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Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting is joining the Pittsburgh Steelers from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad, adding an experienced starter to a secondary that has lost two of its regular corners in the past two weeks.
Tom Pelissero first reported the move on Monday, October 5, and several outlets have since described it as completed. Correction, October 8: Derrick Harmon also went on injured reserve on October 5, when Pittsburgh signed Murphy-Bunting. Because Murphy-Bunting was on another club’s practice squad, Tampa Bay had no chance to match; a player signed this way goes straight to the new team’s active roster.
Why Pittsburgh needed help
The Steelers traded Joey Porter Jr. to the Dallas Cowboys before Week 4, and then Jamel Dean hurt his ankle in Thursday night’s 27–24 loss at Cleveland. Dean is reported to be facing a couple of weeks on the sideline. That left the 2–2 Steelers leaning on Asante Samuel Jr. and rookie Daylen Everette with little proven depth behind them.
Murphy-Bunting and Dean know each other well. They were teammates in Tampa Bay and were both part of the secondary that won the Super Bowl after the 2020 season.
A veteran coming back from a lost year
Murphy-Bunting, 29, was a second-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2019. He has appeared in 82 regular-season games with 65 starts, intercepted 11 passes and broken up 34 more. He was a full-time starter for the Tennessee Titans in 2023, then signed with the Arizona Cardinals and had one of his most productive seasons in 2024: 52 tackles, three interceptions and two forced fumbles in 15 games.
A torn ACL then cost him all of 2025. Arizona released him at the August cut-down, and he went back to Tampa Bay, where he spent the first month of this season on the practice squad.
What comes next
The Steelers host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, October 11, at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Whether Murphy-Bunting is ready to play a significant role after one week of practice will become clearer through the week’s designations on our injury report, where Dean’s status will also be tracked. The move will appear on our transactions page, and the full numbers from the loss in Cleveland are in the Game Center.
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