Braylon Heard

Steelers Reduce Roster To 75 Players

The Steelers added one player to their roster today, acquiring Josh Scobee in a trade with the Jaguars, but most of the day’s transactions for the team involve removing players onto reserve lists, or cutting them from the team entirely.

Here are the rest of the moves completed today by Pittsburgh in order to get the roster down to 75 players, according to the club’s transactions log:

Placed on reserve/PUP list:

  • T Mike Adams

Placed on injured reserve:

  • CB Senquez Golson
  • K Garrett Hartley

Waived/injured:

  • TE Cameron Clear
  • DE Niko Davis
  • TE Ray Hamilton

Cut:

  • G Miles Dieffenbach
  • WR Kenzel Doe
  • WR C.J. Goodwin
  • RB Braylon Heard
  • DE Joe Kruger
  • DT Joe Okafor
  • OL Collin Rahrig
  • CB Jordan Sullen
  • T Kevin Whimpey
  • S Ian Wild

Steelers Sign David Nelson, Put Suisham On IR

The Steelers have made a handful of roster moves, replacing two injured players with two healthy bodies. According to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (via Twitter), the team has placed kicker Shaun Suisham on injured reserve and waived/injured running back Cameron Stingily. With the two openings, Pittsburgh signed veteran wide receiver David Nelson and Braylon Heard.

Nelson, 28, has spent the last several seasons with the Bills and Jets, recording 138 catches and 1,530 receiving yards over the course of his five-year career. His best season came in Buffalo in 2011, when he racked up 658 yards and five touchdowns on 61 receptions. Most recently, Nelson grabbed eight balls in part-time action for the Jets last year, but was cut in October when the club acquired Percy Harvin. The Florida product also tried out for the Bengals this summer.

As for Suisham, we heard earlier this week that the Steelers kicker suffered a torn ACL and was expected to miss the 2015 season — this transaction confirms it. The club signed free agent kicker Garrett Hartley yesterday to replace Suisham for the year.

Heard, meanwhile, replaces Stingily in the Steelers’ backfield this month, but will have an uphill battle to earn a spot on the team’s regular season roster, even with Le’Veon Bell suspended for the first two games. Stingily figures to land on Pittsburgh’s IR if he goes unclaimed on waivers.

According to Kaboly, wide receiver Jarrod West also worked out for the Steelers before they decided to sign Nelson.

Draft Notes: Thursday

The early entry deadline for the 2015 draft is tonight. Here’s a look at the latest underclassman who will be going pro..

  • Kentucky running back Braylon Heard announced his decision to declare for the draft, as Jonathan Lintner of the Courier Journal writes. Heard, 23, originally transferred in from Nebraska and started 10 games for UK, finishing with 366 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Heard rushed 77 times for 452 yards during the 2011 and 2012 seasons at Nebraska before joining the Wildcats.
  • UMass announced that junior tight end Jean Sifrin is going pro, as Daniel Malone of MLive.com writes. “As a program, we are very happy for Jean to have this chance to pursue his goals at the NFL level,” coach Mark Whipple said in a team release. “When we spoke, we told him that we supported his decision because of how it can benefit him and his family.” Sifrin doesn’t project as a top choice, but he could go higher than he would in most years thanks to a soft crop of tight ends.
  • Check out our updated list of early entrants here.