Olympic wrestling gold medalist Gable Steveson, who had never played football before the Buffalo Bills signed him to a contract in May, is reportedly being cut by the team as it pares down to 53 players.

This, of course, is not a surprise, but also does not necessarily mean his pursuit of a new career is over. The Bills could bring him back to the practice squad as a developmental player, or he could land on another team.

Steveson stands just 6-foot-1 and he weighs 275 pounds, but there were times during the preseason games where he was engulfed by bigger offensive linemen, and he doesn’t yet have the skills and techniques to get off blocks.

Steveson was a dominant wrestler throughout high school and then at the University of Minnesota where he won two NCAA championships, three Big Ten championships, was the 2022 Big Ten Athlete of the Year, and was twice awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy which is the wrestling equivalent to college football’s Heisman Trophy.

He made the U.S. Olympic team for the 2020 Games in Tokyo and won a gold medal in freestyle. After the Olympics, Steveson spent time with the WWE and made several appearances professionally including at Wrestlemania 38 in 2022.

Steveson is named after wrestling legend Dan Gable, a 1972 Olympic gold medalist who went on to become a coaching icon at the University of Iowa where he won multiple national championships and mentored dozens of All-Americans.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Gable Steveson part of Buffalo Bills cuts: Will he make practice squad?