State of Steelers Roster Battles | Steelers Morning Rush

Intro hey folks good morning and welcome to another episode of Steelers morning rush I am Alan Saunders thanks for listening thanks for watching everything on our Steelers now YouTube channel it is Monday August 12th we made it to another week of Steelers training camp it is the last week of Steelers training camp we only have two more practices at St Vincent College one practice with the Buffalo Bills at aasher stadium and then we are dunzo for training camp 2024 and it is it is starting to get late early for some folks on the Steelers 90 man roster and what I say what I mean by that is you know the first couple weeks of training camp are all about identifying what the Steelers have in players you're trying to see who can do what and who can't do what that's why quiz Watkins is out there returning punts for the first time in his professional career they're just trying to figure things out about the players about themselves their offense there's a lot of new and so you start to just let guys decide on their own where they belong and um then when you get to the end of training camp it starts to really be about competition competition for starting jobs absolutely and I think you're going to see that continue at quarterback with Russell Wilson getting his first game action this week and uh and and I expect Justin fields to follow him and play a lot in this game against the Buffalo Bills uh you're going to see it continue at Center where I believe you're going to see the most of Zack Fraser we've seen and and I do believe we will see him work at least some with the starting unit this week as they give him an opportunity to make that team um to to earn that starting role you're also going to see it though and maybe more uh in terms of where those roster cut lines fall and now that we've had two weeks of training camp under our belt in a preseason game it's starting to become pretty clear what those important training camp battles where where are Offensive Line guys fighting for spots and um so I figured I'd highlight a couple of those places because I think there are some pretty different difficult cuts on this team right now I'll start in the offense and I'll start with the offensive line I think there are uh 10 quality offensive linemen on this team you're only going to see nine of them play this week because uh Troy fatano is out he is going to miss at least this week probably next week with a knee sprain I expect he'll be on the 53 minut roster though he's going to be about healthy in time for the opener so they're probably not going to keep 10 offensive linemen who's the odd man out I think you know Mason McCormack was a fourth round pick it's hard to see him uh get getting cut loose we had talked maybe about the Steelers trading Dan Moore now I expect him to be the wor on starter so I think that's off the table uh how do they cut down this this 10-man unit on this offensive line I think guys like Spencer Anderson and Dylan cook have a lot of pressure on them and not just to avoid being cut but I mean I think these guys are legitimate tradable options if it comes down to it for the Steelers as well where they can trade from this Surplus on the offensive line uh to to get down to nine but they need to get down to nine in some way and I think that's a really interesting thing to watch especially when you're looking at that second team offensive line which will probably get pretty significant playing time this week let's move over a slot talk about tight end you know I I think this is an offense that is going to use the tight end a lot I look down at my play chart and I see 12 personnel and 13 personel all over in fact it's Personnel almost been unfair that you know they have they have 10 wide receivers and they have six tight ends and they spend way more time with more than more tight ends on the field than than receivers so it's it's like those guys have been overworked in training camp guys like Rodney Williams getting back to health um that to me is is probably a place where they keep four players and you can maybe lump a fullback in there too you know they've been using Jack ketto an awful lot I'm not sure he's been like playing like like you know I physically he doesn't seem like a guy who screams like you have to keep me but I think their commitment to the fullback position seems real so is it ketto if it's not ketto who is it is it someone else from somewhere else is it Michael puit I mean he's done it in the past but we haven't seen it out here um Connor Hayward a different kind of fullback he can do it in a receiving role but he's not your I formation lead blocker type uh I think so how many guys can they use on that spot and I think you kind of look at guys like Rodney Williams who was here all last year and is a very good special teamer um Connor Hayward Michael puit Jack coletto certainly there's three spots for those four guys but I I don't think there are four and so uh I think that's a place where you could see a cut coming from a player with NFL experience all those guys are experienced NFL players except for ketto so that's definitely an area to watch wide receiver man is still just wide open in my book you know I think obviously George picking van Jefferson Calvin Austin they're the starters they're GNA make this team Roman Wilson even though he's not healthy and hasn't been practicing he's going to make this team uh who else I I don't know you know Scotty Miller I think has been better than I expected him to be I think he has a real chance to make this team quz Watkins had really tough first preseason game uh but he had really he had probably the best practice I've seen any receiver have all training camp on Sunday um I I think that just kind of shows like how how unpredictable this this battle is you know I think they could go in a number of different directions um desit Patrick was the starting punt Gunner on Friday uh if if he wins that role does he have to make the team uh not that I think he did a very good job of it but you know they lost both of their punt Gunners from last season that was James Pierre and Miles boyin whoever wins that role may win a roster spot sort of by default and so um there're they have some some real questions at wide receiver and then obviously the the big unknown is do they add someone to this room from outside uh let's let's shift over to the defense here I think you know the defensive line has has been really good and the depth defensive line de Marvin Leal has been playing out of his mind I think he's the most improved player from the year ago um he looks awesome out there what I saw on the field on Friday didn't surprise me because he's been doing it all training camp and looking really good doing it um and I think Isa Loudermilk has been you know different kind of player not as flashy not as pass rush oriented I think he's been very good montrais Adams has been excellent uh Dean Lowry's back from the pup list how does he fit into that mix and that's that's seven I mean they they're pretty comfortable keeping seven defensive linemen but does that mean that uh rookie six round pick Logan Lee ends up on the outside looking in I think that's the way I have it right now but he certainly still has some time here to make a push to make this roster and then the secondary you know they are putting an awful lot on some young members of the secondary you know they have Joey P Roster Battles I had somebody asked me this so I'll go through it Joey Porter uh Dante Jackson M Fitzpatrick DeShaun Elliott are gonna start Damonte KY will come in in the heavy nickel beanie Bishop will come in in the regular nickel those are the starters those six guys are on the team now where do you go from there I think Cory TR has separated himself as the number three corner but he has played zero NFL games uh Darius Rush is a special teamer has a little bit of experience he can play outside and inside in a sort of bigger slot roll um I think he's someone they want to keep around but I'm not sure he's necessarily playing that well right now um then you have Ryan Watts who was a corner in college probably could still play Corner if you needed him to but the Steelers see him as a safety and they're moving him to strong safety and man is he picking it up quickly I think he's you know compared to where he was in mini camp uh just world's ahead right now and a guy that I think is playing his way onto the 53 man roster and then you have some some veteran guys guys like grayan Arnold who can play safety and he can play in the slot um he's been around a little bit you know he has some experience none of those first guys have any real I mean Rush has a handful of games uh any real NFL experience and then you have Anthony Averett who I thought has been pretty rough in the in the preseason um up more up and down in training camp but he has a ton of NFL experience so do you value the experience of a guy like AIT or do you go with the potential of someone like rush or do you decide that you need uh more of a backup for Beanie Bishop in the slot and go with someone like grayan Arnold or Thomas Graham I'll throw him in there too you know he doesn't get talked about very much I think he's played really really well and he's played both slot corner and outside corner so he has that versatility just like wide receiver special teams could be the way someone wins a job if you see you know Darius rush or Ryan Watts go down there and start making tackles on special teams or one of them serving is the top punt Gunner I think that's a really strong sign they're ahead of the game in terms of the roster battle so that's where I'm setting up these these roster battles we under the last week of training camp here uh let me know what you think and uh we also have a full 53 man roster Pro Direction up later today at Stealers now.com I haven't done that since the started Camp so make sure you check that out as well make sure you like And subscribe uh and hit that Bell for notifications here on the YouTube channel so you don't miss anything I'll be back with another practice report later on and then Steelers afternoon drive with myself and Zachary Smith you don't want to miss it thanks for listening thanks for watching and we'll see you next time