Steelers 2018 7th-round draft pick Joshua Frazier retires from football

May 2019

The former Alabama product officially announced his retirement via social media on Thursday.

While the Pittsburgh Steelers have often been known to re-sign former player over the years, it would appear that one of those options took themselves off the open market on Thursday when defensive tackle Joshua Frazier announced his retirement on social media.

Selected by the Steelers in the seventh-round of the 2018 NFL Draft, the former Alabama product was the first Crimson Tide player ever chosen by Pittsburgh in the Mike Tomlin era.

I’m done with football. I’ve decided…I’ve got a lot going on right now in my life personally and can’t put my 100 into the game I love. Made some great memories with my teammates at Harber And @AlabamaFTBL and was blessed with the opportunity to be drafted to the @steelers

— L.Joshua Frazier (@JoshuaFrazier69) May 2, 2019

Thank you everyone who helped me on my journey.

— L.Joshua Frazier (@JoshuaFrazier69) May 2, 2019

Frazier would be released at the end of training camp in the final round of cuts, later signing to the Detroit lions’ practice squad for the final three weeks of his rookie season before reemerging with the Birmingham Iron of the now defunct Alliance of American Football in 2019.

Placed on injury reserve after just the second game of the season, Frazier was one of many injured names financially hurt by the league’s collapse in April when he was left to foot the bill for his own medical care. It is rather interesting to note that his former AAF team is not listed in his farewell message.

A member of Alabama’s 2015 and 2017 National-Championship teams, while Frazier may not have much NFL hardware to look back on in his golden years, he will certainly have more than enough memories from his Crimson Tide days.