Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers have cut ties with popular undrafted free agent DJ Thomas-Jones, the team announced on Monday.
Thomas-Jones signed with the team as an undrafted free agent out of South Alabama this spring. He played both fullback and tight end with the Steelers, and seemed to have a chance to unseat incumbent Connor Heyward for that role before his tenure with the team was derailed by injury.
Thomas-Jones suffered a left calf/ankle injury on July 27, that was initially feared to be a season-ending Achilles injury. The injury turned out to be significantly less severe, and he returned to practice after a week.
But Thomas-Jones again was held out of practice late last week and he did not travel to Jacksonville with the team for the preseason opener on Saturday. The Steelers did not release Thomas-Jones with an injury designation, but his departure from the team is certainly curious.
The rookie had been one of the team’s more exciting UDFA players, with a real shot of making the team, and a good chance of making the practice squad with his positional versatility and special teams ability.
After transferring from Ole Miss, Thomas-Jones played in 36 games for South Alabama, totaling 73 grabs for 610 yards and 11 touchdowns.
In addition to releasing Thomas-Jones, the Steelers also waived cornerback Cameron McCutcheon with an injury designation and signed tight end David Foelsch and defensive back Mikey Victor.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Cut Ties with Popular UDFA Tight End
