It’s been a busy Monday for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After re-signing some depth pieces in Arthur Moats and Matt Spaeth, the Steelers decided to part ways with one of the most popular players in franchise history.
After 13 seasons in the black-and-gold, the Steelers announced that they have released defensive end Brett Keisel.
“We have informed Brett Keisel that we plan to release him today,” Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert said in a statement. “We have had conversations with Brett over the past couple of weeks during which we communicated our intentions to him. Brett has played a major role in our success during his 13 years in Pittsburgh. We appreciate his efforts and we are grateful for what he helped us accomplish, including two Super Bowl Championships. We will always consider him an all-time Pittsburgh Steeler.”
Keisel returned to the team last season at the last minute after it looked like he was heading to join the Arizona Cardinals .He played in 12 games with four starts before suffering a triceps injury which ended his season and likely his career as well.
“The Beard” was a seventh-round pick of the Steelers in the 2002 NFL Draft and ended up starting 114 games for the franchise.
He finished his Steelers career with 30.0 sacks, 36 pass breakups, seven forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and two interceptions. Keisel was just one of 12 Steelers in history to reach 30 career sacks.
The decision on Keisel was an easy one for the franchise as they are also expected to make a tough decision on another long time veteran currently under contract in safety Troy Polamalu.
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