The Pittsburgh Steelers will work out free agent wide receiver T.J. Luther on Monday, a league source told Steelers Now, the second wide receiver reportedly working out for the team during its off day of training camp.
Luther, 24, is a second-year professional. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Arcadia, Florida native spent the 2023 season split between the New York Jets and New England Patriots.
Luther signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Gardner-Webb last spring. He played in four preseason games with New York last summer, but did not record any statistics in 33 offensive snaps.
He was released after training camp, and had two stints with the New England Patriots practice squad, from Sept. 1 to Oct. 18 and then from Nov. 7 to the end of the season. He was not elevated to play in any games for New England. Luther re-signed with the Patriots for the 2024 season, but was released on June 6.
Luther spent two seasons at Gardner-Webb, playing in seven games in 2021 and 12 in his breakout season in 2022. As a redshirt senior, Webb caught 55 passes for 1,035 yards and seven touchdowns and was a first-team All-Big South wide receiver. Before that breakout, he was also an all-conference kickoff returner, with seven returns for 179 yards in addition to his 23 receptions for 384 yards and four touchdowns.
Prior to transferring to GWU, Luther spent three seasons at Wofford. His best season was in 2019, when he started seven games and caught 19 passes for 447 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Terriers to an FCS playoffs berth.
Luther showed solid explosiveness in pre-draft testing, putting up a 39-inch vertical and a 10-foot-7 broad jump. He ran a 4.5-second 40-yard dash and had an overall 5.86 Relative Athletic Score out of 10.
The Steelers don’t have an obvious need at wide receiver, with 11 players on the active roster and 10 of them healthy, but they could use a kickoff returner. Cordarrelle Patterson has yet to practice with the team this season. (Full injury updates) Running back Jaylen Warren and quarterback John Rhys Plumlee were the first-team return men in the first kickoff drill period last week.
In addition to Luther, the Steelers are also trying out former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Daylen Baldwin on Monday.