By BOB LABRIOLA
Steelers.com
And now there are three.
The Steelers now have signed six of their 2009 NFL Draft choices, with Mike Wallace, Sonny Harris and A .Q. Shipley the most recent rookies to reach agreements on their first professional contracts. All signed three-year deals.
Wallace, a wide receiver from Mississippi who has what the team believes to be difference-making speed, was the Steelers' first pick in the third round. Also a dangerous kickoff return man, Wallace left Mississippi as the career leader in that statistic.
Harris was the Steelers' sixth-round pick, and he will compete for a backup spot along the defensive line during the upcoming training camp. Shipley, who attending Moon High School in Western Pennsylvania and then Penn State, had 39 career starts at center for the Nittany Lions.
Wallace, Harris and Shipley now join Keenan Lewis, Joe Burnett and Frank Summers as draft choices who have signed. That leaves No. 1 pick Ziggy Hood, No. 3 pick Kraig Urbik and No. 7b pick D.J. Johnson as unsigned rookies.
In order to make room for these signed draft picks, the Steelers also released six players – defensive end Jeff Bradley, long-snapper Mark Estermyer, wide receivers Jayson Foster and Cedric Goodman, quarterback Kevin McCabe and fullback Ryan Powdrell.
The Steelers open training camp at Saint Vincent College on July 31.
