The Pittsburgh Steelers have added RB Jaylen Warren to the injury report on Monday morning with an illness, making his status officially questionable for Monday Night Football against the Miami Dolphins.
According to Tom Pelissero, he’s optimistic about playing tonight.
“Jaylen Warren woke up sick and is getting fluids, but I’m told he’s optimistic about playing tonight.”
Questionable typically denotes a 50-50 chance of playing. In Warren’s case, it might be difficult to play with such a late illness, especially in frigid temperatures of around 12 degrees tonight.
The Steelers have another back that they trust in Kenneth Gainwell, but Warren has been a critical part of the one-two punch in the backfield. At times, he’s been the Steelers’ best player this season. Especially in the cold weather, it was expected for both teams to potentially rely on their ground game more than normal.
This could mean more work for rookie RB Kaleb Johnson, who has otherwise been reduced to about three or four snaps and one or two carries per game. Trey Sermon was recently released from the practice squad, which leaves Max Hurleman and Lew Nichols as the only two backs on the practice squad. If Nichols gets elevated by 4:00 PM ET today, that will give us a pretty good indication that Warren is unable to go.
Gainwell has carried the full load before, and did a very good job of it in Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings in Ireland. He had 19 carries for 99 yards and two TDs on the ground and another six receptions for 35 yards through the air.
Still, losing the team’s leading rusher without time to properly prepare isn’t ideal. Warren has 159 carries for 652 yards and four TD this season on the ground and another 30 receptions for 277 yards and two TDs through the air. He leads the team in total scrimmage yards by 164 yards with DK Metcalf coming in second.
This also throws a wrench in their kick return plans if Warren is unable to go. Ke’Shawn Williams was inactive last week which had Warren and Gainwell returning kicks. I’m not sure if the Steelers would want to risk the only healthy back they trust for heavy volume on the KR unit at that point, though they may have to. Kaleb Johnson is still technically listed on the depth chart as a kick returner, but he hasn’t done that since his error in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks.
