The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June and next up is the team’s annual training camp, which should get underway in the latter part of July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of Steelers training camp starting this summer, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players in total during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.
The first three players we will preview ahead of Steelers 2024 training camp are Montravius Adams, Kyle Allen and Spencer Anderson.
NT/DT Montravius Adams: Adams, who originally joined the Steelers roughly midway through the 2021 regular season, played in 13 regular season games and one playoff contest for the team in 2023. He missed four games in 2023 due to an ankle injury. Including the lone playoff game, Adams registered 24 total tackles, 2 for a loss, to go along with 1 pass defensed and 1 forced fumble in 427 total defensive snaps in 2023. He also logged 62 special teams snaps in all of 2023 as well. As a pass rusher last season, Adams had 16 quarterback hurries, marking a career high for him. Most of his snaps came between the B-gaps, as expected.
Outlook: Adams did re-sign with the Steelers on a two-year, $5.25 million contract this offseason, so he probably enters training camp this summer as a player with a great shot to make the season-opening 53-man roster. The Steelers, however, once again added to their defensive line room quite extensively this offseason as not only were defensive tackle Dean Lowry signed as a free agent, but defensive lineman Logan Lee was also added via the 2024 NFL Draft.
Adams is scheduled to earn a base salary of $1.25 million in 2024, with a total cash earning set to be $3 million. Adams will turn just 29 years old in July, so it is reasonable to expect to play at least one of the two years remaining on his contract at this point. The Steelers need him to be a dependable backup interior defensive lineman in 2024, and hopefully he won’t need to log as many snaps as he did in 2023.
QB Kyle Allen: The Steelers signed Allen to a one-year, veteran benefit contract in early April following him spending the 2023 season with the Buffalo Bills. Allen received a $167,500 signing bonus as part of that deal. Allen, who signed originally with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent in 2018 out of Houston, logged just 38 total offensive snaps with the Bills in 2023 and did not attempt a pass in his playing time.
For his NFL career to date, Allen has started 19 regular season games on his way to completing 441 of 704 total pass attempts for 4734 yards with 26 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. His career ANY/A stat is 5.00 and he’s been sacked 60 times since entering the NFL. Allen has rushed 162 yards on 65 attempts in his career with 4 touchdowns. He’s 7-12 as a starter in the NFL and 12 of his 19 starts came in 2019 as a member of the Panthers.
Outlook: The Steelers retooled their quarterback room this offseason as not only were veterans Russell Wilson and Justin Fields added to the roster along with Allen, but undrafted rookie John Rhys Plumlee as well. Entering training camp this summer, Allen seems poised to be the Steelers’ third-string quarterback barring injuries to Wilson and Fields occurring.
The Steelers did have three different quarterbacks start games in 2023 so Allen’s playing experience could be useful should multiple injuries or awful play occur again in 2024. For now, however, Allen’s primary focus during the team’s 2024 training camp will be to push Wilson and Fields. The best-case scenario in 2024 when it comes to the Steelers would be Allen not needing to play any meaningful snaps.
OL Spencer Anderson: After being selected in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Maryland, where he played multiple positions on the offensive line, Anderson spent half of his rookie season on the Steelers’ gameday inactive lists after making the initial 53-man roster out of training camp. In the nine total games that Anderson did dress for in 2023, he only logged one offensive snap in total and that was as an extra tight end. Anderson did, however, log 29 total special teams snaps as a rookie in 2023 on the field goal and extra point units.
Outlook: The Steelers added to their offensive line quite extensively during the offseason with three players, T Troy Fautanu, C Zach Frazier and G Mason McCormick, all arriving via the 2024 NFL Draft. With so many young offensive linemen being added this offseason, Anderson will certainly have his work cut out for him when it comes to possibly making the 53-man roster again out of training camp.
By the sound of things so far this summer, the Steelers mainly view Anderson as a guard, and that might work against his roster chances this summer should the offensive line depth chart remain relatively healthy. Should Anderson ultimately fail to make the initial 53-man roster this summer, there’s a good chance he winds up on the team’s practice squad to start the 2024 regular season.
