With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we turn our attention to the offseason. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: RB Master Teague III
Stock Value: Sold
Reasoning: With Steelers fans hoping for a spirited competition for the third running back role, an audience favorite was removed from the running when the team announced the release of Master Teague III last week.
The Steelers did not add a veteran running back in free agency. They did not draft a running back. They did not sign one as a rookie college free agent. They did, however, agree to terms with Alfonzo Graham, a rookie out of Morgan State, after rookie minicamp.
Was the addition of the 5’9”, 180-pound back the reason that Pittsburgh decided a week later to release Master Teague III? Himself a 2022 rookie college free agent, Teague spent some time on the Steelers’ practice squad a year ago, but now he is off looking for another team.
It is not clear why they decided to release the Ohio State product. They do not have a full 90-man roster at the moment, so his roster spot was not in imminent need. They also do not have a large number of running backs, with only five under contract now, including Graham.
We don’t always find out why teams do what they do. In the case of former Steelers linebacker Jamir Jones, it turned out that he got into a legal issue. I don’t think that would be the case for Teague, as his release was part of a trio of terminations, including linebackers Tae Crowder and Emeke Egbule.
Still, there was a segment of fans hopeful and optimistic about Teague pushing for a spot on the 53-man roster this year. A back of bigger build, he showed some fight during training camp and the preseason last year. Injuries played a role in his struggling to stick, but ultimately the third back job went to Benny Snell Jr., who, by the way, remains unsigned.
As it stands, the third running back is most likely to be Anthony McFarland Jr., who spent his first two seasons on the 53 before being demoted to the practice squad last year. He would plug in behind Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren on the depth chart.
Moves like this can seesaw back and forth, of course. It’s entirely possible that later this summer the Steelers re-sign Teague. He’s already come and gone a few times in the past 15 months or so. If not him, then another back will be in the building at some point.
