Former Steelers Swiss Army Knife RB Signs in UFL

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Samuels is landing in the United Football League and will play for the San Antonio Brahams. He was picked in the fifth round of the league’s dispersal draft.

Samuels was released by the Steelers in 2021. Following that, he would have a brief stint with the Houston Texans, but it never went very far. Now, Samuels is playing in the UFL to chase his football dream. He played in 45 games for the Steelers at running back, H-Back, and even experimented at times as a tough tight end.

The team’s fifth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Samuels had spent all of the 2021 season on the Steelers’ practice squad. He played a good bit in his first two seasons, rushing 122 times for 431 yards in 2018 and 2019, but saw his role with the team gradually decrease with the additions of Benny Snell in 2019 and McFarland in 2020. In 2021, Samuels carried the ball just nine times for 28 yards.

His most famous game came in his rookie season when the team was banged up at the running back position, and Samuels racked up 172 total yards in that game. For most of the day, the team sliced up New England with a version of counter-toss that fueled Samuels to his career’s biggest game.