History Indicates Reason To Believe More Help Coming Soon For 2021 Steelers

Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 rookie minicamp practices have concluded, it’s the time of the year when we will soon see another round of 53-man roster predictions well before the team reports to Latrobe for the start of training camp. While these roster prediction exercises are indeed fun to do and evaluate, the odds of any one of them ultimately being 100 percent accurate are very, very slim, for several obvious reasons.

While injuries and training camp battles usually play a big role in which players ultimately make the Steelers 53-man roster every year, the fact that the team has a long history of having players wind up on their Week 1 roster who weren’t under contract with the team during the start of organized team activities that follow the rookie minicamp weekend needs to be greatly acknowledged.

In case you need your annual reminder, dating back to the 2012 season, the Steelers have had an average of at least three players on their 53-man roster for Week 1 that weren’t even under contract with the team following rookie minicamp weekend taking place.

Last year, for example, the Steelers added wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud, quarterback Joshua Dobbs, safety Sean Davis and punter Dustin Colquitt to the team just prior to the regular season getting underway. McCloud was the earliest add of those four players on Aug. 21, which was way after training camp had gotten underway.

In 2019, wide receiver Johnny Holton was signed to the offseason roster on May 13, and he was on the Week 1 roster that year. That year was also the only year the Steelers had just one player on their 53-man roster that wasn’t with the team after their annual rookie minicamp took place.

Remember the additions of tackle Zach Banner and wide receiver Ryan Switzer in 2018? Banner was signed to the offseason roster after training camp got underway that year, while Switzer was acquired via a trade right before the regular season got underway.

If you are starving for more examples dating back to 2012, I have them listed below.

So, can we count on the Steelers adding another player or two before the start of the 2021 regular season that will ultimately be on the team’s Week 1 53-man roster? I would bet money on that happening. Outside linebacker, tight end, and safety are three positions for the Steelers that could still use some attention via a free agent addition in the next 17 weeks. We have already seen the Steelers add defensive back Arthur Maulet since the draft took place. Additionally, the Steelers apparently had interest in signing outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan before he inked a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles a few days ago.

In closing, no, the Steelers are not done building the bottom of their 53-man roster for 2021. That should give all of you something to look forward to for the next 17 weeks.