Before Cincinnati Bengals solve defense Larry Ogunjobi signed a one-year contract with Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday.
The Steelers did not disclose the financial terms of the contract.
Ogunjobi will now play for Cleveland BrownsBengals and Steelers, leave Baltimore Raven is the only AFC North team that doesn’t have him on their roster.
Ogunjobi also visited New York Jets since his three-year, $40.5 million deal with Chicago Bears disbanded after he failed physically on March 18. The Bears did not say why he was physically unavailable, but Ogunjobi underwent a season-long surgery to repair a wound in his right foot.
Steelers have a clear need for defensive depth after Stephon Tuitt retires before this season. Ogunjobi will be the most important in blocking the run, a major focus of the 2022 Steelers after running defense finished last in the league a season ago. Ogunjobi conceded 12 tackles last season in Cincinnati and has 41 in his career.
Ogunjobi has a bit of history with the Steelers. He was involved in the 2019 on-field rotation between the Browns . defence Myles Garrett and the Steelers midfielder Mason Rudolph and got one game suspended.
Last season, Ogunjobi was part of an overhaul that has helped the Bengals go from the lowest total number of layoffs in the NFL in 2020 to 11th in 2021, enrolling seven career-highest, ranked third among them. any of the inner defensive midfielders, according to ESPN Stats & Information Research.
His total number of layoffs last season was nearly half of the total he combined over four seasons with the Browns (14.5).
Ogunjobi, 28, missed most of Cincinnati’s run to Super Bowl LVI after he injured his leg late in the season in a previous Wild-card win Las Vegas Raiders.
Overall, the pick in the third round of 2017 had 21.5 shots with 229 tackles and 2 clumsy catches.
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor and Ben Baby contributed to this report.
