Steelers Bring Back OLB Quincy Roche for 2023
The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed outside linebacker Quincy Roche to a reserve/future contract for the 2023 season, a source confirmed to Steelers Now. The https://twitter.com/PLeonardNYDN/status/1617968042448924674?s=20&t=FyHDLC_7bkos_c5rXSsp-g”>New
York Daily News first reported the transaction.
Roche, 24, was the Steelers’ sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, but never played a game for the team. He was waved on Aug. 31, 2021 at the outset of his first NFL training camp, and claimed on waivers by the New York Giants.
Lets get it Pittsburgh…lets finish what we stared #UnfinishedBusiness
— Q. (@_Underated2) January 24, 2023
Roche played in 14 games in 2021, and made three starts, but saw action in only three games — for six defensive snaps — in 2022. The Giants waived Roche to send him to their practice squad twice in 2022, but the Steelers did not step in and claim him, despite an injury to starting outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Roche spent one season at Miami in 2020 before joining the Steelers. Roche started 10 games for the Hurricanes and finished with 14.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks while earning third-team All-ACC honors. He also forced two fumbles and recovered three.
Before that, the Maryland native played three seasons for the Temple Owls, where he had 26 sacks and 39.5 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries.
Roche is the second outside linebacker the Steelers have signed to a contract for 2023, along with Emeke Egbule, who finished the 2022 season on Pittsburgh’s practice squad. Those are the only two players confirmed for 2023 for the position behind starters Watt and Alex Highsmith.
Last year’s backups, Jamir Jones and Malik Reed are both pending free agents. Jones is an exclusive rights free agent, while Reed is set to hit unrestricted free agency.
The Steelers’ offseason roster is now at 81 players, nine short of the maximum of 90.
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