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Steelers Cut Down To 53

August 31st, 2021 at 3:38pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Steelers became the latest team to officially get their roster down to 53 players on Tuesday. More shuffling can be expected in the days to come, but the initial 53 is set. Here’s who didn’t make the cut:

Waived:

Placed on season-ending IR:

Some of these names will certainly be familiar, including Samuels. The 2018 fifth-round pick from N.C. State received a lot of run in his first two years as a hybrid player, and got 113 touches in 2019. He fell out of favor last year, playing sparingly and only getting 18 touches. With the team drafting Najee Harris in the first-round, there was no longer any need for him.

Finney was with the Steelers from 2015-19, and started at least two games in four straight years from 2016-19. But he wasn’t able to crack the 53-man roster in his return after spending last year with the Seahawks and Bengals. Notably, former first-round quarterback Dwayne Haskins has made the initial 53-man roster behind Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph. Dobbs will spend the whole year on IR after getting hurt in the preseason finale.

Steelers Release P Jordan Berry

August 30th, 2021 at 7:41pm CST by Ben Levine

The Steelers have settled on a new punter. The team released veteran Jordan Berry today, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter). This means rookie seventh-round pick Pressley Harvin III has won the starting gig.

Berry, a 2014 undrafted free agent out of Eastern Kentucky, had been with the Steelers since the 2015 season. Berry didn’t miss a game through his first five seasons in the NFL, averaging 44.2 yards per punt on his 328 attempts. It looked like his stint in Pittsburgh had ended in 2020 when the team released him in favor of Dustin Colquitt, but the team reversed course and re-signed Berry in October. The veteran ended up seeing time in 11 games last season, and he finished with a career-high 45.8 yards per punt.

Harvin will now take over the starting gig following a standout career at Georgia Tech. The punter earned a long list of accolades in 2020, including unanimous first-team All-American, first team All-ACC, and the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation’s top punter.

The Steelers special teams room will look a bit different in 2021, as the team also swapped long snapper Kam Canaday with Christian Kuntz. This leaves kicker Chris Boswell as the lone holdover.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/30/21

August 30th, 2021 at 4:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here. Teams have until 3pm CT Tuesday to pare their rosters down to 53 players.

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: LB Darron Lee

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/28/21

August 28th, 2021 at 4:49pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Saturday’s minor moves. Teams have until 3pm CT Tuesday to cut their rosters down to 53 players.

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

OL Stefen Wisniewski Announces Retirement

August 26th, 2021 at 4:21pm CST by Sam Robinson

Stefen Wisniewski started in each of the past two Super Bowls and played 10 NFL seasons. The veteran offensive lineman will not attempt to play an 11th, announcing his retirement Thursday (via Twitter).

Although Wisniewski did not participate in a playoff game until his seventh season, the interior O-lineman started in three of the past four Super Bowls. He collected Super Bowl rings as a starting guard for the 2017 Eagles and 2019 Chiefs, and after an injury settlement with the Steelers last year, the veteran blocker found his way back to Kansas City and saw injuries thrust him into a starting role for Super Bowl LV. He played every Chiefs offensive snap in that game.

Both Wisniewski’s father and uncle (ex-Raiders Pro Bowler Steve Wisniewski) played in the NFL, and Stefen followed suit with 106 starts in his career. The Raiders drafted Stefen in the 2011 second round and plugged him into their starting lineup immediately. He spent four seasons in Oakland, starting at guard and center, before signing a one-year deal with the Jaguars in 2015. Wisniewski’s most notable contract came on his second Eagles deal — a three-year, $9MM accord — in 2017.

After beginning the ’17 season as a backup, Wisniewski started 11 regular-season games and three playoff contests for the Eagles’ first Super Bowl-winning team. The Eagles tried Isaac Seumalo and Chance Warmack at left guard initially that year, but Wisniewski proved to be the solution. Seumalo ended up taking the reins after that season, leading Wisniewski to Kansas City, where he ended up finishing his career.

Steelers Have Big Plans For Joe Schobert

August 19th, 2021 at 7:51pm CST by Sam Robinson
  • Shortly after trading for Joe Schobert, the Steelers have restructured the veteran linebacker’s contract. Schobert’s 2021 cap number has dropped to $1.74MM, with Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeting the move will create nearly $2MM in cap space. The Steelers frequently restructure contracts to create cap space, and the team has a rather critical contract to complete soon. T.J. Watt has gone through with a partial hold-in, staying out of team drills until he lands an extension. The Steelers are not believed to be eyeing a Minkah Fitzpatrick re-up until next year, with the safety under contract through the 2022 season, putting a Watt deal center stage. Watt’s contract is up after 2021.
  • The Steelers are preparing Schobert for a big workload. The former Browns linebacker is slated to start, be Pittsburgh’s dime ‘backer and wear the green dot that signifies he will communicate with coaches pre-snap, Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com tweets. Quite the plan for a player who has been with the team less than a week, but Schobert played 99% of his team’s defensive snaps in each of the past two seasons. Pittsburgh’s designs for Schobert will mark a transition for Devin Bush, but Steelers DC Keith Butler said (via The Athletic’s Ed Bouchette; subscription required) the team wants the former first-round pick to focus solely on returning to full strength. Bush is coming back after suffering an ACL tear last October.

Latest On Steelers WR James Washington

August 18th, 2021 at 9:49pm CST by Ben Levine

There were reports earlier this month that Steelers wideout James Washington had requested a trade, a report that head coach Mike Tomlin later denied. Washington addressed the rumors today, and while he didn’t specifically acknowledge the trade request, he also didn’t deny the report.

“That’s a private conversation,” Washington said (via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor). “As far as me being happy in Pittsburgh, I love it here. Who wouldn’t be happy playing football as their job? I come to work every day with a smile on my face. I’m eager to be here with my guys — joking around, laughing, playing a sport I love.”

Washington was willing to acknowledge that he’s talked about his reduced offensive role with the coaching staff.

“It’s been talked about,” Washington said. “But I’m just trying to do what I can. I just want to show people I can be available and make the plays they want me to make. Just do what I need to do.”

Washington, a 2018 second-round pick, saw a jump from 38 targets as a rookie to 80 looks in 2019. During that 2019 campaign, caught 44 passes for 735 yards and three touchdowns. However, his targets dropped to 56 in 2020, with the receiver finishing his third NFL season with 30 grabs for 392 yards and five scores. His yards per catch average also dropped, going from 16.7 to 13.1.

This summer, Washington still found himself buried on the depth chart during the early parts of training camp, leading to rumblings that he was seeking a trade.

Ben Roethlisberger has never been shy about spreading the ball around, so there could definitely be a role for Washington in Pittsburgh in 2021. However, the 25-year-old currently has to compete with JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool, and Diontae Johnson for targets, limiting his upside.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/17/21

August 17th, 2021 at 5:29pm CST by Zachary Links

Tuesday afternoon marked the deadline for teams to cut down from 90 to 85 players. We’ll keep track of those cuts and the day’s other minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: WR Jeff Badet

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Steelers To Acquire Joe Schobert From Jags

August 15th, 2021 at 10:00am CST by Sam Robinson

Aug. 15: The Jags are paying $3.65MM of Schobert’s 2021 pay, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports. That is exactly half of Schobert’s $7MM base salary plus $300K in per-game roster bonuses. Schobert is also converting $2.36MM of his remaining salary into a signing bonus in order to decrease his cap charge on Pittsburgh’s 2021 books.

Schobert’s non-guaranteed salaries of $8.75MM, $10.25MM, and $10.75MM from 2022-24 will remain unchanged.

Aug. 12: Joe Schobert is headed back to the AFC North. The Jaguars are trading the veteran linebacker to the Steelers, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter). The Steelers will send a 2022 sixth-round pick to the Jags to complete this deal, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Schobert will end up having spent just one season in Jacksonville, with the team’s new regime moving in a different direction. The Steelers will pick up the sixth-year vet’s five-year, $53.75MM contract. This addition comes a few weeks after longtime Pittsburgh inside linebacker Vince Williams announced his retirement.

The Steelers are plenty familiar with Schobert, who worked as a Browns starter for three seasons prior to his March 2020 departure for Jacksonville. Schobert led the NFL with 144 tackles in 2017, earning him a Pro Bowl nod, and he led the Browns in stops in 2018 and ’19 as well. Schobert, 27, paced the Jags in tackles in 2020, with 141, but the effort came for a team that capped a 15-game losing streak that produced the No. 1 overall pick. That led Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer to Jacksonville, where changes are taking place.

Pittsburgh has Devin Bush returning from a torn ACL; Schobert will provide the team with a proven starter alongside its 2019 first-round pick. A former fourth-round pick out of Wisconsin, Schobert is set to earn $7MM in base salary this year. This move will hand the Jaguars a few million in dead-money charges, but the team leads the NFL in cap space as of Thursday.

Mike Tomlin has been high on Schobert’s coverage ability for a while, per ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler (via Twitter). Pro Football Focus did not view Schobert as a plus coverage ‘backer in 2020, but he graded in the top 15 overall at the position in 2018. Schobert will soon adjust to his fourth defensive system in four seasons. Of course, that was already the case with the Jaguars retooling their staff under Meyer.

Schobert and Myles Jack resided as the most productive players in the Jags’ lineup last season, with numerous backups joining them in the lineup as the season careened off course. The team has since signed Damien Wilson and used a fourth-round pick on Jordan Smith at linebacker. They also added ex-Alabama standout Dylan Moses as a UDFA, though he remains on the team’s NFI list.

Bold Take Pod’s Eric Dilla was the first to report a trade was in the works (Twitter link).

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