Mike Tomlin’s announcement of Mike Adams’ back injury came as a surprise. You can piece together the tea leaves, the team signing offensive tackle Kelvin Palmer yesterday, but no one expected Adams’ injury to be as severe as it is. Tomlin indicated the Steelers’ tackle underwent surgery on July 20th and estimated his recovery time at four weeks.
A month scenario, and that’s no guarantee, would get Adams back just in time for training camp to break and probably only play in the team’s final two preseason games.
Needless to say, it creates a huge opportunity for one of the most polarizing – yet wholly unknown – players in camp, Alejandro Villanueva.