The Pittsburgh Steelers were granted an International Roster Exemption for second-year OLB Julius Welschof on Wednesday afternoon. It marks the second year in a row Welschof held the role of International Roster Exemption for the Steelers, who signed the Charlotte product as an undrafted free agent after the 2024 NFL Draft.
According to NFL Insider Aaron Wilson, the NFL granted the exemption to the Steelers for Welschof.
Steelers Depot’s Dave Bryan tweeted out the official transaction sheet from the NFL Wednesday afternoon, showing Welschof as a roster exemption.
Welschof, a native of Germany, falls under the NFL’s guidelines for the International Player Pathway program.
Per the NFL website, here is who is eligible:
“A qualifying international player is a person whose citizenship and principal place of residence are outside the United States and Canada, and who have a maximum of two years of United States high school experience. In addition, an international player must (i) satisfy all NFL player eligibility rules and (ii) have been eligible for a prior NFL Draft.”
Welschof fits into that mix since he’s from Germany. His exemption on the roster allows the Steelers to carry 91 players on the offseason roster and, if Welschof is kept around during the season, to have a 17th player on the practice squad.
Each NFL club is permitted one roster exemption for a qualifying international player from the start of the club’s offseason program through the roster reduction to 53 players. At that time, qualifying international players are eligible to be signed to a 17th practice squad roster spot reserved for international athletes across any of the 32 teams.
Pittsburgh can have an effective 91-man roster as long as Welschof is on the roster during the offseason. Currently, the Steelers have 76 players on the roster, so they effectively have 15 more spots to fill through the NFL Draft and undrafted free agents, counting Welschof’s roster exemption.
If Welschof were to make the 53-man roster, the exemption would go away. He can’t be the 54th player on the active roster. However, he can be an exemption as the Steelers’ 17th practice squad player, one above the typical max of 16 that teams carry throughout the season.
In previous years, the NFL rules stated that an International Roster Exemption player had to remain on the practice squad all season. Still, the NFL tweaked those rules last year, according to Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora in his research of Welschof last year.
Last year, Welschof signed as a UDFA out of Charlotte with the Steelers and stuck around through training camp before being placed on Injured Reserve on August 27, before being waived with an injury settlement two days later, opening up a roster spot.
Late in November, Welschof was re-signed to the Steelers’ practice squad and stayed until the end of the season. Then, he signed a Reserve/Futures contract with the Steelers for the 2025 season, keeping him on the offseason roster. Now, he has International Roster Exemption status once again and should stick around into training camp—his second with the Steelers.
During the 2024 preseason with the Steelers, Welschof played 122 total defensive snaps, grading out at a 60.6 overall from Pro Football Focus. He had a 55.9 grade against the run and a 60.9 grade as a pass rusher, generating four pressures and three sacks, including two in the preseason finale against the Detroit Lions.
Welschof also played 18 snaps on special teams last preseason, too. He finds himself in an OLB room featuring T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig, Jeremiah Moon, Eku Leota, and Thomas Rush entering OTAs with the Steelers.
