Mike Hilton downgraded to limited at Steelers practice; another player out with illness

It remains unclear if Mike Hilton will be able to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. But the slot cornerback is not trending in the right direction.

A day after making it through a full practice for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury Oct. 18, Hilton was downgraded to a limited participant Thursday, according to the injury report.

But arguably the most eyebrow-raising aspect of Thursday’s report was an item at the bottom that under normal circumstances would barely even register notice. No. 3 running back Anthony McFarland missed practice for a reason listed as “illness.”

A player having an illness of any sort is alarming three days after the Steelers announced that a player — later revealed as tight end Vance McDonald — had tested positive for coronavirus. Four other players went on the reserve/covid-19 list Tuesday after deemed as “high-risk” contacts of McDonald.

McDonald missed practice last week on Friday; his positive test was not administered until Sunday.

Also Thursday, the top two nose tackles on the depth chart — Tyson Alualu and Isaiah Buggs — were limited participants in practice. Alualu suffered a knee ligament injury in the Nov. 1 game at Baltimore that kept him out of this past Sunday’s win at Dallas. Buggs has a nagging ankle injury that limited his practice last week but did not prevent him from playing against the Cowboys.

Fullback Derek Watt has been a full participant in both practices this week after he’d missed four of the previous five games because of a hamstring injury.

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