The Pittsburgh Steelers held their annual Family Fest practice at Heinz Field Sunday night and the 2019 version included a few players suffering injuries.
After practice ended, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin gave a quick rundown of the players that suffered injuries Sunday night at Heinz Field.
“A few guys banged up along the way, being evaluated,” Tomlin said. “Wasn’t able to finish, Diontae Johnson with a groin. [Maurkice] Pouncey is being evaluated with a minor injury of some kind. I don’t have a lot of specifics there. JC [Hassenauer} with a knee. Artie Burns didn’t finish with his groin. Some guys are working their way back. T.J. Watt, uh, was ready to go, so we worked him a little bit tonight and we’ll continue there and get him on this moving train.”
Rookie wide receiver Diontae Johnson (groin) had just returned to action Sunday night after missing the team’s Saturday practice with a hip injury. As for center Maurkice Pouncey, numerous Twitter reports during Sunday’s night practice indicated that he suffered a possible minor back strain. Center JC Hassenauer (knee) is a rookie backup battling for a practice squad spot.
According to our very own Alex Kozora, inside linebacker Vince Williams (hamstring), outside linebacker Anthony Chickillo (hamstring), safety Sean Davis (finger), tight end Christian Scotland-Williamson (groin?), guard David DeCastro (coaches decision), and cornerback Derrek Thomas (undisclosed) all failed to practice Sunday night. Additionally, Kozora reports that wide receiver Donte Moncrief (finger), quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (coaches decision) and outside linebacker T.J. Watt all went through individual drills Sunday night but sat out the team portions of practice.
Watt being limited isn’t surprising as he was removed from the team’s Active PUP list earlier on Sunday. Tomlin was asked after practice was over how he thought the former first-round draft pick looked in his first session of training camp.
“I didn’t see him,” Tomlin said. “He did some individuals, he did prescribed work. I was really focused on some of the competition things. He’s ready to go and as good to have him back.”
