Shoulder surgery shelves Steelers rookie cornerback Golson

Golson was a full participant in organized training activities and minicamp during the spring but showed up to camp at Saint Vincent College with the shoulder issue.

“For me, it’s been a dream come true”, Finney said. “We thought it could be a great experience for him whether or not he was participating or not”. “That’s why we waited for the surgery”.

Golson was drafted in the second round out of Mississippi this year after leading the Southeastern Conference in interceptions in 2014. Tomlin, though, said the Steelers had interest in acquiring Boykin even before Golson’s injury.

“We had communicated with those guys for some time in that regard”, Tomlin said. Hindsight is always 20-20. “We really wanted to take an opportunity to get to know some young people and put them in some (different) positions the first couple of weeks. I love the sterile environment, I love the singular focus associated with training camp”.

He was strictly a nickel cornerback in the slot for the Eagles, but with veteran Cortez Allen sitting out some practices because of a sore knee, the 5-10 Boykin is getting a look on the outside. Tomlin said. “But I would imagine not many share my perspective”. “But I played outside every single day for the past four years in Philadelphia. I’m being (used) at both now, so we’ll see what happens”.

Injuries will also impact the Steelers at inside linebacker in Sunday’s game against Green Bay.

Tomlin specifically mentioned linebackers Terence Garvin and Sean Spence, safety Robert Golden, fullback Will Johnson, wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, cornerback Antwon Blake and running back Dri Archer as players that will participate more on special teams this week.

The rest of the Steelers, including safety Ross Ventrone and quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, who returned to practice this week, should be in the lineup on Sunday.