Many fans were excited to see what Calvin Austin III could bring to the Steelers' offense in his rookie year. However, a foot injury prevented him from even getting the chance to step onto the field. Not even in the preseason.
Austin confirmed with me Thursday the surgery he underwent was to repair a Lisfranc injury in his left foot. Dr. Martin O'Malley performed the procedure, the same physician who repaired Cam Newton's Lisfranc injury and Kevin Durant's ruptured Achilles.
The fourth-round pick out of Memphis became one of the ones to watch during training camp in Latrobe, but mysteriously injured his foot during the walkthrough the day before the Steelers' preseason opener against the Seahawks at Acrisure Stadium. Austin wound up on IR prior to the start of the season.
Austin returned to practice the week after the fourth game of the season, the minimum number of games a player on IR is required to miss. That started his 21-day clock to be activated from IR, but during that three-week period, Austin's level participation completely dissipated.
At the time the Steelers announced Austin would not be activated at the end of his 21-day window, some speculated that it had something to do with Mike Tomlin or Matt Canada not having a place for Austin in the offense. On the contrary, sources confirmed with me at the time that this decision was purely based on his initial injury.
And, with Austin strongly agreeing me, a Lisfranc injury is catastrophic for a receiver that's known for elite speed and having the ability to sharply cut at a moment's notice.
"Lisfranc injuries are no joke," Austin told me Thursday.
The good news is the surgery was successful, and Austin is progressing quite nicely. He makes his way around the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex every now and then, sometimes sporting a walking boot. But, when I asked if he'll possibly be ready for full activity by the time OTAs come around next spring, it wasn't even a question to him.
"No doubt about it," Austin told me. "They keep saying I'm ahead of schedule. No doubt."
MORE STEELERS
2. Speaking of player surgeries, Chris Wormley is still around the facility after undergoing surgery on his left knee. He's moving around on crutches with a big brace on his left leg. But, he's still finding time to interact with his teammates, including some dice and card games. -- Chris Halicke on the South Side
3. In Wormley's absence, Isaiahh Loudermik and DeMarvin Leal will be first in line to earn reps in his stead. While Leal has been used in a number of ways this season, including filling in at T.J. Watt's position while he was on IR, Loudermilk has been battling the inconsistency of being inactive or active any given week. I asked him how challenging that's been for him this season. "It's been a struggle," Loudermilk told me. "One week I could get some reps. The next week I might not get any. That's kind of how the year has been. I've just been trying to take whatever opportunity I have, make the most of it and now is going to be a big opportunity for me." -- Halicke
4. While upset over the loss of Wormley, Leal is also looking to do everything he can to take advantage of every rep given to him. Although, this will be a different challenge. To this point in the season, Leal has lined up outside the tackles 70 times while lining up inside the tackles only 38 times, per Pro Football Focus. Filling in for Wormley will put him more in a traditional defensive tackle position, but it's a challenge he's looking forward to taking on. "No matter if it's that position or another one, I'm still going to be working," Leal told me. "Every rep matters, especially with an opportunity like this. It sucks to have an important guy go down. But, every opportunity now is up to me." -- Halicke
5. The three-safety look is continuing to evolve, but Terrell Edmunds, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Damontae Kazee like the way it's been working so far. This was a package the Steelers ran more than half the time against the Ravens, and the comfortability with it is growing week after week. So much so, all three are feeling better and better with playing in it, no matter if they're playing high or close to the line of scrimmage to support the run or cover a tight end one on one. "I think it's been smooth. It's been looking good for us. We're just going to try to keep building off of it," Edmunds told me. "You can mix and match people, put one of us on different people, but also stop the run." -- Halicke
6. Pat Freiermuth is dealing with a foot injury he suffered on his first catch against Baltimore. He hasn't practiced so far this week, so Friday's participation will play a big role in his availability at Carolina. When I asked him how he feels about the possibility of playing, all he told me is, "We'll see." -- Halicke
7. Tomlin has once again made it a point to come into the locker room after practice this week. To reiterate, this has not been a normal thing this season. Tomlin is clearly keeping his finger on the pulse of his team -- before, during and after practice. He's not allowing the circumstances to dictate the team's mindset. Montravius Adams' sentiment about wanting to win for Tomlin, that's a feeling that's felt by several other Steelers players I've spoken with, and probably many more. This team just wants to win. -- Halicke
PENGUINS
8. From watching the game against the Stars on Monday and seeing the way Jason Zucker hobbled off the ice in the tunnel, it seems like his injury is a foot injury related to a heavy shot he blocked late in the second period. Zucker's obviously had a tough time staying healthy in his time as a Penguin, but this doesn't seem like the type of injury that should be lumped in with the others. Last season Zucker's issue was a recurring core muscle injury that kept flaring up or was re-aggravated. Taking a hard one-timer off the foot isn't a matter of being "injury-prone," but just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. --Taylor Haase in Cranberry, Pa.
9. It can’t be overstated what a massive blow Zucker’s injury is to this team. Although his production tailed off a bit before the injury, he was continuing to make his presence felt with his tenacity and physicality all over the ice. With Zucker on the ice at 5-on-5 this season, the Penguins have controlled a whopping 63.2% of the expected goals, per Evolving-Hockey. Not only is that the highest mark on the team, but it’s the seventh-highest mark of every skater in the NHL to play at least 250 minutes at 5-on-5 this season. It gets better. Offensively, the Penguins are generating 3.88 expected goals for per hour with Zucker out there at 5-on-5. Once again, that’s tops on the Penguins. It’s the third-best mark of all league forwards. -- Danny Shirey in Sunrise, Fla.
10. Mike Sullivan is hopeful that Zucker’s injury won’t keep him sidelined for too long. While that would be great for the team, it might be even better for Zucker. He has shared on numerous occasions how much of a struggle last season was for him, and even explained that he started to lose his love for the game a little bit because of how mentally taxing it was to be out of the lineup. His hot start to the season brought that love back, but another season on and off the shelf is sure to weigh on him mentally. -- Shirey
11. There were a number of reasons why Mark Friedman was the better call-up over Ty Smith this time. Merit aside, Friedman is a right-handed defenseman replacing a right-handed defenseman in Jeff Petry, and is just a better option as a No. 7 defenseman because he's more comfortable playing on both sides of a defense pairing. More importantly, Smith was sick at the time of the recall and had missed two consecutive practices in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as a result. Since Petry is going to be out awhile, something we might see happen is the Penguins could keep Friedman in the NHL until he's nearing that 10-game/30-day threshold that would require him to go on waivers again to be sent down. Unless he's playing so well at that time that it wouldn't make sense to take him out of the lineup, the Penguins could swap him at that time with Smith, who is waivers-exempt for another 36 games. -- Haase
12. Remember when Friedman (despite being in Wilkes-Barre at the time) was the top answer to my Survey Says on which teammate players would trust the least to drive their car? Well, he heard about it, and gave me his response on Wednesday. He seemed amused by it and doesn't disagree with the pick: "Oh yeah, I'm a real bad driver. I crashed my car -- obviously on accident -- I just hit some ice. That's probably the reason why you got the answer." -- Haase
13. It'll be interesting to see what the Penguins do to fill Evgeni Malkin's skates at center if he ends up missing time due to injury. While Jeff Carter was the in-game plug after Malkin exited with a lower-body injury on Thursday night, it's overwhelmingly obvious that Carter isn't a solution as the Penguins' No. 2 center. That said, do the Penguins have any other realistic choices? Teddy Blueger and Ryan Poehling would be punching well above their weight in that role, and while I think Drew O'Connor might be able to have a positive impact on the second line's ability to control the lion's share of chances, I heavily doubt his production would check in at a level that's needed from someone in that spot. Rickard Rakell is another option, as he played some center over his years with the Ducks, but then the Penguins would be breaking up their best line. There aren't any easy answers here. -- Shirey
14. Blueger joked last week that Casey DeSmith won't admit that the Ted teddy bear character (from the Seth MacFarlane movie) on the back of his Winter Classic helmet is a tribute to him. I asked DeSmith this week if the Ted is in fact a tribute to Blueger, and he laughed and said "Can confirm." He said that his one regret with the design of the mask is not putting the Ted cartoon in a little No. 53 Penguins jersey. -- Haase
15. Malkin's wife Anna and son Nikita are back to splitting their time between Pittsburgh and Florida. Nikita goes to school in Florida and is actually a pretty good soccer player for a team there. -- Haase
16. Speaking of family being in town, Sidney Crosby's dad Troy has been in town a lot more this season. He's had at least two separate trips to Pittsburgh this season and was here for training camp, and went on that entire (awful) western Canada/Seattle road trip. -- Haase
PIRATES
17. Ke'Bryan Hayes was never healthy in 2022. He had a weight lifting injury before spring training last year, and that morphed into his back injury that he dealt with all season. The good news is the report I got him is good, and getting healthy has been the main concern this offseason. The offensive numbers haven't been there the last two years, but Hayes has been hampered almost the entire time. There's unexplored upside that could come about if he stays healthy. -- Alex Stumpf
18. Speaking of players on the mend, Roberto Pérez made his winter ball debut in Puerto Rico this week. He told me at the end of the season he didn't expect to play winter ball, but it's clear that he needed to showcase himself before he gets serious consideration, including from the Pirates. I still see this reunion being the most likely outcome for the Pirates' catching search. -- Stumpf
19. Sounds like a Tyler Heineman reunion is going to happen. The pitchers I've talked to this offseason expressed their admiration for the job he and Jason Delay did given the circumstances last year. It looks like they'll be in competition with one another for a big-league job this spring since Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis will start the season in the minors. -- Stumpf
20. Vince Velasquez upped his slider usage last year. It could go higher next year. It got some extra depth last season and it's a pitch that had much better peripherals than actual results. The playbook for Tyler Anderson and José Quintana was to lean on the offspeed and breaking stuff more. If the Pirates hope that Velazquez can have a bounce back as well, it's worth exploring that as well. -- Stumpf
21. There was some confusion from social media this week when Ben Cherington stated that Velasquez was going to be a starter. Candidly, pitchers don't sign one-year deals with 100-loss teams unless they get the opportunity they are looking for. Velasquez wanted to start and he'll get that chance. If he succeeds, great. If not, the Pirates have prospects waiting in Indianapolis. -- Stumpf
