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Thursday, August 06, 2009

Stapleton to have surgery

Steelers offensive lineman Darnell Stapleton will have surgery Friday to clean out his knee and could be out at least two weeks.

Stapleton, a third-year player, started 12 games during the regular season and all three postseason games at right guard for the Steelers in 2008.

He was in line to be the team's starting right guard again in 2009, though veteran Trai Essex was expected to push him for the job.

With Stapleton out, it's likely that Essex will be the starting right guard this season.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I guess the good news is you know who your right guard is going into the season.

Patrick said...

we all know injuries happen.

No disrespect to Darnell, but he is about the most expendable starter. Maybe Trai will show something serious this year. Obviously theres room for improvement at that position.

Ben said...

He might be the most expendable starter, but he provided good depth at center and guard. If he really was getting stronger -- he was even able to get some push on Casey -- it's a shame to lose what could be our center of the future. Here's hoping he's back soon and continues to grow as a player.

Anonymous said...

This isn't too bad a development. Hopefully, he can be back early in the season to provide depth at OC/OG.

Joe said...

I have heard from others sources that Shipley & his T-Rex arms have been playing pretty well. Do you agree Dale?

Anonymous said...

Getting push on Casey in August is a lot easier than getting push on Casey in December.

Dale Lolley said...

Shipley's OK. I wouldn't get carried away with expectations there.
There's a local bias/Penn State thing going on there. I think people are seeing what they hope to see.