As the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for their first preseason game on Friday against the Houston Texans, NT Breiden Fehoko has suffered an apparent shoulder injury, per Alex Kozora on X.
He was spotted on the bench towards the end of practice with his pads off and a wrap around his left shoulder/arm.
Fehoko has been with the Steelers since the 2023 offseason. At the conclusion of last year’s preseason, he failed to make the initial 53-man roster but circled back to the practice squad.
He hasn’t appeared in any games for the Steelers, but he played 19 games from 2020 to 2022 with the Los Angeles Chargers and made 36 total tackles.
The Steelers’ defensive line depth is already running pretty thin. Veteran DL Dean Lowry opened training camp on the Active/PUP list and is still working his way back from a torn pectoral muscle suffered last season. Fehoko has been working mostly with the third-team unit behind Keeanu Benton and Montravius Adams on the depth chart.
We will see if this is just normal bumps and bruises associated with play, or if this turns into a longer-term issue for Fehoko. Mike Tomlin will likely address the injury the next time he speaks to the media. That may not be after today’s practice since he did a press conference earlier today. We will keep you updated when that occurs.
Benton, Adams, and Fehoko are the only three nose tackles listed on the depth chart, but Willington Previlon and Jacob Slade could potentially see increased opportunities in the middle with the third-team defense in Fehoko’s absence. If not, they might have to add a player to fill out their 90-man roster to get through the rest of training camp and the three preseason games left to be played.
Starters will likely only see a couple series this Friday, so depth players will be getting a lot of work. Fehoko would have likely been in line to get a lot of work toward the second half of that game, so hopefully, he will be able to return.
