This past Tuesday in the National Football League was “Cut Day”, where teams had to narrow their rosters to 53 players. Offensive lineman Dylan Cook made the Pittsburgh Steelers team.
Cook, who people in the Treasure State and on the Hi-Line may recognize from his playing days at both MSU-Northern and the University of Montana, was the only undrafted player on the offensive line to make the cut.
Cook was on his couch on Tuesday during the day, playing “FIFA” while waiting for his phone to ring, or in this case, not wait for his phone to ring, which signified that he had made the roster.
“I probably played for five hours,” Cook said to reporters on Wednesday. “That’s all I did and hung out with my dog.”
The Butte native started his career with the Lights as a quarterback, not recording any stats in 2016. In 2017, he posted two touchdown throws on 11-of-18 passing as well as three touchdowns on the ground with 177 rushing yards.
After transferring to UM and sitting out a season due to transfer rules, he made the move to offensive line and walked on, playing 26 games in three seasons for the Grizzlies before not hearing his named called in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Cook moved around on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad for the 2022 season and did not see the field. The Steelers picked him up on May 18 after he was released. For now, Cook will be a backup tackle on Sundays for the Steel City’s team.
“He got continually better,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “He got on a moving train in terms of when we acquired him. I like to see guys acclimate themselves to an ongoing developmental group, and he did that nicely and particularly down the stretch when he showed position flexibility.”
“This means a lot,” Cook said. “As far as the journey, it’s just another step in what I really had planned for myself. I had really high ambitions once I started playing college football. The work is really just beginning now.”
