There’s a rich tradition of great pass rushers in Pittsburgh Steelers history. A little more than a decade ago, James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley became an elite duo. Fast forward to today and it’s T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith carrying the torch. Before all of them were Joey Porter, Kevin Greene, Greg Lloyd, the list goes on and on. Pittsburgh takes pride in finding its next great pass rusher.
They’ve also found plenty of camp darlings. Maybe not guys who always worked out and became NFL stars like the names above but names that got you excited during the dog days of summer. For short stretches in recent camps, names like Ola Adeniyi, Tuzar Skipper, and Jamir Jones drew headlines. Those guys all made the roster for varying lengths of time and though they never stuck, outside linebacker seems like the one position that’s always churning out some young player worth talking about in Latrobe.
This year, that man could be Fresno State undrafted free agent David Perales.
His college production is nothing to sneeze at: 38 career tackles for loss, 23 sacks, and a whopping nine forced fumbles. The dude was a flat out playmaker. That alone doesn’t guarantee NFL success but it’s hard to be a pass rusher who didn’t succeed in college and expect to turn it on at the game’s highest level.
His numbers got better throughout his college career, ending 2022 with 16 TFL and 11.5 sacks. He was productive against bigger and smaller schools. A two-sack outing against USC. A four-sack drubbing of San Jose State. He even made more plays in coverage, registering his first career INT as a senior while breaking up five passes.
As Jacob Harrison noted in our post-signing scouting report, Perales can bend the edge, plays with a hot motor, and is gap sound in the run game. That’s check, check, check on all the foundation qualities a Steelers EDGE rusher needs.
So why did he fall out of the draft? A lack of ideal size and testing. He weighed in at 6022, 248 pounds with 32-inch arms at his Bulldogs’ Pro Day. Measurables that aren’t terrible but certainly average. His testing was far more alarming, a 5.04 40 an ugly-duckling of a number. But there’s a caveat. Perales had been struggling with an ankle injury in late November that carried over into his Pro Day training and performance. He’s not a 5+ second player on tape.
And despite the crooked 40 time, his three-cone was a solid 7.10. If he was fully healthy to train and test, maybe that figure would’ve even dipped under seven seconds, a strong correlation with NFL pass-rush success.
His health misfortune was the Steelers’ fortune, making him an easier sign in the UDFA pool. While putting stock into the amount of money given to that class can be fool’s gold (or based on the way Pittsburgh pays, fool’s copper) but Perales received the second-largest signing bonus of the team’s class, $15,000 to come to the Steelers. That only trailed QB Tanner Morgan’s $25,000. Given the value of the position, it’s no surprise to see a quarterback paid the most.
With Markus Golden’s addition, Perales’ path of making the 53 just got far tougher. T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Golden will all make the team (unless Golden has truly fallen off a cliff) with fourth round rookie Nick Herbig also highly likely to make it, especially for what he should be able to offer on special teams.
Still, there’s a path. Pittsburgh could keep nine total linebackers, outside and inside combined. Based on current roster construction, it’s possible – likely, even – only four inside linebackers make it: Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts, Mark Robinson, and Tanner Muse. Leaving five outside linebacker spots. The top four are pretty locked in but the fifth spot would be open between Quincy Roche and Perales. It’d make for a good battle between the two but gives Perales an honest shot to make the team.
Of course, this all looks good in theory, written down on paper. Perales has a long way to go. But if he creates buzz this summer, he’ll be far from the first even recent example to do so. Watch out for his name and his #40 jersey this summer. You might be seeing it a lot.
