Steelers Now
One day after his release by the Pittsburgh Steelers, veteran safety Juan Thornhill cleared waivers, the NFL announced on Tuesday.
Added during the offseason as part of a Pittsburgh Steelers secondary makeover, Thornhill played in nine game for the Steelers and made one start at free safety, but found himself out of a job after the Steelers moved Jalen Ramsey to that position.
“It’s been real Pittsburgh,” Thornhill wrote on his Instagram story with peace sign emoji and a praying hands emoji.
Over the past three weeks, Thornhill had only registered two total tackles. He’d only been used on special teams over the Steelers last two outings, as the team added Kyle Dugger via a trade with the New England Patriots and slid Ramsey to the back end as injuries piled up.
Head coach Mike Tomlin explained on Tuesday why Thornhill was first benched and then released as the Steelers claimed rookie Sebastian Castro on waivers from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Castro first signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa, and was placed on the practice squad coming out of the preseason. He was poached from the Pittsburgh practice squad by the Bucs, but then re-claimed by the Steelers when subjected to waivers.
“The play (by Thornhill) wasn’t up to snuff,” Tomlin said. “And Castro was available to us, and we went through the team development process with Castro. We thought he had a good camp, good preseason, and he played his tail off in that practice against the Bucs. That’s why they stole him from us and we had an opportunity to reacquire him. It was an opportunity to get him back.”
Thornhill made one start for the unit, against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2, and played every defensive snap in the 31-17 loss. Thornhill’s defensive participation dipped the next week at New England, with defensive coordinator Teryl Austin using Chuck Clark and Jabrill Peppers in the 21-14 win.
Over the next two matchups, Thornhill played 65.8% of the team’s defensive snaps in Ireland against the Minnesota Vikings and 86.6% against the Cleveland Browns, the team that cut him loose following last season.
Thornhill started his odyssey as the Kansas City Chiefs’ second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He started 52 games for Andy Reid’s crew over four seasons, winning a pair of Super Bowl rings, before spending two campaigns with the Browns.
Now a free agent, Thornhill is free to sign with any NFL team.
Brendan Howe contributed.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Just-Released Former Steelers Starter Clears Waivers
