The Pittsburgh Steelers have claimed safety Elijah Riley off waivers, according to the NFL transaction wire and PFN’s Aaron Wilson. In a corresponding move, the team waived second-year safety Donovan Stiner.
Riley was most recently with the New York Jets. Undrafted out of Army, he first signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020 and appeared in five games as a rookie. He caught on with the Jets in 2021 and saw a fair amount of playing time, starting seven games, registering 45 tackles and one sack. New York waived him yesterday and now the Steelers are swapping safeties.
Riley picked off QB Josh Dobbs in a preseason contest last year.
Coming out of college, Riley weighed in at 5112, 209 pounds. At Army, Riley registered 142 total tackles, with 17.5 of them resulting in lost yardage. He also had seven interceptions, 21 passes defended, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in the 44 games he played in at Army.
Stiner was signed by Pittsburgh as an undrafted free agent out of Florida last season. He spent his entire rookie year on the practice squad and signed a futures contract after the season. He failed to show a jump in play this summer, possessing good size but missing too many tackles and not making plays in coverage. He was the final member of the team’s 2021 UDFA class.
Riley will try to catch the moving train and should suit up late in Sunday’s preseason finale against the Detroit Lions.
