Steelers release Kameron Kelly in wake of South Side incident
Hours after he was arraigned by Pittsburgh police following an incident at a South Side bar, Kameron Kelly was waived by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers promoted former Penn State safety Marcus Allen from their practice squad to take Kelly’s place on the 53-man roster.
Kelly was one of the surprises of training camp when he made the team as a first-year undrafted player who had played in the spring for the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football. Kelly started the opener at the New England Patriots, but since the acquisition of Minkah Fitzpatrick on Sept. 16 has been almost exclusively a special-teamer outside of 26 snaps played in Week 6 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Kelly played just three defensive snaps over the Steelers’ past eight games.
Steelers safety Kameron Kelly fought with police after he was thrown out of a South Side bar early Friday morning when he became irate at the jukebox selection, according to charges filed against him. https://t.co/FANCl5yC6d
— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) December 20, 2019
“Really just prayers for him and his family,” starting safety Terrell Edmunds said when asked if he had anything to say about Kelly. “I hope everything goes OK. Tough loss for the team, it’s like losing one of your brothers. Definitely don’t want to lose anybody on our team.”
Edmunds, like Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward, politely demured commenting much on the situation. Both deferred to coach Mike Tomlin and team president Art Rooney II.
“We’ve got a good organization to take care of it,” Heyward said.
Allen spent his rookie 2018 season on the Steelers’ active roster after he was a fifth-round pick. But he appeared in only two games, making two tackles. He did not make the active roster out of training camp this season and has spent the regular season on the practice squad.
Allen is expected to have a role on special teams Sunday when the Steelers play at the New York Jets.
Kelly faces two counts of making terroristic threats and one count of resisting arrest, court records show.
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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