- Tyson Alualu, DL (Steelers): Two years, $6MM. $1.75MM fully guaranteed. (Twitter link via Adam Caplan of ESPN.com).
- Coty Sensabaugh, CB (Steelers): Two years, $2.6MM. $425K guaranteed (Twitter link via Caplan).
The Steelers will sign former Jaguars defensive lineman Tyson Alualu, a source tells Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’ll be a two-year deal worth $6MM, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Alualu has not lived up to his Top 10 draft status in the NFL, but the Steelers aren’t counting on superstar production out of him either. Our updated ranking of the remaining free agent defensive tackles had Alualu towards the back of the top 15. It’s not clear if the Jaguars had any real interest in re-signing him, which says something about where he is at this stage of his career.
Alualu, 30 in May, appeared in 14 games with ten starts last season for Jacksonville. He amassed 36 total tackles and 2.5 sacks. The advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus were down on him, just like they always have been.
Although Alualu is naturally a defensive tackle, he did see some time at defensive end in 2016. It’s not immediately clear where the Steelers plan on using him.
With Alualu gone, Chad Henne and Marcedes Lewis are the only players remaining from the Jaguars’ 2012 roster, ESPN.com’s Michael DiRocco (on Twitter) notes.
The Steelers have signed cornerback Coty Sensabaugh to a two-year deal, the team announced. He’ll likely compete for nickel corner job. 
The Steelers hosted Sensabaugh on a visit on Monday and it didn’t take long for the two sides to come to an agreement. The incumbent Giants had interest in retaining him, but they’ll have to find cornerback support elsewhere.
The Steelers now have five corners on the roster: William Gay, Artie Burns, Senquez Golson, Al-Hajj Shabazz, and Sensabaugh. We’re a long way away from September, of course, and his spot on the roster is not a certainty. It’s not immediately clear whether Sensabaugh has guaranteed money included in his deal.
Last year, Sensabaugh appeared in 13 games for the Rams and Giants and Pro Football Focus gave him an abysmal score for that limited sample. Then again, he’s only one year removed from signing a lucrative multi-season deal with the Rams. He could prove to be a valuable supporting piece for the Steelers.
UPDATE – Steelers Sign Sensabaugh
The Steelers are hosting cornerback Coty Sensabaugh on a visit today, Mark Kaboly of DKPittsburghSports.com tweets. Meanwhile, the Giants also have interest in retaining him, according to Dan Duggan of NJ.com. 
[RELATED: Steelers To Sign RB Knile Davis]
Sensabaugh, 28, joined the Rams last offseason on a three-year, $14.5MM deal. Unfortunately, they dropped him just three games into the season, bringing him to the Giants. All in all, he had 24 tackles in 13 games for the two teams. Pro Football Focus gave him a poor 48.4 overall score, his third consecutive year with a poor showing. The Steelers presently have four corners on the roster: William Gay, Artie Burns, Senquez Golson, and Al-Hajj Shabazz.
Sensabaugh, Leon Hall, and Trevin Wade are all free agents and the Giants still need to add cornerback depth behind Janoris Jenkins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Eli Apple.
The Steelers are signing running back Knile Davis, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. It’ll be a one-year deal. 
Davis, a longtime backup in Kansas City, found himself buried on the Chiefs depth chart last year. When he got an opportunity to get away from Jamaal Charles, Charcandrick West, and Spencer Ware, he fell flat. Davis was traded to the Packers in mid-October, but he only got five carries in two games before being waived. He was claimed by the Jets the next day, but he was cut about three hours later when the team opted to sign free agent running C.J. Spiller. Davis circled back to KC and amassed just 23 yards off of 13 carries.
Davis had some quality games in 2013 and 2014 with Kansas City, but we haven’t seen him move the needle in a while. He’ll now try to catch on as a backup for Le’Veon Bell in Pittsburgh.
Tyson Alualu is visiting with the Steelers, a source tells Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Jaguars free agent defensive lineman will touch down in Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon. 
Our most recent rundown of free agent defensive tackles had Alualu in the top 15, but only by a thread. Despite spending his entire career with the Jaguars, Alualu was on the Jags’ roster bubble heading into the 2016 season. This year, the Jaguars let him test free agency without much of a battle to keep him and it’s not clear if they have interest in re-signing him at this juncture.
Last year, Alualu appeared in 14 games with ten starts. He had 2.5 sacks and 36 total tackles and finished out as the No. 74 DT in the league by Pro Football Focus’ measure. His 47.0 overall grade was the result of a poor pass rush grade and a mediocre showing against the run. PFF has had the 29-year-old (30 in May) roughly in that range for his entire career.
The Honolulu, Hawaii native might not be a game-changer, but he could be a useful reserve for Pittsburgh thanks to his experience on both the interior and exterior of the D-Line. Right now, the Steelers have only three D-Line reserves under contract: defensive tackles Daniel McCullers and Johnny Maxey plus defensive end Leterrius Walton. Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt are slated to start on the ends with Javon Hargrave in between.
The Jets‘ decision to withdraw their mammoth Dont’a Hightower offer after the linebacker’s physical may not represent an isolated view of where the linebacker is at in his career. Entering his sixth season, Hightower is viewed as a risk physically, and Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com notes his Patriots contract illustrates this (video link via CSNNE.com). Breer notes the four-year, $35.5MM (base value) contract contains more per-game roster bonuses than any other Patriot performer’s while also including sizable incentives based on playing time and potential Pro Bowl or All-Pro honors. He adds the Steelers shared the Jets’ concern about Hightower’s health, with Gang Green worrying Hightower wouldn’t last three or four more seasons. Hightower has missed 11 regular-season games the past three years.
When reports that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was mulling retirement surfaced back in January, no one really expected No. 7 to hang up the cleats. Just one week later, we learned that club officials expected the face of their franchise to return, and that was the last public report on the matter. Everyone, it seemed, just assumed that Big Ben would be back in 2017.
But as Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk observes, Roethlisberger himself has yet to formally declare his intent to return this season, though it appears as if that could be coming soon. Roethlisberger spoke at the Ignite Men’s Impact Weekend conference at Liberty University on Friday, and he was asked if he’s going to play in 2017. He replied, “I’m leaning towards it” (article via Dale Lolley of the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter).
Roethlisberger has missed a combined six games because of injuries over the past two seasons, but his production has remained strong. He’s now fresh off his fifth Pro Bowl season, in which he completed 64.4% of his 509 passing attempts, amassed 3,819 yards on 7.5 YPA, and tossed 29 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. Pittsburgh has regularly been a league superpower since it drafted Roethlisberger 11th overall in 2004, having finished with no fewer than eight wins during any of his 13 seasons and gone to the playoffs nine times. Two of those postseason trips have culminated in Super Bowl victories, the latest of which came at the conclusion of the 2009 campaign.
Backup signal-caller Landry Jones recently signed a two-year deal with the Steelers, but the team seems intent on selecting a quarterback in the 2017 draft, which they have not done since they drafted Jones in 2013. This year’s crop of QBs, however, is considered to be rather weak, so it is unclear if Pittsburgh will really be able to find Roethlisberger’s heir apparent in 2017.
Roethlisberger has three years remaining on the contract extension he signed in 2015. He’d owe the Steelers $18.6MM if he were to walk away.
- While the Steelers has “mild interest” in re-signing linebacker Jarvis Jones, the club never made a real effort to retain the former first-round pick before he inked a one-year deal with the Cardinals on Monday, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. Jones, 27, never lived up to his draft billing, but did provide solid run defense over 35 starts in Pittsburgh. The Steelers will now roll with Arthur Moats and Anthony Chickillo behind James Harrison and Bud Dupree on the edge.