Former Steelers TE, Pittsburgh Native Signs with New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints signed former Pittsburgh Steelers tight end and Pittsburgh native Kevin Rader on Saturday.
The New Orleans Saints announced Saturday that they’ve signed former Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Kevin Rader. In addition to Rader, the club signed tight end Mason Fairchild, waived tight end Jesper Horsted and waived/injured wide receiver Jermaine Jackson. New Orleans placed tight end Tommy Hudson on injured reserve.
Rader was with the Steelers from 2019-2021, but played sparingly. He appeared in seven games and made only two starts tenure, catching just two passes for 8 yards.
On August 30, 2022, Rader was waived by the Steelers. Two days later, he was signed to the Tennessee Titans practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on September 22, and appeared in 14 games that season. He started just twice, and recorded no stats, however. It was a similar story in 2023, as Rader appeared in 14 games and caught just one pass for 6 yards. In 35 career games, Rader has three catches for 14 yards. He’s been an asset on special teams, though, recording 19 special teams tackles.
Rader spent training camp in 2018 with the Green Bay Packers before signing a reserve/future contract with the Steelers in January of 2019. Rader spent most of the 2019 Steelers training camp third or fourth on the depth chart at tight end, behind veterans Vance McDonald and Xavier Grimble and battling with rookie fifth-round pick Zach Gentry. He was on released from the practice squad twice during the 2019 season, but was re-signed shortly afterwards both times. Rader signed a reserve/futures contract with the team on December 30, 2019.
In his five-year career at Youngstown State, he lettered four times and played in 42 games, with 41 catches for 601 yards and four touchdowns, including his famous one-handed, game-winning touchdown grab in the 2016 FCS semifinal. Rader played his high school ball at Pine-Richland, which located only 30 minutes north of Pittsburgh. He originally beginning his collegiate career at Youngstown State as a defensive lineman before switching to tight end as a redshirt sophomore.
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