The Pittsburgh Steelers have their fourth quarterback. UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee announced that he has signed with the team as an undrafted free agent.
UPDATE: The Steelers have announced Plumlee as a quarterback.
Though his photo lists him as a quarterback, his position is unclear. He bounced between quarterback and wide receiver throughout his career and his athleticism is among his best traits. Plumlee’s career began at Ole Miss at quarterback, choosing the Rebels over Alabama, Notre Dame, and many other schools. But the school switched him to wide receiver one week before the team’s bowl game in 2020, and he played wideout in 2021, catching 25 passes for 280 yards.
He transferred to UCF for the 2022-2023 seasons, reverting back to quarterback. In 2023, he threw for 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions while rushing for 505 yards and five touchdowns, hampered by an early-season knee injury that required a bulky brace. Still, he helped create big plays for WR Javon Baker, who was drafted earlier today and averaged over 21 yards per catch.
At the Big 12 Conference Pro Day, Plumlee excelled. He weighed in at 5116, 203 pounds, running 4.54, jumping 36.5 inches in the vert, and 10’4″ in the broad.
A great athlete, Plumlee played baseball throughout his career even while serving as UCF’s starting quarterback. An outfielder, he hit .286 with 10 home runs and 18 stolen bases. His biggest dual-sport accomplishment came in 2023, hitting a triple in UCF’s baseball game before racing to the spring football game and tossing two touchdowns.
His UCF coach Gus Malzahn congratulated Plumlee on Twitter.
Off the field, he’s a talented pianist who plays a mean “Piano Man” and has cited music as a stress reliver.
Our scouting report can be found below. We suggested making a position switch back to wide receiver given his limitations as a quarterback, Plumlee struggling to display consistent accuracy and struggling in adverse weather. His career passing production has always been poor, even dating back to his high school junior season. Injuries have also been a consistent problem throughout his career, from breaking his thumb in high school and missing multiple games to having knee surgery in 2019, battling hamstring and shoulder injuries in 2022, and a meniscus injury in 2023.
While Plumlee showed shades of Dorian Thompson-Robinson, our official comp was B.J. Daniels. Due to the projected position switch, we gave him a tryout grade. But it seems he’s staying at quarterback where he’ll have to play better and more consistently from the pocket to stick.
