The good, bad and ugly from the Steelers 2025 roster cut downs
The Pittsburgh Steelers, along with the rest of the NFL, had to trim their rosters from 90 players during the preseason to the league mandated 53 players. In the wake of those decisions, there are ripple effects which can be felt within the organization and on the roster.
It’s time to talk about the good, bad and ugly after the Steelers initial 53-man roster.
The Good
All drafted players make the roster
For the third year in Omar Khan’s tenure as General Manager (GM) all of the Steelers drafted players were on the 53-man roster. It doesn’t just show Khan values the players he drafts, but it should be kept in the back of the mind of fans when they consider camp battles with players Khan did, or didn’t, draft in the future. For the time being you won’t have to hear about a player who was a “wasted pick” as a drafted player who didn’t make the initial roster.
Steelers aren’t done yet
There are fans who are not excited about the team’s decisions which were made Tuesday, but a good part is there are more moves to be made. Not necessarily being the team bringing in talent from outside the organization, but potentially bringing back a couple players who were recently cut. As an example, the Steelers could put Will Howard (hand/finger) and Donte Kent (foot/wrist) on Injured Reserve (IR), and bring back players like Chuck Clark and James Pierre back to the 53-man roster. To put it simply, the team isn’t done.
Practice Squad still to be released
There are players who were given the difficult news of being cut, but there should be hope in some of these players being brought back onto the practice squad. A player being signed to the practice squad isn’t a bad gig these days, with game day activations, and could be a great way for them to keep their skills sharp in hopes of making the roster at some point.
The Bad
Cory Trice to IR
Your best ability is your availability. Cory Trice has suffered with this during his brief NFL career, and that will continue for at least another four games with Trice being moved to IR, but designated to return. I have high hopes in Trice, but it isn’t easy when the guy is constantly injured.
5 Wide Receivers don’t necessarily invoke confidence
Some will say Jonnu Smith is another wide receiver, and I understand that, but I also am not someone who is thrilled with the Steelers wide receiving corps. If the Steelers add a receiver to their current crop of pass catchers, I’d feel better about the group, but at this juncture I am having a difficult time feeling ecstatic about the current group.
Waitman wins the punting job
Waitman winning the punting job isn’t “bad”, but I do have to think about the talent evaluation aspect of the Steelers organization. Why? When the Steelers signed Cam Johnston to a lucrative contract, relatively speaking for a punter, before the 2024 season, Waitman was a free agent on the open market. The Steelers didn’t even take a look, and this was after Waitman had spent time with the Steeles in the past. It wasn’t until after Johnston’s injury that Waitman was given a fair shake at the job, and he has now won said job.
The Ugly
DeMarvin Leal and Mark Robinson being cut highlight a low point of Steelers history
The 2022 NFL Draft was supposed to be Kevin Colbert’s swan song as the team’s GM. Some might say Colbert is a Hall of Fame GM, and I’d agree with that, but his last draft class was an absolute train wreck. With Leal and Robinson being cut, there are only two players remaining from that draft class, and they would be Connor Heyward and Calvin Austin III. Other than that, you’re talking about one of the worst draft classes in recent Steelers history.
Fan reaction to cuts
The fan reaction to roster cuts is incredible, but it is every year. Every year you have more and more fans who fall in love with prospective players, and they absolutely freak out if these players don’t make the roster. It is a frustrating process, but at the same time how often do these players get picked up by other teams? Rarely. How often do the players actually impact the roster even if they eventually get called up? Rarely. It’s okay to have your favorites, but let’s keep things in perspective. The story isn’t the fringe players who were cut, but the players who will make up the main 22 players to see significant playing time.
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As a team that has historically (until the last few years) built through the draft, we have expectations to do a little better than average in our draft classes. 2022 was pretty rough from that perspective.
I will end by saying, that while it was not great, it could always be worse. The Patriots had 10 picks in 2022, only 1 remains with them (punt returner and nickel corner Marcus Jones).
Definitely not arguing it was a good draft, or even a good enough one, just that “absolute train wreck” is a bit of an overstatement.
I understand what you’re saying, but when there is a chance not ONE PLAYER from the entire class even comes close to a second contract is really bad. It’s just my opinion, but trading away your top two picks before they even reach the end of their deals is a really bad class…
I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t say Trice going on IR is bad. The fact that he retained a spot even though he has never fully healthy is bad.
Don’t get me wrong, he shows promise but, as I’ve said before, I’m legitimately getting a Senquez Ghoulson 2.0 vibe.
Senquez comparisons are valid. Your best ability is your availability…and Trice isn’t available until at least Week 6 (Week 5 is the bye)
Interested to see if there were any potential trades. A lot of talented guys got cut. At the same time, I think at least one player who got cut will end up back with the Steelers. Chuck Clark comes to mind. For whatever reason, they valued not potentially wasting the ir spot over potentially losing Beanie, Chuck, or Robinson (or whoever that 54th man was)
I think the real result of this first 53 is that they have concerns. No way you keep that many DL and that few in the secondary if you are not concerned with the health/availability of the DL. You have Benton and Harmon injured to some degree and Heyward that hasn’t done any team activities to date that has been reported. This spells a lot of Black, Loudermilk, and Ukuale snaps at least in week 1. This might be a bad matchup against the Jets. You have to figure no way that group stays together that long because right now Miles Killebrew is one player from having to play defensive snaps. Not sure I like that as a secondary plan.
Everybody is worried about another WR but my concerns are on D right now.
Thankfully Ramsey is an option at Free Safety. It would be a challenge if Elliot goes down though. I agree that we should have more clarity after waivers are done today and some of the expected folks go to regular IR, and we bring some folks back (Chuck Clark?, James Pierre?)
I would expect at least one of those two back once Howard goes on IR (I can’t believe they’ll keep 4 QBs on roster). At the least, I’d expect a safety on the PS that could be game day active until the DL sorts itself out.
I’d be surprised if Jalen Ramsey couldn’t fill either safety spot. I know it’s not how it’s advertised for him but I suspect he’d be fine and the Steelers know that.
Not a question of if he can, but is that what you want him to be doing?
As a standard, heck no. It probably depends a lot on the depth at all DB spots, though. If coaches have more faith in a back-up DB then they do the back-up SS then I can see them allowing the back-DB to hit the field in Ramsey’s place then allowing Ramsey to play ahead of the back-up SS. Whatever it takes to make sure that the four best guys are on the field.