The Pittsburgh Steelers elected to add from outside of the organization last week after placing inside linebacker Marcus Allen on the Reserve/Injured List. Rather than promote somebody from their own practice squad, they signed veteran linebacker Tae Crowder instead off of the New York Giants’ practice squad.
The last pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, he has played more than most drafted in that spot. He has started 31 over 41 career games, registering 232 tackles (nine for loss) with two sacks, six hits, two interceptions, eight passes defensed, two forced fumbles, and a 43-yard fumble recovery for a score.
So where does that leave him in Pittsburgh? Well, it’s hard to say. It’s not even a guarantee that he dressed for the final two games (they could instead dress rookie draft pick Mark Robinson), but he does have playing experience, even this year, with 45 tackles, a forced fumble, and a sack despite not starting any games.
Asked about what the future might hold for him in Pittsburgh in terms of building a role for himself, he told Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he believes the team will discuss that with him “later on in the future”. For now, he said, “I just want to come in and put my head down, go to work and help the team out any way I can”.
The most obvious way that he could help is by contributing on special teams. He has played a career-high 160 special teams snaps this season, having dressed for 13 games this year before being demoted to the practice squad. And Allen was a core special teams player.
It’s not likely that they would throw him out there on defense as they already have a three-headed monster at inside linebacker between Devin Bush, Myles Jack, and Robert Spillane. The latter is ostensibly a backup, yet he plays substantively. In fact, he’s logged every snap for the past two weeks, three times this season in total.
Robinson fills out the rest of the inside linebacker group, but he has spent most of his rookie season as a healthy scratch. He did dress a couple of weeks ago and had the opportunity to see his first defensive action in his career. While he failed to register a stat, he sure seemed to enjoy running around, so that’s something.
As a third-year veteran, Crowder is due to be a restricted free agent in 2023. Two games probably aren’t substantial enough of a resume for the front office to justify giving him a restricted free agent tender, but if they like what they see, they could certainly try to retain him on a lower-value contract.
