The Pittsburgh Steelers have released three players from their injured reserve list with injury settlements, according to the NFL transactions page for Monday. The Steelers released cornerback Kalon Barnes, wide receiver Tarik Black and safety Nate Meadors from their injured reserve list.
All players will become free agents eligible to sign elsewhere as soon as they are healthy. If the Steelers want to re-sign the players, they must wait an additional three weeks beyond the time of the injury settlement period to re-sign them.
Barnes suffered a quad injury during Steelers training camp at St. Vincent College on Aug. 11. He was waived with an injury designation the next day, and cleared waivers on Aug. 13.
Barnes had been in his second stint with the Steelers. The 25-year-old Baylor alum spent on week on the team’s practice squad last season. He then spent time with the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns before the Steelers re-signed him to a future contract for the 2024 season in January.
Barnes started training camp as one of the two second-team outside cornerbacks, alongside veteran Anthony Averett, but before his injury had been losing playing to second-year cornerbacks Cory Trice Jr. and Darius Rush.
Black was also injured during that Aug. 11 training camp practice, suffering a hamstring injury. He was waived with an injury designation on Aug. 13 and cleared waivers the next day, reverting to the injured reserve list.
A 26-year-old, fourth-year pro, Black had only been with the Steelers for a few weeks. He was signed on July 31, after a pre-training camp tryout.
Meadors was injured in practice on Aug. 6, was placed on waivers on Aug. 8 and cleared the next day. Teams generally only have five days to reach an injury settlement with a player after they go through waivers. The reason for the 10-day gap between Meadors reverting to the IR and being released with a settlement is unclear.
Meadors, 27, was signed to the Steelers’ practice squad near the end of last season and re-signed to a future contract for 2024 in February. He impressed during OTAs and minicamp this spring, and seemed to be trending toward beating out rookie sixth-round pick Ryan Watts for a roster spot at that time.
The three moves do not impact the Steelers’ 90-man offseason roster. They must make at least one roster spot to clear space for the addition of linebacker Kyahva Tezino, which was reported on Monday, but has yet to be officially announced.
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