Steelers camp report: 3 D-linemen injured, ‘Friday Night Lights’ on tap

Thursday’s Pittsburgh Steelers practice was conducted without three defensive linemen, two of whom entered training camp with a better-than-not chance of making the initial 53-man regular-season roster.

Each of the three — Esezi Otomewo, Dean Lowry and Jacob Slade — has suffered a knee injury, coach Mike Tomlin said after Thursday’s practice. Tomlin did not provide any more substantive update.

With 15-year veteran Cameron Heyward taking the day off, it left the Steelers thin at defensive line. Former d-lineman DeMarvin Leal moved from outside linebacker to take team reps at that position Thursday.

Also Thursday, starting left tackle Broderick Jones continued to practice sparingly as he nurses a lower-body, soft-tissue injury.

4 hours early

That the air was about 15 degrees cooler and the “feels-like” temperature perhaps 20 degrees less so than Wednesday was only in part because the heat wave that has plagued western Pennsylvania somewhat relented Thursday. It also was cooler, in part, because the Steelers practiced at 10 a.m.

Practices this year — like they were for many years prior to 2024 — have started at 1:55 p.m. Tomlin explained that he likes when his team must deal with the adversity that is heat. Thursday’s practice, though, was moved up in an effort to avoid a forecasted afternoon thunderstorm. Rain to varying degrees has affected the majority of practices so far during this camp.

“We always try to have a hardcore plan but be light on our feet,” Tomlin said. “I just think that’s a component of football, and particularly team development. We went early (Thursday) to beat the weather. I like the energy and the preparedness that the guys showed, even with the change. Sometimes we get challenges, man, rain delays and so forth, and we still have to perform.”

Friday Night Lights

The next time the Steelers convene for practice it won’t be at Chuck Noll Field but at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. It’s the annual “Friday Night Lights” practice, beginning at 7 p.m., that benefits the Greater Latrobe School District.

“We just appreciate the welcome wagon that we get up here in Latrobe, not only at Saint Vincent but in this community,” Tomlin said. “It’s an opportunity for us to show our appreciation to perform in that different environment at primetime.

“It’s also a really good component of team development. We like to change the variables and circumstances in which we work. Like we did (Thursday), we went early in the morning, (Friday) night we’ll work in primetime. But oftentimes that mirrors scheduling and so forth. We play at a variety of times in the National Football League. And regardless of when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. So ‘Friday Night Lights’ means a lot of things to us, and we’re really excited about getting to it.”