Former Florida State inside linebacker Matthew Thomas ended the 2018 season on the practice squad of the Pittsburgh Steelers and on Wednesday the daily NFL transaction report shows that the Baltimore Ravens signed him to av Reserve/Futures contract.
The Steelers originally signed Thomas as an undrafted free agent and he went on to make the team’s initial 53-man roster. While Thomas did dress for several games in 2018 for the Steelers he was mostly used on special teams as he logged just 4 total defensive snaps during the season with all coming late in the team’s Week 5 blowout home win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Thomas ended the 2018 season with one defensive tackle and 3 total special teams tackles. During the preseason, however, he was credited with 22 total defensive tackles, one sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and 3 total special teams tackles.
In early December, the Steelers waived Thomas from their 53-man roster to make room for rookie outside linebacker Olasunkanmi Adeniy, who was a designated-to-return player from the team’s Reserve/Injured list. After clearing waivers, Thomas was then signed to the Steelers practice squad and he remained their the rest of the season.
Thomas was one of the Steelers most-talked about undrafted free agent signings this year and there were hopes that he would eventually become a starter down the road. Thomas was the only one of the Steelers 11 players that ended the season on the team’s practice squad not to be signed to a Reserve/Futures contract since the 2018 season ended on Sunday.
