Pittsburgh starting right guard Mason McCormick fractured his hand in the regular-season finale against Cincinnati, but the rookie could play in Saturday’s playoff game, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Monday.
The Steelers finished 10-7 after a four-game losing streak to end the regular season, and they’ll visit AFC North champion Baltimore on Saturday in the AFC wild-card round.
McCormick, 24, broke his hand and was replaced by Spencer Anderson as the Steelers lost to the Bengals last Saturday, but Tomlin said McCormick might be able to play.
“He’ll be sized for a cast and/or a brace and check functionality there,” Tomlin said. “And so his participation and the quality of his participation will kind of be an indication of his potential availability as we push forward.”
Pittsburgh selected McCormick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of South Dakota State. He has started 14 of 17 games and played on 83 percent of the offensive snaps.
Tomlin also said that starting cornerback Donte Jackson, who sat out Sunday’s game because of lingering back issues, is possible to return on Saturday.
“He feels good this morning, but again, we’ll watch him throughout the course of the week and see what his participation does in terms of the possibility of his inclusion,” Tomlin said.
Jackson, 29, has started all 15 games that he has played this season and has 38 tackles, a career-high five interceptions and eight passes defended. He played the previous six seasons for Carolina before being traded to Pittsburgh last March. He has 19 career interceptions — one returned for a touchdown — 341 tackles and 54 pass breakups in 95 games (91 starts).
The Panthers selected Jackson in the second round of the 2018 draft.
