Stephon Tuitt announces his retirement from the NFL

The Pittsburgh Steelers released a statement on Wednesday from Stephon Tuitt announcing his retirement from the NFL.

While the announcement coming at this time may be a shock to Steelers nation, waiting until June 1 in order for the Steelers to have options with the dead money remaining on Stephon Tuitt’s contract is in the best interest of the franchise. Whether or not the Steelers knew of Tuitt’s plans to retire is mere speculation at this point, but it is likely at least some within the organization were aware of the possibility.

Tuitt ends his career in the NFL with a total of 91 regular season games and 79 starts. With 34.5 career sacks, Tuitt saw his best production in 2020 with 11.0 sacks. With almost 250 career tackles, Tuitt had 48 tackles for loss, 94 quarterback hits, six forced fumbles, 13 passes defensed, and one interception. Although Tuitt did not have any regular season fumble recoveries in his career, he had two in the postseason in eight games.

The loss of Stephon Tuitt as part of the Steelers defense will have repercussions. Even though Tuitt did not play a snap in 2021, many attributed his absence to why the Steelers had a franchise-worst run defense last season.

With the departure of Stephon Tuitt, the Steelers defensive line group is as follows:

Defensive Line
Cameron Heyward
Chris Wormley
Tyson Alualu
Montravius Adams
Isaiahh Loudermilk
DeMarvin Lael
Henry Mondeaux
Carlos Davis
Khalil Davis
Daniel Archibong
Donovan Jeter

New Steelers general manager Omar Khan also released a statement in regards to the announcement of Stephon Tuitt’s retirement:

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