Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed former West Virginia offensive lineman Doug Nester to their practice squad, the team announced on Thursday.
Nester spent the entire 2024 season on the Steelers’ practice squad and re-signed for 2025, but was released in their initial round of roster cuts this August. Nester appeared in all three preseason games for the Steelers this season, playing left and right guard. Before his time in Pittsburgh, he had primarily played tackle.
The Steelers are very thin at tackle at the moment, with starting left tackle Broderick Jones (neck) and swing backup Calvin Anderson (knee) both on the injured reserve list. Andrus Peat is in the concussion protocol, leaving Dylan Cook and Troy Fautanu as the two healthy tackles on the 53-man roster.
Backup guard and jumbo tight end Spencer Anderson has also played right tackle in the past, and Fautanu played left tackle in college, so the Steelers have at least one backup plan on the active roster, but they will also need to elevate a player from the practice squad this week if Peat is unable to dress.
Guard/tackle Steven Jones has spent the entire season on the practice squad and veteran tackle David Sharpe was added to that unit on Wednesday.
A 25-year-old West Virginia alum, Nester signed with the Steelers to their practice squad on Aug. 28, 2024, after having been in training camp with the Minnesota Vikings. Nester played in two preseason games for the Vikings, earning 69 snaps of playing time, all at right guard. With the Steelers, Nester worked at both tackle and guard on the practice squad, but did not appear in any games.
The 6-foot-7, 320-pound native of Kenya, West Virginia, first attended Virginia Tech for his first two collegiate seasons before transferring to WVU. Nester started 10 games as a true freshman at right guard for the Hokies in 2019 and seven more in 2020.
After transferring to West Virginia, he stated every game in 2021 and 2022 at right guard, before moving to right tackle for his redshirt senior season in 2023.
Nester participated in both the Hula Bowl and the East-West Shrine Game in the pre-draft process, with the Steelers scouting him heavily at the latter stop.
Despite his size, Nester did not test well leading up the draft, running a 5.31-second 40-yard dash and posting just 19 reps on the bench press. He had a total Relative Athletic Score of 3.35 of out 10.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Sign former West Virginia Offensive Lineman
