Steelers notebook: GM 'absolutely' expects DE Stephon Tuitt to play football in 2022

INDIANAPOLIS — After missing the 2021 season because of a knee injury and the unexpected death of his brother, defensive end Stephon Tuitt has told the Pittsburgh Steelers he plans on returning to play this year.

“Oh, yeah, absolutely,” general manager Kevin Colbert said on an interview with Steelers Nation Radio at the NFL Combine. “He wanted to play last year.”

Tuitt’s brother was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Georgia in June. Tuitt then underwent knee surgery in training camp before participating in a team practice, and he spent the season on injured reserve while the Steelers offered no updates on a potential return.

“He had a knee injury he had to work his way through and had a family situation that hurt that,” Colbert said Tuesday. “We respected what he had to deal with, and we tried to support him as best as possible.”

The question is whether Tuitt will play for the Steelers in 2022. His salary cap hit of nearly $14 million heading into the final year of his contract is third highest on the Steelers roster.

“We’re very excited to see what the next step is for Stephon,” Colbert said. “We’re respectful of where he is. We’ll continue to monitor that and see where it leads. Stephon went through a tough year. We respect that and understood that.

“The next step, we don’t know. We’ll always have that door open for him.”

More the merrier

After interviewing 12 candidates to replace him as general manager, Colbert said that the Steelers might not be done with the process.

Colbert, who is assisting team president Art Rooney II in the search for his successor, wanted to get most initial interviews out of the way before Tuesday, when NFL teams could restrict candidates from interviewing for positions with other clubs.

“We’ll continue to look at guys who are still under contract as we move forward,” Colbert said at the NFL Combine. “There might be folks not under contract we may look at as well.”

Internal candidates Omar Khan and Brandon Hunter were the first to be granted interviews. The Steelers conducted 10 additional interviews, including three last week.

Colbert has said the second round of interviews won’t take place until the conclusion of the NFL Draft in late April.

“The people under contract, we’re respectfully going to leave them to their teams, and our focus will be on getting this draft and free agency correct,” Colbert said. “Then, we’ll deal with it after the draft.”

Openings in secondary

One year after the offensive line was overhauled, the Steelers face the prospect of losing three of their top five members of the secondary to free agency. Among starters, only cornerback Cameron Sutton and free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick are under contact for 2022.

“How do we put that back together?” Colbert said. “I wish I could say it’s going to be this, this and this, but it’s going to be a combination of trade, unrestricted free agent and draft. I can’t say which one it will be and in which order.”

Fitzpatrick, who had his fifth-year option exercised, is in line for a contract extension, but such talks likely won’t take place until training camp, Colbert said.