Cassius Marsh might not necessarily be the first name that you come up with in your head when you think about the Pittsburgh Steelers. You might not even realize that he ever played for the team, though technically he is currently under contract with the organization, at least until the start of the new league year.
A veteran who has been in the league since 2014 with seven different teams, the outside linebacker was brought in late last season following Bud Dupree’s injury in order to provide depth. He got the opportunity to play a bit, just in one game, during the regular season, recording a couple of special teams tackles, but he played a lot in the postseason game after Alex Highsmith was injured.
Right now, Pittsburgh is trying to figure out who is coming back and who isn’t. that conversation includes quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, but the conversation has been drifting closer and closer to the affirmative. What about someone like Marsh? What does he think about Roethlisberger being back—and about his own prospects of returning?
“Big Ben is a legendary player. We weren’t able to end this season how we wanted to last year, but to have another opportunity to have a quarterback like that on the team is awesome for the organization”, he said during an appearance on NFL Network yesterday.
“I loved my time with the Steelers, and definitely hope to be back there next year. Free agency is always crazy so we’ll see how that goes”, he added, “but that’s awesome news for the Steelers organization. Big Ben is a legendary quarterback”.
Marsh has logged 92 games over the course of his career with nine starts, logging over 1500 defensive snaps during that time, and another 1000 on special teams. He has accumulated 128 tackles with 25 for lost yardage and 14 sacks, plus five forced fumbles and two recoveries.
The 2020 season was, however, his most complicated, spending time with three different organizations. He logged three games with the Indianapolis Colts and four with the Jacksonville Jaguars, including one start, two teams he hadn’t previously played for. He was on the Colts’ practice squad when the Steeler signed him to their 53-man roster in early December.
With Bud Dupree departing in free agency, Pittsburgh can obviously use some depth at the outside linebacker position. Marsh at least adds veteran experience and special teams chops to boot. When he was brought in, he immediately played over Ola Adeniyi as well as Jayrone Elliott, both of whom had more experience in the Steelers’ system, so I think there is a chance that there is some mutual interest to stick together—on the cheap, of course.
