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The Pittsburgh Steelers released defensive end K.J. Henry and signed defensive back Ahmari Harvey on Thursday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won’t be back on the field together until late July. But in the meantime, the organization is likely to continue tweaking the roster over the next several weeks. The Steelers made a tweak Thursday involving defensive end K.J. Henry.

On the team’s website, the Steelers announced signing defensive back Ahmari Harvey to a 1-year contract. To make roster space, the team also released Henry from the offseason roster.

Henry spent the offseason with the Steelers. The team signed him to a futures contract on January 14. That was two days after the Cleveland Browns waived the defensive end.

During 2025, Henry appeared in one game for the Browns. He played for the Washington Commanders, Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys during the first two seasons of his career.

As a practice squad player, Henry won a Super Bowl ring with the Philadelphia Eagles in February 2025. He also won a national championship as a freshman with Clemson in January 2019.

Harvey signed with the Steelers after spending about five and a half weeks with the Denver Broncos. The Broncos released Harvey on June 18.

Steelers Sign DB Ahmari Harvey

With the addition of Harvey, the Steelers have essentially added to their 2026 undrafted free agency class. Harvey, though, already couldn’t last on the Broncos roster until training camp.

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein was high on the defensive back’s tackling willingness and feistiness at “the catch point.” But Zierlein questioned whether Harvey had the overall physical traits to make an NFL roster.

“A slender, fifth-year senior cornerback, Harvey’s lack of size could force him inside to nickelback,” wrote Zierlein. “He has tight hips and can be too eager to chase route fakes, but he does a nice job of staying phased up with vertical routes.

“He’s outmuscled inside the route and down the field.”

It won’t get any easier in Pittsburgh for Harvey to make the roster. He is now one of 19 defensive backs on the Steelers roster.

Of those 19, eight of those defensive backs already appear to be locks to make the 53-man roster. Harvey has a slim path to be the ninth or 10th defensive back for the Steelers at the end of the preseason, and he has catching up to do after spending the spring in Denver.

In 43 games at Georgia Tech, Harvey recorded 12 pass defenses and four interceptions.

Steelers Release DE K.J. Henry

To get the 19th defensive back on their roster, the Steelers sacrificed defensive line depth.

Henry is entering his fourth NFL season. He began his professional career as a fifth-round pick for the Washington Commanders. Henry was the No. 137 overall selection in 2023.

As a rookie, Henry registered 19 combined tackles, including four tackles for loss. He also had two quarterback hits, two pass defenses and 1.5 sacks while playing in 10 games. Henry started three of those contests.

Since then, Henry has only appeared in five contests. With the Browns, he only played five special teams snaps in his lone game. Henry didn’t play on defense.

At Clemson, Henry posted 28.5 tackles for loss, 13.5 sacks and 11 pass defenses in 58 games. He appeared in four games as a freshman during Clemson’s most recent national championship season.