McCarthy: Max Iheanachor Not Likely To Play Against Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers OT Max Iheanachor will likely miss his second straight preseason game, as head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters on Monday that the rookie first-round pick is not expected to play Friday against the New York Jets. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted the news.

Iheanachor left Pittsburgh’s training camp practice on Aug. 6 with an upper arm/shoulder issue. He briefly participated in individual drills during the team’s Aug. 10 practice but has otherwise remained out of practice as he rehabs.

McCarthy did not rule out Iheanachor playing against the Jets.

“If he can get in [and practice] there Wednesday, we’ll see what happens,” he said via Mike DeFabo of The Athletic on Twitter.

Iheanachor is competing with Dylan Cook for the starting right tackle job. If he can’t play on Friday, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for him to win the position battle, as he’ll have at most one preseason game to show what he’s capable of. He’s also missed a good chunk of practice time.

He did have a strong start to training camp, but the injury halted his upward trajectory. He didn’t suit up in the team’s 28-9 win over the Green Bay Packers last Thursday, but Cook’s shaky performance left the door open for Iheanachor. Missing a second straight game closes that door just a bit more.

While Iheanachor was unable to suit up, the Steelers’ rookies as a whole had a strong performance against Green Bay, and they’ll look to carry that over into this week’s action.

This marks the third straight season that the Steelers have lost their first-round pick to an injury in training camp or the preseason. Two years ago, Troy Fautanu suffered an injury in the team’s preseason opener against the Houston Texans, while last year Derrick Harmon was injured in the preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers. Fautanu began his career as a backup before seeing action in Week 2, while Harmon missed the Steelers’ first two games before playing Week 3.

We’ll see if Iheanachor can get on the field for Friday, and if not, he’ll target Aug. 28 against the Bills for his return. It’ll be interesting to see if the Steelers would be comfortable making him the starter with just one preseason contest under his belt, but it feels unlikely.