Way back in early May; several folks followed Dave Bryan’s lead and offered their own post-draft predictions on the initial 53-man roster. I posted my own post draft 53-man roster prediction including links to Dave Bryan, Alex Kozora & Matt Marczi’s post draft roster predictions. Also, Steelers Depot readers sent their own predictions. Cuts were made less than 19 hours ago but there will be transactions by the time I finish typing this article such as the rumored player going on IR and replaced by Nat Berhe. However, the Steelers revealed their very first 53-man roster with the release of 37 players and that will be used for grading purposes.
There were some injuries to players that many of you thought would make the roster like offensive linemen Jerald Hawkins. However, there were some cuts that clearly surprised many of you including Brian Allen, Keion Adams, and Landry Jones as they were on many folk’s rosters right up until yesterday. Of course, Le’Veon Bell is not currently on the roster, but all will be given credit for selecting him. The situation with Bell not signing his franchise tag sheet is unique.
The grading scale was generous. You just needed 37 correct to earn a passing grade. You earned a B by getting 43-47. 48 or more and you would earn yourself an A. It may sound easy but difficult to really excel. No one could have predicted WR Ryan Switzer or OL Zach Banner since they were not even on the 90-man roster in May. The best anyone could achieve is 51 correct answers on their post-draft 53-man roster.
Alex Kozora came close to getting an A with 47 correct responses. He correctly predicted that Landry Jones would not be on the roster. His only miscues were WR Marcus Tucker, DL Greg Gilmore, LB Keion Adams, LB Art Moats, CB Brian Allen & S Nat Berhe. Alex even correctly predicted the Steelers keeping five safeties.
However, the Steelers Depot Valedictorian with be the highest number of correct responses was LucasY59 who scored 48 and was the only A. Here was the roster he prognosticated way back on May 8, 2018:
OFFENSE (24)
Quarterbacks (3) Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, Joshua Dobbs
Running Backs (3) Le’Veon Bell, James Conner, Jaylen Samuels
Fullbacks (1) Roosevelt Nix
Wide Receivers (5) Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Washington, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Justin Hunter
Tight Ends (3) Vance McDonald, Jesse James, Xavier Grimble
Offensive Linemen (9) Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, Ramon Foster, Marcus Gilbert, Alejandro Villanueva, B.J. Finney, Matt Feiler, (Jerald Hawkins), Chuks Okorafor
DEFENSE (26)
Defensive Linemen (6) Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, Javon Hargrave, L.T. Walton, Tyson Alualu, (Joshua Frazier)
Inside Linebackers (5) Vince Williams, Tyler Matakevich, Jon Bostic, L.J. Fort, Matthew Thomas
Outside Linebackers (5) Bud Dupree, Anthony Chickillo, T.J. Watt, (Keion Adams), Olasunkanmi Adeniyi
Cornerbacks (5) Artie Burns, Joe Haden, Cameron Sutton, (Brian Allen), Mike Hilton
Safeties (5) Sean Davis, Morgan Burnett, Terrell Edmunds, (Nat Berhe), Marcus Allen
SPECIALISTS (3)
Kicker (1) Chris Boswell
Punter (1) Jordan Berry
Long Snapper (1) Kameron Canaday
Hats off to LucasY59, that was an excellent job!
In the 2018 Memorial Day Weekend: Steelers Friday Night Five Questions, I committed to play songs that Steelers Depot respondents had suggested might be the new Steelers anthem if Renegade by Styx was ever replaced. Here is entry 18 of 45 from Steven Small: Who Am I? by Snoop Dogg. Steve suggested Snoop do an original song about the Steelers; so, Snoop if you reading this lay down some lyrics on the Black & Gold.
