Another Steelers Safety Suffers Injury

Steelers safety Damontae Kazee popped up on the team’s injury report on Monday with a hand injury. Although Pittsburgh did not practice, it was estimated that Kazee would have been limited in practice with the injury that Mike Tomlin alluded to occurring against the Jaguars on Sunday.

The Steelers already ruled out All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick with a hamstring strain. That will cause them to miss their unquestioned leader on the back end of the secondary. Fitzpatrick’s injury is problematic enough, but if Kazee can not play, the top three safeties would be Keanu Neal, Miles Killebrew, and Elijah Riley. Pittsburgh has Trenton Thompson, an opportunistic ball-hawking safety, on the practice squad if they need to call someone up.

Kazee grabbed an interception against Trevor Lawrence in a rocky game for the safeties after they lost Fitzpatrick. Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick suffered what appeared to be a non-contact right hamstring injury during the Steelers’ 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday and was quickly ruled out of returning to that game. Him also quickly being ruled out for Thursday — while Tomlin left the door open to a return for quarterback Kenny Pickett — seems to suggest that he could be facing a medium-term absence. However, Tomlin did not offer a prognosis for his star safety.

The Steelers replaced Fitzpatrick with Damontae Kazee, moving from strong safety to free safety, and Keanu Neal, who usually splits time with Kazee, moved up into a full-time role. When the team entered its three-safety look, veteran special teams captain Miles Killebrew filled in.

Tomlin said after the game that the team didn’t feel that it had to make changes schematically to deal with Fitzpatrick’s absence. Fitzpatrick has been playing more in the slot this year than in the past. The three-time All-Pro led the NFL in interceptions in 2022. Kazee and Neal split that role with Fitzpatrick out.