LATROBE, Pa. -- It appears that the injury Ramon Foster suffered Saturday at practice isn't as bad as first thought, which is a relief to the Steelers.
It's also a relief for his friend, B.J. Finney, the man who would have been tasked with replacing Foster long term had the knee injury he suffered here at Saint Vincent College been more serious.
As it is, Finney will be running with the first team for the next four to six weeks as Foster recovers from a sprained MCL. And Finney is more than ready to hold things down until Foster returns.
"For me, it's a mentality of, I don't want to let the other guys suffer from me coming in," Finney said Sunday. "So it's always my mentality to not let everybody down."
The third-year pro hasn't done so yet in his career. A former undrafted player out of Kansas State, Finney has made seven career starts, including three in place of Foster in previous seasons. In those games, Finney helped pave the way for the Steelers to rush for 240 yards at Buffalo and 149 against Kansas City in 2016 and 194 yards against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium last season.
“It’s not a new thing for me,” Finney said of filling in for Foster. "I know I can play at this level. I know I can do a good job filling in."
So do the coaching staff and his teammates.
"B.J. has the experience, which is key in this league," said fellow guard David DeCastro. "To say you have done it and have played some good snaps for us, it's key."
The interesting thing is that both Foster and Finney will be unrestricted free agents at the end of this season. And with Foster at 32 and Finney at 26, the Steelers might be leaning toward keeping the younger player around in the long term.
They'll get a good opportunity over the next month to see how that looks. But his teammates can't wait to get the 10-year veteran back out there.
"He's the old man. He's been doing this a long time," said DeCastro of Foster. "We've had a good group and we've grown a lot together and have a lot of fun together. So that's the part that sucks, not having him there. But you know, he'll be back soon enough."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers training camp, Latrobe, Pa., July 29, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS