Steelers shuffle their running back deck
The Steelers were busy making roster moves again on Wednesday, heading into day two of their mandatory minicamp. Among those moves was a transaction to bring back running back Brandon Brown-Dukes. To make room for him on the roster the team released West Virginia running back Rushel Shell.
Shell signed with the Steelers as undrafted college free agent following the NFL Draft. The WVU back had run for over 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns with the Mountaineers. He was also a local product who set WPIAL and PIAA rushing records at Hopewell high school.
Shell survived the team’s rookie minicamp held a few weeks ago and participated in OTA’s before being released. His replacement is a familiar name who could also be considered a “local” product.
Brandon Brown-Dukes, nicknamed “Mercyhurst” as the all-time leading rusher at Mercyhurst University (a short two-hour drive up I-79 to Erie, Pennsylvania) spent time off and on with the team during the 2016 season. The running back signed with the Steelers on May 9th of last year. Like Shell, he was also an undrafted college free agent.
Also like Shell, Brown-Dukes has been released before: actually, many times before.
The running back was cut ahead of the regular season on September 3rd before being signed to the Steelers practice squad the following day. He was then released and re-signed to and from the practice squad three more times during the 2016 season. On January 24th “Mercyhurst” would sign a futures contract with Pittsburgh, but would again be released as the team made room for their 2017 draft picks, and incoming undrafted free agents, including Shell.
Brown-Dukes returns a little over a month later to compete in a unit which features Le’Veon Bell, James Conner, Knile Davis, Fitzgerald Toussaint, along with other roster hopefuls Terrell Watson and Trey Williams.
