The Steelers have let go of a defensive player.
Pittsburgh announced on Wednesday that the club has released linebacker Thomas Rush.
Rush had joined the Steelers on a futures deal after the season ended.
He entered the league in 2023 as an undrafted free agent with the Titans. He was on the practice squad with the club before being let go during roster cuts last August.
The 2025 draft has come and gone. Quarterback Kirk Cousins remains on the Falcons’ roster.
Appearing with Adam Schein of SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio on Tuesday, Falcons G.M. Terry Fontenot addressed the status of the former starter who has been supplanted by Michael Penix Jr., including specifically whether he’ll be traded.
“We have to be patient there and we always we’re open with not just talking about Kirk, but with really anybody on our roster,” Fontenot said. “You know, we have a lot of those calls with — I’ve probably talked to already six or seven GMs, since the draft ended, and they’re talking about their roster. We’re talking about our roster because after you get through the draft, that shifts some things in terms of needs and surplus and all that.
“And so we’re always patient with those types of things because if something comes to us with Kirk or any other player that makes sense and it’s going to help this team, then we’re going to be aggressive and we’re going to do it. And if it’s not something that’s going to ultimately help this team, we always have to ask that question: Is it the best for the Atlanta Falcons or this organization? And if it is, we’re going to be willing to do it. But all that communication is always ongoing.”
There’s currently no obvious spot for Cousins to be a starter. Cleveland has five quarterbacks. The Steelers expect Aaron Rodgers to sign with them, eventually. Every other team has its 2025 starter in the building.
We made the case last week for waiting. The Falcons, and Cousins, currently have little leverage. One injury could change everything.
It happened in 2011, when Carson Palmer decided he was done with the Bengals and the Bengals did nothing about it and, two days before the trade deadline, Raiders starter Jason Campbell suffered a broken collarbone. Boom, problem solved.
Cousins isn’t agitating for a trade. He’ll be a good soldier. And, ultimately, he holds a no-trade clause. Why be the backup somewhere else when he can stay where he is? He’s getting $27.5 million, either way.
At last word, the Falcons reportedly wanted a new team to assume $20 million of Cousins’s remaining $37.5 million in guarantees. (Fontenot denied that a specific number has been applied to the negotiations.) If a team loses its starter for the season, that team might decide to pay it all.
Remember when the Vikings lost Teddy Bridgewater in late August, nine years ago? They instantly became desperate enough to send a first-round pick and a fourth-pound pick to the Eagles for Sam Bradford.
Circumstances can change. The Falcons and Cousins would be wise to wait and see if they do. Especially since the current circumstances involve no takers for Cousins as a potential starter.
The Browns have agreed to terms with free agent wide receiver Diontae Johnson, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports.
Johnson visited the Browns earlier in the day.
He played for the Panthers, Ravens and Texans last season. Carolina traded him to Baltimore, which later cut him, and Houston claimed him. The Texans waived him in the postseason, and the Ravens claimed him in a move made for a possible compensatory pick in 2026.
In his first stint with the Ravens last season, Johnson refused to enter a game against the Eagles on Dec. 1, prompting Baltimore to suspend him a game and then move on from him.
With three teams in 2024, he caught 33 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns.
The Steelers made Johnson a third-round pick in 2019, and he has 424 receptions for 4,738 yards and 28 touchdowns. He earned Pro Bowls honors in 2021 with his lone 1,000-yard season and a career-high eight touchdowns.
Free agent wide receiver Diontae Johnson visited the Browns on Monday, according to the NFL’s transactions report.
Johnson has bounced around the league, on the roster of four teams in a calendar year.
He most recently was with the Ravens, who claimed him off waivers from the Texans in January for the possibility of a compensatory pick in 2026. He began last season with the Panthers, who traded him to the Ravens. The Ravens cut him, and the Texans claimed him Dec. 23 before cutting him during the postseason.
Johnson refused to enter a game with the Ravens against the Eagles on Dec. 1, prompting Baltimore to suspend him a game and then cut him.
With three teams in 2024, he caught 33 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns.
The Steelers made Johnson a third-round pick in 2019, and he has 424 receptions for 4,738 yards and 28 touchdowns. He earned Pro Bowls honors in 2021 with his lone 1,000-yard season and a career-high eight touchdowns.
Veteran wide receiver Robert Woods has found a home for the 2025 season.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Woods has agreed to sign with the Steelers. It’s a one-year deal worth $2 million.
Woods spent the last two seasons with the Texans and caught 60 passes for 629 yards and a touchdown in 29 regular season games. He also had four catches for 39 yards in the playoffs.
DK Metcalf and George Pickens are atop the receiver depth chart in Pittsburgh. Calvin Austin, Roman Wilson, Scotty Miller, and Ben Skowronek are also on hand.
It remains unclear who will be throwing balls to them, but word from Steelers owner Art Rooney II over the weekend suggested Aaron Rodgers will be making his decision about joining the Steelers sooner rather than later.
The Steelers are moving on from one of their 2024 draft picks.
Pittsburgh announced on Monday that the club is releasing cornerback Ryan Watts.
Watts, 23, spent the entire 2024 season on injured reserve after suffering a neck injury late in the preseason.
“Unfortunately, today we are releasing Ryan Watts from our roster,” G.M. Omar Khan said in a statement. “After consulting with our medical team, medical experts, and Ryan’s representatives, we all agree that it is in Ryan’s best interest to discontinue playing football at this time.
“We will continue to assist and support Ryan as he transitions to the next phase of his life.”
Watts was a sixth-round pick in last year’s draft. He played two seasons at Ohio State before transferring to Texas, where he played from 2022-2023.
The Steelers picked defensive lineman Derrick Harmon in the first round last Thursday and the rookie’s arrival appears to have helped push a veteran off the roster in Pittsburgh.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Steelers are going to release defensive tackle Montravius Adams. The move will clear $2.25 million in cap space.
Adams was signed off the Saints’ practice squad during the 2021 season and he played 46 games over the last four seasons. He had 72 tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble in those appearances. Adams was a 2017 third-round pick of the Packers and played his first 45 NFL games with Green Bay.
The Steelers also drafted Yahya Black in the fifth round as they work to build a defensive line that can avoid getting run over the way the 2024 version did in the Steelers’ playoff loss to the Ravens.
The Steelers drafted seven players this year and they are set to add seven more rookies who went undrafted.
One of those additions was a college teammate of two of the team’s draft picks. Safety Sebastian Castro played at Iowa with second-round running back Kaleb Johnson and fifth-round defensive end Yahya Black.
Castro made 32 starts in his 53 appearances for the Hawkeyes. He had 163 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 18 passes defensed, five forced fumbles, four interceptions, and two sacks during his time in college.
The Steelers also announced agreements with South Dakota tight end J.J. Galbreath, Pittsburgh kicker Ben Sauls, Memphis wide receiver Roc Taylor, South Alabama fullback DJ Thomas-Jones, Minnesota-Duluth guard Aiden Williams, and Indiana wide receiver Ke’Shawn Williams.
For the second straight season, Pittsburgh finished 10-7 before losing in the Wild Card last year. While the Steelers have never had a losing season in 18 years under head coach Mike Tomlin, they have lost a franchise record six straight playoff games, with their last playoff win coming back in the 2016 season.
Pittsburgh must find a quarterback, with both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields leaving via free agency. The Steelers have been linked to Aaron Rodgers, but that is far from a foregone conclusion.
In each of the last two years, the Steelers have used their first round pick on an offensive lineman, with Pittsburgh using both their first-round pick (Troy Fautanu) and second round pick (Zach Frazier) in 2024 on an OL. With RB Najee Harris also leaving via free agency, the Steelers could look to add another running back in the draft this year.
Pittsburgh Steelers 2025 NFL Draft Picks
Round 1: No. 21 - Derrick Harmon, DT, Oregon
Round 3: No. 83 - Kaleb Johnson, RB, Iowa
Round 4: No. 123 - Jack Sawyer, EDGE, Ohio State
Round 5: No. 164 (from DET via CLE, PHI & KC) - Yahya Black, DT, Iowa
Round 6: No. 185 (from CHI via SEA) - Will Howard, QB, Ohio State
Round 7: No. 226 (from CAR via KC) - Carson Bruener, LB, Washington
Round 7: No. 229 (from ATL via PHI) - Donte Kent, CB, Central Michigan
Check out 2025 NFL Draft picks for other teams in the AFC North:
Baltimore Ravens 2025 NFL Draft Picks
Cincinnati Bengals 2025 NFL Draft picks
Cleveland Browns 2025 NFL Draft picks
Click here to see the entire 2025 NFL Draft order. Coverage of the latest news from around the NFL is available all year round from Pro Football Talk on Peacock and the NFL on NBC YouTube Channel.
For the full slate of NFL Draft content from across NBC Sports, click here.
The Steelers drafted former Ohio State quarterback Will Howard in the sixth round on Saturday, but the biggest quarterback news of the weekend involve a different signal caller.
Steelers owner Art Rooney II said that Aaron Rodgers “does want to come here” and that there could be official word of the quarterback’s plans soon. That’s similar to PFT’s earlier reporting about Rodgers’s plans, but head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t want to put any timeframe on things during an appearance on NFL Network.
“That’s certainly a possibility,” Tomlin said. “I’m not going to forecast the ifs and whens regarding not only him, but any other potential free agent. We’ve had really productive talks with him, and I’ve enjoyed having productive talks with him and getting to know him.”
Once the ifs and whens are sorted out, Howard will likely move into a developmental role behind Rodgers and Mason Rudolph on the depth chart. Skylar Thompson is also currently on the roster in Pittsburgh.
