Once the frenzy of the 2024 NFL Draft ended, all of the teams in the league shifted their focus to bringing in talented players to compete that were not drafted. The Steelers’ undrafted free agent class wasn’t very large this year, but they did make history by giving out their largest-ever signing bonus to UCF QB John Rhys Plumlee. He was somebody the Steelers were interested in throughout the process.
“I went to two All-Star games. I went to the Hula Bowl, which is a little bit smaller one, and then went to the East-West Shrine, so I got to talk to ’em at both of those games,” Plumlee said in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko. “Did a Zoom [meeting] with them probably about a week and a half before, and that had everybody on it including Mr. Omar [Khan], and Coach Arthur [Smith], and Coach [Mike] Tomlin.
“Had a lot of people on that, and so it kind of made me feel important a little bit, right? Getting to talk to everybody. That’s always a good thing.”
The rest of the draft class was full of pre-draft visitors as the Steelers have not been hiding their intentions with players over the last two seasons. They have drafted nine pre-draft visitors over the last two years. Plumlee wasn’t in for a pre-draft visit, but a Zoom call with many of the important decision makers is the next best thing. That interest becomes even more important when it comes to UDFAs as they ultimately have the power to choose the team they sign with. The pre-draft process for those guys is a bit more like college recruiting in a way.
“I felt like Pittsburgh was the best spot for me, and ultimately decided that’s where I was supposed to be,” Plumlee said.
Bouncing between wide receiver and quarterback during his time in college, he fits in the mold of a guy like Taysom Hill with the New Orleans Saints. He is a player who can be used in a number of ways, but he said he expects his role to be at quarterback with the Steelers.
He will be working with some familiar faces in Pittsburgh, too. He got to see firsthand how effective WR George Pickens is when they both played in the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star game out of high school.
“He was unbelievable in that game,” Plumlee said. “He’s catching one-handed balls. I was like, ‘Man, this dude’s unbelievable.'”
He also got to reunite with some of the guys he worked with throughout the pre-draft process, saying he became friends with fourth-round draft pick OG Mason McCormick during the Shrine Bowl, and did some pre-draft training with fellow UDFA, CB Beanie Bishop Jr. The two of them played each other in 2023 with WVU beating UCF, 41-28.
“He reminds me often about it,” Plumlee said of some friendly boasting coming from Bishop. “He’s hilarious. I like to say that he got a couple of good plays against me, but some of ’em were, you know, I wouldn’t say 100-percent all on me, but Beanie’s gonna let me hear it either way.”
It sounds like a lot of his pre-draft experiences have led up perfectly to him joining the Steelers’ organization with a chance to compete for the QB3 role behind Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. Kyle Allen was signed in free agency, so that will be his primary competition. The Steelers carry four quarterbacks into training camp and three into the season, so Plumlee has an opportunity ahead of him. He fits the mold of an athletic quarterback similar to Wilson and Fields, so his skill set might be the perfect fit.
