There are not a lot of meaningful conclusions that you can reach about a player after the end of his first season, but that certainly doesn’t stop people from talking about it. You can find just about any variety of analysis that you would care to read if you just look for it, complete with bold letter grades.
I’m not going to do that. But I am going to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers’s 2015 NFL Draft class, both collectively, in this article, as was as individually, in succeeding articles.
While the tides have slowly turned in Pittsburgh regarding rookie players being held back in terms of playing time in recent years, the 2015 class outside of their first-round pick did not get a lot of burn during the year, but that shouldn’t be terribly surprising in hindsight.
The Steelers entered the draft process this year with eight draft picks, including the seven natural draft picks in each round, in addition to a compensatory draft pick in the sixth round, in addition to some notable undrafted free agent acquisitions.
Player: Ross Scheuerman
Draft Status: Undrafted
Snaps: 0
Starts: 0
It was unfortunate that rookie running back Ross Scheuerman did not get a better opportunity with the Steelers during the preseason, because he seemed to be perhaps the best opportunity that the team had at that time to find a backup running back for the season opener.
At the time, of course, the team was aware of the pending suspension for running back Le’Veon Bell, but they did not address the tertiary running back spot in a major way, only signing one backup running back in free agency and drafting none.
But they did sign Scheuerman after the draft as an undrafted free agent, and he generated a lot of talk even before he got on the field because of his versatility. The Steelers seemed to like him, but football is still first and foremost a business.
The 6’, 204-pound back suffered an injury a couple of weeks into training camp, and as a result was waived injured, but at the time of the injury, he was very much in the discussion to at least make the initial 53-man roster for the first two weeks, along with Josh Harris and Cameron Stingily.
As it would turn out, of course, all three of those running backs ended up getting injured at some point, and the Steelers were forced to find bodies at the running back position after the final cuts, but Scheuerman was unfortunate enough to not even make it far enough to reach the preseason.
The young back was also a potential option as a kick returner, but, of course, he never got the opportunity to show off his abilities in that arena. He figured to at least make the practice squad had he stayed healthy.
He was healthy enough to sign on to the Packers’ practice squad in December. As it currently stands, the Eagles have signed him to a Reserve/Future contract.
