Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held his first 2017 training camp press conference on Thursday and during it he announced the players who will start off the annual event in Latrobe on the team’s Active PUP list.
Not surprisingly, Tomlin said that wide receiver Sammie Coates (knee) will begin training camp on the Active PUP list as he needs time to recover from offseason knee procedures. Coates said Thursday he expects to miss at least a couple of weeks of training camp.
Also starting training camp on the Active PUP list is wide receiver Canaan Severin (conditioning) as he failed his Thursday conditioning test, according to Tomlin. Severin reportedly left the field on a cart Thursday.
The list being short is good news and especially when you consider that safety Sean Davis (shoulder) and defensive end Stephon Tuitt (hand/finger) were both limited during the offseason practices due to them recovering from offseason surgeries. All signs now point to both of those players being able to practice starting on Friday.
Coates and Severin are now the only two players who will qualify to start the 2017 regular season on the Reserve PUP list. Any other players currently under contract who get injured between now and the start of the regular season will not be able to start the regular season on Reserve PUP. Assuming Coates and Severin are cleared to return to practice at some point between now and the regular season, they will be ineligible for the Reserve PUP list as well once removed from the active PUP list.
Additionally, safety Daimion Stafford was placed on the team’s Reserve/Did Not Report List on Thursday. Stafford was signed earlier in the offseason and was expected to compete for a backup spot during training camp.
