Mike McCarthy and the Pittsburgh Steelers added a new safety to their roster Wednesday.
The organization announced it signed former undrafted free agent Makari Paige to a 1-year contract.
“Paige originally signed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent following the 2025 NFL Draft,” wrote Steelers.com’s Teresa Varley. “He spent time on the Giants practice squad last season.”
In college, Paige played five seasons at Michigan, where he helped the Wolverines win the national championship during the 2023 campaign. In that season, the safety had 41 combined tackles, two pass defenses, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
Over 53 college games, Paige registered 135 combined tackles, eight pass defenses, three interceptions, and one sack.
Paige replaced cornerback Cory Trice Jr. on the Steelers roster. The team released Trice on Tuesday.
Mike McCarthy, Steelers Add Safety Makari Paige
The change the Steelers made in their secondary will give them depth at safety instead of cornerback. In college, though, Paige lined up in a variety of positions according to Pro Football Focus.
“He showed versatility in college, according to Pro Football Focus, playing extensively as a slot/nickel cornerback, free safety and strong safety,” wrote TribLive.com’s Chris Adamski.
Paige experienced quite a bit of success at college. His time at the Big Ten program could bode well for his NFL future.
But as Varley suggested, Paige has yet to play in the NFL regular season. The Giants released him as part of their roster cuts in April.
With Paige, though, the Steelers will have a healthy defensive back as opposed to the banged up Trice.
“Trice, a seventh-round pick in 2023, showed promise at times over his tenure with the Steelers but suffered myriad injuries,” wrote Adamski. “Trice appeared in just six regular-season games for the Steelers (all in 2024) and missed all of last season because of two separate ailments.”
Paige stands at 6-foot-4 and 208 pounds.
Steelers Secondary Depth With Paige Added to Offseason Roster
Officially, Paige is now one of six safeties on the team’s offseason roster. Paige joins a group that also includes Robert Spears-Jennings, Jack Henderson, DeShon Elliott, Sebastian Castro and Jaquan Brisker.
Elliott and Brisker are likely to be Pittsburgh’s two primary safeties during 2026. However, veteran defensive back Jalen Ramsey could actually be one of the team’s starting safeties.
Then when the Steelers utilize five defensive backs, Ramsey may slide to the slot with Brisker replacing him at safety.
Besides Elliott and Brisker, the Steelers will likely have two other safeties make their initial 53-man roster after the preseason. Those two safeties will have to play a significant role on special teams.
In addition to the six safeties, the Steelers have 11 cornerbacks/defensive backs on their offseason roster. While he started playing more safety during the second half of last season, Ramsey is still listed as a cornerback.
The Steelers will resume their organized offseason workouts on May 18. The team will hold six more sessions before the end of the month.
From June 2-4, the Steelers have their mandatory minicamp scheduled.
McCarthy’s club will officially end its offseason program on June 12.
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