Steelers Get Major Injury News on Minkah Fitzpatrick

PITTSBURGH — Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is back at practice for the first time in over a month after he suffered an injury against the Jacksonville Jaguars in October. Fitzpatrick is returning after not having practiced since October 27th, and it seems the team is ramping him up to play against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

Head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday that he expects free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and nose tackle Montravius Adams to return to practice this week, and, if all goes well, return to action against the Cardinals on Sunday. It seems Fitzpatrick is on the right path.

“We’ll leave the light on for Minkah and Mont Adams this week. Both guys will be participants on some level tomorrow and then we’ll let the amount of that participation and the quality of that participation be our guide as we lean in toward the latter part of the week. But cautiously optimistic about both.”

The Steelers have been replacing him with a combination of Damontae Kazee, Keanu Neal and now Trenton Thompson since Neal’s injury.

The Steelers have played just two series of defense this season with all of their top defenders: Cam Heyward, Alex Highsmith, Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt on the field at the same time, and Fitzpatrick’s return could lift a defense that is already fifth in the league in scoring defense and fourth in takeaways.