Pittsburgh Steelers right tackle Zach Banner confirmed he’s having season-ending surgery on his knee Friday in a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday night.
Banner, who won the job after training camp, was injured in the fourth quarter of the 26-16 win against the Giants.
“Everything’s going to be OK,” he said, also thanking everyone for supporting him and reaching out. “I’m going to get over this. I’m excited about my recovery process and I’m going to come back even stronger next season. It’s another obstacle that I’ve got to get over.”
Banner, 26, is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Banner didn’t specify his injury, but the NFL Network reported that the initial diagnosis was that he’d torn his ACL.
After an offseason in which he dropped weight, ate healthier and went on a training camp social media hiatus, Banner won the starting job over Chuks Okorafor.
“It can be a cold game, but it’s a lot like life,” coach Mike Tomlin said of Banner’s injury. “We’re not defined by what happens to us, we’re defined by how we respond to it. … We talk openly about that. It’s not that he got injured after all he’s been through and the fight that he’s been through to get where he is, it’s about what he does moving forward in response to it.
“He’s a competitor. He’s a professional. And I expect him to smile in the face of adversity.”
While Banner is out for the season, Tomlin is more optimistic about the other pair of Steelers — running back James Conner and guard Stefen Wisniewski — injured during Monday night’s 26-16 win against the Giants.
“We’re still in the process of getting scans on [Wisniewski] and James Conner,” Tomlin said. “But I think their forecast is a more favorable one, so we’ll leave the light on for those two.”
Though Conner was initially feared to have sprained his ankle early in the game, he avoided a high ankle sprain, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, adding that the third-year back is expected to get more clarity this week.
The Steelers are also waiting on further tests on Wisniewski, who exited a play before Banner’s injury with a pectoral injury.
The Steelers line is already in a tenuous position because Wisniewski was a replacement for injured veteran David DeCastro, who has been out for more than two weeks with a knee injury aggravated in a training camp scrimmage.
Rookie Kevin Dotson replaced Wisniewski in the fourth quarter Monday night, and Okorafor took over for Banner.