Last week, Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was on track to return to game action, until he aggravated a knee injury in practice. He’s now back at practice, again.
Smith-Schuster participated on a limited basis on Wednesday, four days before a key game at New York against the Jets.
“We’ll put him in an environment,” coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday regarding Smith-Schuster. “We’ll work him. We’ll see the quality of that work. We’ll wait and feel the ramifications of that work, and then make judgments accordingly based on performance and/or health.”
Smith-Schuster last played on November 14, the night nearly five weeks ago that all hell broke loose in Cleveland. He absorbed a pair of illegal hits while catching a pass, suffering both a concussion and a knee injury.
In 10 games this year, he has 38 catches for 524 yards and three touchdowns. That marks a sharp decline from a team-MVP performance in 2018, during which Smith-Schuster generated 111 catches for 1,426 yards and seven scores.
Steelers tight end Vance McDonald fully participated in practice with a concussion. Not practicing were linebacker Mark Barron (not injury related), cornerback Artie Burns (illness), guard David DeCastro (not injury related), center Maurkice Pouncey (not injury related), tackle Alejandro Villanueva (not injury related), and linebacker T.J. Watt (not injury related).
