Steelers notebook: Mike Tomlin 'just being smart' in managing Antonio Brown's camp injury
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin did not say star receiver Antonio Brown would play in Saturday’s preseason home opener. But he did not rule Brown out, either.
Typically a player who rarely misses a practice rep, Brown has practiced sparingly during training camp as he deals with what has been believed to be a quad injury. He has not played in either of the Steelers’ first two preseason games (though that is not atypical).
As he has for most of the past four weeks, Tomlin again on Thursday declined to give any specifics on Brown’s injury.
“It is not that time of year,” Tomlin said, referencing that league-mandated injury reports do not apply to the preseason. “We are just managing him from a rep standpoint in his participation and we’ll decide as we get closer to game time whether or not he is playing in the game.”
Brown missed the final two regular-season games last year because of an ankle injury suffered in a Week 15 loss to New England. Those were the first regular-season games he’d missed because of injury since 2012.
Tomlin said he’s been speaking with Brown on an almost daily basis.
“He wants to do more (at practice),” Tomlin said. “We are just being smart about how we are going about the process of preparing him for the season.”
McDonald making progress?
Tomlin said starting tight end Vance McDonald is “getting close to partial (practice) participation.” McDonald has not practiced since the first week of training camp, when he suffered a foot injury.
With the regular season 17 days away, Tomlin on Thursday was asked about McDonald’s status.
“He’s working his way through (the injury),” Tomlin said.
“Once we get him back out there working in that (partial practice participation) capacity, I will be better equipped to explain where he is in terms of his return.”
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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
