Injuries and illness have decimated the Pittsburgh Steelers at safety to begin November. To combat the issues, though, the team has elected to load up at running back for Week 9.
The Steelers announced Sunday morning they will have five running backs active for the November 2 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts.
The three running backs on the 53-man roster — Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell and Kaleb Johnson — are all active for the showdown. The Steelers also elevated running backs Trey Sermon and Lew Nichols from the practice squad.
In addition to five running backs, Mike Tomlin’s team will dress four tight ends. An hour and a half before kickoff, Pittsburgh announced wide receiver Scotty Miller, safeties Chuck Clark and Jabrill Peppers, linebacker Cole Holcomb, guard Andrus Peat and defensive lineman Logan Lee were its inactive players for Week 9.
The Steelers will host the Colts at 1 pm ET at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday.
Steelers Have 5 Running Backs Active for Week 9
The Steelers added two safeties this past week, including former Washington starter Darrick Forrest. But rather than promote Forrest from the practice squad, Tomlin and his coaching staff elevated two running backs.
Sermon will be making his third appearance for the Steelers this season. He has yet to play a snap on offense. With all the healthy running backs for Pittsburgh in Week 9, it’s unlikely he will get a chance on offense Sunday.
But Sermon gives the team another option at kick returner. The veteran running back returned two kickoffs for 51 yards in his first two games for Pittsburgh.
The Green Bay Packers drafted Nichols in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Green Bay waived Nichols at the end of his first training camp. The Philadelphia Eagles then signed the running back.
After signing with the Eagles practice squad multiple times over two years, Nichols has spent this season with the Steelers practice squad.
Sunday will be his NFL regular season debut. At Central Michigan in college, Nichols averaged five yards per carry and posted 3,635 yards from scrimmage in 32 games.
Warren leads the Steelers with 373 rushing yards this season, but Gainwell has a team-high three rushing touchdowns. Johnson has registered 36 rushing yards while averaging 2.6 yards per carry.
Major Safety Concerns for Mike Tomlin’s Defense
The Steelers appear ready to deploy a hyper ball-control style of offense with five running backs and four tight ends Sunday. That’s likely to protect the team’s defense, which is off to one of the worst starts in the franchise’s history.
Tomlin and his defense are also dealing with major depth problems at safety. The team placed starter DeShon Elliott on injured reserve Friday. The Steelers then ruled out safeties Peppers and Clark for Week 9 on Saturday.
Peppers has a quadriceps injury while Clark is overcoming an illness.
Without those three players, the Steelers will only officially have two safeties dressed for the Colts matchup. Plus, one of those safeties, Kyle Dugger, just joined the team through a trade with the New England Patriots less than a week ago.
In all likelihood, the Steelers are planning to use former All-Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsey at safety against the Colts.
Ramsey has lined up all over the Pittsburgh defense this season. He has taken 51 snaps at box safety and 44 snaps at free safety in his first seven games with the Steelers. But a majority of his snaps have been at cornerback.
The defense could survive with Ramsey’s move to safety. However, there has to be major concern for what the Steelers will do if something happens to Ramsey, Dugger or the team’s other starting safety Juan Thornhill.
Should one of those three suffer an injury against the Colts, the Steelers will have to move another defensive back with no safety experience in an NFL game to the back end of the secondary.
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