Some Friday housekeeping for you. We know the Pittsburgh Steelers signed two to their practice squad earlier in the week, snagging DB Mike Hilton and OLB Shaq Riddick. At the time, we also wrote the team worked out OLB Davis Tull.
According to the NFL’s transaction log, they worked out an additional player, cornerback Kevin Short. A UDFA in 2015, his career is a strange one. He spent two years at Fort Scott Community College, picking off ten passes, before committing to Kansas in 2013.
But, as this Chiefs Digest article lays out, he was ruled ineligible for the 2013 due to having too many credits, making him, in a bizarre way, academically ineligible. Despite planning on being with the team the following year, he decided to leave school before the start of the 2014 season for personal reasons that to my knowledge, have never been clear.
But he stayed on the Kansas City Chiefs’ radar and they scooped him up as a UDFA after the 2015 draft. According to his brief Kansas bio, he’s listed as 6’2 185, a unique height for a cornerback.
Short was cut outright by the Chiefs after camp in 2015, signing with the Seattle Seahawks later that year. He signed a futures deal with the New York Jets this past winter and made it through camp before getting his pink slip.
Of course, the Steelers went in the totally opposite direction, opting to sign the diminutive but experienced Hilton over Short. But keeping track of these tryouts are notable when futures’ contracts will occur and the Steelers begin to construct their 90 man offseason roster. A guy like Short is a name to keep in mind for the intrigue that he brings.
