The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed TE Jaheim Bell, the team announced Monday. Bell returns for a second stint with the team after serving on the Steelers’ practice squad for part of the 2025 season. It is a one-year contract.
UPDATE (6:00 PM): The deal is worth just over $1 million without any guarantees.
Jaheim Bell, one-year, $1.005M contract. No guarantees. #Steelers #NFL
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) May 4, 2026
A 2024 seventh-round pick of the New England Patriots out of Florida State, Bell profiles as an H-back type who can play in the backfield or on the line of scrimmage as a tight end. At the NFL Combine, he checked in at 6-2, 241 pounds with 33-inch arms. Bell ran a 4.61 40-yard dash with a 35-inch vertical and 10’4″ broad jump.
As a rookie, Bell appeared in 15 games. He caught two passes for 20 yards across 83 offensive snaps. The majority of his reps, 176 of them, came on special teams where he recorded one tackle. The Patriots released him ahead of 2025’s final roster cutdowns.
Pittsburgh initially signed Bell on Dec. 31 as depth after TE Darnell Washington suffered a season-ending broken arm. The Philadelphia Eagles signed him to a Reserve/Futures contract in January but released him in late April. His free agency stay was short, Bell latching onto Pittsburgh’s roster less than two weeks before the team’s OTAs begin.
In college at South Carolina and Florida State, Bell caught 95 passes for 1,260 yards and nine career touchdowns. He also carried the ball 84 times for 303 yards and four touchdowns. The majority of his rushing production came in 2022 with the Gamecocks.
Bell will look to stick on the 53-man roster or, more likely, on the team’s practice squad. He brings depth and a bit of experience to a young room behind Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington. Pittsburgh has 2025 UDFA JJ Galbreath and 2026 UDFAs Chamon Metayer and Lake McRee. There’s also fifth-round pick Riley Nowakowski, a college tight end the team is classifying as a fullback.
Check out our 2024 scouting report on Bell below.