The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2020 season is now in the books. It ended in spectacular fashion — though the wrong kind of spectacular — in a dismal postseason defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Browns, sending them into an early offseason mode after going 12-4 in the regular season and winning the AFC North for the first time in three years.
Since then, they have lost several players in free agency who were key members of the offense and defense. Multiple starters retired, as well. They made few notable additions in free agency, and are banking on contributions on offense from their rookies, as well as perhaps a last ride for Ben Roethlisberger.
The only thing facing them now as they head into 2021 is more questions. Right now, they lack answers. They know that they have Roethlisberger for one more year, but was that even the right decision? How successful can Najee Harris be behind a questionable offensive line? What kind of changes can Matt Canada and Adrian Klemm bring to the offense? And how can the defense retain the status quo with the losses of Bud Dupree, Steven Nelson, and Mike Hilton?
These are the sorts of questions we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football is a year-round pastime and there are always questions to ask, though there is rarely a concrete answer. This is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all of their uncertainty.
Question: Who if anybody will the Steelers place on the Reserve/Injured List today?
Now that the Steelers’ initial 53-man roster has been completed, the question is how much and how often it’s going to change. Given the highly irregular numbers at multiple positions—particularly eight defensive linemen and six inside linebackers—many have speculated that one likely move will be to move a player or two to the Reserve/Injured List.
In order for a player to be eligible to be Designated For Return from the Reserve/Injured List, that player must not be placed on reserve prior to the final cutdowns. The earliest that a player can be placed on reserve while being eligible for the return tag is at the end of the next business day, so if any moves are going to be made, we will hear it at or after 4 p.m. today.
According to Gerry Dulac, the Steelers have considered placing Stephon Tuitt on the Reserve/Injured List, though we’ve never gotten any kind of clarification on whether or not he actually has some kind of physical injury.
Marcus Allen also suffered an injury in the first half of the team’s final preseason. The Steelers don’t have to provide injury updates for another week, so we really don’t know what’s going on with anybody until they make a move, but both Tuitt and Allen appear to be potential IR candidates, and if that’s the case, it should happen today.
