With a 2- 2 standing ahead of Week 5, the injury news has arrived for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Michael Pittman Jr., whom they acquired with high expectations to put opposite DK Metcalf, rolled through the locker room on a one-legged scooter on Wednesday. His left foot hovered above the floor, bare. And the Steelers have now confirmed the worst.
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Pittman had been dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, which is caused by repetitive stress and microtearing of the fascia from high-impact training on the field. This caused him to miss Week 2 against the New England Patriots. Unfortunately, he re-aggravated the same foot injury during mid-week practice. Head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that the wideout is expected to miss multiple weeks, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter on X.
“It’s the same foot, so it’s going to be a multiple-week injury,” McCarthy said. “We’re still going through the evaluation of his roster position.”
The timing makes things even worse. Pittsburgh hosts the Indianapolis Colts (Pittman’s former team) on Sunday, and both teams sit at 2-2. However, while the Steelers carry a minus-10 point differential, the Colts sit at merely minus-2. And with the Steelers favored by 2.5 points at home against the Colts this week, it’s crucial the team comes away with a win. A loss would drop Pittsburgh to 2-3 against a franchise that has not won at Acrisure Stadium since the 2008 season.
The Steelers acquired Pittman from the Colts in the offseason to boost their passing attack and have a reliable, big-bodied target paired with Metcalf. The trade made sense, as Pittman has two 1,000-yard seasons in Indianapolis, while maintaining his productivity across six seasons with them. The only reason the Colts gave him up was that they couldn’t afford him, and the Steelers signed him to a three-year, $59 million extension.
However, the reality has been different for the Steelers. Since joining, Pittman caught seven passes on 12 targets for 89 yards. On top of that, he missed a good portion of the training camp due to an undisclosed injury. After sitting out Week 2, he returned for Weeks 3 and 4 but never looked right. He averaged 3.4 yards per target over those two games.
With him gone, the Steelers are most expected to rely on Roman Wilson and rookie Germie Bernard, besides Metcalf, to score points.
And if you look at Wilson and Aaron Rodgers‘ pair, there is certainly hope for Pittsburgh. Despite not being a crucial part of the offense in his first two seasons, Wilson has become a top target for the quarterback.
Against the Cleveland, he turned six targets into three catches for 74 yards and a touchdown. Combining it with Week 3, he recorded touchdown receptions in consecutive games for the first time in his career. So far, he’s averaging 13.4 yards per reception.
Meanwhile, Metcalf has been particularly impressed with the second-round pick, Bernard, believing “it’s very difficult trying to learn the signals and the offense as well,” and he’s keeping up well. So far, the rookie sits with seven receptions on 11 targets.
It’s still premature to eliminate Pittman entirely from Week 5’s lineup. As McCarthy said, the team is still evaluating the extent of his injury, and by extension, his roster situation. Until Friday’s injury report comes in, Pittsburgh could only hope not to lose a veteran target at the moment.