The Pittsburgh Steelers made several transactions on Tuesday ahead of their Thursday night home game against the Baltimore Ravens. Several of them include tight ends.
First, Steelers tight end Vance McDonald was activated to the 53-man roster from the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Tuesday. McDonald has missed the last two games. To make room for McDonald on the roster, tight end Zach Gentry was placed on the team’s Reserve/Injured list with a knee injury. Gentry, who was injured in the first quarter of the Steelers Sunday road game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, will need to be on Reserve/Injured for at least the next three weeks.
Tight end Kevin Rader has been added to the Steelers roster off the practice squad. Additionally outside linebacker/long snapper Christian Kuntz has now been signed to the practice squad. Kuntz was with the Steelers during the team’s 2019 training camp and preseason and again this past offseason.
Kuntz, a Duquesne product, most recently was a long snapper in the XFL with the Dallas Renegades. He entered the NFL originally in 2017 as an undrafted free agent linebacker with the New England Patriots. After being cut by the Patriots, Kuntz focused on becoming a long snapper and ultimately spent time on the rosters of the Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars in 2018. Two of those weeks was spent on the Jaguars practice squad to close out the 2018 season.
After being waived by the Jaguars that June, Kuntz signed with the Steelers in August of 2019. He played in the Steelers preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers at both long snapper and outside linebacker and even registered a sack in that contest.
Kuntz played linebacker in college and was a part of three Northeast Conference (NEC) championship teams (2013, 2015 and 2016). He is the only Duquesne player in the school’s history to earn All-America honors three times and finished his collegiate career with a school record 30.5 sacks and 248 tackles en route to earning two NEC Defensive Player of the Year awards.
