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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — With a full week of practice under his belt, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson is poised to be active for the first time this season, serving as the No. 2 quarterback behind Justin Fields against the Las Vegas Raiders, coach Mike Tomlin said Friday.
“He’s probably going to be active as the No. 2 quarterback,” Tomlin said after practice. “Like what I’ve seen out here, but health and rust are two different things. I thought he had a good week displaying his health, his ability to protect himself. Now it’s just the process of getting reacclimated to the ball.”
Though he was named the starter after training camp, since aggravating his calf injury on Sept. 5, Wilson, 35, has been inactive in every game this season and served as the emergency third quarterback.
But earlier this week, Tomlin acknowledged the situation with Wilson was changing after five weeks of limited practice participation.
“We’re in a little bit different place as I stand here today with Russ this week than we have been in recent weeks.” Tomlin said Tuesday. “Just met with him and the training staff in preparation for [Wednesday]. Tomorrow will be the first Wednesday that he’ll be a scheduled full participant. We’ll see what that leads us first. We’ll see if he’s able to obviously pull it off and get through the session and if he does, what does the quality of that work look like?”
On Friday, Tomlin said Wilson did indeed pull off the full week of work. And for the first time this season, the Steelers officially listed him without an injury designation for a game.
“I thought he had a good week,” Tomlin said. “He’s proven his health now. It’s just a matter of knocking the rust off.”
Asked about his expectations for Sunday’s game, Wilson stayed away from definitive answers when he spoke with local media Thursday.
“That’s a big question,” Wilson said with a chuckle. “I think for me, I’m preparing my mind to get ready to go and everything else, so that’s kind of my mentality and help us win and whatever that is.”
And for his part, Wilson, who continued to take reps in 7-on-7 and individuals while he was a limited practice participant, wasn’t concerned about a rust accumulation from missing 11-on-11 practice periods.
“I’ve been getting all the reps,” Wilson said. “It’s not like I haven’t been out there. I’ve gotten a lot of reps over all this time and everything else, and I feel really confident with our guys who we are. You guys saw some of the plays guys are making just a lot of good things and so I feel confident about that, and I’m not worried about that part.”
Not only will Wilson likely be active against the Raiders, but the Steelers could also get a boost in the run game from Jaylen Warren. Though Tomlin said Warren, who has missed two games with a knee injury, was doubtful to play against the Raiders earlier this week, the coach said Warren would be listed as questionable after a good week of practice.
“He was a full participant today,” Tomlin said. “Good trajectory, on the upswing.”