When the Pittsburgh Steelers conduct their first practice of training camp Wednesday, two veterans on their defense will not be taking part.
Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick will begin camp on the Non-Football Injury list and defensive lineman Tyson Alualu on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
Coach Mike Tomlin said Fitzpatrick suffered a wrist injury while falling off a bike on vacation, and one of Alualu’s knees was swollen after offseason training.
Fitzpatrick became the NFL’s highest-paid safety when he signed a $76 million contract extension last month. Tomlin said he did not expect the injury to affect Fitzpatrick’s regular-season availability.
“It will create some short-term discomfort,” Tomlin said, “but I don’t expect it to be an issue in the overall trajectory in his development and his place in this group and (regular-season game) availability.”
Mike Tomlin on Minkah Fitzpatrick going on the Non-Football Injury List pic.twitter.com/iKUY4hWhVI
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) July 26, 2022
The Steelers’ oldest player at 35, Alualu is coming off the first significant injury of his career: a broken ankle suffered early in a Week 2 game last season. Similar to Fitzpatrick, Tomlin downplayed the seriousness of Alualu’s injury.
“We don’t expect it to be significant from a long-term perspective,” he said.
“We will monitor (both of) those guys and some other guys with a mind of things that will manage from a rep standpoint. But it won’t affect their designation in terms of participation.”
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