Malachi Corley’s NFL ride hit another bump on cut-down day: the Jets’ 2024 third-rounder didn’t survive the trim and is suddenly looking for a landing spot. Stack the pre-draft visits, Aaron Rodgers’s endorsement, and a Week 1 Jets-Steelers matchup, and one team jumps off the page: Pittsburgh.

Right, Pittsburgh is the perfect landing spot for the WR. And the buzz is already swirling around him being on the Steelers‘ practice squad ahead of….Jets in week 1. And it somehow makes perfect sense on both sides.

Back when Aaron Rodgers was still in New York, he flat-out called Malachi Corley his “favorite receiver” in the entire 2024 draft. That public stamp goes a long way. Now that Rodgers is in Pittsburgh on a one-year, $13.6M deal, that old endorsement suddenly feels relevant again. A logical, low-risk pickup Rodgers already vouched for.

Oh, and no need to do the homework on him again. The Steelers did that a while ago. He came through on a top-30 visit in April 2024, sitting down with Mike Tomlin and the front office. That prior face time means he’s not a mystery to the Steelers. Yes, the evaluations are on file, and the background work’s done. If Corley clears waivers, that familiarity makes sliding him onto the roster or practice squad a quicker call.

And of course, there’s the strategic aspect. Pittsburgh faces the Jets in week 1. Bringing in a guy fresh out of that locker room is some real intel. Even on the practice squad, a player like Corley carries current knowledge of calls, route tags, and how the Jets install and disguise things. Teams lean on that overlap; film tells you one thing, but a former teammate can fill in the context that never shows up on tape.

It might sound like not the most ethical approach, but it’s not just the logistics. He would provide some real value. At Western Kentucky, Corley earned the “YAC King” nickname. Between 2021 and 2023, he racked up about 2,068 yards after the catch. That after-catch pop is exactly why teams were willing to climb the board for him.

Corley’s rookie stat line on offense barely moved the needle (3 catches for 16 yards in 2024), but that doesn’t tell the full story. His real audition came on special teams, where he flashed on return duty and carved out reps in coverage units during camp. That’s often how a fringe rookie sticks: survive on teams, earn trust, then wait for the door to crack open on offense. There’s no downside here. Another reason to get him is to arrange a Davante Adams-Corley reunion in week 1.

Adams-Corley $120,000 jersey saga

Remember when Adams landed in LA? Look, we all know Adams has been No. 17 since his first snap in Green Bay. So, Rams fans didn’t just ask how many balls he’d see from the QB; they wondered if Puka Nacua would give the number 17 to Adams. Well, Nacua switched to no. 12 and left the 17 for Adams. Things didn’t go so smoothly in New York.

Yeah, Malachi Corley wasn’t budging when Adams came calling. Adams with a $20K offer, but Corley shot back with a $120K price tag. In other words, Adams was being asked to cough up more than some rookies make in base salary for a jersey digit he’d worn his whole career.

Let’s look at the bigger picture. Inside the Jets’ building, Corley had already drawn side-eye for pushing back on special-teams assignments and, fairly or not, picking up a “rookie entitlement” label in some staff conversations. Yeah, that’s not a good look.

When you stack that with the No. 17 saga, it paints a picture of a young player fighting uphill against perception. Beat writers connected those optics to his roster fate. Now that might be a bit of a stretch, but it would be safe to assume that the same thing might happen in Pitt. But if that number 17 saga tells us anything, it’s that we deserve a little Corley-Adams reunion. No better time than week 1.