Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster, Najee Harris to play, Pressley Harvin the punter vs. Chiefs

The Pittsburgh Steelers made it official Saturday that two of their highest-profile players will be available for Sunday’s postseason opener.

Running back Najee Harris was upgraded to assured to play from a questionable designation given to him during Friday’s league-mandated injury report. Less than two hours later Saturday afternoon, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was added to the active roster from the injured reserve list.

He will play for the first time since Oct. 10 when the Steelers face the Kansas City Chiefs in a 8:15 p.m. Sunday kickoff.

The development with Harris was expected, a day after he practiced fully and said his right elbow felt well despite missing roughly half of last week’s regular-season finale at the Baltimore Ravens.

Steelers teammates were tight-lipped on whether WR JuJu Smith-Schuster might return against the Chiefs, but they were happy to see him at practice. https://t.co/DYpBJDT6C0

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) January 15, 2022

While the news about Smith-Schuster’s status wasn’t a total surprise after he returned to practice this week, before Thursday it had long been assumed he was unquestionably out for the season because of a shoulder injury suffered Oct. 10 that required surgery days later.

In a message posted to the verified Twitter account of Smith-Schuster read: “God answered my prayers & I’ve recovered from my season-ending shoulder injury earlier than expected. I can’t believe I get another chance to take the field with this team and play in a playoff game to keep our season alive. Steelers Nation, Here We Go!”

God answered my prayers & I’ve recovered from my season-ending shoulder injury earlier than expected. I can’t believe I get another chance to take the field with this team and play in a playoff game to keep our season alive. Steelers Nation, #HereWeGo! pic.twitter.com/SdAKl3SrYx

— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) January 15, 2022

With veteran James Washington off the NFL covid-19 list after he’d missed the Ravens game, the Steelers have a deep receivers group available in their effort to keep up offensively against the high-powered Chiefs.

The longest-tenured member of the Steelers’ WR corps, Smith-Schuster had two seasons of at least 97 catches and three with at least seven touchdowns between 2017-20.

Harris led the NFL in touches as a rookie with 382 and was fourth in yards from scrimmage (1,667).

The player dropped to make room for Smith-Schuster was punter Corliss Waitman, who’d filled in for Pressley Harvin III during Week 16 and 17 games while Harvin was grieving the death of his father. Waitman had better statistics than Harvin, but the Steelers chose to stick with their talented-but-inconsistent rookie starter.

Late in the day Friday, the Steelers added reserve cornerback James Pierre to the covid list. They also swapped players on and off the practice squad: kicker Sam Sloman was added, and receiver Tyler Vaughns was removed. The Steelers in recent weeks have been deploying Sloman as an apparent insurance policy against veteran kicker Chris Boswell testing positive for covid on short notice before a game.

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