At least three of the 28 tryout players participating in Pittsburgh Steelers’ rookie minicamp this weekend have reportedly signed with the team. According to multiple reports, East Carolina WR Tyler Snead is joining the team’s 90-man roster. The news was first reported by ECU’s Barstool Sports account and confirmed later Sunday by local reporter Stephen Igoe.
Snead was one player in particular we highlighted in our article on all the tryout players. For him, we wrote:
“A productive slot receiver in college, he should remain in that role in the NFL. A three-year starter, he caught 67 passes for 855 yards and four touchdowns last year for the Pirates. He’s also logged time in the kick and punt return game. He lacks size but has played a lot of football and will try to crack the Steelers’ receiver room. For what it’s worth, I’ve had more people in my Twitter mentions talk about him than anyone else so he’s got some fans rooting for him.”
Over his Pirates’ career, Snead caught 201 passes for 2380 yards and 18 touchdowns. He also saw work in the kick and punt return game and had two career kick return scores.
Snead obviously did enough this weekend to earn a contract. He’ll now be with the team through their upcoming OTAs and minicamp and hopefully make it to training camp later this summer. Pittsburgh lost two slot receivers this offseason in Ray-Ray McCloud and JuJu Smith-Schuster, though the team drafted Calvin Austin III in the fourth round of this year’s draft. Snead will continue to have an uphill climb to make the roster but he’s done the hard part of going from tryout to contract.
In addition to Snead, the team has reportedly signed Arizona DL Trevon Mason and South Carolina CB Carlins Platel. Pittsburgh is expected to announce the moves tomorrow afternoon as well as the corresponding three players who will be removed from the roster.