Pittsburgh Steelers release 2 players from their offseason roster – Behind the Steel Curtain

It was reported on Friday the Steelers signed former New York Jets cornerback/safety Arthur Maulet to their offseason roster.

When the Steelers made the official statement of the player signing, they also included the announcement of the release of safety John Battle and cornerback Trevor Williams.

Undrafted out of LSU in 2019, John Battle caught on with the Steelers practice squad early in the 2020 season. Battle was signed to a Reserve/Future contract in January.

Trevor Williams went undrafted in the 2016 NFL draft out of Penn State, but was signed by the Chargers shortly after. Playing in Los Angeles for three seasons, Williams appeared in 37 games with 27 starts from 2016 to 2018. After brief stints in Arizona and Philadelphia in 2019 and 2020, Williams landed on the Steelers practice squad at the end of the 2020 season. While Williams’ NFL experience gave him a leg up on some of the other young players fighting for a roster spot, it appears the Steelers decided to move on from Williams before he had a chance to take the field in 2021.

Williams contract was in the top 51 for the Steelers this offseason, therefore his release will technically gain the Steelers $70k towards the 2021 NFL salary cap for the time being. In essence, the savings will be cancelled out once the Steelers sign their 2021 NFL draft picks as they will displace the player who moved into the top 51.

In addition to the signing of Maulet and the release of Battle and Williams, the Steelers also signed five of their undrafted free agents following the 2021 NFL draft. This per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.

If five of the Steelers undrafted free agents have officially signed today along with Arthur Maulet, the Steelers have three more undrafted rookie‘s who should be officially signing their contracts soon.

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