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Pittsburgh Steelers News & Rumors

Steelers To Place S Damontae Kazee On IR

August 28th, 2022 at 9:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

Damontae Kazee signed with the Steelers shortly after the draft, coming to Pittsburgh after making 15 starts with the Cowboys last season. He will not match that total in 2022.

The Steelers plan to place Kazee on IR, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. A wrist injury led to Kazee’s exit from Sunday’s preseason finale, and Dulac adds the veteran defensive back will need surgery.

It is unclear if the surgery will knock Kazee out for the entire season, but he will not be on the Steelers’ 53-man roster. The only way Kazee could play in 2022 is if the Steelers released him from IR via an injury settlement. Kazee, 29, signed a one-year, $1.19MM deal with just $153K guaranteed in May.

The former Falcons and Cowboys starter was expected to be a Steelers backup, playing behind Minkah Fitzpatrick and the recently re-signed Terrell Edmunds. The Steelers have run into some trouble during the preseason regarding safety health; Karl Joseph landed on IR early last week.

Kazee, who led the league with seven interceptions in 2018, picked off two passes in 17 games last season. He also forced two fumbles, giving him seven over his five-year career. While special-teamer Miles Killebrew re-signed on a two-year deal in March, it would not surprise if the Steelers — after losing two veterans at the position — added a safety this week.

Steelers To Consider Extension For CB Cameron Sutton

August 28th, 2022 at 8:31am CST by Rory Parks

Steelers cornerback Cameron Sutton, who is under club control through 2022, recently indicated that he does not expect to sign a new contract before the 2023 league year. Although a report from earlier this month confirmed that no extension talks had taken place between player and team, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes that a new deal for Sutton remains “a very real possibility.”

Dulac does not say whether contract discussions have commenced, so it is difficult to handicap the likelihood of an agreement at this point. Still, newly-promoted GM Omar Khan has extended three contract-year players — Minkah Fitzpatrick, Chris Boswell, and Diontae Johnson — in recent weeks, and a Sutton extension would certainly not be as costly as the Fitzpatrick and Johnson deals. As such, there should still be time to get something done before the start of the regular season on September 11.

Sutton, 27, was selected by the Steelers in the third round of the 2017 draft. He worked as a rotational player throughout his first three years in the league, finally exceeding 50% of the team’s defensive snaps in the fourth and final year of his rookie deal in 2020. His performance that season was enough to land him a two-year, $9MM contract last March, and in the 2021 campaign, he started all 16 games in which he appeared and logged 99% of Pittsburgh’s defensive snaps.

That increased playing time exposed some weaknesses in Sutton’s game. He allowed a 104.9 passer rating as the closest defender and 8.6 yards per target — numbers well north of his 2019 and ’20 marks — and graded outside Pro Football Focus’ top-75 at the position (PFF considered Sutton a top-30 corner in 2020).

Nonetheless, the Tennessee product is in line for another significant role in 2022. The expectation is that he will line up on the boundaries in base sets and then move to the slot in sub-packages, meaning that he will rarely leave the field.

Sutton, Levi Wallace, and Ahkello Witherspoon are the top three players on the Steelers’ CB depth chart, and none of them are playing on contracts with an AAV in excess of $5MM. Pittsburgh presently has just shy of $10MM in cap space, so there is room for a Sutton extension, both from a salary cap standpoint and when considering the team’s other commitments to the cornerback position.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/24/22

August 24th, 2022 at 7:53pm CST by Adam La Rose

Today’s minor moves around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos 

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

The biggest storyline of the day for the Giants was the injury to Johnson, but they have been busy at other positions as well. Hand was a fifth-round pick of the Vikings in 2020, making 23 appearances during his time there. He primarily played on special teams, but registered an interception and three pass breakups as a rookie. Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets that Minnesota was interested in re-signing him had he cleared waivers.

The release of Akins is somewhat surprising, given the Giants’ question marks at the tight end position. The former Texans third-rounder signed just before the draft, where New York added Daniel Bellinger in the fourth round. The latter had a brief stint on the PUP list at the start of training camp, but, if healthy, could be the favorite to take on Evan Engram‘s vacated starting spot.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/23/22

August 23rd, 2022 at 4:31pm CST by Sam Robinson

Tuesday marked the day teams were forced to cut down from 85 to 80 players. Here are the moves teams made made to reach the new maximum. Players who land on the reserve/PUP or reserve/NFI list must miss at least the first four regular-season games.

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Latest On Steelers QB Situation

August 22nd, 2022 at 9:48pm CST by Ben Levine

It’s been assumed that the Steelers would roll with Mitchell Trubisky as their starting quarterback before eventually handing over the reins to rookie Kenny Pickett. However, head coach Mike Tomlin suggested that the team is still evaluating their options when it comes to the QB1. As ESPN’s Brooke Pryor tweets, Tomlin said that this upcoming week’s practices will determine a number of spots on the roster, including the “starting quarterback position.”

As Mark Kaboly of The Athletic wrote last week, the Steelers have had a focused plan as they guide their rookie quarterback up the depth chart. While Pickett had a standout performance as the third quarterback in Pittsburgh’s preseason opener, his promotion to QB2 wasn’t attributed to his performance…it was attributed to the strict roadmap created by Tomlin, offensive coordinator Matt Canada, and quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan.

“Yeah, we’ve got a system in place,” Canada told Kaboly. “Coach, we’ve had this thing mapped out since I don’t know when. We’ll continue to stay right on our plan and see where it goes.”

Many assumed the plan would see Trubisky starting at least a handful of games, especially since the veteran has exclusively taken first-team snaps in practices. The thing is, the quarterback plan hasn’t been communicated to anyone outside of Tomlin/Canada/Sullivan, with third QB Mason Rudolph even admitting that he knows “nothing about that process of what they are looking for.” So, while Trubisky was the assumed starter, the coaching staff may have always intended to have Pickett under center for Week 1.

Speaking of Rudolph, it’s clear that the 27-year-old is the third QB on the depth chart, and it remains to be seen if he’ll stick around for the start of the season. Kaboly recently wrote about the situation, noting that the Steelers haven’t actively shopped Rudolph…but they also haven’t received any calls. The writer opines that it makes more sense to keep Rudolph around as insurance, and the front office could recoup a compensatory pick when he inevitably leaves after the season. The Steelers also have Chris Oladokun around, but despite his seventh-round status, there’s a better chance he lands on the practice squad.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/22/22

August 22nd, 2022 at 4:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Teams have until 3pm CT Tuesday to cut their rosters from 85 to 80 players. Many franchises have started doing that early. Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

New Orleans Saints

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: CB Jordan Brown

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/19/22

August 19th, 2022 at 6:09pm CST by Adam La Rose

Compared to earlier this week, Friday has been a quiet day on the transaction front, but a number of teams have still made moves. Here’s the full rundown:

Arizona Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: K Elliott Fry

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Lamp, a second-round pick of the Chargers in 2017, played sparingly in his first two years but was a full-time starter in 2020. With the team making upgrades up front, though, he found himself playing in New Orleans this past season. After suiting up for over 1,100 snaps the year prior, Lamp saw action on just five special teams plays with the Saints, meaning that his roster spot wasn’t assured anyway.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/18/22

August 18th, 2022 at 4:59pm CST by Adam La Rose

Today’s minor moves around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Indianapolis Colts

  • Placed on IR: TE Drew Ogletree (story)

Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

New Orleans

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Young signed with the Raiders in May, as part of their re-vamped linebacker corps. The 27-year-old gradually grew into a larger defensive role with the Ravens before being traded midseason to the Rams in 2019. He was dealt once again last year, from Los Angeles to Denver. Starting all 13 games he appeared in between the two teams, the UCLA product had a career-year in 2021, but hasn’t done enough during training camp to catch on in Sin City. The Raiders will move forward with the likes of Denzel Perryman, Divine Deablo and free agent signings Jayon Brown and Micah Kiser in the middle of their defense.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/17/22

August 17th, 2022 at 6:13pm CST by Ely Allen

After yesterday’s deadline dump, there are plenty of new names available to be plucked out of free agency. Here’s today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Waived: LB Jesse Lemonier

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: WR KeeSean Johnson
  • Waived: WR Tyshaun James
  • Waived (injury settlement): DL Bryce Rodgers

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Placed on IR: OT Jonathan Hubbard

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/16/22

August 16th, 2022 at 7:04pm CST by Ben Levine

With the NFL dropping the roster limit to 85 players today, we’ve got a long list of minor moves to pass along:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

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