Steelers sign OLB James Vaughters, waive/injured Tuzar Skipper
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed veteran James Vaughters on Monday, adding depth to their outside linebacker corps.
Vaughters, 29, has appeared in 27 NFL regular-season games since entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2015. He played 10 games for the Atlanta Falcons last season, making eight tackles with a forced fumble and a sack among 211 defensive snaps and 89 special-teams snaps played.
The other NFL experience for the 6-foot-1, 256-pound Vaughters came in 17 games for the Chicago Bears over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Vaughters had 11 sacks in two seasons playing for the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders in 2017-18.
The Steelers have jobs to win at backup outside linebacker after starters T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.
James Vaughters will do it all himself ????
He gets the strip, the sack, and the recovery for the @ChicagoBears!
????: #CHIvsNYG on NFL Network (or check local listings) pic.twitter.com/hHiult1v8Y
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 17, 2019
Vaughters takes the roster spot of outside linebacker Tuzar Skipper, who was waived/injured.
Skipper recovered a fumble after a Mark Robinson sack with 1 minute, 10 seconds left in Saturday’s preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks. The Steelers scored five plays later to break a tie and win 32-25.
Skipper had five sacks in four preseason games for the Steelers as an undrafted rookie in 2019. He had since been let go six times by NFL teams (including by the Steelers twice), appearing in 10 regular-season games in that time — all in 2019-2020 for the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans.
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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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