All 32 NFL team training camps are expected be underway one week from today and while it’s not yet set in stone, it’s sounding more and more like clubs will need to pair down their rosters quite a bit in the next seven days.
According to Ian Rapport of the NFL Network on Tuesday, NFLPA leadership informed players during a call earlier in the day that team roster sizes are expected to be 80 players at the start of training camps. Team general managers are also working under the same assumption, per Rapoport’s report. During that same call, NFLPA leadership also told players there will be zero preseason games this year.
None of this is overly surprising at this point as there have been several indications the last few weeks that both roster sizes would be reduced from 90 players and that at most, one preseason game would be played. Teams won’t have much use for 90-man rosters if there are no preseason games so we can probably expect a bevy of transactions from all 32 teams starting very soon.
The Pittsburgh Steelers current roster consists of 90 players under contract so obviously 10 of them will need to be released should 80 wind up being the limit. Assuming 10 Steelers need to be released, most, if not all, players released will be rookies or first-year players.
Leading the list of candidates to likely be waived soon by the Steelers is quarterback J.T. Barrett and especially if starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is good to go for the start of training camp. Rookie punter Corliss Waitman might also be part of the 10 players released as well as the team probably won’t need two punters to get through training camp. With 10 wide receivers currently under contract with the Steelers, Quadree Henderson is yet another young player that could be a candidate to be waived soon. The Steelers also currently have 15 offensive linemen under contract so probably two of the younger ones will need to go.
