Tuzar Skipper Ready to Make Impact in Third Stint with Steelers
PITTSBURGH — Tuzar Skipper hopes the third time is the charm with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The outside linebacker was officially signed by the Steelers on Thursday, the third time he’s inked a contract with the Black and Gold in his young career.
The Steelers first signed Skipper as an undrafted free agent out of Toledo in 2019 and he made the team’s initial 53-man roster after a torrid first preseason. But the Steelers tried to get him through to the practice squad in a roster shuffle and Skipper was claimed on waivers by the New York Giants.
He re-signed with the Steelers late that season after being cut by New York, but was one of the team’s final cuts coming out of the 2020 training camp. He spent that season and 2021 with the Tennessee Titans before being released in May.
Wednesday morning, after nearly a month out of the league, his former team came calling once again.
“It came so sudden, [Wednesday] morning,” Skipper said after his first OTA practice session with the team this year on Thursday. “I was on a plane [to Pittsburgh] by 7:30.”
Skipper will start a few days behind the other outside linebackers vying for a backup spot behind starters T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, but his familiar with the Pittsburgh scheme and level of comfort with the coaching staff and the locker room should allow him to get up to speed quickly.
He said he felt like he was supported by the players in Pittsburgh his earlier trips and that makes it easier for a player that is on the cusp of making the team.
“It all starts with the locker room,” Skipper said. “They were all welcoming and they were praying individual success and things like that. Especially when you make plays in a preseason, I love when the guys come out, you know, to cheer you on and things like that, especially when you are one of those guys that’s on the borderline.”
Skipper was also a fan favorite from his first trip through the Steel City, when he recorded five sacks in four preseason games as an unheralded rookie. Skipper had just 9.5 sacks over three seasons with the Rockets. He has one-half of a sack in 10 NFL games between the Giants and the Titans. But something sure clicked when he first got to Pittsburgh in 2019.
“Those sacks were crazy, man,” he said. “It felt good to do that. Just trying to do it again and let it go into a game.”
Skipper didn’t get any regular season game experience with the Steelers, but he has since leaving Pittsburgh, and he thinks now he’s in a better position to capitalize on his opportunity to make an impact.
“I definitely learned a lot more [coverage] drops and things like that,” he said. “I got to work on my weaknesses a lot when I was gone. I got to sharpen those up and now I’m ready to ball.”
Skipper’s three-times-through the roster status as an undrafted rookie has drawn some comparisons to the path James Harrison took with the Steelers, and while becoming that type of a player is a long way down Skipper’s road, he does know that with the Steelers, success at outside linebacker means not just staying in the league, but stardom.
“This organization and his team, they really lean on us,” Skipper said. “This is the Steel Curtain, baby.”
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