Allen suffered a biceps injury in the Steelers win over Las Vegas, requiring surgery, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. With two games remaining and Pittsburgh in danger of elimination from postseason contention, Allen’s 2022 season has likely come to an end.
One of the two rookie wideouts the Steelers drafted this year will not start the season on time. Calvin Austin III joins safety Damontae Kazee in being moved to IR ahead of Week 1.
Because Pittsburgh carried both through to IR following Tuesday’s roster cut, each can return after four games. The NFL both increased the IR-return timetable from three games to four this season and, after unlimited IR comebacks could ensue in 2020 and 2021, limited players coming off IR to eight this year.
With Austin and Kazee shifting off the roster for the first four weeks, the Steelers re-signed linebacker Marcus Allen and offensive lineman Trent Scott. Allen has been with the team since 2018, while Scott — a Panthers spot starter over the past two seasons — initially caught on with Pittsburgh in May.
After flashing this offseason, Austin sustained a foot injury that has forced him to miss time. The Steelers took the Memphis in the fourth round (138th overall), doing so just before the Ravens planned to select him. The Austin pick came two rounds after Pittsburgh selected George Pickens. Pittsburgh’s second-rounder is expected to join Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool as the team’s top receivers. The Steelers, as they are wont to do, reloaded in the draft at the position — after letting JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington walk in free agency.
The Steelers had prepared to place Kazee on IR since his injury in their preseason finale. A 15-game Cowboys starter last season, Kazee is expected to miss extensive time due to a wrist injury. The Steelers placed safety Karl Joseph on IR before the season, but because they waited until after setting their roster to shift Kazee to the injured list, the latter is eligible to return during the year.
The Steelers had a number of difficult decisions to make leading up to the 53-man roster deadline, including the status of Mason Rudolph. The team ended up holding on to the quarterback, but the front office still had to cut a number of players to get to the roster limit:
Marcus Allen, a 2018 fifth-round pick, appeared in 33 games for Pittsburgh over the past four seasons. Justin Layne was a 2019 third-round pick by the Steelers, with the majority of his 43 appearances coming on special teams. Anthony McFarland was also a former Steelers draft pick, while Trent Scott was brought in this offseason to compete for an OL spot. Joe Haeg started two of his 12 appearances for the Steelers in 2021.
Henry Mondeaux spent the past two seasons in Pittsburgh, getting into 26 total games (two starts). After mostly seeing a special teams role during his rookie campaign, the defensive tackle saw more opportunities on defense in 2021, finishing with 16 tackles and two sacks. Buddy Johnson was a fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft. The linebacker got into four games as a rookie, collecting two tackles. Carlos Davis was a seventh-round pick by the Steelers in 2020. The defensive tackle collected 11 tackles in 11 games.
The deadline for teams to extend tender offers to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents looms next week. We’ll keep tabs on the latest here:
We’ve compiled a list of players who were placed or activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list today. In some instances (including Christian McCaffrey and Travis Etienne), players activated from the list remain on IR:
