Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Steven Johnson was one of three players listed as being injured in Sunday’s preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons by head coach Mike Tomlin during his post-game press conference and initial reports indicate that he won’t miss any practice time moving forward.
Johnson, who played sparingly on Sunday, left the game with a hamstring injury. On Monday, the veteran linebacker said he only tweaked his hamstring and that he intends on practicing Wednesday, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Johnson, who re-signed with the Steelers in February, is potentially battling fellow inside linebacker L.J. Fort for a roster spot this year and especially if the team decides to keep just four at that position.
Last season, Johnson failed to make the Steelers initial 53-man roster due to other injured players needing to be kept for them to qualify to be designated to return players later in the season. He was quickly re-signed ahead of the team’s Week 1 game, however, but wound up being inactive for the first three contest.
Once Johnson started getting a helmet on game-days last season, he was primarily used as a core special teams player. His 2016 season ultimately came to an end due to a broken ankle suffered in Week 10.
