Pittsburgh Steelers make free agency decision on Marcus Allen

The Pittsburgh Steelers have made a decision on linebacker Marcus Allen, and the franchise plans on keeping him around heading into free agency — on Monday, the Steelers placed a restricted free agent tender on Allen.

Allen, 25, is in his fourth NFL season, each of which has been spent with the Steelers. A former defensive back at Penn State, Allen was selected in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Steelers, coming off the board with the 148th-overall selection, and he signed a four-year, $2.75 million contract. Allen was later waived by the Steelers and signed to the practice squad, until he was finally signed to the active roster in Dec. 2019.

Allen was not all that much of a contributor for Pittsburgh until his third NFL Season in 2020. After appearing in just three games across his first two seasons, Allen played in 14 games in 2020, starting two, and logged 30 total tackles (19 solo stops), two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits. In 2021, Allen started once, played 16 games, and amassed 13 tackles (six solo stops).

Restricted free agency tenders are restraints on a player’s free agency that are outlined in the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. In the rules, if a player has an expiring contract and has exactly three accrued seasons, they are considered restricted free agents, and the team must tender a qualifying offer on a one-year contract.

Allen committed to Penn State as part of its 2014 recruiting class. He was a highly-touted three-star safety coming out of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Report: Steelers to reunite former Chicago Bears OL with Mitchell Trubisky

New Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitchell Trubisky is going to have a familiar face on his offensive line.

Pittsburgh is signing former Chicago Bears offensive lineman James Daniels to a three-year, $26.5 million deal, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo. Daniels blocked for Trubisky from 2018-20 before Trubisky left for the Buffalo Bills.

A former Iowa standout, Chicago drafted Daniels with the No. 39 pick in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. He started the last four years for the Bears and came in as Pro Football Focus’ No. 33 free agent in this year’s class.

Daniels was part of an offensive line that struggled for Chicago in 2022. Quarterback Justin Fields was sacked 36 times during his rookie season as the Bears finished 6-11 in what proved to be Matt Nagy’s final season as head coach. Now, Daniels is heading to Pittsburgh to block for Trubisky, the heir apparent to Ben Roethlisberger.

Pittsburgh’s offensive line also had a rough go this past season, allowing Roethlisberger to get sacked 38 times. Daniels is part of the Steelers’ plan to build that unit back up.

Daniels isn’t the only offensive lineman the Steelers have signed. They also got their center on Monday, according to ESPN.