Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Josh Mauro has died at the age of 35, his family announced. His cause of death was not disclosed. TMZ first reported the news.
Mauro spent the 2014 offseason with the Steelers after joining the team as an undrafted free agent out of Stanford. He did not play a regular-season game for the club, but went on to have an eight-year NFL career.
"With many tears and broken hearts, yet anchored in the unshakable certainty that our precious Josh Mauro is now healed and made new—living in the presence of the Lord—we humbly covet your prayers as our family walks through the devastating loss of our amazing son, brother, uncle, grandson and friend," Mauro's father, Greg Mauro wrote on Facebook.
Mauro was born in St. Albans, England on Feb. 17, 1991 and moved to the Dallas area, where his family was originally from, when he was three years old. He attended L.D. Bell High School in Hurst, Texas, where he was an all-state performer at defensive end.
He was rated a three-star recruit and chose Stanford over offers from Baylor, Boise State, Louisville and Utah.
Mauro spent five years in Palo Alto, California playing for the Cardinal. He redshirted in 2009 and spent two seasons as a reserve before becoming a regular in 2012, when he finished fifth on the team with six sacks. In 2013 as a redshirt senior, Mauro finished with 51 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, two forced fumbles and one interception — good enough for an All-Pac 12 honorable mention and an invitation to the East-West Shrine Game.
After going undrafted, the Steelers signed Mauro in April 2014. He finished the preseason tied for ninth on the team with 10 tackles and also recorded a team-leading two sacks along with one tackle for loss and three quarterback hits, but Mauro was released in the final roster cuts.
He signed with the Arizona Cardinals and quickly found an opportunity, playing in five games as a rookie. In 2015, Mauro played in 14 games and made four starts, and in 2016, he had the most-productive season of his pro career.
Mauro played in 15 games, starting 13 of them for the Cardinals, and racked up 32 tackles, seven tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and one pass defended. While Mauro was never a full-time starter again, he established himself as a strong rotational player, with an emphasis on stopping the run.
He spent one more season in Arizona and then moved on as a free agent with the New York Giants in 2019 and the Oakland Raiders in 2019. In 2020, Mauro signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars , but was suspended for the first five games of the season for violating the league's substance-abuse polity. He was waived by the Jaguars after serving his suspension and placed on the practice squad.
Later in the 2020 season, Arizona re-signed Mauro from the Jacksonville practice squad, and he played in three games, surrounding a stint on the injured reserve list. He re-signed with the Cardinals for 2021, but was released in August before being re-signed in October and appearing in five games.
Mauro finished his career with 80 games played, 40 of them starts, 130 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, five sacks, 13 quarterback hits, five passes defended, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Former Steelers Defensive Lineman Dies at 35
Related Headlines
