The Pittsburgh Steelers are bringing in ILB Tegray Scales for a visit, according to the NFL’s transaction wire. That moves comes on the same day ILB Vince Williams was placed on the COVID-19 list for being a high-risk/close contact to Vance McDonald, who tested positive for the virus Monday morning.
Scales may sound like a familiar name to Steelers’ fans. He was with the Steelers throughout the 2019 offseason and summer, signing a futures contract in January and carried through the end of the preseason. Pittsburgh cut him as they whittled their roster down to 53.
Here’s what we wrote about Scales exciting the 2019 training camp.
“Tegray Scales: Got some work with the 2nd team (following the starting ILB rotation, of course) but fell down pretty quickly after Spillane impressed early on. He’s not a total liability but there’s no standout trait here either. Better against the run than he is in coverage. His lone camp INT came off a tipped pass.
Camp Grade: D+“
Since then, he was selected by the Dallas Renegades in the XFL Draft. He jumped back into the NFL last month, spending two weeks on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad. Scales was released on the 27th.
Listed at 6’0 230, he signed as a UDFA out of Indiana with the Los Angeles Rams in 2018. In four years with the Hoosiers, he racked up 324 tackles (46 for a loss) with 17 sacks. In 2016, he was named 2nd Team All-American by Sports Illustrated, the first IU linebacker with that accolade since 1987.
Like Demarcus Christmas last week, the team will have to wait until Saturday in order to officially sign him assuming Scales passes all his COVID tests. By then, Williams could be activated from the Reserve/COVID list along with the three others placed there Tuesday: QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Jaylen Samuels, and OT Jerald Hawkins.
