Steelers Now
Ahead of their game with the New England Patriots on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers placed reserve offensive lineman Max Scharping on injured reserve and replaced him on the active roster with tailback Trey Sermon.
Scharping, a seventh-year pro, suffered a torn ACL during Wednesday’s practice. He was in his second go-round with the Steelers, having signed with Mike Tomlin’s team last October. He played in two games a season ago, but had yet to take the field during the first two weeks of this campaign.
Sermon signed with the Steelers after a tryout during the team’s rookie minicamp in May. He was a third-round pick in 2021 NFL Draft, spending a season with the San Francisco 49ers and having later stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts. The best performance of his career was with the latter, against the Steelers in 2023. He carried the ball 17 times for 88 yards in that matchup.
Sermon joins a running back stable made up of sparkplug Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell and rookie Kaleb Johnson, who was criticized for his kick returning mistake in last week’s 31-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The Steelers were counting on Scharping to be one of their backup interior offensive linemen, beside Spencer Anderson and Ryan McCollum. The Houston Texans drafted Scharping in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He spent the first three seasons of his career with the Texans, becoming a starter at left guard right away.
Scharping started 33 games in Houston before being let go in 2022. He landed with the Cincinnati Bengals, with whom he served as an understudy.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Bolster Attack After Placing Scharping on IR
