NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers' Minkah Fitzpatrick returns to training after excused absences for personal reason

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrickreturnedto the training camp, on Saturday (August 05),after excused absences due to personal matter. Following his return, Fitzpatrick stated that he is grateful to returnand feels 'good to get back' to the game he has been in love with for a while and anticipates being with the Steelers for the remainder of the camp.

As quoted by ESPN, Fitzpatrick said, "Honestly, 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. You definitely kind of realize how much you love the game, how much you care about the game, but obviously you want to be there for family and for your people, but it's good to be back."

Not much is still known about Fitzpatrick's excused absences due to personal reasons. However, he acknowledged his coachMike Tomlin for granting hima leave to be with his family.

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"I said two words to him, and he knew what it was when I had to leave. And he told me go, you know what I'm saying? He said, 'Go be there for your family. Go do what you got to do.' And it wasn't an issue at all. They were making sure I was good every day. You definitely appreciate a coach and a program that takes care of family," he stated.

Meanwhile,Tomlin said, "He's back, and in a short period of time, you'll see him up and running in full capacity, I'm sure."

During Fitzpatrick's absence, Damontae Kazee sustained an ankle injury, which has put Steelers in a spot of bother. They are now without their top safeties, also including Keanu Neal, recently, suffered an undisclosed injury.

With the likes of Kazee, Fitzpatrick and Nealout of action, Kenny Robinson, Tre Norwood and Miles Killebrew gained in their absence with more reps. In this regard, the 26-year-old Fitzpatrick opined,"They got a lot of reps in this week. I feel kind of bad how many reps they got. I'll try and help 'em out next week as best as I can, but I think it's great for them. They don't really get to work together a lot. ... They got good looks with the ones (first team)."

"It's football. Guys go down; guys get hurt. As you see, three safeties 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," he added.

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