Which Steelers UDFAs Have Best Chance of Making Roster?

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Which Steelers UDFAs Have Best Chance of Making Roster?

Pittsburgh Steelers TE Lake McRee — Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Lake McRee at OTAs on May 20, 2026. -- Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

Alan Saunders · Steelers Now

Wed, May 27, 2026 ·

6 min read

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One of the most interesting parts of every Pittsburgh Steelers offseason is trying to figure out which of the team's undrafted free agents will turn out to have an impact.

The Steelers have a long history of success with UDFAs, with Hall of Famer Donnie Shell one of the nine undrafted free agents to be enshrined in Canton, Ohio after going un-selected during the common draft era.

James Harrison , Willie Parker , Jack Butler, Keith Willis, Ramon Foster and current starting running back Jaylen Warren are also among the team's many notable undrafted free agent success stories.

This year, the team signed six undrafted free agents immediately after the 2026 NFL Draft , and then added two more after tryouts during rookie minicamp, giving the club a class of eight UDFAs.

But compared to the Steelers classes that created the greats above, this year's Pittsburgh UDFA crop is not expected to have as much success. In fact, they aren't likely at all to even have one player make the 53-man roster.

Arif Hasan of Wide Left published a ranking of how likely each team's UDFA crop is likely to make the initial 53-man roster, using a model that inputs both the players' pre-draft rankings and the amount of guaranteed salary doled out to acquire them.

Hasan's model assigns a likelihood for each UDFA to make their teams' 53-man roster using those criteria, and has generally been shown to provide an accurate assessment of each players' chances. UDFAs as a whole have about a 9% chance of making a team's initial 53-man roster, as compared to a seventh-round draft pick, which will make his team over 50% of the time.

As a team, Hasan's model finds that the Steelers are the least-likely NFL club to have one of its UDFAs make the initial 53-man roster. The model gives the Steelers an NFL-low 42.8% chance of having a UDFA survive cut-down day. The next-least-likely club is the Buffalo Bills at 60.9%. Six teams, including the top-ranked Carolina Panthers , have over a 100% odds of having one UDFA make the team, meaning they more likely to have one than not.

Former USC tight end Lake McRee is the player assigned the greatest chances of making the Steelers' 53-man roster, at 10.2%, while Tamon Lynum, signed as a tryout after rookie minicamp, has only a 2.7% chance.

While Hasan's model has been good at establishing the odds based on player ranking and guaranteed salary, what it does not take into account is the opportunity that either is or is not provided by the players ahead of that UDFA on the team's active roster.

So knowing what we know about the roster opportunities being provided to the Steelers UDFAs, let's handicap Hasan's odds.

For starters, here's where he has the chances of each of the Steelers' eight UDFAs in making the initial 53-man roster.

TE Lake McRee 10.5%
DB Devan Boykin 7.6%
DT Kevin Jobity Jr. 6.2%
TE Chamon Metayer 5.1%
LB Daylan Carnell 4.6%
K Laith Marjan 3.7%
C Greg Crippen 2.7%
CB Tamon Lynum 2.7%

Let's break down the opportunities for each of them.

Pittsburgh Steelers TE Chamon Metayer — Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Chamon Metayer at rookie minicamp on May 9, 2026. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

TEs Lake McRee and Chamon Metayer

I lumped these two together since so much of the conversation will overlap. Tight end is probably the position where an undrafted free agent has the best chance of making the Steelers' 53-man roster. They have just two full-time tight ends with NFL experience under contract, and while fifth-round draft pick Riley Nowakowski played tight end at Indiana, the Steelers have thus far exclusively listed him as a fullback.

The Steelers had four tight ends make the 53-man roster a year ago, and perhaps more importantly, neither Darnell Washington nor Nowakowski seems to have the requisite skillset to really be a true backup to starter Pat Freiermuth .

Lake McRee does, as a strong pass catcher but unspectacular athlete and blocker. Chamon Metayer is a somewhat better athlete, but less polished as a receiver.

The individual odds of either of these players making the team is offset by the fact that there's two of them, and also by the presence of 2025 UDFAs JJ Galbreath and Jaheim Bell on the 90-man roster. Galbreath had elite athleticism and pass-catching skills coming out of South Dakota last summer, but needed some time to put some weight on his frame.

Verdict:The chances of one of those three players making the team feels pretty good, but it's hard to predict which one.

Odds buy/sell:Buy both

Pittsburgh Steelers DB Devan Boykin — Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Devan Boykin at rookie minicamp on May 9, 2026. — Ed Thompson/ Steelers Now

DB Devan Boykin and CB Tamon Lynum

The Steelers have a ton of depth at cornerback — maybe too much. They have five experienced cornerbacks in Joey Porter Jr. , Jamel Deal , Jalen Ramsey , Brandin Echols and Asante Samuel Jr. , plus third-round pick Daylen Everette and 2025 seventh-round pick Donte Kent .

That's going to make it pretty tough for Lynum, who almost exclusively played outside cornerback in his six collegiate seasons. Boykin, on the other hand, does not have nearly as many obstacles to a spot on the roster.

Boykin played both slot cornerback and safety over his time at NC State and Indiana, and while the Steelers are deeper in the slot, with Ramsey, Echols and Kent all aligned ahead of him, free safety is one of the thinnest spots on the team.

Starter Jaquan Brisker has never been a full-time free safety before, and his top backup is seventh-round rookie Robert Spears-Jennings . It's far from inconceivable that the more-versatile Boykin could win his way on the roster.

Verdict:There's one space for a surprise to make the team at defensive back, and it's free safety, which is a help to Boykin.

Odds buy/sell:Buy Boykin, sell Lynum

Pittsburgh Steelers DT Kevin Jobity — Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Kevin Jobity Jr. at rookie minicamp on May 9, 2026. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

DT Kevin Jobity Jr.

The Steelers added to their experienced defensive line depth this week, re-signing veteran Dean Lowry to give them six established NFL veterans. The Steelers have kept more than six defensive linemen in the past, but that's pretty much been the minimum.

Beyond those six, there are three solid contenders that are clearly ahead of rookie UDFA Kevin Jobity Jr. Logan Lee was the team's sixth-round pick in 2024, Gabriel Rubio was a sixth-round pick this year, and Esezi Otomewo surprised as a depth option in 2025.

Verdict:Jobity has solid athletic traits and it wouldn't be a shocker to see him stick around on the practice squad, but there does not appear to be much of an opportunity to earn a roster spot.

Odds buy/sell:Sell

Pittsburgh Steelers Daylan Carnell — Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Daylan Carnell at rookie minicamp on May 9, 2026. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

LB Daylan Carnell

The Steelers brought back their top five inside linebackers from 2025, with UDFA rookie Daylan Carnell the only addition to the position for 2026.

This seems pretty simple. He's not going to beat out the top four players, all of which have NFL starting experience. So it just comes down to whether Carnell can look like a better option than incumbent No. 5 linebacker Carson Bruener .

That's a tough ask on the special teams from, which is usually where most depth linebackers make their impacts. Bruener was an All-Rookie special teamer in 2025 and has already drawn praise from new coordinator Danny Crossman.

But Carnell is a bit more of an intriguing linebacker prospect when you consider his background as a slot cornerback at Missouri. That's coverage ability the Steelers don't have outside of Payton Wilson .

Verdict:Carnell is 6-foot-2, but at only 222 pounds, is very light for a linebacker. He probably feels like a project best suited to a year on the practice squad. He'd have to play extremely well in the preseason to make him look like a risk to not clear waivers.

Odds buy/sell:Sell

K Laith Marjan

The Steelers just made Chris Boswell the highest-paid kicker in the history of the league. The only chance Laith Marjan has to make the team is if Boswell get hurt, and even then, he probably wouldn't be their first pick. And how often do kickers get hurt in the preseason?

Odds buy/sell:Sell

C Greg Crippen

Zach Frazier is firmly entrenched as a starter, and the Steelers have both some positional versatility ( Brock Hoffman has played both center and guard) and some familiarity ( Ryan McCollum has been the club's No. 2 or No. 3 center every year since 2022) behind him.

It's not inconceivable that Greg Crippen could come in and beat out McCollum, and if Hoffman wins the three-way right guard competition he's in with Spencer Anderson and Gennings Dunker , that could theoretically open up a path forward for Crippen, but it feels like a weak case.

Verdict:Crippen probably needs an injury to one of the centers ahead of him to have a real shot.

Odds buy/sell:Hold

This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Which Steelers UDFAs Have Best Chance of Making Roster?

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