Steelers 53-man roster: Few surprises on offensive side of the ball
The Pittsburgh Steelers did very little on Friday to whittle down their roster to the NFL’s mandatory 53-man roster, choosing to use Saturday to finalize some tough decisions. Several players gave a performance during the preseason to secure a spot, but head coach Mike Tomlin admitted it wasn’t easy to make final cuts. “They did their parts in terms of making these moves difficult for us,” Tomlin said, “that’s what you want. You want a competitive environment, you want difficult decisions, and I thought the guys did a great job.”
Beyond just posting the list, I thought it would be interesting to look at the 53-man roster predictions by Joe Kuzma and Brian Roach leading up to today’s announcement from the Steelers and address any surprises.
Quarterbacks (3)
After one of the most-discussed offseason topics on how many quarterbacks the Steelers might carry on their roster, the performances of Joshua Dobbs and Mason Rudolph were apparently enough to lead Pittsburgh to part ways with Landry Jones. Jones had statistics in the league that were good enough to land him a spot on another roster, so even though the termination may have come as a surprise for many, watch for him to land somewhere soon.
Joe had been a “four QB” truther and has been supportive of Jones’ statistics, but Brian felt that the Steelers would allow Dobbs to possibly be shopped for a trade deal.
Running backs & fullback (5)
Brian may have said it best in his prediction article when he said, “the initial 53 will not have Le’Veon Bell on it. That is a given. It’s also a give that the minute he signs his franchise tag someone will be cut to make room for him.” With no news on Bell as of this article going live, it’s Stevan Ridley who earned the veteran spot over Fitzgerald Toussaint to remain on the roster. Conner and Samuels both showed a lot of promise during the preseason and we all knew Roosevelt Nix has shown he is an asset to the Steelers offense. All that’s left is to see if Bell shows up at some point… and who may get cut once/if he does.
Receivers (6)
That veteran receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey would make the final roster over Quadree Henderson proved an intelligent move after Henderson was not as impressive as I would have hoped. Trey Griffey and Tevin Jones were longshots fighting a deep area on the Steelers’ preseason roster. The Steelers placed Marcus Tucker and Damoun Patterson on the reserved/injured list and Eli Rogers on the PUP list.
Joe was spot on in his prediction, saying, “Some may scoff at keeping Darrius Hewyard-Bey, but he’s so incredibly valuable on special teams that his position is safe (at least for now). DHB also provides a backup vertical threat and is a good blocker when playing on offense, further increasing his value.” And his sentiments were backed up in Brian’s prediction article.
Tight Ends (3)
With the Steelers bringing Bucky Hodges in during the preseason, I felt that Grimble’s spot on the roster may be in jeopardy. Grimble had a medical procedure on a finger that had me concerned as to whether he’d be seen as expendable. McDonald has been sidelined with an injury as well. Brian was torn in his prediction with these issues as well, but Joe was more certain that Grimble would grab that third tight end spot. Pharoah McKever and Christian Scotland-Williamson were released with Hodges. Ryan Malleck and Jake McGee are on injured/reserved.
Offensive Line (9)
- Maurkice Pouncey (C)
- B.J. Finney (C/G)
- Ramon Foster (G)
- David DeCastro (G)
- Chukwuma Okorafor (OL)
- Zach Banner (OT)
- Alejandro Villanueva (OT)
- Marcus Gilbert (OT)
- Matt Feiler (OT)
With Jerald Hawkins on injured/reserved, it was a small surprise to me that the Steelers retained nine offensive linemen. Both Joe and Brian felt the team would stick with eight as well (not including Hawkins). Larson Graham, Patrick Morris, Oni Omoile, R.J. Prince, Jake Rodgers and Chris Schleuger were all released and Joseph Cheek was waived/injured. The thinking behind keeping nine on the roster may be as an insurance policy in case Hawkins is unable to return or one of the starters, like Gilbert, who’ve had injuries over the past couple of seasons miss a game or two during the regular season.
Specialists (3)
- Chris Boswell (K)
- Jordan Berry (P)
- Kameron Canaday (LS)
Technically not “offense”, the specialists are here because they have one of the team’s top scorers among its membership in the “Wizard of Boz”. Boswell was a lock after a nice contract extension. There was an alleged punter competition going on during the preseason between Berry and Matt Wile, but Wile didn’t show he was particularly more spectacular. That doesn’t mean the future for Berry in Pittsburgh is carved in stone. If he struggles, the Steelers could look at the waiver wire for someone more consistent.
Conclusion
Both Joe and Brian were nearly perfect in their predictions. On the offensive side of the ball, there were few surprises (not to discount their opinions).
The Steelers can sign 10 players to their practice squad and can do so as soon as noon on Sunday.
