Steelers Trade for Seattle Seahawks TE Nick Vannett

The Steelers have acquired Seattle Seahawks tight end Nick Vannett, the team announced on Wednesday.

Vannett is a 6-foot-6, 261-pound tight end from the Columbus suburb of Westerville, Ohio. He played at Ohio State before being selected by the Seahawks in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

The acquisition of Vannett is the second move the Steelers made on Tuesday to shore up their tight end position that was already thin and made even further so by a potentially serious injury to starter Vance McDonald at San Francisco in Week 3.

The Steelers have traded a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft to Seattle in exchange for Vannett. The Steelers originally acquired that draft pick from the Jacksonville Jaguars for backup quarterback Josh Dobbs three weeks ago.


Besides McDonald, the Steelers have Xavier Grimble and rookie Zach Gentry on their roster and added Alize Mack on Tuesday to go along with Kevin Rader and Christian Scotland-Williamson on their practice squad.

Vannett is in his fourth NFL season and has played in 42 career games with 16 starts. He has 48 catches on 67 targets for 463 yards and four touchdowns. This season, he has four catches for 38 yards, one of which came against the Steelers in Week 2.

Vannett is in the final season of his rookie contract and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2019 season. He’s scheduled to make $736,000 in salary this season and will leave Seattle with a dead cap singing bonus hit of $164,220.