The Steelers returned from their bye week by welcoming a couple of players back to practice.

Wide receiver Diontae Johnson and running back Anthony McFarland have both been designated to return from injured reserve. Both players can practice with the team for the next 21 days before they reach a deadline to be activated or shut down for the season.

As we reported last week, Johnson doesn’t plan to use much of that window to get back into playing shape after hurting his hamstring in the season opener. He said he plans to play against the Rams in Week 7, the story said. Johnson seemed pretty confident last week but continue to monitor his status this week.

Pittsburgh receiver Diontae Johnson has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since Week 1. But he’s planning to return when the Steelers take on the Rams after the bye.

“Hell yeah, I’m coming back,” Johnson said Tuesday, via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I have been working my behind off these last three, four weeks. … Today was one of those days to see how far I have come along, and everything looks great out there to [the training staff]."

Johnson caught three passes for 48 yards in the season opener before going down with the hamstring injury. He’s been on injured reserve but can be designated to return for the Week 7 matchup, the story said. He added that, “I felt completely great and healthy, so I am ready for Monday when we come back to start getting back to work.”

The #Steelers placed WR Diontae Johnson on IR.

Related players: George Pickens, Allen Robinson, Calvin Austin III

A prime example of why we can't always trust players when it comes to their own injuries: Johnson claimed to be day-to-day after the Week 1 injury, but now finds himself missing the next four games. The earliest he can come back is Week 7. Pickens, Robinson and Austin will be the team's top-three WRs. Austin, at least, is likely still on your waiver wire and could be worth a look in deeper leagues.

Steelers’ WR Diontae Johnson is expected to be sidelined “a few weeks” due to the hamstring injury he suffered Sunday vs. the 49ers, per source.

Related players: George Pickens, Allen Robinson, Calvin Austin III

It's a big blow to the Steelers offense as Johnson was expected to bounce back this season after not scoring a touchdown all of last year. We'll have to wait word for how long Johnson misses, and now the big fear is the team places him on IR, which means he'd potentially miss the next four games. Pickens and Robinson likely take over the top-two roles at WR, but Austin could sneak into the fantasy-relevant category as well.

Steelers WR Diontae Johnson has been ruled out for the remainder of Sunday's game against the 49ers with a hamstring injury.

Johnson immediately grabbed his leg after a run early in the second half and it didn't take long for him to be ruled out for the remainder of the game. It's been that kind of game for the Steelers thus far as San Francisco is just having their way with Pittsburgh. We've seen the graphic where at one point the 49ers had outgained the Steelers 199-1.

Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, and Allen Robinson will be the Steelers’ starters, with Calvin Austin holding down punt return duties and Miles Boykin adding speed and special teams duties at the back of the rotation.

Related Players: Gunner Olszewski

A forgotten piece in Fantasyland, Robinson has the ability to make some noise in 11 personnel, which the team figures to use extensively. In typical redraft leagues, he figures to be a guy coming off and back on waiver wires throughout the season, but makes for a great pick deep in best ball leagues, particularly when you have Kenny Pickett on your roster.

“Let’s be frank,” Mike Tomlin said, via Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “Diontae Johnons is the known commodity within the group. People are going to have an agenda to minimize his impact on the game, particularly in significant moments: possession downs, red-zone football. When you’ve got a guy who has been a Pro Bowler — and, really, he’s the only one — and there is a young group, that is a component of it. How do you open up opportunities for a guy like that? Other guys make plays.”

Johnson admitted to frustration with his production after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals. Johnson is averaging 5.1 catches for 45.6 yards per game and has yet to score a touchdown this season after averaging nearly seven catches and just over 72 yards per game last season. He also caught eight touchdown in 2021, but there are some obvious differences from that team, the story went on to say.

The Chicago Bears are acquiring wide receiver Chase Claypool in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers, a source told ESPN's Field Yates on Tuesday.

Related players: Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, Miles Boykin, Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, Dante Pettis, Velus Jones, Byron Pringle

The Bears are getting a second-round pick in return, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter. Claypool started the season slow, and his name immediately became mentioned as a trade candidate. But over the last four weeks he's posted lines of 5-50-0, 7-96-1, 5-41 and 4-45-0. He should slide right in as the team's WR2 behind Mooney in what is a run-first offense for the Bears. Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, Pickett's value should increase as he and Johnson should see a few more targets. Boykin slides into the WR3 role for the Steelers.

Mike Tomlin on QB position: He announces that Kenny Pickett will start vs. Bills

Related players: Mitch Trubisky, George PIckens, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool

Pickett will have to face one of the tougher defenses in the Bills in Week 5, but should get plenty of chances to put up fantasy points beginning this week. Pickett stole two rushing touchdowns in the second half of last week's game but also threw three interceptions in that amount of time. There's definitely an increased upside to the Steeler offense going forward, but Pickett owners will likely take some lumps along the way as well.

For the second game in a row, the Steelers found success when they went to their tempo offense. On four of seven plays in the Steelers’ first scoring drive against the Browns, the team used no huddle and moved the ball 75 yards in three minutes. On the second scoring drive, the Steelers went no-huddle on just three of 10 plays, but two of those plays picked up first downs.

“We did pretty good with the tempo,” Chase Claypool said. “We might be able to go back to that if, uh, our offense is stalling a little bit, maybe we add some tempo to switch up the momentum or the flow of the game.”

Related players: Diontae Johnson, Mitch Trubisky, Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren

The story was about signs of progress for the Steelers offense. The team did find some success using an up-tempo offense. Last year, the story pointed out, the team had similar issues and mainly went no-huddle only in the second half with Ben Roethlisberger as the QB, but pointed out the team did go up-tempo in the first half of last week's game with Cleveland. That's perhaps a good sign. The story also mentioned Warren has developed into a nice compliment to Harris, and if you're a Harris owner, Warren should probably be on your roster.