{"id":677778,"date":"2026-06-01T11:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/677778\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T11:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:57:15","slug":"three-steelers-who-could-be-surprise-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/677778\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Steelers Who Could Be Surprise Cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

I fully admit it\u2019s a little bit early to be talking about roster cuts. But the NFL released the cutdown deadline this week, and we\u2019ve gotten plenty of buzz about who has and hasn\u2019t looked good during OTAs. With roster predictions abound<\/a> and mandatory minicamp getting underway this week, I\u2019m looking at three players who could wind up being a surprise cut at some point between now and Week 1.<\/p>\n

WR Roman Wilson<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I wouldn\u2019t have called it a surprise if Wilson were cut. And there\u2019s still a part of me that wouldn\u2019t be all that shocked by it. But there\u2019s been some positive buzz from Wilson this week. Mike McCarthy praised his offseason and Wilson himself said he feels great<\/a> after working with Route God this offseason.<\/p>\n

Right now, he\u2019s penciled in as Pittsburgh\u2019s WR4. All he has to do to hold onto the job is show he can be reliable when called upon. But if Wilson can\u2019t get on the same page as Aaron Rodgers, something that happened often last season, the Steelers could opt to go in a different direction.<\/p>\n

Whether that\u2019s a roster spot for Eli Heidenreich or an outside veteran, the Steelers will have options. But Wilson right now seems to be in the good graces of the coaching staff. He needs that to stick.<\/p>\n

LB Malik Harrison<\/p>\n

Right now, the Steelers are pretty well set at off-ball linebacker. The team didn\u2019t make any significant additions this offseason, just bringing in undrafted free agent Daylen Carnell. Last season, the Steelers entrusted Harrison on run downs, and it was an up-and-down season for him. He does bring plenty of special teams value, which helps his roster case.<\/p>\n

But if Carnell stands out or the Steelers use Jaquan Brisker at linebacker more, Harrison\u2019s roster spot could be in danger. Cole Holcomb was re-signed, and Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson aren\u2019t going anywhere. Carson Bruener might be Pittsburgh\u2019s special teams captain, and he should be safe as well. That leaves Harrison as the potential odd man out.<\/p>\n

Harrison is likely going to wind up on the 53, but there\u2019s certainly a path where he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

DL Esezi Otomewo<\/p>\n

Otomewo flashed toward the end of last season and re-signed with the Steelers on a one-year deal. He showed some pass-rush juice and was solid defending the run, but the Steelers have added to their defensive line this offseason. They signed Sebastian Joseph-Day, also brought back Dean Lowry and drafted Gabriel Rubio.<\/p>\n

Lowry has familiarity with Mike McCarthy and Patrick Graham from their time in Green Bay, which should help his case. By no means do I think his spot is guaranteed, but the last two defensive line spots could come down to Lowry, Otomewo and Rubio. If Rubio plays well, the Steelers might be inclined to keep him on the 53-man roster, which could bump Otomewo.<\/p>\n

Logan Lee is also someone who hasn\u2019t gotten a ton of buzz but could factor into the room if he plays well. Otomewo should feel relatively safe, but there\u2019s going to be multiple players fighting for just a few roster spots along the defensive line. That could lead to a surprise cut in Otomewo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I fully admit it\u2019s a little bit early to be talking about roster cuts. But the NFL released…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[4220,91108,349,20786,99,3795],"class_list":["post-677778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-esezi-otomewo","tag-malik-harrison","tag-nfl","tag-roman-wilson","tag-sports","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}