LATROBE, Pa. -- Sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle that athletes are humans and have real, human lives away from the field.
It shows that, even with the most important part of the offseason beginning and with anticipation building for the start of the 2023 season, Mike Tomlin and the organization still hold core what is core to their players.
It is why, when Minkah Fitzpatrick approached Tomlin at the beginning of camp about a family issue that needed to be tended to away from Saint Vincent College, Tomlin apparently took zero time to approve a personal leave.
“You definitely appreciate it," Fitzpatrick said after Saturday's practice. "I said two words to him and he knew what it was when I had to leave, and he just told me to go. Know what I’m saying? He said to go be there for your family, go do what you’ve got to do, and it wasn’t any issue at all. They were making sure I was good every day, and you definitely appreciate a coach and a program that takes care of family.”
Fitzpatrick returned to a thunderous ovation from the crowd of several thousand gracing the hills and stands surrounding Chuck Noll Field Saturday afternoon, after being away for a week to tend to a family matter. He participated in individual drills with his fellow defensive backs, but the lone team portion he took part in was a seven-on-seven redzone period towards the end of practice.
Mink movin’ 👀 pic.twitter.com/arFnSnS4ys
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 5, 2023
"Obviously, when you’re away from the game that you love for a while it’s always good to get back to it, even if it’s just a few days," Fitzpatrick said. "You definitely realize how much you love the game, how much you care about the game. Obviously you want to be there for your people but it’s good to be back.”
Saturday's participation level should be no cause for concern, as a week away from action would require a ramp-up period for anybody. The Steelers have one more practice Sunday afternoon before a day off Monday, so Sunday might provide the same limited outlook.
"He's back, and in a short period of time you'll see him running in a full capacity, I'm sure," Tomlin said after practice.
While Fitzpatrick was in Latrobe for the Steelers' first couple of practices when training camp began, he ceded reps in the team portion. He clarified that there was not an injury concern at the time, as the matter surrounding his family became more important than reps in a practice without pads in the opening of camp.
Fitzpatrick said he was able to stay in shape by jogging and turning up his conditioning into doing some sprints, but he refrained from position-centric work while he was away from the team. He said he anticipates being at a full go next week.
“I think my biggest goal is just to get better every day," he said. "That could look different every day. It could be in the form of communicating with the guys out there on the field, it could be in the form of getting extra reps at catching, extra conditioning, extra ladder drills.”
After Saturday's practice, he spent time working with a coach on footwork and hands drills, running steps through a ladder on the ground and transitioning into hand-eye coordination drills with tennis balls. He made his way off of the field about an hour after practice concluded.
Fitzpatrick said he anticipates being in Latrobe for the remainder of camp, though he took a moment to reflect and sprinkle a dose of emotion into talking about being back on the field beginning Saturday.
"I mean, I hope so," Fitzpatrick said. "Life takes its course but hopefully I’m here for the long run.”
With the Steelers' top three safeties missing time early in camp, it has given the coaching staff a shot to see what they have as depth options. Keanu Neal and Damontae Kazee sustained injuries at varying points of camp, allowing for Tre Norwood, Kenny Robinson, and Miles Killebrew to take reps with the first- and second-team defense. Robinson had a day this week with two interceptions, and Norwood has shown capability as a pass defender while rotating with the first and second teams.
“I think it’s definitely big for those guys to come in," Fitzpatrick said. "I think Kenny and Tre and Miles, all those guys, they got a lot of reps in this week. I feel kind of bad with how many reps they got, but I’ll try to help them out next week as much as I can, but I feel great for them. They really get to work together a lot. They got a good look with the ones. It’s football. Guys go down, guys get hurt, as you see three safes going down in the first week of camp. But I think it was good for them, it was good for the coaches to see who could do what, and they all stepped up big and did a good job.”
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• The offense won the seven shots period for the second day in a row. A 4-3 victory came on Saturday as Kenny Pickett connected with Diontae Johnson for a score, and a flag on Cole Holcomb away from an ongoing play awarded the offense after Pickett's play-action pass off of a bootleg fell incomplete for Allen Robinson. Pickett's first pass -- intended for George Pickens -- fell incomplete.
Mitch Trubisky threw touchdowns to Calvin Austin III and Anthony McFarland, but could not connect with Miles Boykin on the final play of the period.
• Backs on backers returned for the first time since Tuesday. Darnell Washington was bested by T.J. Watt in their lone rep against each other, though Washington was able to swallow up Nick Herbig in two out of three reps to close the drill. Zach Gentry won three of his four reps against Herbig, and Jaylen Warren took Elandon Roberts to the ground as he won both of the reps against the linebacker.
The most impressive showing from this backs on backers was Kwon Alexander's bull-rushing of Najee Harris, as the linebacker took the 242-pound running back off of his feet on the first rep and easily sped by Harris on their third rep.
• Maybe this Kendrick Green at fullback thing is legitimate? After all, once is chance and twice is coincidence, as it goes.
Green recorded another reception in he team period from Mason Rudolph, just as he did in the "Friday Night Lights" practice less than 24 hours ago. This time, Green lined up as the in-line tight end, cut to his right as the ball was snapped, and fielded the pass from Rudolph. He bowled over Tanner Muse and gained about eight yards on the play.
This is the second time Green has come out of his offensive line shell in as many days. Tomlin said after practice this idea came about as the Steelers were scouting for the Ravens' Pat Ricard last season.
"He's done some nice things, but it's not new to him," Tomlin said. "We really discovered it late last season in preparation for Baltimore when he was representing that big fullback for them. That guy's a unique guy, and so we asked K.G. to provide a quality look for us and he really did, and so we just kind of put that in our hip pocket, and in an environment like this we want to see what guys are capable of doing, adding to their cause and ours, and he's shown some flexibility there."
• Mark Robinson made a couple of key plays in a team period. He appeared to get to Trubisky for a sack, and then he made a beautiful interception of Trubisky three plays later as he blanketed Connor Heyward on a seam route, leaped for he ball, and won the tussle over Heyward on the ground. He also repped in special teams quite a bit and got some praise from Miles Killebrew on a punt coverage play.
• Tomlin noted a few injuries after practice: Nate Herbig is dealing with hand and thumb injuries, and Nick Herbig was being evaluated for a hip flexor after practice. He added Joey Porter Jr. dealt an ankle issue in practice, got re-taped up, and re-entered.
• Pickens did it again. In the final red-zone period of the day, he made a leaping, toe-tapping grab over the top of Levi Wallace for a touchdown on the end-line. It was another spectacular play, this one from 12 yards out.
• I spotted a fan on the sideline who was wearing a Mark Bruener jersey. Shout out to you, if you're reading this.