It remains to be seen how notable an addition Chris Wormley will be for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020, but what we do know is that the fourth-year veteran has played about 40 percent of the snaps for the Baltimore Ravens on average over the course of the past two seasons.
A former third-round draft pick in 2017 by the Steelers’ division rivals, Pittsburgh recently acquired the Michigan product via trade, sending their fifth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft down the Baltimore in exchange for Wormley’s services during the final year of his contract.
The fourth-year veteran has said that he grew up a Steelers fan, and there is evidence of that. During a Pro Day earlier in his college career, he had the opportunity to meet Mike Tomlin briefly, sharing the encounter on Instagram and saying that he was his favorite coach. Tomlin later would have dinner with him and other Michigan players when it was time for his own Pro Day.
He was clearly a player that the Steelers were interested in, but the need and the valuable did not match, and he was picked up by Baltimore well before they had a chance to select him with their own third-round pick. They had also signed Tyson Alualu in free agency earlier that offseason.
Kevin Colbert recently talked about the acquisition via the team’s website, saying, “Chris Wormley is someone we’ve always had a lot of respect for when he came out of the University of Michigan. He was very interesting for us as a draftable player. Of course Baltimore drafted him and he’s had three productive years with them”.
“When he was made available via trade, we just tried to confirm that he’d be available to us as well, and we were able to come to an agreeable trade with the Ravens”, he added. “I’m sure they’re happy with what they’ve got, but we’re very pleased to get a young defensive lineman like Chris Wormley, whom we valued very much when he came out three years ago in the draft from Michigan”.
This is only the second trade in history that the Steelers and Ravens had made together, the first being back in 1997, the second year of the Ravens’ existence. Needless to say, there isn’t a lot of intradivisional trading. I’m not sure when is the last time the Steelers and Bengals may have done a deal, though they have worked with the Browns a couple of times in the recent past.
The Steelers did lose Javon Hargrave in the offseason, but they also have Cameron Heyward, a three-time Pro Bowler, and Stephon Tuitt, who prior to his injury last season looked to be well on his way to making his first Pro Bowl as well.
In addition to the two studs up front, Alualu is still kicking, as is Daniel McCullers, to some degree, and Isaiah Buggs, a 2019 sixth-round pick, will be entering his second season hoping to carve out a bit more playing time for himself.
