Steelers to waive former second-round pick

Adding Mims to their practice squad in early October, the Steelers rostered the 2020 draftee for the season’s remainder and gave him a reserve/futures deal in January. 

Eight-plus months after Mims’ Pennsylvania arrival, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo notes the Steelers are moving on. The team will waive the fifth-year veteran on Tuesday.

The Steelers had given Mims another developmental opportunity of sorts, not elevating him from their practice squad for any games last season. 

Mims then received a mid-January invitation to stick around for the 2024 offseason. While the Steelers have some major questions at wide receiver beyond George Pickens, they appear to have determined Mims will not be part of the post-Diontae Johnson solution.

In addition to the Johnson trade, the Steelers released the underperforming Allen Robinson earlier this offseason. The team did not add a surefire starter in free agency, with Quez Watkins and Van Jefferson coming closest to matching that description, but did use a third-round pick on Michigan’s Roman Wilson. 

The Steelers’ extensive track record for developing Day 2 wide receiver draftees speaks for itself, but if Wilson is not ready to go early, the team has some questions alongside Pickens.

Mims, 26, was unlikely to be a major factor in Pittsburgh’s effort to assemble a new batch of Pickens complements. He could not land a regular role with the Jets and continued to wind up in trade rumors. 

Mims did amass 357 receiving yards as a rookie, but his 2021 and 2022 seasons did not combine to match that total. 

After the Jets dealt the Georgia Tech product to the Lions in a pick-swap deal involving 2025 sixth- and seventh-rounders, the sixth the Jets received did not end up conveying due to Mims failing to make Detroit’s active roster. 

The Lions reached an injury settlement with Mims after placing him on IR in August, paving his way to Pittsburgh.