Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — There is just one last chance for members of the Pittsburgh Steelers to play their way onto — or off — the team’s 53-man roster, with the preseason finale coming Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers, and the cut-down from 90 players to 53 looming the following Tuesday.
How are things stacking up with one week of the preseason left and where are the remaining roster battles?
I think Will Howard showed enough in training camp, and his injury should be healthy enough that he can start the season as the No.3 quarterback, but Skylar Thompson has certainly not made this an easy decision with his strong play through two preseason games.
The Steelers should feel a lot better about cutting Trey Sermon because of how good Lew Nichols III has been. They have a couple fall-back options for the practice squad at running back.
With DJ Thomas-Jones released, JJ Galbreath is the only other real threat to make the roster here, and he seems destined for the practice squad.
I’ve listed an outside addition here on the last two versions of this projection, but as I look around the league with one week to go before roster cuts, I’m not sure I see an obvious move to make. It might be another year of waiting until the trade deadline to deal with the wide receiver position for Omar Khan. Calvin Austin III just started doing some light work, but he should be back from his abdominal injury by Week 1. If it lingers, they’ll almost have to add a sixth body here.
If Calvin Anderson doesn’t return from his lower body soft-tissue injury in time for the regular season, this becomes a prime spot for an external addition. For now, we can keep him here.
Max Scharping has not had a strong training camp, and I think he could end up providing depth from the practice squad. Ryan McCollum seems close to full health after being a limited participant in the joint practice on Thursday.
The one big change from the last projection to this one is taking a spot away from wide receiver and adding it here. I had Logan Lee as the last man out, but with Christian Kuntz injured, you never know when you might need a backup long snapper, and Lee has played well enough to warrant consideration along the defensive line, as well....
