The Pittsburgh Steelers have added five additional players to their offseason roster, the team announced today. They have signed: LB Akil Blount, LB Jason Fanaika, OL Kyle Friend and Mike Matthews, and RB Trey Williams. The team also signed CB Devonte Johnson, who we wrote about a short time ago.
Blount is Mel Blount’s son. In his senior season at Florida A&M, he racked up 75 tackles, 7.5 for loss, and picked off two passes. At last years Pro Day, weighing in at 6’2 245, he ran a 4.61 and jumped an impressive 40 inches in the vert.
Fanaika was a productive linebacker out of Utah, racking up 20 TFL and nine sacks in two seasons with the Utes. At 6’2 271, he was invited to the Combine but performed poorly, running a 4.92.
Friend was a three year starter at center for Temple and named captain three times, joining Tyler Matakevich as the only Owls to ever have that honor. He was an All-Conference pick his senior season. Friend weighed in at 6’0/5 295 at his Pro Day. He did 41 reps on the bench press.
Matthews is the son of Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews, who spent a large chunk of his football career playing alongside Steelers’ offensive line coach Mike Munchak. He’s also the brother of Atlanta Falcons’ left tackle Jake Matthews. Mike Matthews played center for Texas A&M but partly due to his size (6’1/5 297) went undrafted last season.
Williams is another Texas A&M alum, going undrafted in 2015. Standing in at 5’7/4 195, he ran a 4.49 at the Combine and a 4.12 in the short shuttle. In college, he ran for over 1300 yards and found the end zone 18 times.
All of these players will have a difficult time cracking the 53 man roster but are certainly players we’ll discuss and monitor throughout the offseason and especially during training camp.
