Ex-Steelers Draft Pick Flees NFL Following Brief Stint To Join CFL

Derwin Gray, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers, isn’t making an NFL comeback next season but isn’t calling it quits, either.

Gray signed with the CFL’s British Columbia Lions, the team announced last week.

The 29-year-old, who was selected by the Steelers in the seventh round of the 2019 draft, spent four seasons at Maryland before converting from tackle to guard. The 6-foot-4, 320-pound lineman lasted a brief two seasons in Pittsburgh, first by spending his entire rookie year on the team’s practice squad before logging five appearances in 2020. It wasn’t enough to sway the Steelers to keep him around any longer as Gray was released during that 2020 campaign.

Soon after, Gray signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars and then joined the Tennessee Titans — failing to make the team both times. Gray has remained active amid his nearly five-year-long departure from the NFL, playing two seasons with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL while awaiting his next opportunity.

Gray, now five years removed from being a member of the Steelers, while appreciative, does fault one of his former Pittsburgh coaches for his underwhelming stint with the team.

“I really appreciated me being with an older line such as Maurkice Pouncey,” Gray told Strive Sports Productions in September. “Shoutout to Ramon Foster. I still look at Ramon Foster as one of my mentors. David DeCastro, Alejandro Villanueva, Matt Feiler. We had B.J. Finney, he was a backup. We had J.C. Hassenaur. We had guys that were there before me that did a really good job of training me to understand the maturity. No disrespect to Shaun Sarrett in Pittsburgh but I feel like I didn’t learn as much from him. He was an O-line coach but I feel like I really didn’t get the coaching I deserved and needed to learn. I really learned it from my counterparts. My guys like Pouncey and Ramon Foster. Those guys really helped me come along.”

Pittsburgh’s coaching staff, including head coach Mike Tomlin, has been pelted with criticism the past few seasons for the franchise’s ongoing postseason failures. The Steelers suffered a five-game losing streak to end their season, which included an AFC wild-card loss to the Baltimore Ravens and extended Pittsburgh’s drought without a playoff victory to eight straight seasons.

Defensive lineman Demarcus Christmas, running back Daijun Edwards and wide receiver Tevin Jones are among other ex-Steelers who took their talents to CFL teams this offseason.

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