Steelers Place 2nd-Round Tender on OL Matt Feiler

The Steelers have placed a second-round tender on restricted free agent offensive lineman Matt Feiler, securing his rights for the 2020 season, as was first reported on Tuesday by Mike Garafalo of NFL Network.

Feiler remains a restricted free agent. If another team wishes to sign him, they can sign him to an offer sheet, at which point the Steelers could match it or allow him to sign elsewhere and receive that team’s second-round 2021 draft pick in compensation.

The tender contract is a one-year offer for $3.259 million. Hilton can either sign the tender or he and the Steelers can negotiate a long-term contract.

The second-round tender is the middle option of the three the Steelers had available to them. A first-round tender would have come with a $4.641 million contract. An original round tender would have paid $2.133, but would have netted the Steelers only a seventh-round draft pick because Feiler joined the team as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

Hilton, 27, emerged as a full-time start in 2018, taking over for the injured Marcus Gilbert at right tackle after spending his first three seasons in Pittsburgh as a reserve.

He started all 16 games for the Steelers in 2019 and has started 25 of the team’s last 26 games.

A native of Strasburg, Pennsylvania in the center of the state, Feiler attended Bloomsburg and came to the Steelers mid-season in 2015 after originally joining the Houston Texans.

Feiler will join fellow returning starters David DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey and Alejandro Villanueva on the Steelers offensive line in 2020.