Wednesday’s “First Call” has some news about the Pittsburgh Steelers roster. A former Steelers assistant gets a new head coaching gig. Derwin James’ suspension for hitting Pat Freiermuth has been upheld.
And we see a baseball rarity result in a playoff-clinching play.
Adding depth
Given Alex Highsmith’s injury, the Steelers are trying to bolster the outside linebacker spot.
Highsmith is likely to miss at least this week’s game in Indianapolis, so the club is adding Marcus Haynes. The franchise put him on the practice squad Tuesday.
Haynes was with the team twice in August and is now coming back a third time. The 26-year-old former UFL player was most recently with the team through the season-opener against the Atlanta Falcons. He has also spent time in Denver and Cleveland.
Highsmith got hurt during Sunday’s win over the Chargers. He aggravated a troublesome groin injury. Nate Herbig came off the bench and had two sacks.
After Herbig and T.J. Watt, though, the depth chart gets thin at outside linebacker. Defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal is essentially the other backup OLB. Ade Ogundeji is also on the practice squad. Aside from them, the team would likely need to play someone out of position.
Jeremiah Moon doesn’t come off of injured reserve until Week 5.
Walking in Memphis
Former Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt is a head coach again. This time in the UFL.
Whisenhunt has been hired by the Memphis Showboats. They were 2-8 last year. The franchise also hired Jim Monos as the new general manager. He served as Senior Director of Football Operations with the XFL in 2022-23. Monos served as Director of Player Personnel for the Buffalo Bills from 2013-17.
This isn’t Whisenhunt’s first head coaching gig. He went to the Arizona Cardinals after the 2006 season when Bill Cowher retired. Then Mike Tomlin got the head coaching job with the Steelers. The two teams met in the Super Bowl at the end of the 2008-09 season.
The former NFL tight end, who was on Cowher’s staff when the Steelers won Super Bowl XL, also was a head coach with the Tennessee Titans and an offensive coordinator with the Chargers.
Before landing this job in the UFL, Whisenhunt was special assistant to head coach Nick Saban at the University of Alabama for the 2023 campaign. Before that, he was with Penn State University as an offensive analyst.
No dice for Derwin
Derwin James isn’t getting a reprieve.
Via ProFootballTalk.com, the Chargers safety lost the appeal of his one-game suspension. That means he will miss Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Former linebacker Derrick Brooks was the hearing officer. He is jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA. The NFL announced Tuesday that it is upholding the suspension.
James was disciplined for what the league deemed to be multiple player safety violations, culminating with a hit against Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth on Sunday.
“Your continued disregard for NFL playing rules will not be tolerated,” NFL Vice President of Football Operations Jon Runyan wrote in a letter to James on Monday. “Substantial penalties are warranted when players violate the rules intended to protect player safety on a repeated basis, particularly when the violations carry with them a significant risk of injury to an opposing player.”
AS PFT chronicled, “James has five unnecessary roughness penalties in his past 18 games, the most in the league by a defensive player. All five involved blows to the head of an opponent with his shoulder or helmet. James has seven unnecessary roughness penalties in his career.”
Doing it in style
What an ending in Major League baseball out west Tuesday night. Or, early in the morning back here in the Eastern Time Zone.
The San Diego Padres turned a game-ending triple play in the bottom of the ninth to win a game over the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2. Not only did the play win a game for the Padres, it clinched a spot in the playoffs for them.
Manny Machado started the play on a grounder to third base, and San Diego’s infield went around the horn from there.
The last game-ending triple play was pulled off by the New York Yankees against the Oakland A’s in 2001.
With 91 wins, San Diego currently holds the top wild-card spot in the National League and is two back of the Dodgers for the NL West division lead. They have won five in a row.
