\u201cdefinitely be a starter\u201d<\/a> in the NFL someday. Even if one ends up stashed on IR, they will need to carry four initially to get to that point.<\/p>\nRunning Backs (3)\u00a0\u2013 Jaylen Warren, Rico Dowdle, Travis Homer<\/p>\n
Analysis: One of the underrated aspects of keeping four quarterbacks, likely costing one of the depth safeties (and core special teams players) their spot, is the necessity to keep special teams players elsewhere. That could be the deciding edge between Homer and Kaleb Johnson. Johnson may find himself on the outside looking in. Could they bring him back after the initial IR shuffle? Perhaps, but he is the most at-risk on this side of the ball unless he locks up two or three starting roles on special teams between now and the start of the season. Unfortunately, there just isn\u2019t room for Eli Heidenreich on the 53 at the moment, and missing a few days of practice with an injury didn\u2019t help matters.<\/p>\n
Wide Receivers (6)\u00a0\u2013 DK Metcalf, Michael Pittman Jr., Roman Wilson, Germie Bernard, Ben Skowronek, Kaden Wetjen<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0No changes in my thinking here. This group feels pretty set in stone. Wilson has locked up his spot and figures to be the WR3 until he falters. Skowronek and Wetjen have important special teams roles, so they should be safe.<\/p>\n
Tight Ends (4)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, Robert Tonyan, Riley Nowakowski (FB\/TE)<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0Tonyan\u2019s veteran presence and familiarity with both McCarthy and Rodgers have proven to be valuable. I was previously thinking he could maybe be stashed on the practice squad as a call-up, but he\u2019s played his way into a roster spot. Nowakowski has been ultra-versatile and is currently the top fullback, but he also spends time in the TE room.<\/p>\n
Offensive Tackles (4)\u00a0\u2013 Troy Fautanu, Max Iheanachor, Dylan Cook, Broderick Jones<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0As long as he\u2019s healthy, Iheanachor is already on track to win the Week 1 starting job after an impressive start to camp. They aren\u2019t going to cut either of the other two as valuable depth pieces. The only way this isn\u2019t the group (outside of injury) is if one of the depth pieces drums up trade interest near cutdown day.<\/p>\n
Interior Offensive Linemen (5) \u2013\u00a0Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick, Spencer Anderson, Brock Hoffman, Gennings Dunker<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0Steven Jones and Ryan McCollum are the top candidates that I left off. Jones seems like a good practice squad candidate to call up on game day. They already have evidence that he can comfortably sit on the practice squad. Running as a second-team OG throughout camp until he suffered an unknown injury, he could find his way onto the 53 if somebody like Gennings Dunker gets sent to IR after cutdowns. Hoffman\u2019s center versatility makes McCollum expendable, and now that there\u2019s an extra tackle in the mix, somebody has to miss the cut.<\/p>\n
Defense \u2013 24<\/p>\n
Defensive Linemen (7)\u00a0\u2013 Cameron Heyward, Derrick Harmon, Yahya Black, Keeanu Benton, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Esezi Otomewo, Gabriel Rubio<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0Logan Lee\u2019s injury is going to make it tough for him to make the cut. Otherwise, Rubio\u2019s top competition is probably Dean Lowry, or maybe a sleeper like Kyler Baugh, but I\u2019ll give the edge to Omar Khan\u2019s draft pick and the Steelers\u2019 track record of keeping them all.<\/p>\n
Outside Linebackers (4)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0Etch this group in stone.<\/p>\n
Inside Linebackers (4)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson, Cole Holcomb, Carson Bruener<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0Malik Harrison was expected to find himself on the outs this camp, and that\u2019s exactly what has happened. As Carson Bruener has gotten more involved, Harrison\u2019s presence has been barely noticeable.<\/p>\n
Cornerbacks (5)\u00a0\u2013 Joey Porter Jr., Jamel Dean, Brandin Echols, Asante Samuel Jr., Daylen Everette<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0The Steelers think they hit a home run<\/a> with third-round rookie Everette, and he\u2019s still probably at the bottom of the depth chart in this room. It\u2019s the best CB room Pittsburgh has had since at least 2008, and probably further back to the 1990s in the Rod Woodson era. Doneiko Slaughter is a name to watch with injuries to Echols and Ramsey.<\/p>\nSafeties (4)\u00a0\u2013 Jalen Ramsey, DeShon Elliott, Jaquan Brisker, Robert Spears-Jennings<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0This is where keeping four quarterbacks really hurts. The roster math gets tight, and tough decisions need to be made. Though Pittsburgh has been busy signing S Rayshawn Jenkins and DB Israel Mukuamu, they seem like better candidates for the practice squad to be elevated on game day or signed to the 53-man roster later in the season. Spears-Jennings has benefitted from injuries to this group, and he\u2019s done enough to earn a spot. Sebastian Castro is the odd man out right now. Where things could get interesting is if Ramsey\u2019s PUP status carries over into the regular season to miss some time.<\/p>\n
Special Teams \u2013 3<\/p>\n
Kicker (1)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Chris Boswell<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0He\u2019s been money throughout camp. No need to think twice here.<\/p>\n
Punter (1)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Cameron Johnston<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0Pittsburgh didn\u2019t even bother signing camp competition for Johnston.<\/p>\n
Long Snapper (1)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Christian Kuntz<\/p>\n
Analysis:\u00a0Same story here. Kuntz is the only LS on the roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Training camp is already more than halfway over for the Pittsburgh Steelers with the new Saturday Night Lights…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[110922,73,75,74,1833,995],"class_list":["post-262108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-2026-steelers-training-camp","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}