The Pittsburgh Steelers have cut ties with tight end Matt Sokol, the team announced on Tuesday.
Sokol, 28, had spent just one week on the team’s practice squad, having re-signed with the club on Sept. 18. He joined as depth insurance after the team promoted Rodney Williams II from the practice squad to the active roster after an injury to MyCole Pruitt.
Sokol was released despite the fact that Pruitt is not expected to return from his knee injury for the Steelers’ Week 4 game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, head coach Mike Tomlin announced on Tuesday.
That leaves the Steelers with four healthy tight ends between their practice squad and active roster: starter Pat Freiermuth and backups Darnell Washington, Connor Hayward and Williams.
The 6-foot-5, 249-pound Sokol is a blocking specialist. The tight end first joined the Steelers early in training camp after Williams suffered an injury, but remained with the team even after he returned thanks to his prowess as a people mover. In three preseason games with the Steelers, Sokol appeared in 30 snaps, and was a blocker on 22 of them, going out into a passing route just eight times. He was targeted once, but did not make the catch.
The Steelers released Sokol during the final cuts in August and he did not catch on with another team before re-signing with the Steelers last week.
Originally joining the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State in 2019, Sokol has also spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots. He played in two games for the Chargers in 2020 and three for the Patriots in each of the last two seasons.
The Steelers made a series of roster moves on Tuesday, placing cornerback Cory Trice Jr. on the injured reserve list, promoting cornerback James Pierre to the active roster, and re-signing outside linebacker Marcus Haynes to the practice squad.
The club did not announce who will take Sokol’s place on the practice squad, which now sits at 16 of a maximum of 17 players.