🔥 HOT NEWS: Steelers make the long-awaited roster move that instantly ignites fan excitement across the league ⚡. DH
The Pittsburgh Steelers are making a move everyone has been waiting for.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are making a roster move many have anticipated over the last few weeks. In a coorosponding move with releasing veteran cornerback Darius Slay, the team has also signed Asante Samuel Jr. to their active roster from the practice squad, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Slay signed with the Steelers this offseason and became the starting cornerback opposite of Joey Porter Jr. After struggles throughout the year, though, the team moved Slay to the bench for James Pierre. In their latest game, Slay was made a healthy inactive to make room for Samuel Jr., who now moves into the role of replacing Slay perminantly.
“Really it was less about Slay and more about getting an opportunity to see Asante Samuel,” head coach Mike Tomlin said when asked about Slay being inactive against the Bills. “He’s a global NFL starter type who’s been on our practice squad. This time of year as attrition sets in, you step into stadiums week in and week out, things happen, and we certainly want to have an opportunity to see him in stadium before we maybe had to make a decision on him, before someone else forced our hand regarding decisions.So, it was about that for us. Slay has missed some time due to a variety of injuries and so forth. It was about getting a look at that guy that started a lot of games in this League, and we did. We liked some of the things that we saw and will make decisions about how we divide the labor up a little later in the week.”
Samuel Jr. is 26 years old and played in his first game since Week 4 of the 2024 season this past week. After undergoing spinal contusion surgery, Samuel Jr. returned to the NFL field, signing in Pittsburgh. His opportunity is now becoming bigger as he joins the defense.
In 51 games, Samuel Jr. holds 47 starts, recording six interceptions, 37 pass deflections and 179 tackles. He recorded three tackles in his debut with the Steelers.
Steelers CB Depth
The Steelers are still dealing with injuries as James Pierre remains in concussion protocol. If Pierre is to miss the team’s Week 14 against the Baltimore Ravens, Porter Jr., Brandin Echols and Samuel Jr. will be the starters and the team would likely call up another player from the practice squad.
Jalen Ramsey remains at safety and is expected to stay there full-time for the remainder of the season.
