As we’ve done in previous years, we’re taking a look at those Pittsburgh Steelers under Future contracts for the 2025 offseason — the ones who spent most of, if not the entire year, on the practice squad — and what we can expect from them during training camp and (hopefully) into the regular season. Today, an outlook on RB Evan Hull.
Evan Hull/RB Northwestern – 5101, 209 pounds
With Kenneth Gainwell and Kaleb Johnson added to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ backfield, a guy like Evan Hull is buried on the depth chart. Even knowing the odds, Hull has a profile worth examining.
A productive runner in his final two years at Northwestern, Hull just crossed 1,000 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2021. He carried the ball 196 times for 1,009 yards and seven touchdowns, finding the end zone nine total times. In an early-season win over Ohio, Hull broke off for 216 rushing yards and two touchdowns, a video game-esque average of nearly 10 yards per tote. A 90-yard score helped boost his numbers, squeezing out enough juice to make it all the way.
His 2022 rushing production missed matching those numbers, finishing with 950 yards on the ground, but he separated himself by being a major asset out of the backfield. Hull finished with 55 receptions, 546 yards, and two scores, numbers that finished first or second on the team.
Invited to the Combine, his testing was excellent. Hull ran a 4.47 40, leapt 37-inches in the vert, 10’3″ in the broad, turned in a 6.90 three cone, and added 21 reps on the bench press for good measure. His RAS came in at 9.32.
A fifth-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts, Hull found an immediate path to first-team work. Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss dealt with summer injuries, allowing Hull extra burn with the 1’s in the preseason. He made the 53 but suffered a knee injury in Week Two, landing him on injured reserve. As he would detail the following year, it was a meniscus “root” injury, far more serious than a typical tear. He was on crutches for two months but wasn’t fully cleared until shortly before the following year’s OTAs. His rookie year became a footnote, carrying the ball one time for 1 yard with one reception that went for 6 yards.
His 2024 season brought similar results. Hull was healthier, but the path to playing time that existed the year before didn’t replicate itself. On and off the roster, he again appeared in just one game, logging a single offensive snap in a Week 7 game against Miami. Hull finished the year on the practice squad.
Pittsburgh signed him to his current Futures after the season, one of 17 players announced in January and one a handful of outside additions.
Coming out of college, Hull was regarded as a third-down role player. With size and hands, it’s the sort of niche role a fifth-round pick can fill. In Pittsburgh, those spots are spoken for with Warren and Gainwell, but finding backs who can help out beyond just carrying the football is always useful to carry around. Last year, Warren wasn’t the beacon of good health, and Gainwell is undersized.
Hull is low on the totem pole, no question. But a year ago, Aaron Shampklin and Jonathan Ward were in similar situations, but hung around and eventually saw regular-season action. Hull will try to do the same.
