Monday, the Pittsburgh Steelers waived three players previously on the team’s injured reserve list with injury settlements: WR Tarik Black, CB Kalon Barnes, and S Nate Meadors.
They’re procedural and expected moves after all three were waived/injured during training camp. Meadors happened first, suffering a hamstring injury midway through camp. Signed to a Reserve/Futures contract this offseason, Meadors saw plenty of reps as a third-team safety and had a camp interception, picking off QB Kyle Allen during a seven-shots period of practice. Pushing for a practice squad spot, the injury derailed his chances. He was waived/injured on Aug. 8, cleared waivers, and reverted to IR.
Barnes suffered a quad injury towards the end of camp. He attempted to battle through the injury during one practice but couldn’t finish the day. He was waived/injured on Aug. 12. Barnes opened camp running second-string outside corner alongside Darius Rush but lost reps throughout camp to CBs Cory Trice Jr. and Anthony Averett. Despite running one of the fastest 40s ever, Barnes didn’t display the same timed speed on the field.
Black was signed mid-way through camp after WR Roman Wilson suffered an ankle sprain. Despite size and baseline athleticism, he had a quiet summer, catching just two passes during the team periods throughout camp. He caught one pass for 11 yards in the preseason opener against the Houston Texans. Black suffered a hamstring towards the end of camp and was waived/injured on Aug. 13.
All three receive payouts corresponding to the projected time they’ll miss due to injury. Often, these settlements are up to three weeks’ pay. Now free agents, they can sign to any of the other 31 teams once healthy and past their injury settlement period.
It’s even possible they return to the Steelers’ roster later in the year, though they have to wait additional time to do that. Those instances are rare but have occurred, with RB Master Teague as one recent example. Released with a settlement in August of 2022, he re-signed to the team’s practice squad that November.
Pittsburgh currently has two players on injured reserve. OLB David Perales, who suffered a serious-looking knee injury early in training camp, and CB Grayland Arnold, who injured his calf on the final day at Latrobe.
