Former Steelers Do-It-All Weapon Signs with Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback John Rhys Plumlee to their practice squad, the team announced Friday morning.
Plumlee was released by the Steelers on cut-down day on Tuesday, and was not added to the club’s practice squad.
Plumlee, an undrafted rookie out of UCF, worked as the team’s fourth-string quarterback throughout OTAs, minicamp, training camp and the preseason. He attempted four passes, all in the Week 3 preseason game against the Detroit Lions on Saturday, and competed three of them for 32 yards. He also had one carry for four yards.
Plumlee was a distant fourth in the team’s quarterback pecking order behind Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Kyle Allen. However, the Steelers used Plumlee in many other ways.
In addition to his quarterback play, Plumlee also worked at wide receiver, kick returner, punt returner, and covered kickoffs and punts. In the preseason, he led the team with six kickoff returns for 145 yards. He also returned two punts for 16 yards and one special teams tackle.
A two-sport athlete, Plumlee played both football and baseball, where he was a centerfielder, for Ole Miss, before transferring to UCF in 2022.
Plumlee won the starting job for the Knights, and continued to play baseball. In two seasons at UCF, he posted back-to-back 2,000-yard campaigns while maintaining a 135.3 passer rating.
In 2022, he threw 346 times, completing 218 (63%) for 2,586 yards, 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions. This past fall, he threw 256 times, completing 161 (62.9%) for 2,271 yards, 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions, while being limited to 10 games.
Over his five years in college, Plumlee played in 52 games and logged 33 starts. He finished with 34 career passing touchdowns and 19 interceptions. On the ground, Plumlee accumulated 2,556 yards and 28 touchdowns including a 1,000 yard rushing season in 2019.
Plumlee signed with the Steelers after going unselected in the 2024 NFL Draft this April.
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