Steelers Release Hyper-Athletic Wide Receiver

The Pittsburgh Steelers continued to trim their roster down from the offseason maximum of 90 toward the regular season limit of 53 on Sunday by waiving rookie wide receiver Aron Cruickshank.

Cruickshank’s release comes on Sunday after the Steelers made eight cuts on Saturday, bringing their roster down to 81 players.

Cruickshank signed with the Steelers just six days ago on Aug. 21, filling in after injuries to Cody White and Hakeem Butler. He excelled in college as a kick return and has blazing speed, but had difficulty getting that carry over to the offensive side of the ball.

He originally signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers this spring, but was waived on Aug. 11.

In the Steelers’ preseason finale, Cruickshank played four snaps of offense and was targeted three times, but did not catch any. Two were mis-connected deep balls and the third pass took him out of bounds in the end zone.

In college, Cruickshank started at Wisconsin, where he had over 1,000 yards in kick returns from 2018-19. He transferred to Rutgers in 2020, when he continued to star as a returner and added some receiving to his repertoire. His best season came as a redshirt senior in 2022, when he caught 42 passes for 385 yards and two touchdowns and added 11 rushes for 115 yards and another score.

The 5-foot-9, 165-pound receiver posted great agility numbers in pre-draft testing, with a 4.12-second shuttle and a 6.67-second three-cone drill, according to RAS.

Cruickshank is the second wide receiver to be released by the Steelers, following the cut of Dan Chisena on Saturday. The club still has eight wide receivers on the active roster: Calvin Austin III, Jordan Byrd, Miles Boykin, Dez Fitzpatrick, Diontae Johnson, Gunner Olszewski, George Pickens and Allen Robinson II.