In the very near future, several of us will be posting our 53-man roster predictions for the 2016 Pittsburgh Steelers on the site and those kind of posts will continue on until the final round of cuts are ultimately made in early September. Despite many of us having well-thought-out educated guesses in our 53-man roster predictions, there’s a very good chance that none of us will hit all of them. Or least when it comes to the active players on the team for the Monday night regular season opener against the Washington Redskins and here’s why.
Over the course of the last four years, the Steelers Week 1 53-man roster has included at least one player who wasn’t on the team after the final round of cuts were made. In fact, last year the Steelers showed up for their regular season opener against the New England Patriots with three very new players on their 53-man roster. Those three players were cornerback Ross Cockrell, running back Jordan Todman and defensive end Caushaud Lyons. Cockrell and Todman were signed as free agents while Lyons was claimed off waivers from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Just prior to the start of the 2014 regular season, the Steelers surprised a lot of us when they claimed cornerback B.J. Webb off waivers from the Dallas Cowboys. Webb, by the way, wound up sticking around all season.
Ahead of the 2013 regular season, the Steelers again showed up for their Week 1 game with three very new players on their 53-man roster. Those three players were punter Zoltan Mesko, cornerback Antwon Blake and offensive lineman Cody Wallace. Mesko and Wallace were both signed as free agents while Blake was claimed off waivers from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Going back even further into the archives, you will see that the Steelers signed cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke just prior to the start of the 2012 regular season following his release from the Oakland Raiders.
With less than two weeks to go until the Steelers report to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe for the start of training camp, there’s a good chance the same 90 players who are currently on the roster are the same 90 who will check into the dorms there. Beyond that, the roster will likely be shuffled quite a bit over the course of the next four weeks and there’s a good chance that one or two players who will ultimately make up the final 53-man unit won’t arrive until long after training camp breaks
