A little under two weeks after suffering an ankle injury that initially left him in a boot, veteran safety Damontae Kazee returned to practice Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
Kazee, who was previously just getting some individual work in on the side over the last week or so, fully returned to practice at Chuck Noll Field, giving the Steelers a relatively healthy secondary again in training camp.
Speaking with Steelers.com’s Mike Prisuta and Steelers Radio Network color analyst Craig Wolfley Sunday after practice on Training Camp Live Wrap-up, Kazee was thrilled to be back in practice with his teammates, building towards the 2023 season.
“I enjoyed it all man. I’m just so happy to be back on the field with my brothers out there fighting, so it was lovely to be back,” Kazee said, according to video via Steelers.com.
Kazee’s return highlighted a day in which the Steelers got a number of players back from various bumps and bruises late last week and then into the preseason matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. returned to the practice field, as did veteran safety Keanu Neal.
“I think everybody’s back healthy man. And at the end of the day, it’s not up to us to get back on the football field so early,” Kazee said, according to video via Steelers.com. “Coaches were involved in this, telling certain people they can’t practice and stuff, so we gotta do what we’re being told and we’re all back out there working with each other, so we’re gonna enjoy it.”
Kazee’s comments seem like there’s a little frustration in there that it took him as long as it did to get back onto the practice field. While Kazee was likely ready to play in a game if needed, it didn’t make much sense to push the issue right now in training camp. With a veteran like Kazee, it’s just important to have him healthy entering the season and having him available for Week One.
Now that he’s back and seemingly fully healthy, it’ll be interesting to see how the secondary continues to take shape. Star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick returned to practice last week after dealing with a personal issue, and Porter returned as well. Neal being back is key, too, since he’ll likely be a sub-package player the Steelers lean on in the box.
While other big names like Larry Ogunjobi and Nate Herbig are hurt — or were hurt in Sunday’s practice — the Steelers are seemingly getting healthy. That’s a good sign this late in training camp.
