Last year during free agency the Pittsburgh Steelers signed safety Nat Berhe to a one-year contract with his primary role being a core special teams player in addition to being a backup at his position. Berhe, however, wound up suffering a torn pectoral muscle during the Steelers Week 4 game against the Baltimore Ravens and that resulted in his 2018 season coming to an end as he was quickly placed on the team’s Reserve/Injured list. Now presumably fully healthy, or very close to it, Berhe recently stated he’s open to returning to the Steelers.
According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, Berhe recently noted that he’s had some early contact with the Steelers and is open to re-signing with them. Additionally, the safety said he’s currently focused on adding some size and landing with some team in a training camp.
Before suffering his season-ending injury last season, Berhe registered 2 defensive tackles and 1 special teams tackle. He logged 32 total defensive snaps before getting injured with all of those coming in the Steelers Week 3 and Week 4 games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Ravens, respectively. Those snaps also came with him playing as an extra safety in the dime package.
Berhe, who played his first four seasons with the New York Giants after being drafted by them in the fifth-round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of San Diego State, registered 47 total tackles and one forced fumble before signing with the Steelers a year ago in April. He also led the Giants in special teams tackles in 2017 with 10 in total and up to that point had 24 total for his career. He made two career starts in his four seasons with the Giants and missed the entire 2015 season with a calf injury and several games in 2016 because of a concussion.
Berhe’s brief playing time in the Steelers defense last season wasn’t great. He is, however, probably still considered a very good special teams player so if the Steelers do indeed have any interest in re-signing him in the coming weeks, it will likely be mainly because of that reason.