Tag: Steelers roster

Steelers bring back veteran OL to practice squad

The Steelers brough back veteran John Leglue to the practice squad.

On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced a pair of practice squad moves. The Steelers announced they signed veteran offensive lineman John Leglue back to the practice squad. To make room on the PS, the Steelers released linebacker Abge Ogundeji.

Last week the Steelers placed offensive lineman Spencer Anderson on IR so it makes sense to bring Leglue back to replace his depth.

This week the Steelers travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens with the AFC North title on the line.

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Steelers make practice squad swap on Friday

The Steelers signed RB Jonathan Ward to the practice squad on Friday.

On Friday, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced a pair of practice squad moves ahead of this week’s game with the Cleveland Browns. The team announced they were re-signing running back Jonathan Ward to the practice squad and to make room, releasing defensive tackle Domenique Davis.

Ward has been on and off of the practice squad throughout this season as the team needs depth at running back. He appeared in four games this season and has five carries for 22 rushing yards.

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Steelers open up 21-day window for key defensive reserve

Adams has been on IR since October 22.

Since October 22, backup nose tackle Montravius Adams has been on IR with a knee injury. But on Wednesday, Adams returned to practice for the first time, opening up his 21-day window to return to the roster or miss the remainder of the season on IR.

The defensive line has really missed Adams since his injury. As the primary backup to Keeanu Benton, Adams has been the guy who comes in with fresh legs and really helps shore up the NFL’s No. 4 ranked run defense.

While Adams has been out, it’s been by committee on the inside and teams have had some success running the football. The Steelers currently sit at 8-3 and in first place in the AFC North. It’s unlikely Adams will be back this week when the Steelers take on the Cincinnati Bengals but it would be great to have him back in the lineup down the stretch.

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What should the Steelers do with Justin Fields the rest of the season?

Cast your vote and let us know if you want to see more Fields or less the rest of the season.

In the last two weeks, we’ve seen the Pittsburgh Steelers work backup quarterback Justin Fields into the game plan on a limited basis. The results have been mixed but there is no denying that despite being benched, Fields brings a dimension to the offense that Russell Wilson cannot.

The Steelers currently sit at 8-3 and while they are in first place in the AFC North, their hold on the top spot is tenuous at best. With six brutal games left and the Steelers struggling in the red zone, we wouldn’t blame head coach Mike Tomlina nd offensive coordinator Arthur Smith if they chose to integrate Fields more into the offense, especially in the red zone.

Our vote is for Pittsburgh to use Fields more, with one caveat. If the Steelers want to put Fields out there more, it has to be more than just quarterback runs. If Fields doesn’t give opposing defenses a little more to think about, it makes his presence on the field more of a negative than a positive.

Cast your vote and let us know what you want to see the Steelers do with Fields going forward.

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Insider predicts Steelers to upgrade defense at trade deadline

Steelers insider Gerry Dulac believes Pittsburgh could have their eyes on defensive players at the trade deadline, primarily edge rushers.

The day has finally arrived—the exciting trade deadline!  Several analysts, players, and fans believed the Pittsburgh Steelers would be heavily involved in acquiring wide receivers at the trade deadline; however, one insider thinks that is unlikely. Steelers insider Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette predicts the team will use the trade deadline to bolster the defense, focusing on depth concerns.

Appearing on the Randy Baumann & the DVE Morning Show, Dulac stated that “I do think they might make a deal to improve their depth, and you could look at maybe certain positions where they are lacking a little depth.” He mentioned concerns with edge rushers and cornerbacks.

This aligns with relevant issues, as OLB Nick Herbig is dealing with a serious hamstring injury, and OLB Alex Highsmith recently returned from an injury in Week 3.

Whether Pittsburgh should make the safe trade or the exciting one remains to be seen. However, the trade deadline on November 5th at 4:00 PM EST is around the corner, and fans of the Black and Gold will soon know what the team’s roster will look like in the second half of the 2024 season.

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Surprising player is the Steelers best offseason addition

The Steelers added several new players this offseason who have had significant impacts on the team.

The success of the Pittsburgh Steelers this season has been due in large part to a great number of new additions to the roster. A case could be made for several players both in free agency and via the NFL draft who have been the best addition of the offseason but for us, the signing of safety DeShon Elliott ranks at the top.

Elliott has proven to be an excellent addition to a defense that’s been in need of a more versatile safety next to Minkah Fitzpatrick for several years. Elliott is adept at working in the box as a run defender but is fearless in coverage as well.

On the season, Elliott has 27 tackles, one interception, one fumble recovery and three passes defended. According to Pro Football Focus, Elliott has an overall grade of 81.7 on the season. This ranks seventh-best in the NFL. His run defense grade of 91.3 is tops among safeties.

Of course we could talk about quarterback Justin Fields as a huge addition as well but it’s hard to diminish what Elliott has meant to this defense.

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Steelers sign TE Pat Freiermuth to huge new contract

The Steelers locked up starting tight end Pat Freiermuth.

According to NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport, the Pittsburgh Steelers and tight end Pat Freiermuth have agreed to a new four-year contract for the tight end with a total value of $48 million.

The new contract, as reported by Firemeuth’s representation comes just two days before the Steelers first regular-season game and the Steelers personal deadline for negotiating with free agents.

Freiermuth figures to be a huge part of the Steelers passing offense this season under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Friermuth has been underutilized throughout his career so this payday might be the sign the team is planning to make him a focal point of the passing game.

Earlier in the week the Steelers agreed to a new massive contract with defensive tackle Cam Heyward. Heyward and Freiermuth were the team’s top priorities but there are still several guys set to hit free agency in 2025 who don’t have new deals.

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Loyalty to T.J. Watt could hurt the Steelers in free agency

The Steelers can’t let potential hurt feelings impact their contract decisions.

An interesting development in the failed trade for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk was the terms of the contract the Pittsburgh Steelers were offering to Aiyuk. It might seem like a non-issue at this point since the Niners ended up re-signing Aiyuk but this philosophy could be a detriment to the Steelers going forward in further trades and free agency.

According to NFL reporter Albert Breer, the contract offer the Steelers had on the table for Aiyuk set his annual salary just below that of outside linebacker T.J. Watt. This was by design to keep Watt the highest-paid player on the team.

The Steelers came closest to acquiring Aiyuk. They refused to give up a current player, but were willing to part with second- and third-round picks. The interesting thing is the money wasn’t as good with the Steelers, who didn’t want to go past what T.J. Watt makes ($28 million APY) and as such offered Aiyuk $27.7 million APY. 

If this is true, it’s the most ridiculous display of loyalty I’ve seen from a team that is notorious for blind loyalty. The market dictates you have to pay players what their value is, not almost what their value is so as not to upset your highest-paid player.

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Justin Fields had teammates lobbying for him to start for the Steelers

Justin Fields could bring an added dimension to the Steelers offense as a starter.

From the moment the Steelers traded for quarterback Justin Fields we knew this could be a problem. Having already signed Russell Wilson just a day before, we wondered how the rest of the team would accept these two quarterbacks who are so different.

According to NFL reporter Albert Breer, there are players within the Steelers who were pushing for Fields to be the starter over Wilson.

“This isn’t anyone’s first rodeo in Pittsburgh, and Fields took some fundamental changes that the offensive coaches gave him (one being a return to the type of footwork he’d used at Ohio State), and really worked on them over the past few weeks of camp,” Breer said. “It was enough to have some folks internally push for Fields to start. There was, too, plenty of merit to the idea. But the way it is now, again, to give yourself two shots, also makes plenty of sense.”

The Steelers got to see much more of Fields in the preseason and while he’s still a work in progress, you cannot argue how his athleticism adds a dimension to the offense Wilson doesn’t have and does seem to fit with what offensive coordinator Arthur Smith likes to do.

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PFN offers up grim outlook for Steelers quarterbacks

Just how bad are the Steelers quarterbacks?

Things are supposed to be better, right? The Pittsburgh Steelers completely reworked their quarterback depth this offseason. Out are Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph and Mitch Trubisky. In their place are Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Kyle Allen.

This group on paper is an upgrade. It just has to be. But we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge this group has struggled. In fact, Allen has been the most productive quarterback on the team in preseason. We’ve seen very little of Wilson who was simply given the starting job despite more film on Fields.

Pro Football Network ranked their worst quarterback situations going into the season and they took all this in and ranked the Steelers No. 2 with only the Las Vegas Raiders situation being worse.

https://twitter.com/PFN365/status/1829859213406814690

It won’t take long to see if this group is a strength or a weakness. We hope PFN is wrong but there’s no denying this group could be a huge problem.

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