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Pittsburgh Steelers News & Rumors

Steelers Cut Eli Rogers; Reach 53

August 31st, 2019 at 3:53pm CST by Zachary Links

The Steelers got down to the 53-man max by releasing wide receiver Eli Rogers and a host of other players. Among other notables released 2019 draft picks Sutton Smith (linebacker, sixth round) and Derwin Grey (offensive lineman, seventh round), as well as Marcus Allen, a fifth-round defensive back from the 2018 class.

Rogers came out of nowhere and had a breakout season in 2016, catching 48 passes for 594 yards and three touchdowns in just 13 games. It was a promising debut, but he took a pretty big step backwards the next season when he had just 149 yards and 18 catches. Then in the playoffs, he suffered a torn ACL. The ACL took a long time to recover from, and Rogers didn’t end up making it back until Week 15 of last year.

The rest of the rundown is below.

Offensive players released:

Defensive players released:

Special teams cuts:

Steelers Trade Jerald Hawkins To Bucs

August 31st, 2019 at 2:04pm CST by Zachary Links

The Buccaneers have acquired offensive tackle Jerald Hawkins from the Steelers (Twitter link via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times). In the deal, the Bucs will swap positions with the Steelers in a late round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Pittsburgh shipped Hawkins and a 2021 seventh-round pick to Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2021 sixth-round selection, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

The deal amounts to a low-cost way to the Bucs to fortify their front five. Hawkins, a fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft, only has five career appearances and one start under his belt. Last year, he was slated to serve as Alejandro Villanueva‘s backup, but a quad tear wiped out his entire 2018 campaign.

Hawkins likely would have been cut by the Steelers, leaving his fate up to the waiver wire. Instead, he has secured a spot for Week 1, in a warm-weather destination. That’s not a terrible outcome for the Louisiana native and LSU product.

Rudolph Wins Steelers' Backup QB Job

August 30th, 2019 at 8:41pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg
  • Ben Roethlisberger has a new backup. Second-year player Mason Rudolph has won the competition to be the Steelers’ backup in 2019, sources told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Pittsburgh drafted Rudolph 76th overall last year, and he spent the 2018 season as the third-string passer behind Roethlisberger and Joshua Dobbs. During the preseason Rudolph impressed by completing 65 percent of his passes while throwing four touchdowns and only one interception, and some think he’s a potential heir to Roethlisberger. He hasn’t been cut yet, but it looks like this could be the end of the line for Dobbs, a 2017 fourth-rounder, in Pittsburgh.

Colts, Texans, Browns Lead NFL In Cap Space

August 29th, 2019 at 8:50pm CST by Ben Levine

On Tuesday morning, the NFL released a report of every team’s cap space. The total number accounts for the top-51 cap numbers on every team’s roster. Therefore, these numbers will naturally change before next week as teams set their 53-man rosters (although the 52nd- and 53rd-ranked cap numbers (and beyond) for each team will hardly change anything).

It’s also worth noting that there have been a handful of extensions, trades, signings, and cuts since this report was released. However, there weren’t any significant moves that would drastically alter these rankings.

Why are these numbers important at this time of year? Well, rosters will be trimmed on Saturday, meaning an influx of players will hit the open market. While we can’t imagine any roster casualties earning a lucrative contract from a new team, these numbers can help illustrate the monetary advantage one organization has over another. These numbers are also useful in regards to any potential trades or extensions.

With help from TheMMQB.com’s Albert Breer on Twitter, we’ve listed the league’s cap space totals (as of Tuesday morning) below:

  1. Indianapolis Colts: $56.6MM
  2. Houston Texans: $37.0MM
  3. Cleveland Browns: $34.6MM
  4. Dallas Cowboys: $26.1MM
  5. Tennessee Titans: $26.0MM
  6. San Francisco 49ers: $25.5MM
  7. Buffalo Bills: $23.3MM
  8. Miami Dolphins: $22.1MM
  9. Chicago Bears: $22.1MM
  10. Washington Redskins: $21.7MM
  11. Detroit Lions: $21.5MM
  12. Kansas City Chiefs: $21MM
  13. Cincinnati Bengals: $19.7MM
  14. Seattle Seahawks: $19.5MM
  15. Philadelphia Eagles: $18.6MM
  16. Jacksonville Jaguars: $18.2MM
  17. Oakland Raiders: $17.3MM
  18. Los Angeles Chargers: $16.4MM
  19. Green Bay Packers: $15.2MM
  20. New York Jets: $14.9MM
  21. New England Patriots: $14.1MM
  22. Baltimore Ravens: $13.4MM
  23. New Orleans Saints $7.5MM
  24. Carolina Panthers $5.9MM
  25. Los Angeles Rams $5.6MM
  26. New York Giants $5.5MM
  27. Pittsburgh Steelers $4.9MM
  28. Minnesota Vikings $4.7MM
  29. Arizona Cardinals $4.7MM
  30. Denver Broncos $4.4MM
  31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers $4.3MM
  32. Atlanta Falcons $3.4MM

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/27/19

August 27th, 2019 at 3:58pm CST by Zachary Links

It was a busy day in the NFL as teams made early cuts in advance of the 53-man deadline. We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Atlanta Falcons

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: OL Jacob Ohnesorge

Baltimore Ravens

Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Steelers Sign Jayrone Elliott, Waive Lavon Hooks

August 22nd, 2019 at 12:18pm CST by cwcrouse

The Steelers are bringing in linebacker Jayrone Elliott, according to the team’s website. To accommodate the move, the team has waived Lavon Hooks.

Elliot spent most of career with the Packers, appearing in 38 games for the franchise. He’s been a football nomad since Green Bay traded him to the Cowboys in 2017 with Dallas waiving him after just one game. Since then, he’s had stints with the Saints and Dolphins as well as an appearance in the Alliance of American Football league before it shut down.

Hooks tore his Achilles this preseason, which put the writing on the wall for his release. The 27-year-old defensive tackle has yet to play in an NFL game, instead, spending most of his time on practice squads.

AFC North Notes: Ravens, Steelers, Browns

August 21st, 2019 at 9:22pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told reporters last week that slot cornerback Tavon Young could miss the 2019 season after suffering a serious neck injury, but the club hasn’t been given an update on the status of the 25-year-old defensive back. “Nothing definitive,” Harbaugh said, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com (Twitter link). “It’s in the opinions of the doctors. I’m sure there are different ways of looking at it, so they’ll probably see how it goes in the next week or two or three, and see what the progress is.” If Young is sidelined for the upcoming campaign, Baltimore will likely deploy Brandon Carr in the slot, while Cyrus Jones is also a candidate to see work inside.

Here’s more from the AFC North:

  • John Ross will finally make his 2019 practice debut early next week, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters, including Ben Baby of ESPN.com (Twitter link). A hamstring injury has forced Ross to sit out of practice sessions thus far, but if the former ninth overall pick gets in two weeks of work, Taylor believes he’ll be ready for the season opener against the Seahawks. Cincinnati will already be without A.J. Green for the first few weeks of the season after the veteran pass-catcher suffered an ankle injury in July, so getting Ross on the field would be a boon to the club’s offense. Ross, 24, posted only 21 receptions a year ago but did haul in seven touchdowns.
  • More from Cincinnati, where receiver depth isn’t the only roster issue: Cordy Glenn has been diagnosed with a concussion, meaning the left tackle may not be ready for Week 1, tweets Jay Morrison of The Athletic. As a result, the Bengals — who have already lost rookie left tackle Jonah Williams (shoulder injury) and left guard Clint Boling (retirement), may be forced to use Andre Smith as Andy Dalton‘s blindside protector, per Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Smith, now in his fourth stint with the Bengals, does have some experience at left tackle, but the overwhelming majority of his NFL time has been spent on the right side.
  • Steelers cornerback Cameron Sutton has posted a “tremendous” preseason and could have a significant role on Pittsburgh’s defense, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. Sutton has played so well that he could potentially overtake Mike Hilton as the team’s slot corner. At worst, Sutton is likely to serve as the Steelers’ third outside corner behind Joe Haden and Steven Nelson and play as a dime linebacker in six-defensive back looks. Sutton, a third-round pick out of Tennessee in 2017, played 113 defensive snaps during his rookie campaign and 240 last season.
  • The Browns now have three candidates to replace Kevin Zeitler at right guard, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes. Veteran Eric Kush was thought to be leading the competition against 2018 second-round pick Austin Corbett, but rookie sixth-rounder Drew Forbes has also entered the mix. Per head coach Freddie Kitchens, the battle is still wide open. Corbett, though, hasn’t practiced at right guard in weeks, and is instead working as Cleveland’s backup center.

Steelers Won’t Extend Dupree, Davis, Hargrave Before Season

August 21st, 2019 at 6:49pm CST by Dallas Robinson

While the Steelers are working on a new contract for cornerback Joe Haden, the club doesn’t plan to negotiate extensions for edge rusher Bud Dupree, safety Sean Davis, or defensive tackle Javon Hargrave before the start of the regular season, according to Ed Bouchette of The Athletic. All three defenders will become free agents at season’s end, but Pittsburgh isn’t planning to discuss new deals until the offseason.

The Steelers may have a myriad of reasons not to extend Dupree, Davis, and/or Hargrave, but financial concerns are almost certainly at play. Pittsburgh currently has the fourth-least amount of cap space (~$5.213MM) in the NFL, per Over the Cap, and the club’s outlook isn’t much better next year. In 2020, the Steelers project to have just $7.7MM in available funds, seventh-least in the league.

Dupree, a first-round pick in the 2015 draft, will earn more than $9MM in 2019 while playing under his fifth-year option. An athletic testing marvel coming out of Kentucky, Dupree has mostly failed to put those traits to use in the NFL. He’s posted only 20 sacks through four seasons, and last year ranked 45th among 58 qualifying edge rushers in Pro Football Focus’ pass-rush productivity, which measures pressure created on a per-snap basis with an emphasis on sacks.

After spending most of his first two pro seasons closer to the line of scrimmage, Davis moved to free safety full-time in 2018, spending 779 of his 1,104 defensive snaps playing center field. The change was for the best, as Davis fared much better playing deep than he had in the box. He’s since hired super-agent Drew Rosenhaus, and noted the safety market’s recent explosion could have a commensurate effect on his next contract.

Like most run-clogging interior defenders in today’s NFL, Hargrave isn’t quite a full-time player. In each of his three seasons with the Steelers, he’s played between 43% and 50% of the club’s defensive snaps. Hargrave, who’s missed only one game in his career, could be a candidate for more passing down work in 2019 after posting 6.5 sacks and earning PFF’s 16th-highest pass-rush grade among defensive tackles last year.

Artie Burns Now Appears To Be A Roster Lock; Steelers Could Pursue FA Punter, TE

August 18th, 2019 at 10:22am CST by Rory Parks

Steelers CB Artie Burns, a 2016 first-round pick, was widely considered to be on the club’s roster bubble this summer, and even after he earned an $800K roster bonus at the end of July, there was still some chatter that he could be sent packing. But as Mark Kaboly of The Athletic writes, Burns has quieted those rumors with a strong training camp, and he excelled in Pittsburgh’s preseason contest against the Chiefs on Saturday. He is eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2020 since the Steelers declined his fifth-year option, and his contract year has gotten off to a great start. He now has a legitimate chance to be the team’s No. 3 corner.

  • Kaboly notes in a separate piece that the Steelers may be on the lookout for a veteran TE and/or punter on the free agent market.

Latest On Hargrave, Davis Contracts

August 16th, 2019 at 10:00pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Steelers have a few players they need to take care of. Cornerback Joe Haden is looking for an extension, and all indications are that he’s going to get it. Javon Hargrave‘s situation has flown a bit more under the radar, but he’s also heading into the final year of his deal. The Steelers drafted the defensive tackle in the third round in 2016, and he’s started at least 12 games for Pittsburgh every year since. Hargrave has been keeping quiet about his contract, but Mark Kaboly of The Athletic thinks Hargrave will get an extension from the Steelers before the start of the season.

The Steelers restructured Stephon Tuitt‘s contract late last month to free up some cap space, and Kaboly thinks they’ll use some of it here. He also writes that “Haden’s extension could very well add money to the cap so money shouldn’t be an issue.” He also notes that Haden, Hargrave, and safety Sean Davis all have a self-imposed deadline of Week 1 for a new contract to get done by. Kaboly writes that it seems like Davis “is the odd man out” in that trio, indicating he might be playing out his walk year without a new deal. Davis recently signed with superagent Drew Rosenhaus, and said at the time he was looking to land top safety money next offseason.

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