Steelers tryouts: Pittsburgh had visits with 2 wide receivers on Saturday

Two wide receivers had tryouts with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Per the NFL transaction sheet, wide receivers Chester Rogers and Ahmad Wagner were welcomed to Pittsburgh for tryouts on Saturday.

Rogers, a product of Grambling State, was waived by the Dolphins on Sept. 1, and recently visited with the Green Bay Packers. He was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2016 by the Indianapolis Colts, where he appeared in 53 games (22 starts). During Rogers’ time with the Colts, he logged 1,221 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

Wagner signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Chicago Bears this offseason, but was released at the end of training camp. Wagner was second to Lynn Bowden on the Kentucky Wildcat leaderboard, but no luck yet cementing himself as a pro.

There could be a few reasons for the Steelers’ desire to workout receivers. With Diontae Johnson (foot) having missed practice on Thursday, coaches could’ve realized there weren’t enough “bodies” for practice. Even with Johnson and starting receivers as full practice participants, there can never be enough reserves at the wide receiver position.

Deon Cain and Amara Darboh were placed on the practice squad but not protected. It could be the Steelers haven’t seen enough out of the two receivers recently to be content with their reserve depth.

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Bears waive six players ahead of Saturday’s roster deadline

Chicago released six players on Thursday morning to trim the roster to 74 ahead of the Sept. 5 53-man roster deadline.

With less than two weeks until the Chicago Bears open the regular season against the Detroit Lions, there are some roster cuts that need to be made. The Bears need to trim the roster from 80 to 53 players by Sept. 5, and they’ve already started making roster moves.

Chicago released six players on Thursday morning to trim the roster to 74. They waived running back Napoleon Maxwell, receivers Alex Wesley and Ahmad Wagner, offensive lineman Corey Levin, defensive lineman Lee Autry and linebacker Keandre Jones.

There’s a good chance some of these players could wind up on Chicago’s practice squad, which will have 16 available spots should they clear waivers. The Bears still need to cut 21 players by Saturday’s deadline.

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Steelers 2020 NFL draft preview: Tight ends

Do the Steelers need to draft a tight end?

Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

With just days to go until the 2020 NFL draft, we are going to go through all of the Steelers positional units to review the current state of the roster, gauge draft need and talk about some approaches to addressing the need.

This time, let’s talk tight ends.

Roster

The Steelers currently have three tight ends on their roster. To everyone’s surprise, they signed Eric Ebron to a two-year contract in March. Ebron and Steelers vet Vance McDonald will be the starters.

The backup job belongs to Zach Gentry who was drafted in 2019. He has only appeared in four games and has one reception to his name.