On Monday the Pittsburgh Steelers allowed the contracts of five practice squad players to expire, including fourth-string quarterback Devlin ‘Duck’ Hodges.
Several of those players have already signed with other teams, including wide receiver Deon Cain, who has caught on with the WR-needy Baltimore Ravens.
We have signed WR Deon Cain to a Reserve/Future contract.
📰: https://t.co/99kOdShE85 pic.twitter.com/qwrA5YFFlA
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) January 22, 2021
Deon Cain’s Steelers Career
Cain spent most of the 2020 season on Pittsburgh’s practice squad, though he was elevated for two games—in Week 6 and Week 17—playing a total of 10 snaps.
He had a more productive year in 2019, when he appeared in seven games for the Colts (generating four receptions for 52 yards) before the Steelers signed him off Indy’s practice squad.
He went on to play in six games for the Steelers, contributing five catches for 72 yards in 70 snaps worth of action.
Cain is a Clemson University product who entered the NFL in 2018 as a sixth-round draft pick of the Colts. He spent his rookie year on injured reserve.
Lions Sign Placekicker Matthew Wright
In other news, the Detroit Lions announced that they have signed former Steelers placekicker Matthew Wright to a Reserve/Future contract. The move comes just days after the Lions had the fledgling young kicker in for a visit.
Naturally, Wright would like to earn a full-time placekicking job, and he might well get the opportunity in Detroit, as Lions kicker Matt Prater is 36 years old and a pending unrestricted free agent who earned $2.7 million in salary last year.
Wright would be a much less expensive option, assuming the Lions can live with his noticeably short kickoffs.
In return, Detroit would enjoy Wright’s accuracy; in three games with the Steelers in 2020 he converted all 11 of the field goals and extra points that head coach Mike Tomlin asked him to attempt. That includes a pair of 46-yard field goals.
He also made five of six field goal attempts for the Steelers during the 2019 preseason, his only other audition for the team, which followed in the wake of him signing as an undrafted free agent out of Central Florida.
Tight End Charles Jones Has Been Re-Signed
Meanwhile, another of the five players whose practice squad contracts expired on Monday has already been re-signed by the Steelers, that being tight end Charles Jones.
Jones is one of three tight ends that the Steelers have signed to futures contracts, a list that also includes Dax Raymond and Kevin Rader.
The Steelers will be looking to find a new tight end prior to the start of the 2021 season, owing to the retirement of Vance McDonald. The only two established tight ends currently on the roster are starter Eric Ebron and rising third-year player Zach Gentry, a fifth-round pick in the 2019 draft out of the University of Michigan.
Dwayne Haskins Received an Offer From the Panthers
In one other bit of notable Reserve/Future contract news, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN notes that recently-signed Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins also had an offer from the Panthers, but he chose Pittsburgh over Carolina.
Dwayne Haskins had an opportunity to sign with the Steelers or the Panthers, whom he recently visited, per source. Once he visited Pittsburgh today, both parties were expected to get something done.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 21, 2021
Haskins will wear No. 3 with the Steelers.
#HereWeGo
3 in the Bible stands for restoration and eternal life. Let’s work 🙏 pic.twitter.com/x4ywPubhu1— Dwayne Haskins, Jr (@dh_simba7) January 21, 2021
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