8 Players on Pittsburgh Steelers' 2017 Roster Bubble
The Pittsburgh Steelers open training camp this week, with the ultimate outcome being the selection of the 53 players who will make up their Week 1 active roster as well as the 10 others who will make the team's practice squad.
However, the Steelers' coaches already have many of those roster spots filled even before training camp begins. With 90 players currently on the roster, it is an unfortunate inevitability that many who suit up later this week won't be doing so in September.
Here are eight current Steelers who are entering camp on the roster bubble and will need strong showings in practices and in preseason games in order to find themselves on the right side of the impending roster cuts.
WR Cobi Hamilton
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Late in 2016, wide receiver Hamilton had an important role to play for the Steelers. After spending much of the season on the practice squad, he was called up to the active roster in November, a result of the team needing help at the wide receiver position.
Markus Wheaton had spent much of the year injured, Sammie Coates was trying to play through broken fingers and Martavis Bryant had been suspended for the season.
Hamilton thus started eight games to close out the year, catching 17 passes on 28 targets for 234 yards and two scores. But that relatively good showing may do him no favors when trying to make the Steelers' roster this year.
Coates is healthy, Bryant has been reinstated by the league and the Steelers also added two more receivers in the offseason—Justin Hunter in free agency and JuJu Smith-Schuster in the draft.
When also factoring in the presences of Antonio Brown, slot receiver Eli Rogers and key special-teamer Darrius Heyward-Bey, there is no roster space for Hamilton unless injuries strike or he makes himself stand out too much this summer to warrant being retained.
RB Fitzgerald Toussaint
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A season ago, Fitzgerald Toussaint was the Steelers' No. 3 running back, behind Le'Veon Bell (the starter) and DeAngelo Williams (the backup). He was also the team's leading kick returner, with 13 returns netting him 278 yards.
But this year, the addition of James Conner in the third round of the draft plus the team's signing of free agent Knile Davis puts Toussaint's roster security in jeopardy. Conner should likely take on Williams' role as Bell's top backup (considering the hamstring that had him sidelined in the spring and early summer has healed), while Davis is poised to move into the spot Toussaint had occupied in 2016.
Davis simply has more experience, both as a runner and a returner, and was also a veteran the Steelers sought out to sign in the spring. Toussaint would have to outperform him at both tasks this summer in order to get himself off of the roster bubble.
CB Senquez Golson
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When the Steelers drafted Senquez Golson in the second round of the 2015 draft, the team had big plans for the ball hawk as their nickel cornerback of the future. However, a shoulder injury cost him his rookie season and another injury, this time to his foot, kept him off the field for the entirety of the 2016 season.
Pittsburgh used the time without Golson to bolster their ranks at cornerback, drafting first Artie Burns in 2016 and then Cameron Sutton and Brian Allen in 2017.
They signed Ross Cockrell, who morphed into a key starter a season ago, and free agent Coty Sensabaugh a few months ago. And now there isn't much room on the roster for Golson, even if he stays healthy throughout training camp and the preseason.
According to Steelers defensive backs coach Carnell Lake, Golson doesn't just need to look sharp as a cornerback this summer, per the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Joe Rutter: "[Golson is] going to have to make this team on two different levels. He'll have to make it as a special-teams guy, and he'll have to make it and compete for playing time in the secondary. There is a lot on Senquez's plate."
If Golson doesn't prove himself valuable on special-teams, the Steelers won't have much interest in making room for him as a defensive back. That's certainly a defining trait of a player heading into training camp on the roster bubble.
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DT Daniel McCullers
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Daniel McCullers was a long shot to make the Steelers' roster dating back to his first year, when he was a sixth-round pick in 2014. But the team's need to have a large-bodied nose tackle (and a lack of defensive tackle depth in general) allowed him to stick on the team for the past three seasons.
However, he heads into 2017's training camp on the roster bubble.
With the Steelers increasingly reliant on nickel and dime formations with extra defensive backs on the field, a true 3-4 nose tackle has become less important to the defense.
And when the Steelers did need a defensive tackle on the field a season ago, they were more reliant on the versatile, athletic Javon Hargrave; according to Football Outsiders, McCullers appeared in only 17.4 percent of the Steelers' defensive snaps, compared to 47 percent for Hargrave.
McCullers will have to beat out Roy Philon—who has spent numerous summers with the Steelers but has never made their 53-man roster—to be a backup in 2017. That is easier said than done, though, with McCullers simply no longer the type of defensive tackle the team needs to help anchor its line.
WR Demarcus Ayers
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Like Hamilton, wide receiver Demarcus Ayers may be another victim of the numbers game this summer.
Though well-regarded by the Steelers' coaching staff, the sheer volume of wideouts on the current roster, and the number of spots on the 53-man roster already spoken for by many of them, makes him a potential cut after training camp concludes.
Ayers, a seventh-round pick in the 2016 draft, spent most of his rookie year on the practice squad before being added to the active roster late in the season. He appeared in two games, catching six passes on 13 targets for 53 yards and a score.
This summer, Ayers will have to be a standout not just at wide receiver, but also as a potential punt returner in order to secure his roster spot for a second season. The good news, though, is that with just two weeks spent on the active roster, he still will be eligible to spend 2017 on Pittsburgh's practice squad.
LB Steven Johnson
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Linebacker Steven Johnson has been in the NFL since 2012 but is just entering his second season with the Steelers.
A year ago, he was mainly part of Pittsburgh's special-teams unit, appearing in six games before being placed on injured reserve in November with an ankle injury. Though re-signed in February, Johnson will again have to stand out on special teams in order to spend another year with the Steelers.
The problem, though, is that there are numerous other players who can handle Johnson's special-teams assignments while also serving as valuable backup to the team's starting linebackers. Rookies such as Matt Galambos and Keion Adams will certainly be gunning for Johnson's roster spot, as will players at other positions, like safeties Daimion Stafford and Terrish Webb and cornerback Mike Hilton.
Johnson cannot afford to be a one-trick pony in this year's camp; if he cannot prove his value both as a linebacker and a special-teamer, his roster spot will go to a player who has demonstrated more versatility.
QB Bart Houston
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The Steelers currently have four quarterbacks on the roster as training camp approaches: Starter Ben Roethlisberger, backup Landry Jones, 2017 fourth-round draft pick Joshua Dobbs and undrafted rookie Bart Houston. And with the Steelers never keeping more than three on the 53-man roster (and two on the 46-man game day roster), one is inevitably going to be the odd man out. And that man appears to be Houston.
Houston, who started just one full season for Wisconsin (in 2016) and did not cost a draft pick to acquire, is simply a "camp arm," one who may get some playing time early in the preseason but who has an extremely slim chance to beat out Dobbs for a roster spot this summer.
The best that Houston can hope for is a strong enough showing that the Steelers opt to give him a spot on the practice squad for 2017, but ultimately his release at summer's end seems hard to avoid.
LS Kameron Canaday
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When the Steelers used a sixth-round draft pick on Colin Holba, the other long snapper on the roster, Kameron Canaday, was quickly released. However, the Steelers chose to bring Canaday back in late May once long-time starter Greg Warren retired.
In doing so, they also created at least the semblance of a training camp battle brewing between the two men.
However, it's hard to imagine a situation outside of injury in which Canaday will be the Steelers' long snapper this season rather than Holba. For one, the Steelers used a draft pick on Holba—and not their last of the year.
Another knock against Canaday's roster chances is the reason why the Steelers coveted Holba; according to the team's general manager Kevin Colbert, "not many come along that are that size who are competent snappers."
Colbert noted that long snappers in the NFL are generally 6'1" and around 220 pounds, while Holba is 6'4" and 248 pounds. That size advantage not only made the Steelers want to use a draft pick on him, but it also gives him an advantage over Canaday, who will likely see his second release from Pittsburgh in a month's time.
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