News, notes from Thursday

Obviously, the big news from practice Thursday were the injuries to running backs Isaac Redman and Le'Veon Bell.

Redman ran into the back of a lineman and was hit by linebacker Larry Foote. He immediately fumbled the ball and went down in a heap.

It was just a stinger, though he did not return to practice.

Later, in another team portion of practice, Bell ran around left end and into a pack about 15 yards downfield. He began to pull up and was smacked hard by somebody in the group - nobody was sure who and nobody was owning up to the hit in what was supposed to be a non-contact drill.

Bell went down in a heap. Trainers looked at his left knee and put an ice pack on the back of it. But he stayed with the team on the field, a good sign.

I'm hearing it's a slight MCL sprain, but we'll learn more Friday.

First-round pick Jarvis Jones also appeared to tweak his groin about midway through practice. Team trainers stretched him out a little while and he returned for the final session.

@ A report surfaced today that the Steelers could be looking to deal wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery. That's ridiculous. Had Plaxico Burress not gotten injured, maybe they would have considered offers for Cotchery.

But with Burress out, there's no way they're going to be comfortable going with Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders and a bunch of rookies, even if they have been impressed with Markus Wheaton.

@ The Steelers are comfortable with what they've seen from their quarterbacks and will keep three on the active roster.

Whether that's Landry Jones or John Parker Wilson to go along with Ben Roethlisberger and Bruce Gradkowski remains to be seen.

Jones has shown better arm strength recently. As long as he can keep our of Baron Batch's way in the backfield against Washington next week, he's probably the guy.

@ Shamarko Thomas laid a big hit on Alvester Alexander in the hole Thursday, knocking the 213-pound back backwards about five yards.

@ I have one big concern with Jones, the rookie linebacker. He seemingly jumps offsides at least once every practice.

He also had some issues getting off blocks in the tight ends on backers drills Thursday.

Both are correctable issues, though.