PITTSBURGH -- Senquez Golson is focused on getting on a football field this season. It doesn't have to be the Steelers'. He wants it to be, but he said he's not rushing his rehab from a July 30 left hamstring injury to make it so.

"I'm going to play football this year. I'm going to play football this year, whether it's here or wherever, I'm going to play," Golson said. "I'm being just extra cautious because that's just what I need to do, make sure I get everything."

Head coach Mike Tomlin said last Thursday that Golson needs to practice to stay in Pittsburgh. Sidelined, Golson has watched the Steelers practice and play since the first weekend of camp - and the past two seasons - and sees a team he thinks he can help. But shoulder and Lisfranc injuries cost him what would've been his first two years in the NFL.

Golson hasn't played competitive football since the 2015 Senior Bowl. Changing that means waiting. Even if it costs him a spot with the team that picked him 56th overall in the NFL draft two years ago.

"I missed too much time, he said, "to let a hammy set me back, you know what I'm saying? So I'm going off of according to how I feel. And that's just what it is. It's about how I feel and if I feel like I can go, I'll go.

"But I've had too many setbacks, I've missed too much time to be letting something as simple as a hamstring - but how nagging it can be - linger throughout the season."

In the second week of camp Golson said he couldn't return to team practices until he could sprint. After the Steelers' 19-15 Week 3 preseason loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday Golson said he could sprint a little and that he might be able to join individual drills before Pittsburgh's preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday.

He's thought about going on injured-reserve, where the Steelers could place Golson if they wanted to keep him but just not on their season-opening 53-man roster.

"I don't want to go nowhere," Golson said. "I definitely don't want to be on IR, I definitely don't want to be there, but if that's that what happens then that's what happens."

Defensive backs coach Carnell Lake said he plans on getting to keep five or six cornerbacks. Artie Burns, William Gay, Ross Cockrell, Mike Hilton and Senquez Golson have all taken first-team reps in training camp and preseason camp. Third-round pick Cameron Sutton returned from a right hamstring injury and shined in the second half against the Colts.

Who Sutton impressed, how

Above all else, Golson said, he has to be fully healthy whenever he returns to the football field, wherever that field is.

Pittsburgh's last full preseason practice is Tuesday. Cuts are due at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

"Nobody's seen me play. I have no good tape, I have no bad tape," Golson said. "But from what I know and from what I see, before it's all said and done I know what type of player I am and I know what I'm trying to do once I step out there.

"That's what's making me extra cautious."