The Pittsburgh Steelers may have to bring Heath Miller out of retirement with the number of tight ends that are injured on their roster. As Vance McDonald was seen with his arm in a sling this week, Xavier Grimble has been placed on injured reserve with a calf issue.
Earlier in the week, Mike Tomlin didn't commit to ruling out McDonald or Grimble in Week 4. Now, Grimble will not only miss this week but he will be out for at least another seven weeks on top of that.
This offseason, Pittsburgh allowed Jesse James to depart in free agency to the Detroit Lions. With him departing from the team, the Steelers' depth at tight end worsened.
Along with that, McDonald is seemingly poised to miss some time. Therefore, Grimble was expected to be an option to replace him. Prior to being placed on injured reserve, Grimble has only caught one pass for three yards this season.
Injuries are beginning to mount up at the tight end position just three games into the season. Because of that, the Steelers traded for Nick Vannett from the Seattle Seahawks ahead of Monday's game versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
After acquiring Vannett, Tomlin was complimentary of Vannett after facing him just two weeks ago.
“He made a few plays against us a week ago, in the vertical passing game and so forth that was really kind of consistent with what we expect and had seen from him, and also, he was a handy [special] teamer,” Tomlin said of Vannett, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “This is a guy who started on their punt team and their kickoff return team against us just two weeks ago.”
With Vannett having a limited amount of time to get acclimated into the offense; it remains to be seen how many snaps he receives on Monday night. Nevertheless, he may be forced into a role with Grimble heading to IR this week.
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