UNITY TWP., Pa., — Mike Tomlin spoke to Pittsburgh media Tuesday at Saint Vincent College after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ players reported to training camp and ran their conditioning test.
For the most part, the Steelers reported to camp with a clean bill of health. But Tomlin did state that Minkah Fitzpatrick had been added to the team’s NFI (non-football related illness) list and Tyson Alualu had been placed on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list.
“(Fitzpatrick) sustained a wrist injury,” Tomlin said. “He sustained a wrist injury on vacation. I think he fell off a bike. It will create some short term discomfort, but I don’t expect it to be an issue in the overall trajectory of his development and place with this group. It’s just going to create some discomfort or him on the early stages of this.”
The NFI list only prohibits Fitzpatrick from team practices at training camp until he’s healthy enough to practice and is removed from the list. That’s a similar situation as Alualu being on the PUP list, as both shouldn’t miss game time. But both also won’t practice early in training camp.
“Tyson Alualu has been placed on PUP,” Tomlin said. “He has a knee that’s been swelling on him a little bit, probably from over-training. Similar discussion as Minkah; we don’t expect it to be significant from a long term perspective. But it will create some discomfort here in the early stages (of camp).”
Other than Tomlin’s note that the Steelers will treat Larry Ogunjobi’s early days in camp with caution, it appears the Steelers don’t have many injury concerns as practice beings Wednesday.
“We’ll monitor those guys,” Tomlin said. “There’s some other guys with minor things we’ll manage from a rep standpoint. But it won’t affect their designation in terms of participation.”
By CHRIS CARTER
Neither injury appears to be a serious concern for the Steelers’ hopes this season.
Fitzpatrick spoke with media Tuesday in a full scrum with no cast, bandages or anything on his wrists that would have happened with a serious wrist injury.