Steelers Rule Wide Receiver Out vs. Raiders with Concussion

The Pittsburgh Steelers have ruled wide receiver and kick returner Gunner Olszewski out of the team’s Week 3 game against the Las Vegas Raiders, the team announced on Friday.

Olszewski suffered the concussion late in the first quarter of the Steelers’ Week 2 win over the Cleveland Browns. He left the game after taking a hit on the chin and chest area from Browns cornerback Denzel Ward.

He has remained in the concussion protocol all week and did not participate at practice.

Olszewski fumbled on that play and also had a mental gaffe on a kickoff return earlier in the game, fielding a kick before it could go out of bounds and costing his team 30 yards in field position.

Olszewski had been filling in for Anthony McFarland as the team’s kickoff returner. McFarland was placed on injured reserve before the Browns game and will miss at least three more weeks with a knee injury.

Wide receiver and punt return Calvin Austin III returned kicks for the Steelers after Olszewski was injured on Sunday. Running back Godwin Igwebuike, who was signed from the Atlanta Falcons practice squad this week, has returned kicks, as has cornerback Desmond King, who has been inactive for the first two games.

At wide receiver, Olszewski started the season as the sixth man on the depth chart and was inactive in the first week. The injuries to McFarland and to wide receiver Diontae Johnson, also out at least three more weeks, elevated him to the top kickoff returner and the No. 5 wide receiver.

With Olszewski out, Dez Fitzpatrick is in line to dress as the fifth wide receiver, behind Miles Boykin and starters Austin, George Pickens and Allen Robinson II. Jacob Copeland, Simi Fehoko and Duece Watts are options to be elevated from the practice squad, if necessary.

Olszewski is the only injured Steelers player to be ruled out of Sunday’s game.