As the Pittsburgh Steelers were making last minute preparations to face the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL’s first regular season game in Ireland on Sunday, news surfaced away from the field involving quarterback Skylar Thompson.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Thompson “got jumped and robbed” on Friday night in Dublin. The quarterback is “OK,” according to Pelissero, but did sustain minor injuries.
Thompson, who is on injured reserve, is with the team Sunday.
With his report, Pelissero included a statement from Steelers senior director of communications.
“We are aware of a situation involving Skylar Thompson on Friday night in Dublin,” the statement read. “We will have no further comment at this time as we are working with NFL security to gather more information regarding the incident.”
The Steelers placed Thompson on injured reserve with a hamstring issue on September 10.
Steelers’ Skylar Thompson Robbed in Dublin: Report
Several pundits, including NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, referred to Thompson getting robbed as a “scary” situation. Fortunately, the quarterback emerged mostly fine from the incident.
From a football perspective, the Steelers would like Thompson back sooner rather than later. So, if the quarterback’s injuries from the robbery are minor, then his hamstring recovery will remain the focus of his rehab. That’s obviously a good thing for the team.
Thompson played very well in the preseason, earning a spot on the Steelers roster for Week 1. He was the team’s QB3 to begin the season with fellow depth signal-caller Will Howard on injured reserve.
The Steelers have their top two quarterbacks — Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph — healthy. But for extra depth, the team needs Thompson or Howard to return to give it a third option.
Pittsburgh’s current QB3 is Logan Woodside, who is on the team’s practice squad.
Potential Fallout on Thompson Getting Robbed
It will be interesting to see if there’s any type of impact on the NFL with the Steelers quarterback getting robbed.
NFL commissioner Rodger Goodell told reporters Saturday it’s the league’s goal to eventually play 16 international games per season. With that, every team would play in a different country once each year.
In 2025, the league will play its first regular season games in Ireland and Spain. The NFL will also have a regular season contest in Berlin, Germany for the first time.
Goodell said Saturday that games in Australia and Asia are next.
“We are serious about being a global sport,” said Goodell, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.
Crime happens everywhere. San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery in Union Square, San Francisco.
But if the NFL does eventually reach a point where every team is visiting a foreign country for a regular season game each season, the league and NFL teams might need to more seriously start educating players on how to safely travel in those cities (assuming the league doesn’t already do this).
There aren’t a lot of details on Thompson getting robbed yet. He’s also the victim. It initially sounds as though the quarterback didn’t do anything wrong.
That doesn’t mean, though, there isn’t something the incident could teach players to help them stay safe during their visits to other countries for NFL games.