Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2024 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 14 and July 25. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.
LB TYLER MURRAY
Experience/age: No regular-season games since going undrafted in 2022, age 25
Contract status: $795,000 cap hit if he makes the team in 2024
The past: Murray was four-year college starter for three different programs, spending two seasons each at Troy and Charlotte before a fifth year at Memphis. He signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent last year and made their initial practice squad. That stint lasted, though, just six days. Two-and-a-half months later, Murray had another six-day stint on a practice squad, this time the Steelers’.
Murray was working a shift at an Amazon fulfillment center when on Nov. 14 his agent called.
“I had to tell my boss, ‘Hey I am going to have to leave work early today,” Murray said the next day before his first practice with the Steelers.
Though Murray’s locker stall at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex didn’t last long, he must have showed the organization enough that it signed him to its offseason roster via a reserve/future contract shortly after last season ended.
“I was working at Amazon… and my agent called me and said, ‘We’ve got a workout for you with the Steelers.' And I’m like, ‘Aw man,’ so I had to tell my boss, ‘Hey I am going to have to leave work early today.’https://t.co/9hhRZpxD1m
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 15, 2023
2024 outlook: Murray showed he could play in any role in college, collecting two interceptions, three quarterback hurries and two sacks during his final season while lining up not only at off-ball linebacker but extensively on the edge and even at what Pro Football Focus termed “slot corner” at Memphis. During last year’s preseason he was a “core four” special-teamer for the Bengals who played exclusively inside linebacker.
If Murray has any chance of making an active roster, of course, special teams is his best path. Defensively, the Steelers have 3-4 starting caliber inside linebackers – Patrick Queen, Elandon Roberts, Cole Holcomb and Payton Wilson – albeit, Holcomb’s status in his return from a serious knee injury is unknown, and Wilson is a mere rookie who has an extensive history of his own. Third-year Mark Robinson probably is vulnerable in keeping the 53-man roster spot he’s held the past two seasons, and players such as Kyron Johnson and rookie Jacoby Windmon might be “tweeners” as NFL linebackers yet excel on special teams.
Murray needs to show he’s ahead of least some of those players, lest he head back to that boss with Amazon.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.