The Pittsburgh Steelers have now announced the four players on their practice squad they’re protecting for Week 3 and one of those players was just signed on Tuesday.
According to the daily NFL transaction sheet, the Steelers are protecting practice squad players defensive end Taco Charlton, safety Karl Joseph, running back Jaylen Samuels and outside linebacker Derrek Tuszka for Week 3
The Steelers signed Charlton, a former first-round draft pick out of Michigan, to their practice squad on Monday. Its interesting that they listed him as a defensive end as well as he really would seem to fit better as an outside linebacker in the Steelers system due to his skill set. It will be interesting to see if the Steelers ask Charlton to gain or lose weight. Gaining weight would make him more of a defensive end while losing weight would make him more of an outside linebacker.
As for the other three protected practice squad players for Week 3, this is the third week in a row that Samuels has been protected and the second consecutive week that Joseph has been on the list. As for Tuszka, this is his first time being listed as a protected practice squad player since he was signed to the 16-man unit just ahead of Week 1.
The Steelers have two outside linebackers currently dealing with groin injuries in T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith so that’s likely the reason that both Charlton and Tuszka are being protected this week. We’ll find out by Saturday night if any of the four protected practice squad players will be elevated to the active/inactive roster for Sunday’s home game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
