The Pittsburgh Steelers have made their initial final roster cuts of 2018 and if you were hoping for second-year quarterback Joshua Dobbs to be kept, you got your wish.
Instead of parting ways with Dobbs on Saturday, the Steelers chose to instead terminate the contract of veteran backup quarterback Landry Jones. That now means Dobbs and rookie Mason Rudolph will be the backups behind starter Ben Roethlisberger this season. It’s still not clear, however, as to which one of Dobbs or Rudolph will start the regular season as the No. 2 quarterback.
Jones, who was originally selected by the Steelers in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma, didn’t play much during the preseason. Instead, the Steelers let most of the quarterback reps during the preseason go to Dobbs and Rudolph, who was drafted in the third-round this year. Both Dobbs and Rudolph played well in the preseason finale.
During a Friday radio interview, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert wouldn’t come right out and commit to Jones being the backup to Roethlisberger in 2018.
In his six seasons with the Steelers, Jones completed 108 of his 169 total regular season pass attempts for 1,310 yards with 8 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He compiled a 3-2 record in his five regular season starts.
Jones had one year remaining on his contract that he signed in 2017. He was scheduled to earn $1.9 million in 2018, which the Steelers will save in 2018 cap space pending his roster displacement. His release results in a dead money charge of $300,000 in 2018.
