The Pittsburgh Steelers have invited Slippery Rock defensive back Eddie Faulkner IV to the team’s rookie minicamp on a tryout basis. Faulkner is the son of Steelers running backs coach Eddie Faulkner.

During his four-year tenure at Division II Slippery Rock, Eddie Faulkner IV recorded 160 total tackles, 15.0 tackles for loss, 7.0 sacks, five interceptions and 17 passes defended. He also forced seven career fumbles, recovered four fumbles, blocked one kick and scored one defensive touchdown. He was twice named All-PSAC West during his career at Slippery Rock.

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Faulkner started all 28 games over the last two years, playing a key part in deep playoff runs in 2023 and 2024. Slippery Rock lost to Ferris State in the national semifinals this past season.

“This is awesome for Eddie and for our program to have another guy getting a shot to experience an NFL minicamp,” Slippery head coach Shawn Lutz said, via SRU’s official team website. “Not only was Eddie an excellent player that did it all for us on the field over the last four years, he was also an Academic All-American that excelled in the classroom and represented the true meaning of a student-athlete.”

Faulkner, who was a three-sport letter-winner at Shady Side Academy (football, basketball, track), participated at Pitt’s pro day. He put up pretty solid numbers, too. Measuring in at 5-8, 189 pounds, Faulkner ran a 4.63 40-yard dash with a 37.5-inch vertical and 7.07 three-cone time. He was rated as the No. 95 cornerback in Dane Brugler’s draft guide.

Boston College wide receiver Dino Tomlin, the son of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, will also participate in an NFL rookie minciamp. It won’t be with the Steelers, though. It will be with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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Mike Tomlin has ties to the the Buccaneers organization, as he served as the Bucs defensive backs coach from 2001-2005. In 2002, Tomlin was a part of the Bucs’ Super Bowl XXXVII win.

Dino Tomlin only had three catches for 40 yards last year with Boston College, but he turned heads at his pro day, running a 4.45-second 40-yard dash, 2.56-second 20-yard shuttle and 1.54-second 10-yard shuttle and a 38-inch vertical jump. He measured in at 5-foot-11, 182 pounds.

The Steelers will invite a number of players to tryouts for their three-day rookie minicamp, which will be held the second weekend of May at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

Over the last few seasons, the Steelers have typically signed one or two players to contracts from rookie camp invitees. Among the team’s rookie camp tryout successes have been quarterback Devlin Hodges in 2019. Last year, vets Anthony Averett and Jonathan Ward made the team after trying out at rookie camp.

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This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Son of Steelers RBs Coach Invited to Rookie Minicamp

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