Steelers Waive Rodney Williams Despite Solid 2023 Season

The Pittsburgh Steelers have released tight end Rodney Williams, the team announced on Tuesday afternoon. Williams didn’t make much noise in the preseason and got lost in the shuffle behind tight ends Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, Connor Heyward and MyCole Pruitt.

Penciled in as the fifth tight end heading into training camp, Williams faced an uphill battle to make the 53-man roster. He knew special teams would have to be his ticket to the roster, and that didn’t come to fruition.

“Right now, I am trying to show that I am more than just a special teams guy,” Williams told Alan Saunders of Steelers Now. “I feel like I had a pretty decent year on special teams last year which I plan to continue this year and step up but I also want to showcase my offensive ability as well.”

The Steelers signed Williams to the team’s practice squad on Sept. 13, 2022, following his release by the Denver Broncos. After not appearing in a single regular season game in 2022, Williams dressed for 13 games in 2023. While he did log 55 offensive snaps and two targets, Williams has yet to catch a pass in a regular season game. Most of Williams’ playing time came on special teams in 2023 as he played 189 snaps on that unit and recorded six tackles.

Williams graduated from Germantown High School near Memphis and decided to continue his football career at UT Martin, an FCS school.

In his final season as a Skyhawk, Williams started all 13 games at tight end and tallied 29 receptions for 417 yards, and three touchdowns. He earned second-team All-OVC honors for the second consecutive season in 2021.

Over his six total seasons at UT Martin, Williams appeared in 53 games for the Skyhawks, including 20 at tight end. He finished his collegiate career with 99 receptions, 1,217 receiving yards, and seven receiving touchdowns.