The Pittsburgh Steelers placed OT Dylan Cook and OLB Jeremiah Moon on injured reserve Tuesday afternoon as they trimmed their roster to 53 players. Both were designated to return, meaning they’ll miss at least the first four weeks of the season but could return after that. The Steelers announced those moves today after making their final roster cuts.
Cook suffered a foot injury sometime prior to the preseason finale against the Detroit Lions, not playing in this past weekend’s contest. A promising tackle signed in May 2023, Cook impressed last summer and spent the entire 2023 season on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster. Most of that time was spent as a reserve/inactive, Cook not logging an offensive snap all season.
In this year’s training camp, Cook primarily served as the team’s second-team left tackle, though he played a bit of right tackle after rookie Troy Fautanu sprained his MCL against the Houston Texans. Cook entered camp possibly able to take a run at a swing tackle role. While his preseason performance wasn’t poor, he didn’t quite take the jump we expected. Here’s how we evaluated him in our post-camp report.
“Cook’s camp wasn’t bad. He’s still athletic, uses his hands well, and rarely has a terrible rep or bad day. So perhaps it’s unfair to critique him without a clear red mark on his camp grade. I just thought it’d be a little more…next level. A little more, ‘This is the guy.’ Pittsburgh also moved him around less this year than last year. Really, they didn’t move anyone besides Broderick Jones until injuries forced their hand.
“Cook spent most of camp at left tackle, only playing a little bit on the right side after Fautanu was injured, and zero guard after seeing late-summer work there a year ago. Granted, Pittsburgh had a stronger and deeper line, especially along the interior, so there really weren’t opportunities to be flexible.”
And we gave him a C-plus grade.
After having great o-line injury luck the past two seasons, Pittsburgh has dealt with tackle injuries this preseason. Fautanu’s knee injury, Broderick Jones’ elbow/arm issues, and Cook’s foot injury. With Cook out, Spencer Anderson figures to serve as the team’s offensive line chess piece, playing right tackle and both guard spots throughout the preseason.
As for Moon, he entered camp projected to serve as the team’s fourth outside linebacker, but injuries sidelined him, and he didn’t play in the team’s preseason finale against the Detroit Lions. The nature of his injury is undisclosed, but he’ll miss time early in the season with the chance to return after a few weeks.
Moon was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Ravens early in the offseason. He had 12 tackles in eight games and one start for the Ravens last season. He also contributed on special teams, playing 142 special teams snaps for Baltimore.
Both Cook and Moon were designated to return, but S Ryan Watts and OLB Julius Welschof went on IR without a return designation, meaning both will miss the season. They both suffered injuries in the team’s preseason finale.
