The Pittsburgh Steelers are off to a solid 1-1 start to the 2025 season as they look to keep their streak of seasons at .500 or better going. The offense got off to a fast start in a Week 1 win over the New York Jets before struggling a bit against a very good Seattle Seahawks defense in Week 2.

Now, the Steelers are getting ready for an interesting challenge with a Week 3 tilt against the up-and-coming New England Patriots. However, they will not have one of their depth pieces on the offensive line for that game, and he could be out for a lot longer. Interior offensive lineman Max Scharping suffered a knee injury at practice on Wednesday that is feared to be serious, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

“Sources: Steelers interior OL Max Scharping suffered a knee injury during today’s practice and the fear is that it’s significant,” Rapoport reported on X, formerly Twitter. He’ll have an MRI to confirm the severity. A tough reality for a key depth piece for Pittsburgh.”

Scharping has appeared in both games this season for Pittsburgh, but has not started in either. However, now the Steelers have no room for error or any injury issues on the interior of the offensive line after losing their best replacement at that spot.

Scharping is in his sixth season in the NFL, spending three years with the Houston Texans before going to Cincinnati for two years. He is in his first season with the Steelers, and now it sounds like he could miss the rest of the year.

The Steelers need the interior of the offensive line to be operating at full capacity in order to protect Aaron Rodgers, who is looking to turn back the clock in some ways in 2025. Zach Frazier has proven to be a home run draft pick at center, and the rest of the interior has held up nicely through two weeks despite some rough moments against a very talented Seahawks front.

Now, that group is under a lot of pressure to play well and stay on the field after this unfortunate injury to Scharping.