The Pittsburgh Steelers might have safety Deshon Elliott back for the Week 7 showdown with the New Orleans Saints. As a result, Rayshawn Jenkins appears to have become expendable.
The Steelers announced Wednesday afternoon they released Jenkins from their active roster. The team didn’t include a corresponding move.
Jenkins appeared in each of the Pittsburgh’s first six games this season. He started Week 3 versus the Cincinnati Bengals, playing 48 defensive snaps in the contest. He posted nine combined tackles in that game.
The following week, Jenkins returned to his reserve role off the bench against the Cleveland Browns. The past two weeks, Jenkins didn’t play at all on defense.
Overall, he posted 16 combined tackles, including 10 solos in six games for the Steelers.
With Jenkins off the roster, the team appears to be signaling that Elliott will be ready to return for Week 7. Jaquan Brisker and Robert Spears-Jennings are the only other safeties on the team’s current active roster.
Steelers Release Veteran Safety Rayshawn Jenkins
Pittsburgh signed Jenkins in early August after training camp had already began. At the time, it became clear that Elliott wasn’t going to be ready for the start of the regular season.
The addition of Jenkins gave Pittsburgh versatility and additional experience in the secondary. Jenkins had the ability to start but also the experience to only play special teams if need be.
During his six weeks with the team’s active roster, he did a little of all that. Over the last two weeks, though, the Steelers turned to Spears-Jennings, a seventh-round rookie, for all the safety snaps next to Brisker.
Jenkins began his career as a Los Angeles Chargers fourth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He spent four seasons with the Chargers, appearing in 61 games, making 32 starts.
The safety, though, has started more games for the Jacksonville Jaguars than any other NFL team. From 2021-23, he started all 48 of his games for Jacksonville and posted 290 combined tackles, including 11 for loss, 24 pass defenses and two sacks. Jenkins also had five interceptions in three seasons with the Jaguars, which matched his five picks with the Chargers.
Jenkins spent the 2024 campaign with the Seattle Seahawks and then played for the Cleveland Browns last year. The veteran safety was a free agent into August when the Steelers signed him early in training camp.
Jenkins started nine of 13 games for the Seahawks two years ago. He was in the starting lineup for three contests while playing all 17 games in Cleveland during 2025.
DeShon Elliott Returning for Pittsburgh Defense?
The Jenkins release comes as Elliott is about to conclude his second week back at practice. The team opened his 21-day window to return from injured reserve on October 8.
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy provided an update on Elliott’s progress Wednesday. McCarthy said, “I hope so” when asked about him potentially moving forward to playing this Sunday.
“We have a practice plan for him,” said McCarthy. “He’s going really well. He’s chomping at the bit.
“So, we’ll see how it goes this week.”
If Elliott can’t play, the Steelers will likely have to make some other kind of safety addition. While Brisker and Spears-Jennings has fared well together the past couple weeks, NFL teams don’t play regular season games with only two active safeties.
With Jenkins’s release, it will be a surprise at this point if the Steelers don’t activate Elliott for Week 7. But as McCarthy put it, the team will “see how it goes.”
The Steelers will face the Saints in Paris on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 9:30 am ET, which is 2:30 pm local time in France.
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