Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt misses Thursday’s practice with a heel injury

Despite coming off of their bye week, the Pittsburgh Steelers have several injuries to monitor ahead of Sunday’s game against the Rams. The team’s most significant injury news is outside linebacker T.J. Watt’s heel injury that kept him out of Thursday’s practice. 

Watt didn’t practice Thursday after doing so on Wednesday. Making matters worse is that rookie outside linebacker Nick Herbig (who is Alex Highsmith’s backup) was limited Thursday with a quad injury. That leaves Highsmith and backup Markus Golden as Pittsburgh’s only healthy outside linebackers. 

If Watt can’t face the Rams, that would be a significant loss for the Steelers, who have a 1-10 record in games the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year hasn’t played in. Pittsburgh was 1-6 in games Watt missed last season and were 8-2 in games with Watt in the lineup. 

Watt’s impact is pretty evident in that he is one of the NFL’s most impactful defensive players. The five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro led the NFL in sacks in 2020 and ’21 and currently leads the league with eight sacks through six weeks. Watt, who recently turned 29, also has six career interceptions, 25 forced fumbles and 10 fumble recoveries. He and Highsmith each scored touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s first victory of the season, a Week 2 win over the Browns. 

Left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and tight end Pat Freiermuth were two other notable names who were on Pittsburgh’s injury report on Thursday. Moore was a full participant after he was inactive for the Steelers’ Week 5 win over Baltimore with a knee injury. Freiermuth, who was also inactive against the Ravens, was limited during Thursday’s practice as he continues to work through a hamstring injury. 

The Steelers are expected to have former Pro Bowl wideout Diontae Johnson back for Sunday’s game against the Rams. Johnson, who has been a full practice participant at practice the past two days, hasn’t played since he injured his hamstring during the Steelers’ season-opening loss to the 49ers.