Thirty-seven players on average are cut from every roster in the NFL at this time of year. Sixteen end up back on practice squads while others are placed on reserve lists of one kind or another, but that still leaves us with several hundreds of players who have lost their jobs, including veterans who have only known one team.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ initial trim-down to a 53-man roster included the excision of several of their own former draft picks, either through trade or release, and it’s possible that there are more to come before the regular season begins. At least one or two more moves are to be expected between the initial cuts and the start of play.
Leading up to the week of cuts, I previewed a list of eight former draft picks who were potentially in jeopardy of losing their roster spot in Pittsburgh. Of that list of eight, four are gone, two of them having been traded for draft picks.
The Steelers swapped out fourth-year G Kevin Dotson with the Los Angeles Rams, trading mid- to late-round future draft selections. Pittsburgh gets back a fourth in 2024 and a sixth in 2025 in exchange for a fifth in 2024 and a seventh in 2025.
They also dealt third-year iOL Kendrick Green yesterday, sending him to the Houston Texans and getting back a 2025 sixth-round pick in return. Most assumed that, one way or another, he would not wind up on the roster, so getting draft capital in return was a highly favorable outcome.
Third-year DB Tre Norwood’s release was not a surprise after missing much of training camp and the preseason due to injury. With other slot and safety options emerging such as Chandon Sullivan and Elijah Riley, in addition to their special teams value, the team was prepared to move on, at least for now.
Another release was TE Zach Gentry, going into his fifth season. Not a great surprise after the team only re-signed him as an unrestricted free agent to a veteran salary benefit deal. The drafting of Darnell Washington ultimately made him expendable.
While the initial 53-man roster is set, the group remains flexible. The glaring abnormality currently is the retention of two punters, both Pressley Harvin III and Braden Mann. While the Steelers are expected to try to deal Mann, there is an outside possibility that a team may only offer to acquire Harvin via trade. If they only get offers for Harvin, they will have to weigh the return against the difference in value between the two punters.
RB Anthony McFarland Jr. claimed the third spot on the depth chart behind Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, but it’s not outside of the realm of possibility that they continue to look for an alternative option here. He was already waived a year ago, so he’s been through this before.
Teams also occasionally hold non-vested players to allow the initial round of waiver claims to pass in the hopes of their own waived players having a better chance of sneaking through. The Steelers did that with OLB Tuzar Skipper a couple years ago and with OLB Anthony Chickillo and CB Doran Grant in 2015.
One other note: the team is heavy on defensive linemen now with all of Montravius Adams, Armon Watts, and Isaiahh Loudermilk kept. At least one, if not two of them, will be healthy scratches, so they will be vulnerable to release at any point with any roster move that needs to be made. Adams’ $2.5 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed after the opener. Loudermilk would be the least painful to cut, even in-season. Financially, however, he would also be subject to waivers as a non-vested veteran.
