Undrafted free agents have played a big part in Pittsburgh Steelers history, from all-time greats such as Donnie Shell and James Harrison, to “Fast” Willie Parker, the record holder for the Super Bowl’s longest rushing touchdown, and even today with the team’s one-two punch of Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle at running back.
With that in mind, we at Read & React wanted to break down what to expect from the team’s 2026 UDFA class with OTAs just around the corner. With the team making 10 picks in the draft,
it was a smaller group of UDFAs than usual, but a few have slightly better roster chances than you might expect.
Let’s dive in:
USC TE Lake McRee
RP: Of all the UDFAs the Steelers brought in, McRee is the player with the best shot at making the roster. BTSC readers that I’ve talked to during the draft process might recall that McRee was a player I liked as a potential pick-up for the Steelers. But those who followed my Draft Gems series might also recall that he didn’t make my list for tight ends — unlike Steelers draft pick Riley Nowakowski. That’s because I believe there are essentially two main tight end archetypes: pass catchers and blockers. I was focused on blockers with the Steelers top two spots on the depth chart locked in.
Those players, Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, represent my archetypes to a tee. Freiermuth, the pass catcher, is a more fluid mover with better hands, but he lacks high-end technique and power as a blocker. Washington, meanwhile, is a mountain of a man who is among the best blocking tight ends in the league, but he’s a clunkier runner than Freiermuth and has yet to have more than 364 yards or one touchdown in a single season.
McRee falls more into the Freiermuth end of the spectrum. McRee likely went undrafted due to a combination of injury history, size, and lack of explosive athleticism. At 6’4 and 243 pounds, McRee is on the small end for a tight end. However, he is bigger than the recently signed Jaheim Bell (6’2, 241 pounds), his main competition for the third tight end spot, and he has a longer wingspan than Freiermuth, so his size isn’t unheard of in the NFL. McRee also didn’t test as a particularly explosive athlete with a 4.79-second forty time and pedestrian scores in his vertical (29th percentile) and broad jump (22nd percentile). The real kicker, though, was most likely his history of knee problems, which include:
- Torn ACL in high school (2019)
- A torn ACL in his third year in college (2023)
- A knee injury that cost him four games (2024)
- Nagging injuries that shut down his spring practices early (2025)
But with all that baggage acknowledged, he was a security blanket for Trojan’s quarterback Jayden Maiava in 2025 when defenses took away star receiver Makai Lemon. McRee set career highs in receptions (30), yards (445), and four touchdowns, with 21 of his receptions (70%) converting first downs.
What I think first stood out to me about McRee is that he is incredibly tough over the middle and through contact at the catch point. When you see a guy take a hit and hold onto the ball, it sticks with you, and McRee has that on his tape on a few occasions.
McRee isn’t the most polished route runner, but he operates in vertical concepts with a baseline level of competency. He isn’t beating most in a foot race, nor does he have silky moves and footwork to beat man coverage with regularity, but when attacking the seams, McRee can run to the soft spot in the zone (first clip), and he can get to his spot and win when given favorable leverage from the defender (second clip). In the third clip above, McRee does a small inside fake before breaking on the corner route to attack the defense’s zone coverage. He benefits from the scheme stressing the defense with both a vertical threat over the top of his route, as well as a shallow route from the running back preventing the outside linebacker from sinking too deep with his zone, but McRee makes a nice catch along the sideline to pay it off.
McRee has also flashed the ability to catch the ball away from his body, as well as a determination to break tackles when he needs a few more yards. I wouldn’t categorize him as elite in either regard, but for the potential third man on your depth chart, these are promising traits to work with.
But as enticing as those areas of McRee’s game are, he’s got a long way to go to be a competent NFL blocker. McRee lacks length, and his play strength concerns pop up when he’s asked to block. In space, he can mistep or get caught reaching, which can blow up a designed screen. And in the run game, he can get to his spot, but he offers little pop or ability to move defenders. I’d classify him more as a “get in the way” type of blocker than one who can finish blocks strongly.
Pittsburgh would likely be better off with Nowakowski or a sixth offensive lineman blocking instead of McRee in heavy personnel sets as of right now. Still, if head coach Mike McCarthy is prioritizing playmaking over blocking with this spot on the roster — as the signing of Bell might also seem to indicate — McRee stands a fighting chance to beat Bell, practice squad tight end J.J. Galbreath, and fellow UDFA Chamon Metayer, for the third and likely final tight end spot on the roster.
Indiana DB Devan Boykin
RB: Boykin was a significant contributor for the national champion Hoosiers, primarily playing in the nickel spot with corner/safety versatility. A sixth-year college athlete, he recorded career highs in total tackles (59), tackles for loss (six), and passes defensed (five) — as well as two interceptions — after transferring to Indiana for 2025.
Boykin’s aggressive playing style stood out, with high effort and excellent tackling coming downhill. He’s sticky in man coverage and even carved out a role on Indiana’s special teams, which bodes well for his NFL future.
The issue is that Boykin isn’t particularly big (5’10, 187 pounds), nor fast (4.63-second 40-yard dash). His poor 3.82 RAS likely sealed his fate as a UDFA pre-draft. However, the poor testing doesn’t really stand out on the field, even if he isn’t the most twitched-up athlete. A PFF darling — Boykin logged a 93.9 run defense grade and 86.7 coverage grade in 2025 — his impactful playing style should make him an interesting player to watch in the preseason.
Boykin’s roster chances aren’t great, but if he can make a full transition to safety (and Jalen Ramsey stays at corner), he could have a chance to make a room that looks thin behind Jaquan Brisker and DeShon Elliott.
Michigan C Greg Crippen
RP: In addition to their draft and rookie free agent class, the Steelers invited 12 players for tryouts during the team’s rookie minicamp. One of those invitees was Michigan’s Greg Crippen, who signed with the team shortly after camp concluded.
Crippen was a starter for a little more than a year, taking over in Week 6 of the 2024 season. He’s slightly undersized, and his 5.03 RAS hints at his athleticism’s ceiling, but Crippen moves well enough as a pulling blocker that it doesn’t look awkward like it would with less graceful prospects.
Crippen is far more skilled as a pass blocker than a run blocker. Ryland’s already invoked PFF grades, and while they don’t tell the whole story, it’s hard to refute that Crippen’s 75.0 pass blocking grade and 60.4 run blocking grade hold up to the eye test. In pass protection, he can anchor down and keep defenders in front of him. As a run defender, he can seal the back end of a run, but he isn’t particularly powerful or skilled at moving defenders off their spots without help. Still, quality offensive linemen are hard to find, and Crippen has at least convinced the team he’s worth taking into summer camp. It’ll be tough for Crippen to make the final roster. For that to happen, I think Broderick Jones would need to start the season on IR, and/or he’d have to beat out one of the current backups: Ryan McCollum, Brock Hoffman, or Spencer Anderson. That’s a tough ask. More than likely, Crippen is a practice squad stash.
Arizona State TE Chamon Metayer
RB: I wouldn’t be surprised if the Steelers found Metayer when watching eventual first-round pick Max Iheanachor on the same offense.
Metayer is a bit short for the position at 6’3, but he is well-built at 262 pounds with 33.5-inch arms. He’s capable of catching through contact and a lot of fun to watch rumbling through defenses with the ball in his hands (375 receiving yards in 2025). His 3.74 RAS, brought down mainly by poor explosive testing, does show on tape, with Metayer being a lumbering mover and uninspiring route runner.
If Metayer were a stronger blocker, I’d have more hope for his roster chances, but he appeared underdeveloped in that area, lunging a lot and routinely struggling to sustain his assignment. Still, I think he has some room for growth in that area.
The Pittsburgh tight end room is another potentially shallow position group entering the 2026, and Metayer could develop into a TE3 candidate if the Steelers choose to keep Riley Nowakowski at fullback exclusively.
Syracuse DL Kevin Jobity Jr.
RP: In Kevin Jobity Jr., the Steelers are finding another relative newbie to football whose traits they want to bet on. Jobity didn’t play football until his senior year of high school, when COVID delayed the start of football season, and coaches talked him into playing. Before that, he had primarily played soccer. While he didn’t get many FBS offers, he did accept one from Syracuse. Jobity had four sacks as a rotational player in the 2023 season, but a knee injury in 2024 cut short his first year as a starter, limiting him to just five games. He returned in 2025 and set career highs in pressures (24) and sacks (5).
Jobity has the size — 6’4, 308 pounds, with 331/2” arm length, an 807/8” wingspan— that the Steelers like in their defensive lineman. He also scored an 8.87 RAS, boosted mostly from scores for his height, vertical (32”), and his 10 and 20-yard splits in the forty-yard dash (1.69/2.88).
Watching Jobity on tape, effort is perhaps his best quality at this stage in his development. He’s better as a pass rusher than a run defender, and he could benefit from an NFL strength training program. Even with his size, he prefers to go around defenders and lacks power. He has a quick get-off, but he lacks speed overall. He can be stiff in space and struggles to change directions quickly. I don’t think he’s ready to make the 53, but he has enough positive physical traits to convince an organization he’s worth developing, and he never gives up on a play, which should endear him to coaches. I can see Jobity making the practice squad and vying for a 53-spot in a year or two if he continues to develop his game.
Missouri LB/S Daylan Carnell
RB: Listed as a linebacker on the Steelers’ current roster, I was a little skeptical about how the team planned to convert Carnell, a college safety, to that position in the NFL — until I saw him blow up several plays against Alabama in 2025, coming downhill with a vengeance.
Carnell was a big safety (6’2, 222 pounds) for the Tigers, moving around the defense but at his best as an overhang defender. He’s aggressive near the line of scrimmage with a lot of pop in his pads. He uses his 31-inch arms to stack and shed blocks, and can usually easily overpower receivers. He was more effective against linemen and tight ends than I expected, and a plus tackler as well.
However, even with the move from safety to linebacker, Carnell’s athleticism is in question. Switching his RAS to linebacker, he still only scores a 3.09 (that will improve some if he puts on some weight). He’s a linear athlete with subpar burst and change of direction. His coverage feel is more advanced than your average linebacker prospect, but keeping up with NFL players might still be a challenge.
I wouldn’t rate Carnell’s roster chances very high, but he could be a fun practice squad stash with his “chess piece” profile and aggressive style of play.
Kansas K Laith Marjan
RP: Laith Marjan kicked one year at the University of South Alabama (home of the Senior Bowl!) and kicked for Kansas in 2025. In his career, he converted 82 of 84 extra-point attempts (97.6%), and 30 of 34 field goal attempts (88.2%). He hit 14 of 16 FG attempts of 40 yards or greater (87.5%), including two of three attempts of 50 yards or more.
But let’s be real, barring a Chris Boswell injury, nobody is taking the spot of the highest-paid kicker in NFL history. If Marjan can stick around the whole summer — not always a given with UDFAs or kickers in general — his time with Pittsburgh will be an extended audition for another team, or put him on the Steelers’ short list should an injury replacement be neccesary some time down the line.
Join in on Steelers R&R by sharing your takes on this week’s topics. Feel free to pitch future questions in the comment section or on Twitter/X: tag @_Ryland_B or @RyanParishMedia, or email us at steelersreadnreact@gmail.com.
