MichaelPittman Jr.

News: 1 day agoPittman's absence from practice that stems back to last week is due to a hamstring issue, Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com reports.

Spin: Pittman left practice Saturday, Aug. 8, with some sort of right leg injury and has been sidelined in the meantime, but the nature of the issue wasn't clarified until this week. Meanwhile, fellow WR DK Metcalf also has been tending to an undisclosed health concern during most of that stretch. Pittsburgh likely will continue to take a cautious approach with its top two receivers with a Week 1 matchup against the Falcons on Sunday, Sept. 13, in mind. Per Farabaugh, there's no concern regarding Pittman's status for that contest.

ESPN Fantasy Projection: Pittman was traded to the Steelers after spending his first six NFL seasons with the Colts. The 2020 second-round pick handled a hefty 23.6% of Indianapolis' targets during his tenure, which helped him to four top-20 fantasy campaigns. Pittman has reached 800 receiving yards in five consecutive seasons while primarily operating as a short-to-intermediate target. The role has limited his scoring (he has 25 TDs in 95 games) and that may not change much with DK Metcalf on the other side in Pittsburgh. Of course, Pittman will be a featured target in an offense led by Aaron Rodgers. That's enough to put the 28-year-old squarely in the weekly WR3 mix.