The Pittsburgh Steelers brought Jalen Elliott back to the roster on Thursday after waiving him earlier in camp in the move that brought ILB/ST Tyler Matakevich back to the roster. Today, Aaron Wilson reported on X that Elliott signed a one-year, $915,000 contract.
This contract is not one of the top 51 contracts on the roster and thus does not count against the offseason salary cap via the rule of 51. Elliott practiced on Thursday at Saint Vincent College for training camp immediately after the announcement of his signing.
Elliott’s first stint with the team started around this time last season. He was signed as a free agent on Aug. 8, 2023, and stuck on the roster throughout the preseason before being cut at the end of the month. He circled back to the practice squad in October and bounced on and off that group throughout the 2023 season. He was signed to a future contract in January and stuck with the team until mid-July when Matakevich was brought in.
Elliott started his career as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Lions in 2020. He stuck with them, mostly on the practice squad, until 2022 when he signed with the New England Patriots for a brief stint in training camp.
He appeared in eight games for the Lions, starting one, and logged 12 total tackles and seven solo tackles in 92 snaps. He also played 140 special teams snaps in 2021.
Minkah Fitzpatrick has been given multiple veteran days off at this point, so Elliott will have opportunities to run a unit ahead of where he otherwise would in practice.
He probably doesn’t have a path to the 53-man roster at this point, but he could be a candidate to stick around on the practice squad once again as he did last season.
