Pittsburgh Steelers sign veteran linebacker Kwon Alexander

In a move to keep reinforcing a reworked linebacker corps, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed veteran linebacker Kwon Alexander, according to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. He’s one of several signings the Steelers have made to add to the linebacker corps this offseason.

Along with Alexander, the Steelers have signed Cole Holcomb away from the Washington Commanders and Elandon Roberts from the Miami Dolphins. Alexander comes to the Steelers after a bounce-back season with the New York Jets.

After not playing a full season since 2016 — five straight years of missing at least one game, usually more — Alexander appeared in all 17 games for the Jets in 2022. He had 69 total tackles and six tackles for a loss.

Alexander started his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after being selected in the fourth round out of LSU. He played out his rookie contract there before going on to play for the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints before joining the Jets.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin raved about another defensive addition in Pittsburgh

New Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson is clearly living up to Tomlin’s expectations. A veteran corner and, at his peak, one of the best shutdown corners in the league, Peterson has certainly provided playmaking for the Steelers.

But his presence in the organization off the field had Tomlin heaping praise on Peterson in an NFL Network interview during training camp on Saturday. Tomlin said Peterson has been exactly the sort of player he loves to have around.

Forget his talents and his playmaking ability, just being around him day to day is exactly what I’ve heard over the years and I’m excited about experiencing. He’s a quality human being and professional,” Tomlin said.

Peterson, who played 10 seasons in Arizona before spending 2021 and 2022 with the Minnesota Vikings, is someone who a lot of the current Steelers have looked up to and tried to emulate. For a team with plenty of youth on both sides of the ball, Tomlin thinks having a player some of the younger Steelers once idolized around — and setting a sterling example — is going to pay dividends.

And that’s before Peterson gets on the field.

“One that these guys kind of grew up on in some instances and for them to be shoulder to shoulder with him day-to-day and see the reality of him, to see how professional he is, to see how dialed in and how much he loves football. It’s just an asset to us. Not only his playmaking but all of those other components of him,” Tomlin said.