Player: Cassius Marsh
Position: Outside Linebacker
Experience: 7 Years
Free Agent Status: Unrestricted
2020 Salary Cap Hit: $176,471
2020 Season Breakdown:
First and foremost, apologies for double-dipping on the Cassius Marsh coverage today, but that’s just the way that things broke. The veteran happened to go on NFL Network for an interview the night before he was due to be covered in this column. He is the last unrestricted free agent left to be covered for the Pittsburgh Steelers before we get to the restricted and exclusive rights free agents, so I don’t want to skip around among different tiers of free agents.
With that out of the way, Marsh is actually one of the most veteran players for the Steelers hitting the open market, having been in the league for seven seasons now as a former fourth-round draft pick. He’s only spent a few games in Pittsburgh, of course.
After spending somewhat short stints last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and then the Indianapolis Colts, spending a lot of time on the practice squad of the latter, Marsh was pilfered from there late in the year and signed to the Steelers’ 53-man roster.
Marsh was originally signed after Matt Feiler was placed on the Reserve/Injured List following his pectoral injury that he suffered against the Buffalo Bills, leaving three games remaining in the regular season. He only played in one of them because he dealt Covid-19. He did, however, record two special teams tackles in his lone regular season action.
And when Alex Highsmith went down with an injury in the Steelers’ postseason game, it was Marsh, not Adeniyi or Elliott, who was asked to take the field, even though he had only been with the team for a few weeks.
Not to say that he lit things up or anything, but he logged 46 defensive snaps in that contest, about 70 percent of the total. He finished the game with two tackles, but the extensive playing time shows that they trusted him to play.
Free Agency Outlook:
As we talked about on the site earlier today, Marsh has already expressed interest in returning to the Steelers in 2021, his seventh different team of his career (and third of the 2020 season). I’m not sure that the interest isn’t mutual, though of course the price has to be right.
Marsh signed a one-year deal with the Jaguars worth only a little over $1 million, but the majority of it was guaranteed. At this point in his career, it is reasonable to believe that he could be had for a veteran minimum deal, and at that price, I would certainly welcome him back to provide depth and competition at a crucial position.
