Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers tried out tight end Colin Granger, a 6-foot-8 former college basketball player, on Tuesday, according to the NFL transactions page.
Granger had signed with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent coming out of Coastal Carolina in 2025, but he suffered a hamstring injury and was waived in May.
The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Granger played college basketball at Ohio, Western Carolina and Coastal Carolina from 2020-25. His best season came as a redshirt senior in 2024-25, when he played in 31 games and made 11 starts for the Chanticleers. He averaged 7.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Granger declined a potential professional career playing basketball overseas to instead focus on football, training with former NFL offensive lineman George Fant after the end of his college basketball season, despite not playing football since he was in eighth grade.
Fant, Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham and Mo Alie-Cox were all former college basketball stars that played in the NFL. Beside Fant, the rest, like Granger, decided on the tight end position.
At a pro day last spring, despite only having three weeks to train after the end of his basketball season, Granger ran a 4.8-second 40-yard dash and posted a 40-inch vertical, 9-foot-7 broad jump, 4.29 short shuttle and 7.25-second three-cone drill for an overall Relative Athletic Score of 6.59 out of 10.
His low weight and bench press scores dragged down his overall numbers, and obviously, both of those could be greatly improved with greater training on the other side of his basketball career.
The Steelers aren’t the only team that has been sniffing around Granger. He also tried out for the Washington Commanders earlier this month. The Steelers have four tight ends on their active roster and a fifth, Matt Sokol, on their practice squad, so they are likely looking at Granger for a reserve/future contract for the 2026 season.
In addition to Granger, the Steelers also tried out tight end JJ Galbreath, who originally joined the team as an undrafted free agent out of South Dakota at the start of the 2025 season.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Try Out 6-foot-8 Former College Basketball Player
