Pittsburgh Steelers re-sign linebacker Markus Golden

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Thursday that they’re re-signing linebacker Markus Golden for the 2024 season. Golden spent the 2023 season with the Steelers after a stint with the Arizona Cardinals. However, when his deal ran out in March, it was unclear whether or not the team would bring him back for another year. After months of uncertainty, he has now inked a new deal. The terms of his new deal are not yet public, but his last contract was for one year, $1.3 million.

In 2023, Golden played in 16 games for Pittsburgh, tallying 20 tackles with four sacks. He also recovered a fumble and had four tackles for loss. The team went 10-7, finishing third in the AFC North.

For the Cardinals, he played all 17 games in 2022, racking up 48 tackles with 2.5 sacks and nine tackles for loss. In 2021, Golden had another 48 tackles but notched 11 sacks. It was his third season with more than 10 sacks and caused the Cardinals to re-up on him for another season.

Golden began his NFL career when the Arizona Cardinals selected him in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Missouri. He played out his rookie deal before inking a deal in free agency with the New York Giants. He spent almost two seasons in New York before returning to Arizona.

Through the first nine years of his NFL career, Golden has 344 tackles in 127 games played in the regular season. He also has 51 sacks and 11 forced fumbles with six recoveries. He also has one interception, which came in 2020 after he returned to the Cardinals.

Steelers rookie Roman Wilson suffered ankle sprain

After getting carted off the field at training camp practice earlier on Tuesday, there was good news about Pittsburgh Steelers rookie receiver Roman Wilson. The injury that caused so much consternation originally was just a sprained ankle.

As such, Wilson is expected to be healthy in time for the start of the regular season. Pittsburgh opens the season on Sept. 8.

“It was unfortunate we had an injury today,” head coach Mike Tomlin said shortly after practice. “Roman hurt his ankle on a tackle. And so, we’ll have more information regarding the length of his status in terms of how long he might be out.”

The Steelers drafted Roman Wilson with the No. 84 overall pick in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. In his final year for the Wolverines, he had a career-high 48 catches for 789 yards and 12 touchdowns, which led the Michigan offense. He was first-rounder J.J. McCarthy‘s favorite target and a big reason why the star quarterback became such a highly-coveted selection in this year’s draft.