The Pittsburgh Steelers had two outside linebackers suffer injuries during their second padded training camp practice. OLB David Perales wenr down with a knee injury during Seven Shots that caused him to be carted off the field. OLB Kyron Johnson suffered a hamstring injury that forced him to be taken off the field, Mike Tomlin said after practice.
“David Perales, he’s got a knee injury that’s being evaluated. Johnson had a hamstring that got a little tight, we had to pull him out,” Tomlin said via Steelers.com.
Perales and Johnson are competing with Jeremiah Moon and undrafted free agent Julius Welschof for Pittsburgh’s fourth outside linebacker spot. If either misses time, it’s going to hurt their chances. Johnson had been performing well at camp, but if he does miss time, the setback might wind up being too much for him to overcome.
With two outside linebackers going down, the Steelers could look to add depth in the coming days for practice. T.J. Watt got a veteran rest day today, meaning Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig, Moon and Welschof finished practice as Pittsburgh’s four healthy outside linebackers. Watt likely will return tomorrow, but if neither Johnson nor Perales can go, adding someone else to the room would make sense.
Johnson has more NFL experience than Perales, spending all of 2022 with the Philadelphia Eagles where he served as a core special teamer. He was activated off the practice squad and later signed by Pittsburgh last season and appeared in six games, playing 100 special teams snaps and one defensive snap.
Perales signed a futures contract with Pittsburgh in January after spending parts of 2023 on the team’s practice squad. He was originally signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent out of Fresno State after the 2023 NFL Draft. He has yet to appear in an NFL game.
If Perales and Johnson miss time, Moon will be the heavy favorite to win the OLB4 job, assuming the team doesn’t add a veteran. Moon offers special teams upside, which is going to be important for a backup role. Tomlin mentioned that he’s been getting more reps due to the development of Nick Herbig.
“It’s provided a great opportunity for some of the other guys, Moon and others, to get more reps and get more reps against quality competition,” he said. “And so it is good for them as well.”
We’ll likely know more on the status of Perales and Johnson tomorrow when we find out if they’re practicing. We’ll see tomorrow morning if the Steelers add another outside linebacker if they’re going to miss time.
