The Pittsburgh Steelers elevated running backs Lew Nichols and Trey Sermon ahead of Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, the team announced Saturday afternoon.
The moves weren’t fully expected given the Steelers are healthy at running back and languishing defensively. Despite being down three safeties, Jabrill Peppers, Chuck Clark, and DeShon Elliott (who is on injured reserve), the team opted against elevating the newly-signed S Darrick Forrest for this game. Instead, Nichols is set to make his NFL debut while Sermon is elevated for a third time this season.
If every Steelers’ running back is active, Pittsburgh will dress five running backs: Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell, Kaleb Johnson, Trey Sermon, and Lew Nichols. The team also dresses four tight ends.
Signed mid-way through training camp to replace Cordarrelle Patterson, Nichols impressed as a tough runner with good preseason production. Sermon has NFL experience and good special teams value. Perhaps one of them will fill in for Peppers as the team’s personal protector, the quarterback of the punt team. Peppers had been filling in for Miles Killebrew, lost to a severe knee injury in Week 6. Pittsburgh also ruled out ILB Cole Holcomb and S Chuck Clark who play regular special teams snaps.
In two games with the Steelers, Sermon had failed to play a snap on offense. He returned two kicks for 21 yards. For his career, he’s carried the ball 134 times for 505 yards and three touchdowns. Sermon is out of elevations. To be added a fourth time, he must be signed to the 53-man roster.
Nichols was a college star at Central Michigan. In 2021, his 341 carries and 1,848 yards led the entire FBS. He was initially drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round of the 2023 draft but never appeared in a regular season game with the team. Here’s how we summed up his summer stint with the team.
“The only running back signed mid-camp, he took Patterson’s place on the roster. A deep reserve positioned at the end of the depth chart, he made a couple plays in camp and tied Kaleb Johnson and Jaylen Warren with three touchdowns. For the summer, his 3.4 YPC is respectable. But his greatest impact came in the preseason game, running tough and hard throughout behind a patchwork offensive line. His 31 yards nearly matched the rest of the running back’s 34.
As a pass blocker, he did okay. As a receiver, he caught just two passes, and his special teams value looks minimal. Another strong rushing performance could play his way onto the practice squad, but a lack of versatility is going to hurt him.”
Nichols played 21 preseason snaps on special teams across four phases, the majority coming on the punt rush/return team. As a runner, he carried the ball 11 times for 87 yards.
Pittsburgh and Indianapolis kickoff Sunday at 1 PM/EST.