Can Dylan Cook impress the Steelers for a second straight year now that he is no longer a “sleeper”?
Few people probably gave much thought to OL Dylan Cook entering training camp last year. A first-year college free agent, he only spent time on the Buccaneers’ practice squad as a rookie. Yet he impressed the Pittsburgh Steelers last year, enough to make the 53-man roster. In fact, his emergence may have influenced the team in trading Kevin Dotson and Kendrick Green.
But Cook impressed the Steelers as a sort of “sleeper” player who performs above expectations. That’s not the way Mike Tomlin would say it, of course, but we’re not ignorant of reality. Players like Cook need to earn everything they get, and he did that last year in their eyes.
So, can he do it again? Can he make the 53-man roster a second time amid an offseason in which they drafted three linemen? With Troy Fautanu, Zach Frazier, and Mason McCormick in the mix, roster spots are getting hard to find.
Dylan Cook is primarily a tackle, but he can also play guard, though he hasn’t flexed to center (yet?). Ostensibly, he is primarily battling Spencer Anderson for the ninth spot on the depth chart, but that situation can change.
The Steelers have Isaac Seumalo, Broderick Jones, James Daniels, and the three rookies as likely hard locks. You can also project Dan Moore Jr. and Nate Herbig as locks, provided they don’t trade them. So you largely have Cook and Anderson, the eighth and ninth linemen in 2023, fighting for a final spot.
Of course, there is always the practice squad, but the Steelers have lost players like Cook from there before. Derwin Gray, Wesley Johnson, and Fred Jackson are all players they lost on waivers, the latter two from the 53-man roster. Linemen are frequently popular waiver claims—the Steelers claimed Kellen Diesch off waivers earlier this year, for example.
The Steelers’ 2024 season is approaching, following another disappointing year that culminated in a playoff loss. The only change-up in the annual formula lately is whether they miss the playoffs altogether. They have had a long offseason since the Buffalo Bills stamped them out of their misery back in January.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Does Russell Wilson make them a Super Bowl-caliber team, or are they wasting a year? How will the team continue to address the depth chart?
The Steelers are past free agency and the draft and their roster for the 2024 season is coming into focus. They made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
