller will be fine type of situation. What’s going on everybody? I’m Noah Strabine. Thank you for jumping on to Steelers to go, your daily dose of Pittsburgh Steelers news and analysis. Find us on youtube.com/allsteelers talkers. Subscribe anywhere you get your podcast. The Pittsburgh Steelers return from the by-week. They face the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at AAR Stadium, beginning their AFC North showdowns for the first time in 2025. And yes, it is exciting. And yes, their grip in the AFC North is large right now. It is a good one to have. The Steelers got to feel great about where they are at three and one and the fact that everybody around them that they needed to fall has fallen. It’s early in the season. There are 13 games left and the Pittsburgh Steelers can have a lot of things happen. But right now, what they’re working on is the thing that did happen against Minnesota. a situation that isn’t ideal for them that they came into the year worried to be honest would happen didn’t have the depth to fill it thought it would happen to DK McAfe that’s where the worry was instead it happened to Calvin Austin they were hit with an injury where those injuries or that injury is going to cause them to figure things out in a much larger scale because when it first happened there was hope. X-rays came back negative. Calvin Austin was a guy that was set to miss minimal time if any and the Steelers would somehow avoid the inevitable of having to figure out their wide receiver room. And if Roman Wilson, Scotty Miller, Ben Scoranic are good enough. if Pat Farm Youth could really be a wide receiver too along with Jonnu Smith and if the Steelers have their plan figured out and everything was going to be a okay. Now they’re here and they’re preparing for doom by going out and signing Raheem Blackshere who is a veteran return man to say there’s a chance we need more returners. There’s a chance Calvin Austin misses time and we have to figure some stuff out as a punt returner and a wide receiver, which is not a good sign at all. They’re also looking at it saying, “Okay, how much time? What is the leash for Roman Wilson, Scotty Miller, and Ben Scoronic?” Because if I had to guess, just judging on what I saw yesterday, and I’ll get into that in a second, the Steelers are going to have to go through the by-week without Calvin Austin on the field. They will not get their wide receiver two back before the NFL finalizes all trades and you now have to go into the back half of the season with the roster that you have outside of free agents and say, “This is it. Make or break, do or die. what can we do here with the group of guys that we have? And maybe that’s totally fine. But that gives the Steelers Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Green Bay to say, “Okay, what are we going to do? And is it going to be good enough? And can we in any fashion figure something out to improve this?” because I don’t think Calvin Austin’s coming back in three weeks. I think he’s more of a candidate for injured reserve than he is a candidate to return before that four-week mark actually occurs. And I think the Steelers will try to avoid IR and do everything in their power to get him on the field as quickly as possible. But this is what I saw yesterday. That does not make it seem very optimistic that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to get the results that they actually want. Calvin Austin spoke to the media yesterday during which he had a hard time picking up his shoulder. His arm did not look great and he was in visible discomfort at times while talking. That’s not ideal when a week has gone by and you are still sitting here hoping that you can get past the pain part of where things are. Four or five times he said just taking it one day at a time. I’ll listen to the medical staff and coach T. What’s up nation? I’ve teamed up with DraftKings. The next great touchdown is coming. you can bet on it. And the best way to do so is through DraftKings Sportsbook, where new customers who bet $5 get $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins. With the by-week behind us, now is the time to get in on the action. Love the thrill of live betting? DraftKings has got you covered. Bet live on in progress games right as they happen. Then use your bonus bets to stay in on the action and bet DraftKings same game parlays for a shot at an even bigger payout. And don’t worry if sports betting is not yet available in your state, you’re fine. You can still join in on all of the fun with DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports and have the shot to win cash prizes. New customers who bet $5 get $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins. Sign up using my promo code all Steelers and get in on the action only at DraftKings Sportsbook. No clue about if he’s going on IR. Just taking it one day at a time. I’ll listen to the medical staff and Coach T. That is never a good sign when a player is not ready to talk about anything and is simply just saying, “Look at I’m hoping for the best. I’m hoping for the best.” The Steelers have to have some sort of leash on Miller and Roman and Ben Skironic. And Scoranic is a guy that he’s not going to get removed from this team. You want Ben Scoranic on your roster. He’s a good guy to have on your roster. But Scotty Miller has to quickly prove whether he’s wide receiver 2 material or not. And Roma Wilson has to prove whether or not he’s actually usable on this offense or not. And it’s not me or Jacob or anybody else sitting around saying Roman Wilson stinks. Can’t believe that the Steelers aren’t using him and that’s why the Steelers aren’t using him. No, it’s the Steelers don’t have faith in Roman Wilson. That’s why they’re not using him. So, he has to build that faith. If not, the Steelers are going to get dangerously close to the trade deadline and they may find themselves itching for a move. They may find themselves saying, “We need to make something happen.” Whether that’s Chris, whether that’s Calvin Ridley, whether that’s Rasheed Shahed, whether that’s if you want to call Green Bay, I guess, but chances are that’s not going to work out anymore. But whoever the guy is, whoever the player is that the Pittsburgh Steelers want to go out and get, they are most likely going to find out in the next two weeks whether or not they need to itch for one because I don’t think Calvin Austin’s coming back right after the trade deadline. And that means the Steelers got to figure something out to say, look at we need a solution because Calvin’s going to miss another three weeks, four weeks. That’s not great. Not ideal. And what happens if he’s not 100% when he comes back? What happens if the Pittsburgh Steelers want to keep him healthy? What happens if the Pittsburgh Steelers use this time to realize, okay, if this happens again, which injuries always happen in the NFL, we are screwed and it can’t happen again. They’re three and one. They’re not sitting here thinking, oh man, a wild card game would be awesome. No, they want the North. And then from there, they want the AFC. They want to win playoff games. They want to go on a run. They want to win a Super Bowl. And to do so, you realize really quickly in the next couple of weeks whether or not if Scotty Miller needs to be the guy in the playoffs, he could be. I think that’s what we’re figuring out here. This is not a short-term injury to the fact or or in a way that the Steelers could avoid those conversations internally. This is a long-term injury to the point where Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin are going to have to sit down in the next two weeks and say this is how this group has looked. Is it good enough? I’m not going to say whether or not it is. I have no idea. We’ll wait and see on that one. Nobody’s going to sit around and guess that Scotty Miller, Ben Scaranic, and Roman Wilson are going to get the job done and make everybody feel very comfortable about the group if DK and Calvin were to miss more time later in the season. Nobody would guess that. Nobody would predict that. But we got to see. And if they aren’t, I bet you the Steelers actually have an urge to go make a move. And this comes after talking to Calvin Austin because last week I did not have that urge. There was no part of me that had any inkling that the Steelers were going to go out and trade for a wide receiver. But the way that we sit here today, watching Calvin Austin yesterday, listening to Calvin Austin yesterday, it was very clear this is not a good news situation. And the Steelers are going to get that wide awake moment that oh, okay, here it is in the next two weeks and they have to make a decision during that time what they’re going to do about it. Again, maybe it all works out great, maybe it doesn’t. And well, Calvin Austin’s going to miss some time, which means that the Steelers actually are going to have to make a decision here. Thank you guys so much for jumping on to another episode of Steelers to Go, your daily dose of Pittsburgh Steelers news and analysis. Find us on youtube.com/allsteelers talkers. Subscribe anywhere you get your podcast. As always, you can find all my work at si.com/nflers. And with that said, I will be back later for the flagship show. Until then, enjoy another beautiful day in the Berg. Peace.

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