Steelers A to Z: Undrafted rookie DJ Thomas-Jones the lone true fullback in camp

Editor’s note: From now until reporting day to training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2025 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 12 and July 23. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

FB DJ THOMAS-JONES

Experience/age: Rookie, 23

Contract status: $850,000 cap hit if he makes the team in 2025, signed through 2027

The past: Thomas-Jones began his college career at Ole Miss as a highly-rated incoming tight end recruit. He played in six games during the 2020 season before transferring to South Alabama. Thomas-Jones was a part-time starter in 2022 and 2023 before starting every game last season. According to Pro Football Focus data, the majority of his snaps throughout his career have come as an in-line tight end, though he also has run routes out of the slot and even out wide in addition to — on occasion — lining up in the backfield. It is at fullback for which he was scouted by NFL teams.

The 6-foot-2, 256-pound Thomas-Jones totaled 69 catches for 610 yards and 11 touchdowns in 36 games over three seasons for South Alabama.

While DJ Thomas-Jones lacked the accolades in the Sun Belt Conference and wasn’t among the 257 players selected in the draft, he did enough on the field in college for the #Steelers to sign him as an undrafted free agent. https://t.co/qsMChZT7KG

— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) May 17, 2025

2025 outlook: Judging by the $30,000 signing bonus the Steelers gave Thomas-Jones after he’d gone undrafted in April, the organization targeted him and his skillset. It was one of the largest bonuses the Steelers have ever given an undrafted free agent. Thomas-Jones said during rookie minicamp that in college “nobody played with as much passion and violence as I did,” and the Steelers surely would welcome — and are expecting — the same. Thomas Jones’ path to making the team is to show his blocking is “varsity” level for the NFL. He will surely also have to exhibit a willingness to excel on special teams.

The Steelers have no other true fullback among their 90-man camp roster (although the team’s public website does list Connor Heyward as “TE/FB”). The team routinely brings in a true fullback to camp but — since Derek Watt’s contract expired after the 2022 season — have not carried one on the regular-season active roster (last year, Jack Colletto spent some time on the practice squad). With Heyward’s status as the No. 4 tight end, he is not a lock for a roster spot and is not necessarily 100% needed at tight end. It is possible that Thomas-Jones can show enough in camp that Heyward’s job could be in jeopardy. The two could conceivably coexist on the roster, too, especially in the context of coordinator Arthur Smith’s tight end-friendly scheme. In Smith’s first season in charge of the offense last year, Heyward lined up at fullback 82 times. While that averages less than five snaps per game, that is a dramatic increase over the pre-Smith days. Watt, for example, lined up in the backfield 99 times over three seasons.

If Thomas-Jones shows he can handle the gig, he can make this team.