Eight days after landing on the NFL’s NFI list due to a wrist injury suffered while falling off of a bike on vacation this summer, Pittsburgh Steelers star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is back at practice in training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
Prior to Thursday’s padded practice in Latrobe, Fitzpatrick was activated from the NFL’s NFI list, allowing him to return to the practice field.
Fitzpatrick was placed on the NFI after arriving at training camp on July 26 at Saint Vincent College with the wrist injury, which the Steelers were aware of.
“Minkah will be placed on NFI,” Mike Tomlin said to reporters during his camp-opening media session July 26, according to video via Steelers.com. “He sustained a wrist injury on vacation. I think he fell off a bike. It’ll create some short term discomfort, but I don’t expect it to be an issue in the overall trajectory of his development and his place within this group and stadium availability and things of that nature. It’s just going create some discomfort for him at the early stages of this.”
Fitzpatrick missed seven practices today, but was seen on the side getting work in each day, running through individual drills with teammate Diontae Johnson, while also working through catching footballs with one hand before graduating to both hands earlier this week, speeding up his return to the field.
With Fitzpatrick back in the fold, the Steelers will get a good look at the first-team defense moving forward, which will allow defensive backs coach Grady Brown and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin to experiment with the likes of Damontae Kazee and Tre Norwood in sub-package football moving forward.
