Steelers Injury Report: Trai Turner returns to practice on Thursday

The Pittsburgh Steelers are into their weekly preparations for facing the Chargers in Los Angeles even though there are still a lot of questions about who will and won’t be available. As the Steelers take the practice field for the second time of the week to prepare for the Los Angeles Chargers, there was one new name on the injury list. In the second injury report of the week courtesy of the Steelers PR department, there were two players who were limited and three who did not practice.

Steelers PR Department

As a reminder, neither Ben Roethlisberger nor Minkah Fitzpatrick will show up on the teams injury report. Being on the Reserve/COVID-19 List, neither player is officially on the 53-man roster. Therefore, they do not end up on the report until they return to the roster. So even though they are not on the list, many are looking to see if either player can return in time for Sunday.

One player who did not play in the game on Monday night was wide receiver Chase Claypool who missed the game with a toe injury. In his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Claypool would be trying to work his way back into the lineup this week. On Wednesday, Claypool was back at practice in a limited role. On Thursday, Claypool was once again limited leaving Friday’s practice as the true indication if he will be able to return for Sunday.

The Steelers also suffered a number of in-game injuries in Week 10. T.J. Watt left the game at the end of the third-quarter and was not able to return with an ankle/hip injury. Although Coach Tomlin said that the Steelers would “leave the light on for him,” Watt did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday.

The Steelers also lost both starting guards on Sunday afternoon with both Kevin Dotson and Trai Turner leaving with ankle injuries. It was later reported Dotson suffered a high ankle sprain and could very well miss multiple games. As expected, Dotson did not participate in practice on Wednesday. As for Trai Turner, Coach Tomlin was much more optimistic about his return for this week in his press conference. Unfortunately, Turner was not able to take the field on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Steelers got one of their guards back as Trai Turner was a full participant in practice. As for Dotson, he was still unable to take the practice field.

Another key member of the Steeler secondary who only played a handful of snaps before leaving with an injury on Sunday was cornerback Joe Haden. Dealing with a foot injury, Haden missed the Steelers practice on Wednesday as well as Thursday.

The new player on the injury report on Thursday was rookie defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk. After playing the most defensive snaps of his career in Week 11 with 25, Loudermilk is yet another member of the Steelers to be hampered with a groin injury. Although he was limited in practice, it is unclear if it was an ailment which just kept him out of some of the action, or if the injury occurred during practice. Ultimately, Friday will give a better indication to the situation with the Steelers young defensive tackle.

The other player on the Steelers injury report is defensive captain Cameron Heyward. Not listed with any injury and instead labeled a coaches decision, Heyward was limited on Wednesday. As expected, Heyward returned as a full participant on Thursday.

As for the Chargers’ injury report, you can see the list below from Steelers.com:

Thursday, November 18

S Nasir Addely (Ankle) - Full
WR Keenan Allen (Knee) - Full
TE Stephen Anderson (Ankle) - Full
CB Michael Davis (Hamstring) - Full
S Alohi Gilman (Quadricep) - DNP
RB Justin Jackson (Quadricep) - Full
DL Justin Jones (Knee) - Full
DL Linval Joseph (Shoulder) - DNP
DB Trey Marshal (Ankle) - DNP
OLB Chris Rumph II (Wrist) - Full
DB Mark Webb Jr. (Knee) - DNP
QB Justin Herbert (Oblique) - Full

For more information on the Steelers and Chargers’ injury report, check out the BTSC Injury Report podcast below: