{"id":297913,"date":"2026-10-01T21:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/297913\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T21:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:52:11","slug":"steelers-sign-unheralded-cornerback-to-53-man-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/297913\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Sign Unheralded Cornerback to 53-Man Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"categories\"><a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/category\/steelers-gameday\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\">Steelers Gameday<\/a>\u2022<a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/category\/steelers-news\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\">Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"788\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/8-3-2026-Steelers-Camp-Day-5-6456-scaled-e1786134503848.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium tpd-force-16x9-aspect-ratio wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pittsburgh Steelers CB Doneiko Slaughter\" decoding=\"sync\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   loading=\"eager\" data-cf-ratio=\"788x444\"\/>Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Doneiko Slaughter at training camp on Aug. 3, 2026. &#8212; Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/doneiko-slaughter\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Doneiko Slaughter<\/a> from their practice squad to the 53-man roster ahead of Thursday night\u2019s game against the Cleveland Browns. Slaughter was elevated for the first three games, which is the maximum, so the Steelers had to sign him to the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slaughter has appeared in 15 snaps over the Steelers\u2019 first three games, all on the club\u2019s punt return units. He recorded two tackles in Sunday\u2019s win over the Cincinnati Bengals. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Steelers signed Slaughter to a reserve\/future contract in January. He was waived in the final round of roster cuts in August and was re-signed to the practice squad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In three preseason games, he had 10 tackles and one pass defended, while playing an elevated role thanks to injuries to Porter, <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/jalen-ramsey\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jalen Ramsey<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/brandin-echols\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brandin Echols<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/donte-kent\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Donte Kent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slaughter played both inside and outside cornerback for the Steelers this preseason, and also worked on multiple phases of special teams: kickoff coverage, punt coverage, punt return and field goal block.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/asante-samuel-jr.\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Asante Samuel Jr.<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/daylen-everette\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Daylen Everette,<\/a> Ramsey and Echols would all likely play at cornerback ahead of Slaughter. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 24-year-old spent his first NFL offseason with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but was released last September and spent all of last season out of football.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"571\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/8-25-2026-Steelers-Practice-5016-1.jpg\" alt=\"Pittsburgh Steelers Devan Boykin Doneiko Slaughter\" class=\"wp-image-197956\"  \/>Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Doneiko Slaughter and Devan Boykin at practice on August. 25, 2026. \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 6-foot, 190-pound native of Atlanta, Georgia, Slaughter played collegiately at Tennessee (2020-23) and Arkansas (2024).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slaughter grew his role over his four years at Tennessee. He started one game and totaled eight tackles as a freshman, recorded 16 tackles in 11 games in 2021, and finally earned a starting role in 2022, making two starts as a safety and five starts as a cornerback during the course of 12 games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his final two seasons at Tennessee, Slaughter racked up 63 tackles, one sack, one interception and seven passes defensed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2024, Slaughter used the extra year of eligibility granted to college athletes due to the\u00a0COVID-19 pandemic by enrolling at the\u00a0University of Arkansas. He played as a starting defensive back in 13 games, registering 78 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble, one interception and six passes defensed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aaron Becker contributed.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article:<a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/cleveland-browns\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\">Cleveland Browns<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/doneiko-slaughter\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\">Doneiko Slaughter<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/pittsburgh-steelers\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/steelers\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\">Steelers<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersnow.com\/tag\/steelers-news\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\">Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers Gameday\u2022Steelers News Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Doneiko Slaughter at training camp on Aug. 3, 2026. &#8212; Ed Thompson&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4914,115864,73,75,74,1833,1829,22891],"class_list":["post-297913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-doneiko-slaughter","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}