Steelers RB Jaylen Samuels Out a Month after Knee Surgery

PITTSBURGH — Steelers running back Jaylen Samuels is expected to miss approximately a month after having arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday, head coach Mike Tomlin announced on Tuesday.

Samuels suffered a knee sprain in the Steelers’ 26-23 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

“That’s something that showed up after the game,” Tomlin said at his weekly press conference. “We had him evaluated and saw that was necessary. So we made the decision to fix it and fix it ASAP. It was fixed yesterday.”

Samuels had three carries for two yards and three catches for 11 yards against the Ravens. He also threw an interception on a pass out of the Wildcat formation. He also had one completion for four yards.

The Steelers have leaned significantly on Samuels’ versatility through five weeks, lining him up as a Wildcat quarterback, a second back alongside James Conner in two-back sets in addition to spelling Conner as the primary ballcarrier.

Fourth-round rookie Benny Snell is the only other running back on the roster and will be expected to get some of Samuels’ carries, but probably will not be able to play the Swiss Army knife role that Samuels does.

“When we had red paint, we painted our barn red. OK, now maybe yellow,” Tomlin said. “We’ll continue to lean on the strengths of our collective group and work to minimize the weaknesses.”

Tomlin said that Snell has been “champing at the bit” to be more involved in the Steelers’ offense. He’s been primarily a special teams contributor in his first five games.

Tomlin said that the Steelers could make a roster move to address their lack of depth at running back. Second-year running back Trey Edmunds is on the practice squad as the only other running back in the building.