Pittsburgh Steelers sign tight end Donald Parham to one year deal

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed veteran tight end Donald Parham to a one-year contract, according to the official press release on their website. He spent the 2024 season with the Denver Broncos practice squad. Parham spent four years with the LA Chargers (2020-2023) and appeared in 47 regular season games for them, starting 23 of those.

He’ll join a very crowded tight end room in Pittsburgh. The Steelers already have three tight ends under contract for 2025, Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, and veteran Connor Heyward. Freiermuth was the team’s second-leading pass catcher in 2024.

For his whole career, Parham has 67 catches for 764 receiving yards, 11.4 yards per catch, and 11 touchdowns. He also appeared in one postseason game for the Chargers, finishing with four catches for 23 yards.

Parham also had very, very brief stints with the Washington Redskins (a couple of months) and the Detroit Lions (two days), before getting waived. Parham was also selected by the Arlington Renegades of the XFL in the ninth round of the 2020 XFL Draft. In his second game against the Los Angeles Wildcats, Parham hauled in five catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. His contract was terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10th, 2020.

Other offseason moves for Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers officially released linebacker Preston Smith on Friday evening. The team made the news official via their Twitter page. He was a healthy scratch in two of their last three games. The Steelers finished 10-7 overall this year, losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Wild Card matchup.

The move helps to free up a significant amount of cap space for the Steelers franchise. He was set to count $13.4 million against the cap in 2025 and $14.1 million in 2026, according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN.

Through nine games with the Packers this year, Smith recorded 19 tackles, two tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. During his time with the Packers, the former Mississippi State star has tallied 42 tackles for loss, 44 sacks and 14 passes defended in 91 games.

On3’s Brian Jones also contributed to this article.