Steelers Lose Defensive Lineman for Season

The Steelers will be without defensive lineman Renell Wren for the entire 2023 season after placing him on injured reserve on Tuesday, the team announced.

In order to offset the loss of Wren, the team claimed former Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Manny Jones off waivers on Tuesday. With Wren on injured reserve, he will be out for the entire season. In addition, he will not count against the roster at any point in the NFL season, including now.

However, should he remain on the roster during the onset of Week 1, then Wren will count against the team’s salary cap number. The cap number should hit somewhere around $500,000 if that scenario incurs, but Pittsburgh could waive him off injured reserve prior to then as well.

Wren was on the Steelers practice squad for nearly the entire 2022 season. He received an elevation for the team’s Week 17 game against the Baltimore Ravens. The 27-year-old made his season debut but played sparsely in the game overall. Those were his only snaps in the 2022 season while with Pittsburgh.

The fourth-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019, Wren played 12 games and made two starts with the Bengals from 2019 to 2021, recording nine tackles, most of which came in his rookie season. This injury that lands Wren on injured reserve is not his first severe injury. In 2020, he suffered a severe quad injury that forced him to miss the entire season.

Wren was set to compete for one of the many defensive line openings after plenty of transition along that unit this offseason. There are a lot of bodies there, but not many sure things outside of the core group. The newly-added Jones along with some other veterans will have the opportunity to compete for roster spots, with the starting slot at nose tackle still open for competition.