Steelers Free Agent Analysis: Tyler Matakevich
Position: Inside Linebacker
Experience: 9 Years (5 with Steelers)
Free Agent Status: Unrestricted
2024 Salary Cap Hit: $804,167
2024 Season Breakdown:
The 2024 season marked the return of the prodigal son, Tyler Matakevich re-signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. A 2016 seventh-round pick, “Dirty Red” has earned a reputation, and career, as a special teams ace. In fact, he priced himself out of Pittsburgh, having a good four-year run with the Bills.
But available once again in 2024, Matakevich re-signed with the Steelers, although not until July. Despite missing six games due to injury, he still played nearly 200 snaps on special teams. On the other hand, he played zero defensive snaps for the first time in his career.
Of course, the Steelers signed Tyler Matakevich to play exclusively on special teams, having never played even 100 defensive snaps in a single season, either in Pittsburgh or in Buffalo. Generally when he did play, it was due to injuries, managing 149 defensive snaps in four years with the Steelers.
Conversely, Matakevich has 2,759 special teams snaps, 1,403 with the Steelers and 1,356 with the Bills. On 195 snaps last season, he recorded four tackles. Pro Football Focus charged him with one missed tackle, though, with a special teams grade of 63.4, for whatever that might be worth. His two highest grades were the first two of the season, after which he injured his hamstring. He had two of his four tackles on the season in those two games.
Free Agency Outlook:
At 32 years old, Dirty Red is who he is, and everybody knows is. Nobody would even think to sign him for anything more than a Veteran Salary Benefit deal at this point. But there is no shame in that and indeed is quite a nice little paycheck. Should the Steelers re-sign Tyler Matakevich, though?
In truth, it would do no harm to do so. Merely re-signing Matakevich doesn’t reserve him a spot on the Steelers’ 53-man roster. And he might have a hard time making it, depending on what moves they make. Elandon Roberts is a free agent, and Cole Holcomb is a potential cut candidate. But they still have Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson, with Mark Robinson a core special teamer.
The Steelers have a long list of free agents this year, but not absolutely can’t-lose names. While it includes significant players like Najee Harris and Dan Moore Jr., they are not the team’s priority. The biggest question is the quarterback position, working to choose between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. There are some choice role players, but they wouldn’t fall apart if they lost the entire lot—minus a quarterback.
The Steelers have some key needs this offseason, and they may add to those needs through termination. This is an offseason on which they should focus on cleaning out some dead weight, which has accumulated over time. Perhaps they will turn over the free agents more often than usual, going back to the outside well.
