WRs return: JuJu Smith-Schuster practices, James Washington off covid list for Steelers
The two most veteran and tenured members of the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers corps returned to practice.
Just as the Steelers began their workout Thursday afternoon, they announced JuJu Smith-Schuster had been cleared to practice for the first time since he suffered a shoulder injury early during an Oct. 10 victory against Denver.
Smith-Schuster went on the injured reserve list six days later and was presumed to be out for the season. The extension of the Steelers’ season into the playoffs, though, apparently has at least opened up the possibility Smith-Schuster could return to action. Hitting the practice field opens up a 21-day window in which he can be activated to the 53-man roster.
The Steelers visit the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC wild-card game Sunday.
Smith-Schuster was a 2017 second-round pick of the Steelers who is playing this season on a one-year contract before again hitting unrestricted free agency this spring.
Also headed for that status is 2018 second-round pick James Washington, another receiver who practiced Thursday. Washington went on the NFL’s covid-19 list Saturday, the day before the Steelers’ regular-season finale victory at Baltimore.
The Steelers played that game with only four wide receivers in uniform and effectively only three as part of the offense because first-year Cody White is more of a special-teams contributor.
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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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