Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers have waived guard Lecitus Smith on Tuesday, according to the NFL transactions report for Tuesday.
The team had previously claimed Smith off waivers from the New England Patriots on March 24. The Steelers did not add an offensive lineman in the 2025 NFL Draft, though the club did sign guard Aiden Williams and tackle Gareth Warren as undrafted free agents.
Smith, 26, was originally a sixth-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals coming out of Virginia Tech in the 2022 NFL Draft. He played in 10 games as a rookie and even made two starts, playing mostly at right guard.
After his second training camp with the Cardinals, Smith was released. He spent time with the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles practice squads in 2023, but did not play in a game. He re-signed with the Eagles for 2024, but was waived in April.
Smith caught on with the Green Bay Packers, was cut at the end of training camp and was signed to the practice squad. The Patriots signed Smith off the Green Bay practice squad on Oct. 15 and he played in eight games, making one start. Smith spent most of his time with the Patriots on special teams, playing just five snaps of offense, mostly as a jumbo tight end.
The Patriots placed Smith on waivers, and the Steelers snapped him up. But without ever getting a look at him on the field, the Steelers have now decided to part ways.
A 6-foot-3, 314 pounds native of Fitzgerald, Georgia, Smith picked the Hokies over Arkansas, Louisville, NC State and Oklahoma as a three-star prospect in 2017. He redshirted in his first collegiate season, but made four starts in 2018.
Smith played almost exclusively left guard for Virginia Tech, taking over the starting job as a redshirt sophomore in 2019 and holding the job for three seasons. He also played one game as a left tackle as a redshirt senior in 2021.
In pre-draft testing, Smith showed below-average size, strength (23 bench press reps) and explosiveness (8-foot-3 broad jump, 25.5-inch vertical), but ran a solid 5.18-second 40-yard dash and posted above-average shuttle and three-cone times for an overall 6.48 Relative Athletic Score.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Put Just-Claimed Offensive Lineman Back on Waivers
