Don Wright/Associated Press

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown was sent back to Pittsburgh from camp to deal with a minor injury on Thursday.

According to Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk, Brown is dealing with a strained quad muscle and is expected back "within a few days."

Head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters the injury was of the day-to-day variety.

Brown has established himself as one of the NFL's most valuable offensive weapons with at least 100 catches and 1,250 receiving yards in five straight seasons. He racked up 101 grabs for 1,533 yards and nine touchdowns across 14 regular-season games in 2017.

The 30-year-old Central Michigan product missed two contests with a partially torn calf suffered in a Week 15 loss to the New England Patriots last year. He missed just one game over the previous four seasons combined.

If the dynamic threat is forced to the sideline again, JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington will likely split the targets from Ben Roethlisberger rather than either one operating as a true No. 1 receiver. Justin Hunter and Darrius Heyward-Bey should also see an uptick in playing time.

Ultimately, the Steelers' offense is still in the capable hands of Roethlisberger and Le'Veon Bell when Brown is unavailable, but the unit clearly isn't the same without him.