T.J. Watt Returns to Practice, Opens Up 21-Day Window

Steelers star outside linebacker T.J. Watt returned to practice for the first time since suffering a torn pectoral muscle against the Cincinnati Bengals on Wednesday. With it, that opens up Watt’s 21-day window to return to the team and be activated from injured reserve, the team announced on Wednesday.

Watt had knee surgery while on injured reserve as well, thus pushing his return back a week or two. Thus, he is likely to return after the bye week once he has a full week of work under him.

The return to practice in a helmet comes days after Watt was seen running and putting in the most work he has since going on injured in Miami. It seems that not only is the pectoral getting healthy, but now the knee is as well. Watt’s work suggests he is aiming to get conditioned for a return to the field soon.

In his absence, the Steelers have missed Watt dearly. Alex Highsmith has kept up a strong pace, but Cam Heyward has three games where he has failed to register a quarterback hit. After sacking Joe Burrow seven times in week one, and in the games since Pittsburgh has only sacked the quarterback 8 times.

With the 21-day window now open, Watt now has until November 16th to be activated from injured reserve. If he is not activated by then, Watt will be out for the season.