Although no one selected him in the 2024 NFL Draft, John Rhys Plumlee can still call himself a first-round pick. The Arlington Renegades selected him with the third pick in the 2024 UFL Draft and now hold his rights to that league. Of course, he is under contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that contract will remain binding unless they release him. And he is not thinking about a possible future in the UFL until he has to.
John Rhys Plumlee, a rookie free agent out of college, signed with the Steelers this year after going undrafted. They already had quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Kyle Allen, but we don’t know what his options were. Something made him believe the Steelers gave him the best chance, and he’s not deviating from that plan until he has to. In fact, he thinks so little about the UFL that he’s not even entirely sure how it all works.
“I don’t know for sure. I know that if the NFL doesn’t work out — if the worst-case scenario happens, the NFL doesn’t work out, the Steelers don’t work out and I wanted to play in that league, they keep my rights,” Plumlee said on the Steel Here podcast with Kevin Adams and Jersey Jerry. “So I wouldn’t be able to play for another team in that league. But now you know as much as I do. That’s all I know about it.”
When asked if the Renegades could claim him in any way while he was with the Steelers, Plumlee said, “At least to my knowledge, no, I don’t think that’s true.” But even that comment shows how little he’s thought about it.
The Renegades’ third pick in the UFL Draft did have one advantage, however. “I told everyone here, ‘Look, I was drafted third, I’m a first-round pick, and you can’t take that away from me,'” he joked.
In his last two seasons for UCF, John Rhys Plumlee completed 379 of 602 passes for 4,857 yards. He threw 29 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, along with 1,367 rushing yards and 16 receiving yards with 16 touchdowns. He also played as a wide receiver for Ole Miss in 2021, catching 19 passes for 201 yards.
The Steelers had Plumlee play wide receiver in practice this week and also allowed him to return kicks. Although he didn’t play quarterback in the preseason opener, he did make one special teams tackle.
The current UFL is a merger of the former XFL and USFL leagues. It played its inaugural season in 2024. Several former Steelers players, including draft picks Carlos Davis and Derwin Gray, were on the inaugural championship team.
Pragmatically speaking, John Rhys Plumlee will not make the Steelers’ 53-man roster, and maybe not even the practice squad. There’s a very good chance he won’t be on a team come the 2024 season. If, and only if, events go that way, he’ll have to reacquaint himself with the UFL’s drafting business.
