Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said that assembling a 53-man roster is mostly a “cut and dry” process. On the whole, you know about 50 of the 53 players any year, give or take a couple, with few real discussions necessary to close the gap between two players. That is before you weigh into the waiver wire and all other considerations, though.
All of this is a long way of saying the Steelers didn’t really surprise with their 53-man roster this year. There was one surprise, though, and I think that’s worth discussing. Well, you could argue two surprises, and we can get to that too—in fact, let’s get it out of the way.
Most people assumed the Steelers would carry Thomas Graham Jr. as a slot defender, but instead they opted for Jalen Elliott. In the grand scheme of things, that is not exactly an earth-shattering development.
But the Steelers carrying sixth-round rookie Logan Lee as one of eight defensive linemen is certainly a surprise. Or it is a surprise to those on the outside because it’s worth acknowledging that multiple beat writers predicted he would make the team. They obviously have more inside information than we do and likely knew the coaches liked him quite a bit.
Now, that doesn’t mean the Steelers are going to keep Lee around for the long term—he could be gone by the time you read this, really, because the roster is always fluid during this time. But let’s consider the reasons that he ended up here, and why it’s still arguably a surprise.
First and foremost, eight defensive linemen are a lot for a 3-4 team, but there are mitigating factors to consider. The Steelers only kept three true outside linebackers, and they view DeMarvin Leal as effectively that fourth. With the change in the kickoff rules this year, it also opens the door for linemen to participate more frequently. It’s not unprecedented for defensive linemen to run down kicks, but now it will be reasonably common. I don’t know if Logan Lee will—he only worked on the field goal units—but others might.
A sixth-round pick out of Iowa, Logan Lee played the majority of his preseason and training camp snaps at nose tackle. The only problem with that is he is not a nose tackle, and he didn’t look like one. He gave a valiant effort, but the Steelers played him out of position, and they know it.
But the fact that the Steelers know that they asked him to do something that isn’t his strength works in his favor in the evaluation. Presumably, he wouldn’t be on the 53-man roster right now if that weren’t the case. The Steelers also want to insulate the position this year and build for the future, hoping they can develop Lee.
Still, eight linemen with the eighth lineman having not even looked particularly good still amounts to a surprise. As a late-round pick, the Steelers likely could have snuck Logan Lee onto the practice squad. They may still try to do that, and he shouldn’t consider himself safe.
Any position with a surplus is ripe for adjustment, and the Steelers will be looking for shore up weak spots. Lee might be the 53rd player on the roster right now. If the Steelers find themselves another backup center, he could be the one waived to make room. Unless or until that happens, however, he remains the biggest surprise on the Steelers’ 53-man roster.
