The Pittsburgh Steelers 2019 season ended on Sunday and on Monday they reportedly re-signed two players who were scheduled to become an exclusive rights free agent during the offseason.
According to Jacob Klinger of pennlive.com, the Steelers re-signed safety Marcus Allen and outside linebacker Tuzar Skipper to one-year exclusive rights tenders on Monday. Allen’s one-year tender should be worth $660,000. Skipper signed a two-year deal, according a press release put out by the team.
Allen, who spent most of the 2019 season on the Steelers practice squad, was promoted to the 53-man roster in Week 16 after safety Kameron Kelly was waived. After being inactive for the Steelers Week 16 road game against the New York Jets, Allen dressed for the team’s Sunday road finale against the Baltimore Ravens and played seven total snaps on special teams.
Allen was originally selected by the Steelers in the fifth-round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Penn State. He dressed for two games during his 2018 rookie season and recorded two total defensive tackles in limited playing time.
As for Skipper, he signed originally with the Steelers this year as an undrafted free agent out of Toledo. He then proceeded to lead the NFL in sacks during the preseason. After initially making the Steelers 53-man roster after the preseason, Skipper was waived prior to the team’s Week 1 game and claimed by the New York Giants. The Giants ultimately waived Skipper in October and signed him to their practice squad.
The Steelers ultimately signed Skipper off the Giants practice squad in November and the outside linebacker spent his remaining 2019 regular season games on the team’s inactive list.
Allen and Skipper are two of four players that ended the 2019 regular season on either the Steelers 53-man roster or Reserve/Injured list that were scheduled to become exclusive rights free agents during the offseason. The other two players are center J.C. Hassenauer and defensive tackle Lavon Hooks.
