Editor’s note: From now until reporting day to training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2025 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 12 and July 23. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.
DT DOMENIQUE DAVIS
Experience/age: 2 regular-season NFL games over 5 years, 29
Contract status: $840,000 cap hit if he makes the team in 2025
The past: After initially enrolling at Division II Shaw University in North Carolina, Davis (6 feet 2, 326 pounds) played at Division II UNC Pembroke, where he had six sacks and 15 tackles for loss in 30 games. He signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent after the 2020 draft ended but did not make the team, reportedly because of an aggravation of a shoulder injury that required surgery.
Davis re-emerged in pro football 18 months later with the Houston Gamblers of the USFL. That must have impressed the Cincinnati Bengals, who signed him at the start of their training camp that year. Davis made their practice squad and was elevated to the active roster for two games. He spent all of 2023 and most of 2024 with the Bengals before they released him last October. The Steelers picked him up two weeks later.
On the Tycen Anderson pick 6, Domenique Davis hit the right guard with a nasty shimmy cross chop combination and got to the quarterback. pic.twitter.com/B8OOBwnDih
— mike (@bengals_sans) August 15, 2023
2025 outlook: Though this is technically Davis’ second stint with the Steelers, his first lasted only 30 days. That was late last season when he was on the practice squad from Nov. 6-Dec. 6. Then a 28-year-old who’d appeared in only two NFL regular-season games and was a USFL alum, Davis was brought back to the Steelers via a reserve/future contract in January.
Davis has lined up as a pure nose tackle during preseason games and his brief regular-season appearances. He’s an interior defensive tackle that provides depth. At 29 years old, Davis should be commended for hanging around in the NFL. His ceiling is likely a practice-squad emergency depth piece.
