Report: Steelers Work out FA OLBs Harris, Odenigbo, Ray

The Pittsburgh Steelers are working out free agent pass rushers Trent Harris, Ifeadi Odenigbo and Wyatt Ray, according to a report by Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

Harris, 26, spent the last two seasons with the New York Giants. The 6-foot-2, 255-pound outside linebacker was an undrafted free agent out of Miami with the New England Patriots, when he was first coached by now-Steelers senior defensive assistant Brian Flores.

Harris was on the Patriots’ practice squad when they won Super Bowl LIII at the end of the 2018 season, and after he was cut the following year, Flores, who by then had moved on as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, signed him to a one-year contract.

He played in 11 games and made three starts for the Dolphins that season, recording 1.5 sacks as part of 22 total tackles. Harris was re-signed for 2020, but waived on Sept. 5 and caught on with the Giants. He played in eight games over two seasons with New York before being waived on May 18, 2022.

Odenigbo, 28, has spent time with four teams in his five pro seasons. He had his second stint with the Cleveland Browns in 2021, playing in nine games and making 13 tackles.

A 2017 seventh-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings out of Northwestern, the 6-foot-3, 258-Odenigbo bounced from Minnesota to Cleveland, the Arizona Cardinals and then back to the Minnesota in 2019, where he got his first extensive NFL playing time. That season with the Vikings, he played in 16 games and record 23 tackles and seven sacks as a rotational defensive end.

The following season, he moved into Minnesota’s starting lineup, but was unable to improve his production, recording only 3.5 sacks and 35 tackles. The New York Giants signed him to a free agent contract last offseason, but was cut coming out of training camp and landed with the Browns. Cleveland chose not to re-sign him for 2022.

Ray, 25, was most recently with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021. Originally signed as an undrafted free agent out of Boston College by Cleveland in 2019, he has also been with the Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Ray made his NFL debut in 2020, playing four games for the Titans. Last season, he appeared 15 times with the Bengals and made 15 tackles and one sack. He was not re-signed after the 2021 season.

The Steelers are still looking for pass-rush depth behind starters T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. They signed veteran free agent Genard Avery from the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this offseason and brought back Derrek Tuszka and Delontae Scott from 2021, but the team did not land an edge rusher in the 2022 NFL Draft. Auburn’s T.D. Moultry and Texas A&M alum Tyree Johnson are with the team as undrafted free agents.