Steelers trade ex-Dolphins captain Jesse Davis to Vikings

On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers made two rounds of roster changes before the 4 p.m. ET deadline to establish the team’s 53-man roster. The first set of moves involved 24 players, with the second batch including five more cuts and two trades, including the acquisition of outside linebacker Malik Reed from the Denver Broncos.

The second trade of the day was first reported by Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo from NFL Network and saw the Steelers acquire veteran offensive tackle/guard Jesse Davis from the Minnesota Vikings.

According to Gerry Dulac from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steelers are sending a conditional 2025 seventh-round pick to the Vikings in exchange for Davis, who turns 31 on Sept. 15. The Steelers are “basically get jesse davis for freeas Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot said.

Notably, Davis has never played for the Vikings, as he signed a $3 million contract with Minnesota in March 2022 after starting 72 games with the Miami Dolphins over the past five seasons. That said, the Steelers are responsible for $1.5 million this year, as noted by Dale Lolley by DK Pittsburgh Sports.

Davis — who is listed as 6-foot-6 and 318 pounds — entered the NFL in 2015, signing with the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent from Idaho. He failed to make the team and the following year signed a Reserve/Futures contract with the Jets, spending part of the 2016 season on the New York practice squad before moving on. join Miami’s practice squad.

He eventually established himself with the Dolphins, starting 72 games over five seasons in Miami, mostly playing right guard or right tackle, but also spending time at left tackle and left guard. Availability hasn’t been an issue for Davis either, as he’s played at least 92% of Miami’s offensive snaps in each of the past four seasons, according to Pro Football Reference.

How will the Steelers use Jesse Davis?

Given that Davis has NFL experience in every offensive line position except center, it’s hard to gauge how Mike Tomlin and Co. could use him.

Jeff Hathhorn, athletic director of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, said, “I think he could start at right tackle and Chuks Okorafor could replace Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle.”

Alternatively, he could be considered “a better fit at guard than at tackle”.

For what it’s worth, Davis was competing for the starting right guard position with the Vikings, a position he apparently lost to rookie Ed Ingram, a second-round pick from LSU.

Last year, Pro Football Focus gave Davis an overall rating of 52.5 from 1,063 offensive shots. In 2020 it received a rating of 62.6, and in previous years it received a rating of 58.9 and 59.2.

Perhaps that explains why there hasn’t been much excitement about the move.

Davis wore No. 77 with the Dolphins but will wear No. 73 for the Steelers.

The Steelers released 7 offensive linemen on Tuesday

It’s clear the Steelers aren’t happy with their offensive line development, as they released seven linemen on Tuesday, including former Ravens offensive tackle Adrian Ealy.