Ronald Martinez/Getty Images Darrius Shepherd of the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium on October 6, 2019 in Arlington, Texas.
On Thursday the Pittsburgh Steelers continued their quest to upgrade their depth at wide receiver/kick returner by signing former Green Bay Packers wideout Darrius Shepherd to the practice squad.
Shepherd, 26, entered the league in 2019, signing with the Packers as an undrafted free agent out of North Dakota State. He appeared in 14 games for Green Bay in 2019-20 and caught a total of six passes for 47 yards. During that time, he also returned 20 kickoffs for 347 yards and returned three punts for -3 yards.
Since being waived by the Packers in December 2020 he has spent time with his hometown team, the Kansas City Chiefs, and has also had stints on the practice squads of the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings.
In college Shepherd was his team’s leading wide receiver and punt returner in each of his final three seasons and was named first-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference at both positions during his senior year.
All told Shepherd played in 57 career games for the NDSU Bison and had 188 catches for 2,841 yards and 20 receiving touchdowns. He also returned 44 punts for 578 yards and one touchdown with a long of 84 yards. In addition he had 31 rushing attempts for 219 yards and yet another TD.
Shepherd—who is listed at 5-foot-11 and 186 pounds—is the second receiver that the Steelers have signed to the practice squad in the past three days. On Tuesday December 28 the team inked former Bengals wide receiver Damion Willis, a former undrafted free agent out of Troy who has 10 games worth of regular-season experience.
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Steelers Activate Marcus Allen
In other roster move activity from Thursday, the Steelers activated linebacker Marcus Allen off the team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list. Allen had been on the list since December 22. He has appeared in 14 games this season and has been credited with four total tackles (three solo), having been a part of 65% of Pittsburgh’s special teams snaps.
Meanwhile, the Steelers lost cornerback Arthur Maulet to the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Maulet has played in all 15 of Pittsburgh’s games this year, with two starts. He has 42 total tackles (33 solo) with one forced fumble. He joins offensive tackle Zach Banner, defensive end Isaiah Buggs, inside linebacker Devin Bush and running back Anthony McFarland Jr. as the players from the active roster who are currently sidelined by COVID-19.
Steelers Donate to the Neighborhood Resilience Project
On Thursday the Steelers also announced that the Neighborhood Resilience Project has received a total of $14,000 in donations from four players and a matching contribution from the team.
The players who donated were: cornerback Joe Haden, rookie defensive end Isaiahh Loudermilk, cornerback Cameron Sutton and the aforementioned Marcus Allen.
According to Steelers.com, “the vision of the Neighborhood Resilience Project is to inspire a movement in which suffering people are raised up from the ashes of trauma in unconditional love to become empowered healers, community builders, and positive change makers.”
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