Steelers to be without starting DBs Joey Porter Jr., DeShon Elliott for 2nd straight game
After a second consecutive week of sitting out practices, Pittsburgh Steelers starting defensive backs DeShon Elliott and Joey Porter Jr. officially were given an “out” designations for a second straight game.
Friday’s league-mandated status report officially declared that neither Elliott, a safety, nor Porter, a cornerback, will be available to the Steelers for Sunday’s game at the New England Patriots. Elliott suffered a knee injury early during the Sept. 7 season opener at the New York Jets, and Porter has been out since suffering a hamstring injury during the second half of that game.
Veteran Chuck Clark has filled in for Elliott at strong safety, and the Steelers have deployed Jalen Ramsey at outside cornerback most often as the fill-in for Porter. The plan for Ramsey had been for him to play at various spots around the field. The primary beneficiary of playing time in Porter’s stead has been veteran cornerback Brandin Echols.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin already had announced that outside linebacker Alex Highsmith (ankle) would miss the game in New England. Nick Herbig will start in his place. Reserve offensive lineman Max Scharping suffered a season-ending injury during Wednesday’s practice.
Though he was on the injury report all week because of an oblique injury, inside linebacker Patrick Queen did not miss any practice reps and will play in New England.
Rookie first-round pick Derrick Harmon (knee) is listed as questionable to make his NFL debut.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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