Steelers sending a late round pick to the Broncos for LB Malik Reed

The Pittsburgh Steelers are not about to sit back and wait for certain players to be cut/released to try and fill holes on their roster. On the day rosters are trimmed from 80 to 53, many teams are making trades to shore up spots on their roster.

One of the areas of concern for the Steelers is at inside linebacker. While Devin Bush and Myles Jack seem to have secured the top duo, behind them is far from a sure thing. With this in mind, it should come as a shock to no one the team has made a trade for a linebacker.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Steelers have traded a “late draft pick” for Malik Reed of the Denver Broncos.

Undrafted out of Nevada in 2019, Reed signed with the Broncos following the draft. Over the next three seasons, Reed played in 45 games with 34 starts with 15.0 sacks, four pass defensed, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 123 tackles, and 30 quarterback hits. In 2021, Reed started 13 games for the Broncos with 5.0 sacks with one of them coming in Week 5 in Pittsburgh as the only sack of Ben Roethlisberger on the day which was also a forced fumble which set up the Broncos for their first field goal of the game.

This isn’t the first time the Steelers have brought in a linebacker when they felt it was necessary. Names like Avery Williamson or Jon Bostic come to mind, but now Reed will have just over a week to get acclimated to the Steelers’ defensive system before they play the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in Week 1 of the regular season.

Other moves could be made, along with the aforementioned roster cuts coming Tuesday, so be sure to stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and notes surrounding the black and gold as they prepare for the regular season.

UPDATE:

More details of the trade have been released. The Steelers are sending a 2023 6th round pick to the Broncos, while receiving Reed and a 7th round pick in return.

For more information on the Steelers trade for Malik Reed, check out BTSC’s breaking news podcast below: