Steelers Ex 5th-Round Running Back Released From CFL Team

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back and fifth-round draft pick Jaylen Samuels is once again looking for a new home.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back and fifth-round draft pick Jaylen Samuels is once again looking for a new home.

Samuels signed with the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks early last month but was released over the weekend as part of the team's final roster cuts. Samuels was one of 21 players cut. 

The 28-year-old was drafted by the Steelers in the fifth round at No. 165 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.

The former NC State Gamecocks running back played for Pittsburgh for three seasons, appearing in 14 games each year, spreading out eight starts. He totaled 459 yards rushing on 131 attempts with one touchdown.

Samuel left Pittsburgh to join the Houston Texans in 2021 before signing with the Arizona Cardinals in 2022. He was cut before the season started that season.

He went back to Houston to join the XFL's Roughnecks in 2022 and then to San Antonio to the UFL's Brahamas in the 2024 UFL Draft.

The Redblacks finished 2024 at 9-8-1 and in third place in the East Division, losing 58-38 to the Toronto Argonauts in the East Semifinal game of the playoffs.

Samuel was without a team until the Redblacks came calling from the Great White North. At 28, he should still have a ton of football left in him, and he's now available to join any other team as a free agent - either in Canada or the US - to continue his career. 

As the UFL season is entering its playoffs, his opportunity there might come next season if he decides that's a path he'd like to follow.