Color me a bit shocked. According to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, safety Will Allen was spotted at the Pittsburgh Steelers facility on Wednesday just one day after he was released by the Dallas Cowboys.
The Steelers had a chance to re-sign Allen during the offseason, but chose not to and the veteran safety wound up signing a one-year qualifying contract with the Cowboys instead. That contract came with a reduced cap hit of $620,000, so it’s not like it would have killed the Steelers.
Allen played well last year when Troy Polamalu was sidelined with his calf injury, but at this point in his career, he’s merely a special teams contributor.
The only reason I can think the Steelers might have interest in is Allen is if the hip injury suffered by safety Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith is one that will keep him sidelined for a weeks. Cromartie-Smith is a big contributor on special teams, so if signed, Allen would likely take his spot on the roster.
Earlier in the day, the Steelers signed former linebacker Stevenson Sylvester back to the roster to replace injured linebacker Kion Wilson. Wilson, like Cromartie-Smith was a big contributor on special teams.
Stay tuned.
