The Pittsburgh Steelers had another training camp practice on Sunday and it was yet another day that quarterback Russell Wilson was not a full participant as he continues to work his way back from injury.
Wilson has been a non-participant over the first four days of training camp practice due to a calf injury he suffered while pushing a sled during the team's conditioning test on the day players reported, which was Wednesday last week.
But Wilson was doing more on Sunday than he has at any session thus far, which means he is getting close to returning.
Still decked out in a ball cap, Wilson was throwing more during the team's latest practice, and he was spotted doing a footwork drill. It doesn't appear that he's hampered at all by the calf based on the videos provided by beat writers.
Russell Wilson doing more today. Still in a ballcqp pic.twitter.com/LvrUgsEcrl
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) July 28, 2024
Russell Wilson definitely doing the most he’s done in training camp so far. He just went through these agility drills and the end of the line, not going full speed. pic.twitter.com/1ptwuXE5Xj
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) July 28, 2024
Head coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that Wilson's participation increased and he expects the veteran to do some work in team periods on Tuesday.
Mike Tomlin said Russell Wilson’s participation increased today, and he expects to work the quarterback into some team periods when camp resumes after tomorrow’s off day
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) July 28, 2024
Wilson's injury was never considered serious, but the team wisely decided to take it slow with him, seeing as how it's so early in training camp and there's simply no reason to risk aggravating the injury further.
In the meantime, fellow signal-caller Justin Fields has been getting the first-team reps and has had some highlight moments, which has led some to believe he could use this opportunity to supplant Wilson ahead of the 2024 campaign.
But that remains highly unlikely. After all, head coach Mike Tomlin said back in March that Wilson was in the "pole position" for the starting job, and he noted that nothing has changed upon the team's arrival to training camp.
It's going to take a lot more than a handful of missed practices for Wilson to lose the job. That said, all bets are off if Wilson struggles during the regular season.
Pittsburgh will have the day off on Monday and the pads are scheduled to come on for Tuesday's session. It'll be interesting to see if Wilson can make it back to full participation for that day, but it certainly looks like he's close.
