Getty Images Former Steelers offensive lineman Rashaad Coward (left) with former Steelers wide receiver James Washington.
On Monday, August 1, the Arizona Cardinals worked out a half-dozen players, including former Pittsburgh Steelers guard Rashaad Coward. If Coward ends up signing with Arizona, he would become part of an offense that features former Steelers running back James Conner and former Steelers offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum.
Cardinals worked out Jaylan Alexander, Rashaad Coward, Justin Hilliard, Cheyenne O’Grady, Marcus Tatum and Javin White
Rashaad Coward originally joined the Steelers in March 2021; strangely, it was an online gamer/Reddit user/Packers fan who broke the news of the signing. Coward worked with Pittsburgh’s first-team offensive line through all of last year’s offseason program and into training camp. But he was part of the team’s final round of roster cuts in late August, before getting re-signed in early September.
He proceeded to appear in four games before the Steelers released him in mid-October, with almost all of his action having come on special teams. He was not re-signed for 2022, and in January of this season he inked a one-year Reserve/Futures contract with the Atlanta Falcons, only to get released in June.
To date, the 27-year-old Old Dominion product has appeared in 34 career games, including 15 starts for the Chicago Bears in 2019-20.
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Ex-Steelers WR James Washington Needs Surgery
Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys already have a diagnosis for the injury that former Steelers wide receiver James Washington suffered at training camp on Monday, August 1.
According to Todd Archer, who covers the Cowboys for ESPN NFL Nation, Washington suffered a fifth-metatarsal fracture when cornerback Trevon Diggs landed on his right foot at the end of a long pass play.
“He is scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday in Dallas,” reports Archer, and he will be unavailable for 6-10 weeks.
The Cowboys will be without WR James Washington for 6-10 weeks because of a fractured right foot suffered Monday, according to multiple sources. He is scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday in Dallas.
In mid-March the Cowboys signed Washington to a one-year contract that counts $1,047,500 against the team’s salary cap.
The Abilene, Texas native spent the first four years of his career in Pittsburgh after the Steelers made him a second-round pick in 2018 out of Oklahoma State.
Thus far he has recorded 114 career catches for 1,629 yards and 11 touchdowns, an average of 14.3 yards per reception. Yet he has never recorded a catch percentage of higher than 55%, as per Pro Football Reference.
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Steelers Work Out 3 Wide Receivers
On Monday we learned that the Steelers tried out a trio of wide receivers before signing former Detroit Lions wideout Javon McKinley.
As per the NFL’s daily transaction report, the other two were Juwan Green (who has spent time on the practice squads of the Falcons and Lions) and D.J. Montgomery, a former undrafted free agent out of Austin Peay who appeared in three games and caught three passes for the New York Jets last season.
The Steelers also worked out quarterback Vad Lee, who finished his college career at James Madison in 2014-15 after spending two years as the starting quarterback at Georgia Tech. Lee, 29, has played in the CFL (with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, in 2016) and most recently was with the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL, having been signed at mid-season after the Maulers started 0-4 and elected to release quarterback Josh Love.
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