Steelers Excuse Minkah Fitzpatrick From Practice

UNITY TWP., Pa — The Steelers have excused Minkah Fitzpatrick from practice for the next few days for personal reasons, Mike Tomlin said after practice on Saturday.

“We excused Minkah for personal reasons,” Tomlin said. “He has my full support.”

Minkah Fitzpatrick has not practiced the entirety of training camp. Previously, Tomlin noted that it was simply to ween the veterans off a little bit to get to know other guys. But those guys returned, today, Fitzpatrick was not even with the team as he deals with that issue.

So, the Steelers will be without one of the top safeties in the NFL for a few days at the start of training camp and for the entire first week to start it off. That could have some serious complications down the line when it comes to communication and getting to know the guys you are playing with overall.

Fitzpatrick had noted he felt like Patrick Peterson and himself had teamed up to get the secondary ahead of where they needed to be. But it’s tough to do that continuously when the leader of the secondary is out. So, the team will have some work to do in order to catch up during the preseason over the next few weeks.