Steelers release outside linebacker Jamir Jones

The Pittsburgh Steelers made a curious roster move on Wednesday morning as they have released outside linebacker Jamir Jones.

Jones was in his second stint with a Pittsburgh Steelers he appeared in the first three games of the 2021 season where he appeared in three games with one start before he was placed on waivers. After spending time with the Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars to finish up the year, Jones landed back with the Steelers for 2022 where he appeared in all 17 games. During the season, Jones had 10 tackles and one pass defensed.

During the 2022 season, Jones logged only 86 defensive snaps while tallying 251 special team snaps. By the end of the season, Jones had supplanted Malik Reed on the depth chart at outside linebacker as Reed was not active the final two games of the season.

The release of Jones raises questions among Steelers’ Nation as to why the move would be made at this time. There is no salary cap saving in releasing Jones as his $940k salary was one of several of this amount that fell both within and outside the top 51 salaries. Additionally, the Steelers do not have many options at outside linebacker at this time:

OLB
T.J. Watt
Alex Highsmith
Jamir Jones
Quincey Roche
Emeke Egbule

Perhaps the reasoning behind the roster move will come to light at a later time. For now, the move leaves the Steelers with 68 players on the potential 90-man offseason roster with plenty of room to add the Steelers draft picks and potential undrafted free agents.

Stay tuned to Behind The Steel Curtain for continued coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 offseason.