Steelers Make Front Office Promotions
The Steelers recently made three promotions in their front office (via InsideTheLeague’s Neil Stratton), including a new role for longtime executive Sheldon White.
White, 61, is a former Giants, Lions, and Bengals cornerback who retired in 1993. He has been in Pittsburgh since 2022, first as the director of pro scouting and now as a senior personnel executive.
White began his front office career as a scout in Detroit in 1997. He was promoted to director of player personnel in 2000 and vice president in 2009 with a brief stint as interim general manager in 2015. White was considered for the Lions’ full-time GM gig, but lost out to Bob Quinn. He then spent four years at Michigan State, primarily as the executive director of player personnel and recruiting.. He also interviewed for the Raiders’ GM vacancy last year, and additional success in Pittsburgh could keep him on the radar for future hiring cycles.
The Steelers also promoted Max Gruder from assistant director of player scouting to director of pro personnel. The former Pitt linebacker spent one training camp with the Falcons in 2012 before retiring as a player and joining the Dolphins as a scouting assistant the following year, per his LinkedIn. Gruder was promoted to pro scout in 2014 and remained in Miami until 2019, when he was hired as the Eagles’ assistant director of pro scouting. A promotion to director followed in 2022; two years later, he was poached by the Steelers.
Kelvin Fisher, another ex-player, has been promoted from senior scouting assistant to senior national scout. The former Jets and Cardinals fullback is in the middle of his second scouting stint in Pittsburgh. His first came from 2000 to 2013, during which time the Steelers made the playoffs eight times, appeared in three Super Bowls, and won two. Fisher then moved to Buffalo as the Bills’ director of college scouting and returned to Pittsburgh in 2018. Draft hits during his time with the Steelers include franchise legends like Troy Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger, and Cameron Heyward, as well as more recent stars like Alex Highsmith, Joey Porter Jr., and Nick Herbig.
Finally, the Steelers landed on a formal title for January hire Tim Gribble, who will be the senior director of college personnel.
Minor NFL Transactions: 6/9/26
Today’s minor moves:
Indianapolis Colts
- Placed on reserve/retired list: S Reuben Lowery
Kansas City Chiefs
- Waived: S Marlen Sewell
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: LB Tomon Fox
New York Jets
- Reverted to IR: WR Quentin Skinner
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Claimed off waivers (from Buccaneers): P Aidan Laros
- Waived: WR Brandon Johnson
Steelers Move Focus To Joey Porter Jr. Extension
JUNE 8: While a deal may come together, it does not look imminent. The Steelers and Porter’s representatives have yet to engage in “serious discussions,” Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
JUNE 6: The Steelers signed tight end Darnell Washington and outside linebacker Nick Herbig to long-term extensions last week. Now, they have moved their focus to another member of their 2023 draft class: Joey Porter Jr.
The 25-year-old cornerback skipped voluntary OTAs and staged a ‘hold-in’ at mandatory minicamp with minimal participation in practice. Herbig took the same approach before reaching his four-year, $100MM agreement on Tuesday.
“I want to be out there,” Porter said (via Mike DeFabo of The Athletic). “Everybody knows I want to be out there. So I’m just doing everything I can and taking it day by day.”
Projections for a Porter extension range from $22MM to $30MM per season, according to DeFabo and Mark Kaboly of The Pat McAfee Show, a wide range encompassing the top two tiers of the cornerback market.
Trent McDuffie, Sauce Gardner, and Derek Stingley Jr. sit at or above a $30MM AAV, with Jaycee Horn at $25MM and DaRon Bland at $22.5MM, per OverTheCap. The Broncos bumped Patrick Surtain‘s pay by $5MM this year, with another $5MM available next year as a slight raise on his $24MM AAV deal. Porter’s teammate, Jalen Ramsey, earns $24.1MM per year, though he is not a direct comparison due to his converted safety status.
Porter took a significant step forward last season after an up-and-down, penalty-riddled first two seasons. Among qualified cornerbacks, he ranked fourth in passer rating allowed when targeted (57.2) and seventh in yards per target (5.0), in the company of veterans like Surtain and Stingley as well as Eagles All-Pro and 2024 first-round pick Quinyon Mitchell. Those numbers were career-highs for Porter, as were his 14 passes defended; he also cut his penalty count to nine after 29 in his first two years. He did all of this while often being tasked with shadowing the opposing team’s top wide receiver.
The arrow is firmly pointing up for the legacy Steeler, and an extension seems like a matter of when, not if, Kaboly adds. Porter’s father, Pro Bowl linebacker Joey Porter Sr., signed a second contract to stay in Pittsburgh for the first eight years of his career, and his son seems poised to do the same.
Contract Details: James, Steelers, Berrios
Here are the latest details from recently agreed to contracts from around the NFL:
- Derwin James, S (Chargers): Three years, $75.6MM. Almost all the details for James’ newest extension to stay in LA were divulged in the original post. Per OvertheCap.com, we can now add the final detail that the $3MM roster bonus in the final year of his contract will be due on the third day of the 2029 league year.
- Nick Herbig, OLB (Steelers): Four years, $100MM. Of the $42MM of guaranteed money on the deal, $21MM is fully guaranteed at signing, consisting of a $19.68MM signing bonus and Herbig’s 2026 base salary of $1.33MM, per OvertheCap.com. Herbig will have roster bonuses of $7MM, $6MM, and $6MM due to him on the third days of the 2028, 2029, and 2030 league years, respectively. He’ll also have $300K workout bonuses available to earn each year.
- Darnell Washington, TE (Steelers): Four years. $42MM. According to Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac, Washington’s new deal includes $20.25MM of total guarantees, $11.25MM of which is guaranteed at signing including a $10MM signing bonus and his 2026 base salary of $1.25MM. He’ll be able to earn annual roster bonuses $2.5MM from 2028-30.
- Braxton Berrios, WR (Giants): One year, $1.3MM. Per Dan Duggan of The Athletic, Berrios’ contract is simply a veteran minimum deal with a base salary of $1.3MM and no guaranteed money, similar to Odell Beckham, Jr.‘s deal.
DT Keeanu Benton On Steelers’ Extension To-Do List
Coming into the offseason, the Steelers had their eyes on extensions for five players, kicker Chris Boswell, pass rusher Nick Herbig, tight end Darnell Washington, cornerback Joey Porter Jr., and defensive tackle Keeanu Benton. With deals done for Boswell, Herbig, and Washington, Pittsburgh has set its focus on Porter as its next priority, per Steelers insider Mark Kaboly, then Benton will have his opportunity.
Aside from Boswell, all of the above players were selections from Omar Khan‘s first draft as general manager of the Steelers. Benton was the team’s third-round selection out of Wisconsin, where he had made a name for himself as a disruptive force along the Badgers defensive line. Thanks to an early-season injury to veteran defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, Benton was put into a heavy share of the rotation early into his rookie campaign. By the time Heyward returned from injury, Benton had worked his way into a starting role.
After starting nine games in Year 1, Benton earned an even bigger role for his second season. In 14 starts in 17 game appearances, Benton showed good instincts for deflecting passes, totaling eight through two years and even nabbing himself an interception in 2024. And, while 16 quarterback hits over that time showed his ability to get into the backfield, he didn’t seem to be able to finish the play, only totaling two sacks and three tackles for loss through two campaigns. As a full-time starter in 2025, Benton seemed to finally put it all together, setting career highs with 5.5 sacks, six tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hits, and 51 total tackles.
Benton doesn’t offer much in terms of run defense, but he has routinely shined as an interior pass rusher throughout his career. Seeing him hit his stride last year has to give the Steelers some comfort that he’s delivering on his collegiate potential, but he may not be a three-down lineman just yet. The team had drafted Derrick Harmon out of Oregon in the first round last year, but that likely has more to do with the team’s star interior defender, Heyward, turning 37 a month ago.
If the Steelers like what they’re beginning to see out of Benton with his production last year, extending him now could help keep things solid along the interior for whenever Heyward finally decides to hang up his cleats. Benton has finally begun to cash in on the pass rushing potential he’s shown his whole career, and though Porter is the priority at the moment, Benton may want to start practicing his signature with how efficiently Pittsburgh has been tackling this offseason.
Steelers Will Not Trade T.J. Watt In 2026, Likely To Retain Alex Highsmith
Developing their share of rush linebackers going back to the Greg Lloyd/Chad Brown days, the Steelers have produced a long string of talent at this position. Nick Herbig is Pittsburgh’s latest OLB success story, and despite a history as a part-time starter, the former fourth-round pick received an eye-opening extension this week.
The Steelers gave Herbig a four-year, $100MM extension, one that matches the deal Odafe Oweh received from the Commanders in March. Herbig, 24, is now signed through the 2030 season. His signing has generated obvious questions about the long-term statuses of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.
[RELATED: Steelers, TE Darnell Washington Agree On Extension]
Teams do not make a habit of carrying three lucrative edge rusher contracts on payrolls. As our Connor Byrne noted when discussing the Herbig extension Tuesday, the Steelers are spending a combined $84MM in AAV at edge rusher. Only the Texans ($96MM) outpace them, and Houston just authorized a record-smashing $50MM-per-year payday for Will Anderson Jr. and another extension for Danielle Hunter. Both those players have every-down roles in Houston, whereas Pittsburgh’s outlook is historically unusual.
While the Steelers once rostered All-Pros Lloyd, Brown, Jason Gildon and Hall of Famer Kevin Greene at once (1994-95), Brown and Gildon were developing on rookie contracts behind the lead ‘backers before Greene’s 1996 free agency exit; Brown then left as a 1997 FA. Highsmith also overlapped with Bud Dupree‘s franchise-tag year (2020), but the Steelers gave the younger player a key promotion a year later.
No other team is even carrying three edge rushers beyond $11MM — the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby–Kwity Paye–Malcolm Koonce trio that certainly was not designed to play together (due to the Ravens’ scrapped agreement to acquire Crosby) — the Steelers have Watt on a $41MM-AAV extension and Highsmith at $17MM per year. Highsmith is signed through the 2027 season, Watt through 2028.
Even with Herbig’s extension inviting speculation about Pittsburgh offloading one of its more experienced vets, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport said during a Pat McAfee Show appearance the team is expected to keep all three on its roster in 2026. Watt will not be traded, Rapoport said definitively, and Highsmith will be expected to be part of his seventh Steelers roster. After 2026, the Steelers likely have a decision to make. The Browns just traded Myles Garrett to presumably help in their pursuit of a long-term quarterback answer; Watt or Highsmith would serve as Steelers aid if/when one of them is dealt.
Re-signed before the Ravens backed out of their Crosby trade agreement, Koonce is also on a one-year deal. His $11MM AAV came into the week as the NFL’s highest as far as No. 3 edge rushers go. The Commanders also have Dorance Armstrong on a three-year, $30MM deal — one that sits behind, in terms of AAV, Oweh and K’Lavon Chaisson — in third place among edge rushers on their payroll. The Seahawks just extended Derick Hall to go with DeMarcus Lawrence ($10.8MM per year) and Uchenna Nwosu ($9.8MM AAV). The Steelers carrying Watt’s upper-crust contract and now two other lucrative deals separates this situation from those and just about any other EDGE setup before it.
Herbig’s cap numbers are not yet known, but Steelers deals are typically clean. It should be expected Herbig will have a lower cap figure in 2026 before the extension bumps up his 2027 number. While that will seemingly make a move likely before the 2027 season, Herbig’s lower cap hit this year points to the Steelers (per McAfee staffer Mark Kaboly) dealing with that problem after the season and keeping the Watt-Highsmith-Herbig troika together for another year.
Highsmith, 29 in August, came up in trade rumors just before the draft. But those were quickly squashed. Coming off a 9.5-sack season, Highsmith is on a team-friendly contract that does not include any remaining guarantees. Watt’s three-year, $123MM extension contains fully guaranteed money in 2026 and ’27. The future Hall of Famer hopes to play several more seasons.
Watt, 31, managed just seven sacks in 14 games last season. But labeling him a declining player seems premature. He joins Cameron Heyward as Steelers front-seven cornerstones, with Herbig’s contract elevating him to such status as well.
No member of the trio has logged more than 10 snaps (per Pro Football Focus) as an inside D-lineman in a season. Watt did say (via Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams) he expects to move around in Patrick Graham‘s defense, but it remains to be seen if the Steelers will find ways to have all three well-paid rushers on the field together. This looks to be a 2026-only problem, and teams will likely be calling about Highsmith and Watt before 2027. For now, the Steelers have one of the NFL’s more interesting positional plans thanks to Herbig’s extension.
Minor NFL Transactions: 6/4/26
Several NFL teams made minor transactions on Thursday. Here’s a look…
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: DE Benton Whitley
Houston Texans
- Signed: TE Louie Hansen
- Waived: WR Jalen Walthall
Los Angeles Rams
- Placed on IR: OL Chad Lindberg, OLB Eddie Walls
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: WR Michael Briscoe, WR Trayvon Rudolph
- Waived: WR Joaquin Davis
New York Jets
- Signed: WR Gee Scott
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: LB Jamin Davis
- Waived: TE Chamon Metayer
Out of the 11 players listed above, Davis is the only one with a first-round pedigree. Washington took the former Kentucky Wildcat 19th overall in 2021, but his stock has plummeted during his five-year career. As a member of the Commanders for three-plus seasons, he totaled 282 tackles and seven sacks over 50 games (36 starts).
The Commanders experimented with Davis at defensive end in 2024, but it didn’t work out to their liking. They waived Davis in late October that year, and he has since gone to short stints with the Packers, Vikings, Jets and Raiders. The 27-year-old got into two games with the Raiders last season and made three tackles. Davis is now reuniting with Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who held the same position in Las Vegas in 2025.
Steelers, TE Robert Tonyan Agree To Deal
Robert Tonyan‘s recent Steelers workout has resulted in an agreement. The veteran tight end is signing with Pittsburgh on a one-year deal, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor reports.
Tonyan is a familiar face to head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers based on their time together in Green Bay. A reunion between those three has now been arranged in short order. Tonyan will be in the fold as he aims to compete for a roster spot during training camp.
Carving out a role will be challenging given Pittsburgh’s existing depth at the tight end position. Pat Freiermuth – whose contract was recently reworked – is set to lead the way once again in 2026. Jonnu Smith and Connor Heyward are no longer in the fold, but Darnell Washington agreed to a $42MM extension yesterday. He will be joined by fifth-round rookie Riley Nowakowski as a key blocking presence in particular on the Steelers’ offense.
Tonyan, 32, spent his first five seasons in Green Bay. He remained in the NFC North for another two years following that run, spending the 2023 campaign in Chicago before playing in Minnesota the following year. That Vikings stint was limited to only five games, but Tonyan managed to enjoy a full season in 2025 while serving in a depth role for the Chiefs.
The Indiana State product topped 50 catches twice in a season, with both of those occasions coming during his time in Green Bay. Expectations will no doubt be tempered for Tonyan upon arrival in Pittsburgh, though. He caught 11 touchdown passes in 2020 but has managed a total of four since then. It will be interesting to see how many reps he receives during training camp while trying to establish himself as a depth pass-catching option.
The Steelers entered Thursday at the bottom of the NFL in terms of cap space with $4.29MM available. This Tonyan pact will no doubt be worth the veteran minimum, so it will not greatly affect any further moves Pittsburgh plans to make during what has proven to be a busy period on the contract front.
Russell Wilson Announces Retirement
On Monday, it was reported Russell Wilson would spend the 2026 season as an analyst for CBS. That news obviously suggested his playing days were over, and that has now been confirmed.
On Wednesday, Wilson posted a video to social media announcing his retirement. The 37-year-old initially expressed a desire to play in 2026, and he received an offer from the Jets. Instead of serving as a backup for another campaign, though, Wilson will turn his attention to broadcasting.
Today’s announcement marks the expected end to a playing career which began with tempered expectations. As a third-round pick, Wilson was far from certain to serve as a capable long-term replacement for Matt Hasselbeck, whose Seattle tenure ended in 2010. As things turned out, though, the franchise enjoyed a sustained run of success under head coach Pete Carroll. His work and that of the ‘Legion of Boom’ on defense was of course critical to the Seahawks’ strong play, but Wilson was a foundational player as well.
Taking on QB1 duties as a rookie and never losing them over the course of his time in the Emerald City, Wilson helped lead Seattle to eight playoff appearances. That stretch included back-to-back trips to the Super Bowl; the Seahawks comfortably won Super Bowl XLVIII over the Broncos and nearly came out on top the following year against the Patriots. Replicating those deep postseason runs proved to be a challenge Carroll’s Seahawks were unable to meet, but Wilson continued to provide the team with strong play over a decade in Seattle.
From the start of his career, Wilson was recognized as a perennial Pro Bowler, earning invitations to the event in nine of 10 seasons with the Seahawks. He also earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2019 after finishing the year with 31 touchdowns to just five interceptions despite getting sacked a league-leading 48 times that season. He departed Seattle as the franchise-leader in passing yards, touchdowns, and several other statistical categories.
Wilson’s time with the Seahawks came to an end after the 2021 NFL season, when he was packaged with a fourth-round pick and shipped off to Denver in exchange for two first- and second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive tackle Shelby Harris, and tight end Noah Fant. Over two years with the Broncos, Westbrook struggled to produce as he followed up his only losing season as a starter in Seattle with two more in Denver.
After getting released, Wilson signed with the Steelers, going 6-5 as a starter after missing the first six games of the season and earning Pro Bowl honors one last time. He began the following year as a starter for the Giants, before ultimately ceding his job to Jaxson Dart. He failed to go out on top, but for a third-round quarterback, winning a Super Bowl, making 10 Pro Bowls, winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, and cementing himself as a top player in Seahawks history is a pretty good résumé. He’ll look now to expand his accomplishments on air.
Ely Allen contributed to this post.
Steelers Extend TE Darnell Washington
The youngest member of Pittsburgh’s three-headed monster at tight end last year, Darnell Washington has signed a long-term extension to remain with the team, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The Steelers will retain the massive weapon on a four-year, $42MM deal.
Measuring in as a 6-foot-7, 260-pound five-star recruit out of Las Vegas, Washington committed to Georgia and arrived in Athens with lofty expectations. After two years, though, Washington had only notched 17 receptions for 320 yards and a touchdowns in 21 games played; he missed some time after undergoing surgery for a minor foot fracture. Staying healthy enough to appear in 15 games as a junior, Washington finished 2022 with 28 receptions for 454 yards and two touchdowns before declaring for the draft and landing in Pittsburgh as a third-round pick.
So far, Washington has shown an improved ability to remain on the field, appearing in 50 of a possible 51 games in Years 1-3 and starting 29 of those contests. Over his first two years in the NFL, he was used primarily as a blocking tight end. Over that time, he saw 804 blocking snaps to 330 passing assignments, recording 26 catches for 261 yards and a touchdown over 34 games. In 2025, Washington saw a much more balanced workload, splitting his time fairly evenly between both responsibilities and reeling in 31 passes for 364 yards and a touchdown.
Having spent the first two years of his career behind Pat Freiermuth — who signed his own four-year, $48.4MM extension two years ago — and veteran Connor Heyward, Washington delivered his biggest season in Year 3 despite the offseason acquisition of Jonnu Smith. Joining his fifth team in six years, Smith had just come off a career-best Pro Bowl campaign with the Dolphins in which he recorded 88 receptions for 884 yards and eight touchdowns. He finished this year with seven more catches and one more touchdown than Washington but amassed 142 fewer yards and was released at the end of the year.
With Freiermuth and Washington secured atop the depth chart and Smith out, the rest of the room is populated by 2024 seventh-round pick Jaheim Bell, 2025 undrafted signee JJ Galbreath, and undrafted rookies Chamon Metayer and Lake McRee.
Washington’s deal comes a day after the team extended pass rusher Nick Herbig. According to Mark Kaboly of The Pat McAfee Show, Washington’s deal “came together really quickly” after “(picking) up significantly over the past couple hours,” and the team has “no plans to stop spending money this offseason.” Per Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steelers had eyes on five extension for the offseason, including those of Washington, Herbig, and kicker Chris Boswell. With three done, the final two remaining deals to get done would be for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and defensive tackle Keeanu Benton.