Bad news for Pittsburgh Steelers’ veteran Damontae Kazee. Per the PPG’s Gerry Dulac, he suffered a serious wrist injury that will require surgery and send him to injured reserve. Dulac tweeted the news moments ago.
Kazee suffered the injury after making a sideline tackle in the second half. Signed right as the 2022 NFL Draft was wrapping up, Kazee began training camp as the team’s first-string free safety in place of Minkah Fitzpatrick, who began the year on NFI due to his own but less severe wrist injury. Once Fitzpatrick returned, Kazee became valuable depth and was seeing work in the team’s three-safety package. It’s a tough loss for the team so late in the preseason.
It’s unclear if Kazee will initially be carried on the 53-man roster and then placed on IR, allowing him to return later in the year. Or if the team will place him on IR before their roster is set, which would knock Kazee out for the entire season. At the latest, we’ll get our answer by Tuesday at 4 PM/EST when all teams have to trim their rosters from 80 to 53.
Either way, Pittsburgh will have to search for his replacement. Elijah Riley, signed this week, could grab a last-minute roster spot. There’s also questions over Miles Killebrew’s health. He’s barely practiced since injuring his pec on Day One of camp and missed all three preseason games.
