The Pittsburgh Steelers tried to sign a familiar face, but Ola Adeniyi failed his physical. Now they still need depth at edge defender.
As soon as I saw that Ola Adeniyi had been released from the Tennesse Titans, I knew that the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to go after him. This felt like the most predictable signing of all time. With Malik Reed missing time with a back injury and T.J. Watt playing through a rib injury, going after a familiar face and a guy who had a few good years as a reserve player in Pittsburgh just made too much sense.
Expectedly, the Steelers attempted to sign Adeniyi to their active roster to add some security to the edge defender position. Unfortunately, this move fell through. ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed that Adeniyi had failed his physical with Pittsburgh and will be headed back to free agency.
Former Titans’ LB Ola Adeniyi, whom Pittsburgh claimed on waivers this week, did not pass his physical with the Steelers and is now a free agent.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 15, 2022
Steelers still in need of EDGE depth
Ola wasn’t expected to be a major contributor on the Steelers in Pittburgh’s final four games of the season, but now the front office may still be in search of edge defender depth considering the current health of this unit.
Malik Reed was not listed on the Steelers injury report on Wednesday, which is a good sign. However, the veteran pass rusher who was acquired in a pick-swap trade with the Broncos has been a disappointment this year. In addition, Jamir Jones is almost solely a special teams player and has only chipped in 71 snaps on defense all year.
The Steelers were no doubt looking forward to getting back their former preseason star in Ola Adeniyi. He may have still been with the team at this point if he wasn’t poached by Tennessee during the 2021 offseason.
Adding a depth edge defender certainly isn’t going to make or break this team, but Teryl Austin needs to make sure that he doesn’t force T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith to play too many snaps down the stretch and increase the risk of injury to either player. It will be interesting to see if the Steelers go after somebody else now that the deal with Ola Adeniyi fell through.