While nobody selected him in the 2024 NFL Draft, John Rhys Plumlee can still call himself a first-round pick. The Arlington Renegades selected him third overall in the 2024 UFL Draft, now holding his rights for that league. Of course, he is under contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that remains binding unless they waive him. And he’s not thinking about any potential UFL future before he has to.
A rookie college free agent, John Rhys Plumlee signed with the Steelers this year after going undrafted. They already had quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen, but we don’t know what his options were. Something caused him to feel the Steelers gave him the best opportunity, and he isn’t deviating from that plan before he has to. In fact, he is considering the UFL so little that he isn’t even entirely sure how it all works.
“I don’t know completely. I do know that if the NFL doesn’t work out—if the worst-case scenario happens, the NFL doesn’t work out, Steelers don’t work out, and I went to play in that league, they hold my rights,” Plumlee said on the Steel Here podcast with Kevin Adams and Jersey Jerry. “So I couldn’t play for a different team in that league. But now you know as much as I know. That’s as much as I know about it”.
Asked to clarify if the Renegades could in any way claim him while with the Steelers, Plumlee said, “At least to my knowledge, no, I don’t think that is true”. Even that comment, though, just shows how little consideration he has given it.
There is one advantage to the Renegades taking Plumlee third in the UFL Draft, though. “I told everybody here, ‘Look, I was drafted third overall, I’m a first-rounder, and you can’t take that away from me’”, he joked.
Over the past two seasons for UCF, John Rhys Plumlee went 379-for-602 passing for 4,857 yards. He threw 29 touchdowns to 16 interceptions, adding 1,367 rushing yards and 16 receiving with 16 touchdowns. He also played some wide receiver in 2021 for Ole Miss, catching 19 passes for 201 yards.
The Steelers had Plumlee playing some wide receiver in practice this week, and they’ve also allowed him to return kicks. While he did not play quarterback in the preseason opener, he managed to record a special teams tackle.
The current UFL is a merger of the former XFL and USFL leagues. It played its inaugural season in 2024. Several former Steelers players, including draft picks Carlos Davis and Derwin Gray, were on the first championship team.
Pragmatically, John Rhys Plumlee is not going to make the Steelers’ 53-man roster and perhaps not even the practice squad. There is a very good chance he is not with a team during the 2024 season. If, and only if, events play out in that manner, he will have to brush up on how this UFL drafting business works.
