Damontae Kazee signed with the Steelers shortly after the draft, coming to Pittsburgh after making 15 starts with the Cowboys last season. He will not match that total in 2022.
The Steelers plan to place Kazee on IR, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. A wrist injury led to Kazee’s exit from Sunday’s preseason finale, and Dulac adds the veteran defensive back will need surgery.
It is unclear if the surgery will knock Kazee out for the entire season, but he will not be on the Steelers’ 53-man roster. The only way Kazee could play in 2022 is if the Steelers released him from IR via an injury settlement. Kazee, 29, signed a one-year, $1.19MM deal with just $153K guaranteed in May.
The former Falcons and Cowboys starter was expected to be a Steelers backup, playing behind Minkah Fitzpatrick and the recently re-signed Terrell Edmunds. The Steelers have run into some trouble during the preseason regarding safety health; Karl Joseph landed on IR early last week.
Kazee, who led the league with seven interceptions in 2018, picked off two passes in 17 games last season. He also forced two fumbles, giving him seven over his five-year career. While special-teamer Miles Killebrew re-signed on a two-year deal in March, it would not surprise if the Steelers — after losing two veterans at the position — added a safety this week.
A lot of talk about them moving Edmunds up to the box a lot since mlb is a weakness. Losing kazee is huge
Yeah, next to Minkah, I thought he was playing the best of the secondary in pre season