As mandated by the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers have trimmed their roster from 85 to 80. To do so, the team released five players Tuesday, headlined by OLB Genard Avery. The other four include: QB Chris Oladokun, RB Mataeo Durant, WR Christian Blake, and K Nick Sciba.
Avery was running as the team’s #3 OLB and played well in Saturday’s win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, the team will turn to Derrek Tuszka, while Hamilcar Rashed Jr.’s odds of making the team have shot up. They could also look for pass rush help after final cutdowns.
Oladokun’s release was previously announced. He was the team’s seventh-round selection out of South Dakota State and saw very little playing time during the summer. Durant was an UDFA out of Duke but struggled in camp and had an ugly fumble in this weekend’s game. Blake was signed after injuries hit the WR room but had no path to sticking with the team. Sciba made the team as a tryout player but had no chance at beating out Chris Boswell.
The five cuts create a combined nearly $180,000 in dead money.
Teams must reduce their rosters from 80 to 50 by next Tuesday, August 30th, at 4 PM/EST.
