Steelers DB Kazee hopes to put DWI arrest in Dallas behind him

Some professional athletes brush it off and play it down when their free agency plans don’t go the way they hope. If you’re on the open market until the end of the NFL draft, most of the time, it’s an indication that the interest wasn’t there.

But new Steelers defensive back Damontae Kazee doesn’t mind saying why he had to wait until May to find a new team. He believes it didn’t have much to do with his performance last season with Dallas.

“It was kind of hard because of the situation I got into off the field last year,” Kazee said at his locker Tuesday, the first session of OTAs for the Steelers. “But I’m just blessed to be here now.”

Kazee, who mostly played safety through his first five seasons, signed a one-year deal for the veteran minimum salary, $1.35 million. He started 15 of 17 games for the Cowboys in 2021, with a solid stat line including 52 tackles, 2 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles.

But Kazee made headlines in October for being arrested on a DWI charge, early in the team’s off week. Dash cam footage showed him telling the officer who pulled him over that he had three shots while hanging out with Dallas stars Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott.

“It’s out of my hands. It happened. I wish I could change it,” is what Kazee, who turns 29 next month, told teams that inquired about it. “I can’t change it, man. You just learn from it and move on. That’s the only thing I could do.”

The Steelers asked about it, too, Kazee added. But he feels “blessed” that they “took a chance on me.”

Listed at 5-foot-11, 174 pounds, Kazee’s goal is to be a versatile piece of the secondary puzzle. A fifth-round pick out of San Diego State in 2017, he spent his first four years with Atlanta, where he had a league-high seven interceptions in 2018.

“I’m playing both roles, nickel and safety, right now. … Whenever I get in, I’m just going to bust my butt every play,” Kazee said. “I don’t care if I’m on special teams at the end of the day. I’m just going to bust my butt, so it doesn’t matter.”