With safety DeShon Elliott sidelined by a knee injury, the Pittsburgh Steelers have signed free agent safety Jabrill Peppers on Tuesday.
Peppers comes over from New England where he spent the past 3 seasons before being released last month. With Elliott’s status murky at best, the Steelers opted to bring in the former 1st round pick to reinforce a secondary which gave up 32 points to former QB Justin Fields on Sunday.
Across an 8 year NFL career, Peppers has recorded 7 interceptions, 35 passes defended, 5.5 sacks, 511 total tackles, and 7 fumble recoveries. The 29 year old has been an effective starter when healthy, but has battled a litany of lower body injuries over the past several seasons which have kept him below 100% health.
The former Michigan Wolverine missed 11 games in 2024, 2 games in 2023, and 11 games in 2021 due to foot, and hamstring injuries. He was also placed on the commissioners exempt list last season while dealing with allegations of assault and battery which he was ultimately found not guilty of.
Peppers could be thrust into a prominent role out of the gates with Juan Thornhill, Miles Killebrew, and Chuck Clark the only other healthy safeties currently on the team’s roster. Pittsburgh will host the Seahawks in Week 2 before travelling to New England to take on Peppers’ former team on September 21st.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.