For the second time in less than a week, tight end Michael Roberts has been waived by a team and once again it appears his overall heath was the reason for him once again being close to being unemployed.
According to Field Yates of ESPN on Wednesday, the Green Bay Packers waived Roberts after claiming him off waivers from the Detroit Lions on Monday. Roberts had been waived by Lions on Friday after having a Detroit trade of him to the New England Patriots last week reverse due to what was reportedly a failed physical.
Roberts, who played in 8 games with the Lions in 2018, might still be attempting to still overcome the surgery he needed late last season on an injured shoulder. That speculation aside, the former fourth-round draft pick out of Toledo recently was quoted as saying that he felt “perfectly fine” as the Lions wound down their 2019 offseason practices.
“I’m up and running,” Roberts said recently of his health,” according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “Just it’s more so about maintaining and building strength around everything that I had go wrong which, I feel perfectly fine.”
So, why have we posted so much about Roberts with him not being a member of the Steelers? Mainly because we think the Steelers might still be interested in adding another tight end to their roster before the start of training camp and also because they reportedly showed more than a passing interest in the player ahead of him being drafted a few years ago.
Hey, it’s also the deadest time of the NFL offseason so there’s not too much for us to write about just the same. Consider it us just attempting to hone our writing skills some.
At the time of this post, it’s still unknown if the Steelers put in a recent waiver claim on Roberts on Monday only to have that superseded by the Packers. It really doesn’t matter at this point if they even did, however, as Roberts wouldn’t have likely passed a Pittsburgh physical.
After reportedly now failing two physicals with two different teams, it would be a surprise to see Roberts claimed off waivers again. He obviously has something going on with his overall health and hopefully he’ll be able to get fully healthy by the time training camps around the league get underway, or soon thereafter. For now, just tuck Roberts’ name somewhere in the back of your mind in case the Steelers decide they want to maybe consider signing him at a later date.
Last season Roberts had just 9 catches for 100 yards and 3 touchdowns in 177 total snaps played.
