Former Texas A&M EDGE rusher Tyree Johnson signs with Pittsburgh Steelers

Tyree Johnson is heading to the NFL.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are signing Johnson as an undrafted free agent, according to Pro Football Network’s Aaron Wilson. Johnson wrapped up his career with Texas A&M this year after four years on the Aggies defensive line, capped off by a big senior season in 2021.

Johnson had a career-high 8.5 sacks last season, tied for the most on the Texas A&M roster with DeMarvin Leal. He also had 31 total tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.

Out of high school, Johnson was a three-star recruit and the No. 43 EDGE in the nation from the Class of 2017, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Johnson joins a Steelers team that had quite a showing in the 2022 NFL Draft, notably taking former Pitt star Kenny Pickett in the first round and former Georgia standout George Pickens in the second round.

Mel Kiper Jr. grades the Pittsburgh Steelers 2022 NFL Draft class

Mel Kiper Jr. believes the Pittsburgh Steelers put together a solid class at the 2022 NFL Draft this past weekend. The ESPN analyst gave the Steelers a B in his recent grades, which were released following the conclusion of the draft.

Pittsburgh started the draft off by addressing its biggest need: quarterback. With Ben Roethlisberger retiring this offseason after 18 seasons with the franchise, it was pretty much expected they look for his replacement in the first round. Although many thought Liberty product Malik Willis would be the pick, the Steelers instead opted to keep Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett in the city.

Kiper didn’t agree with that move, and isn’t certain that Pickett will earn the starting job right away.

“I liked Malik Willis a little bit more than Kenny Pickett, but I can’t fault the Steelers for going with the local quarterback,” the ESPN analyst wrote. “My comp for Pickett? Some Derek Carr, some Andy Dalton. Teams can win with that. I don’t know that he’ll definitely beat out Mitch Trubisky in Year 1, and he doesn’t have the ceiling of Willis. But the important part is that the front office didn’t have to move up to get him, so this is solid value in a strange draft when Pickett was the only signal-caller selected in the first two rounds.”