Reuben Foster hasn’t played in a football game since Oct. 28, 2018. But the former Alabama All-American linebacker will make a comeback in the USFL, NFL Network reported.

Ian Rapoport reported the Pittsburgh Maulers plan to sign Foster.

The Maulers have not announced the signing. But on Jan. 15, in his first tweet since Sept. 10, Foster tweeted: “Is it worth me fighting so hard to get back in the NFL I give the USFL a fair shot? Please advise.”

The first reply was from Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, a former Crimson Tide teammate of Foster’s. Jacobs tweeted: “Best LB I’ve ever played against. Keep striving.”

Foster’s NFL career hit a roadblock on May 20, 2019, when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and lateral collateral ligament in his left knee during an offseason practice with the Washington Redskins.

After spending the 2019 season on Washington’s injured reserve, he returned to practice with the team on Aug. 9, 2020. But when Washington reduced its 80-player training-camp roster to the regular-season limit of 53 less than one month later, Foster returned to injured reserve for another season-long stay.

Foster became a free agent in March 2021 when his four-year rookie contract ended. He has not been on an NFL team’s roster since, although league reports indicate he has worked out for the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks since then.

Foster was the Class 6A Lineman of the Year and a Parade and Under Armour All-American at Auburn High School in 2012.

At Alabama, Foster started for the CFP national championship team in 2015 and earned unanimous All-American recognition and the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker in 2016.

Foster joined the San Francisco 49ers as the 31st player picked in the NFL Draft on April 26, 2017. Evaluated by some as a top-10 prospect, Foster was available at the next-to-last selection of the first round after offseason shoulder surgery, an outburst against a hospital worker that got him sent home from the NFL Scouting Combine and a failed drug test at the combine due to a diluted sample.

Foster made the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie team in 2017, even though he missed six games because of injuries.

In the first two months of Foster’s first NFL offseason, he was arrested twice, and the league suspended Foster for the first two games of the 2018 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse and personal-conduct policies.

Another arrest on Nov. 25, 2018, prompted the 49ers to waive Foster, and Washington claimed him. But Foster didn’t play for Washington as he spent the final five games of the 2018 season on the Commissioner Exempt List while the NFL investigated his latest arrest.

The league restored Foster to Washington’s active roster on April 12, 2019.

Foster’s arrests included charges of second-degree possession of marijuana, felony domestic violence, forcefully attempting to prevent a victim from reporting a crime, possession of an assault weapon and first-degree domestic battery.

All of those charges were eventually dismissed except for the weapon possession, to which Foster pleaded no contest on June 6, 2018, and he received a fine and community service as punishment.

The USFL is preparing to kick off its second season in April.

The Maulers had the USFL’s worst record in 2022 at 1-9. Pittsburgh has a new coach for 2023 in Ray Horton. The new coach crossed paths with Foster in 2019 when Horton was Washington’s defensive-backs coach.

The Maulers have made two major changes in the past week. On Tuesday, the team announced it had changed its colors from purple and orange to black and gold to match Pittsburgh’s franchises in the NFL, MLB and NHL. On Wednesday, the USFL announced the Maulers and New Jersey Generals would be based in Canton, Ohio, this season and play their home games at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.