Just like was the case in 2020, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be able to protect four players on their practice squad every week as part of the new rules designed to help out teams that might be dealing with COVID-19 issues. On Tuesday, the Steelers named their four protected practice squad platers for Week 1, and that list includes some very recognizable names.
Protected this week on the Steelers’ practice squad are defensive lineman Henry Mondeaux, tight end Kevin Rader, running back Jaylen Samuels and wide receiver Cody White. This means these players cannot be signed to another team’s roster until next week.
It will now be interesting to see if any of those four are activated to the gameday roster for the team’s Sunday road game against the Buffalo Bills. The Steelers will be able to dress 48 players on Sunday as long as they have eight offensive linemen in total active for that game.
Rader, who spent most of the 2020 season on the Steelers practice squad, was quite often a protected player while on that unit.
Players can only be elevated from a team’s active roster three times during a season.
