Steelers announce 2012 roster
Today was cut day. All 32 NFL teams have until 9:00p.m. to announce their 53-man roster. The Steelers wasted no time announcing theirs.
There were a few surprises, but for the most part, everything went as most fans probably expected.
The biggest surprises were that they cut Trai Essex and Jeremy Kapinos. Essex has managed to hang onto a position for years, despite his obvious deficiencies. I guess that position flexibility outweighs overall ineptitude.
One move that may have come as a surprise to some, but not to me, was that they chose to keep Charlie Batch. Batch clearly outplayed the much younger Jerrod Johnson during the preseason. And his knowledge, experience, and leadership made him an easy selection, despite his age.
QB Charlie Batch
Despite generating a lot of excitement when he was drafted, due to his size and speed, the Steelers also cut rookie wide receiver Toney Clemons.
So the Steelers’ 2012 roster is as follows:
Quarterbacks (3): Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, & Charlie Batch.
Running Backs (6): Rashard Mendenhall, Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer, Baron Batch, Chris Rainey, & Will Johnson
Offensive Linemen (9): Max Starks, Willie Colon, Maurkice Pouncey, Ramon Foster, Marcus Gilbert, Mike Adams, Doug Legursky, David DeCastro, & Kelvin Beachum.
Wide receivers (4): Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Jericho Cotchery
Tight Ends (3): Heath Miller, Weslye Saunders*, Leonard Pope, and David Paulson
Defensive Linemen (7): Ziggy Hood, Casey Hampton, Brett Keisel, Al Woods, Steve McLendon, Cameron Heyward, Alemeda Ta’amu
Linebackers (9): LaMarr Woodley, Larry Foote, Lawrence Timmons, Chris Carter, Brandon Johnson, Stevenson Sylvester, Adrian Robinson, James Harrison, Jason Worilds.
Cornerbacks (4): Ike Taylor, Keenan Lewis, Cortez Allen, Curtis Brown
Safeties (5): Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark, Ryan Mundy, Will Allen, Robert Golden
Kicker: Shawn Suisham
Punter: Drew Butler
Long Snapper: Greg Warren
Injured Reserve: Sean Spence
Note: Weslye Saunders is not technically on the team because he is suspended for the first 4 games. When he comes back, David Paulson will probably be moved to the practice squad.
I’m really surprised to see 6 RB’s and 4 WR’s. Yeah, none of the candidates for the 5th WR spot really stood out, but Batch didn’t do a heck of a lot either. Still Batch has had enough hype where it would probably be more difficult to sneak him onto the practice squad.
This says a lot about the kind of offense Haley plans to run, though. Four WR’s is about the bare minimum, and certainly isn’t conducive to an “air it out” approach to offense. If long passes down the sideline to the likes of Jon Dwyer and Wil Johnson during the preseason didn’t clue you in already, Haley is planning on keeping his running backs busy.
1Matt,
2Chris Rainey is actually listed as a combination RB/WR. So technically they do have 5 WR’s. But I think it’s clear that Haley views Rainey as his new toy. He’ll probably continue to work to find creative ways to get him the ball in space. With his speed, he should be like Dexter McCluster on amphetamines.
Yup admin is is totally right. When they want a fifth wide out it will either be Miller, Saunders(who is a very good athlete), or more then likely rainey who is a speed demon and will make alot of teams nickel or dime cornerback look silly. Plus like you said matt none of those other wide receivers made a good case. This teams has more then enough firepower and can score with just about anyone as long as the oline blocks and the o.c. calls good plays.My only question is whats up with all the safeties? I didnt get to see many preseason games but 5 safeties that seems like one to many or does one of those backup play a little corner?
3I do believe Golden can play a multitude of positions. I recall he was experimented with a bit during preseason. Additionally, expect to see him on Special Teams. The Steelers organization tends to procure versatile, muliti-positional players.
44 receivers, three tight ends who can catch like wide outs, and running backs that compliment them. i think with the speen of the rb’s and the receivers we will be well balanced and threat either way on any down. just keep Ben upright this year!!! go Black and Gold!!!!
5Agree with everyone else saying that Rainey is our 5th WR. And an RB/ KR/ PR/ special team player (he blocked a lot of kicks in college, I wonder if the Steelers will use him during FGs…) having a guy like that is great in terms of positional flexibility.
Kelvin Beachum will be the new Trai Essex.
As far as the CBs go, I guess they saw Golden as being better than any CB prospect. I agree. Plus, having a young safety to groom is always helpful, as Mundy and W. Allen are special teamers only, IMO.
How about Baron Batch? There’s our new Mewelde Moore. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dwyer to steal some of Redman’s carries until Mendenhall comes back, either. Will Johnson should be good enough at FB.
I noticed that Decastro isn’t on IR. I still don’t think we see him this year. Too bad about Spence. We could have used him this year.
Over/under on the weeks it takes for Hrappmann to get a call due to Suisham shanking kicks? Nice to see Drew Butler made it; he looks solid.
Huzzah for Adrian Robinson.
Finally, Charlie Batch will be our back-up/3rd string QB well into his sixties. He won’t go anywhere.
6DP,
Good points. Heath Miller may just have the best hands on the team. If they Steelers start using him as frequently as the Patriots use their tight ends, we won’t have to worry about how many WR’s we have.
And you’re right, one of the safeties does play like a corner. In a pinch, Robert Golden can play a bit of cornerback.
Also, remember that other teams are cutting players too. So they may pick up a CB who was cut from another team.
7Dan,
“Kelvin Beachum will be the new Trai Essex.”
I love that comment. So you think that Beachum will never win a starting job, and he’ll get Big Ben killed every time he’s in the game, but the team will keep him around for almost a decade due to “position flexibility”?
Also, they didn’t put DeCastro on IR due to the new rule that allows him to come back after week 6. Like you, I doubt that he’ll be ready to play this year. But the Steelers are always so secretive about their injury reports, that he could have only had a slight strain to his knee, and we wouldn’t even know that. Tomlin keeps his injury report as secretive as KFC keeps their chicken recipe.
8Glad to see that you kept Charlie Batch, and with the newRoster we have a fantastic group of players. just keep Ben covered this year.
9@ admin: That’s exactly what I’m thinking about Tr…I mean Kelvin Beachum. I heard that Essex told him in training camp to be as flexible as can be, so even the man himself saw it. Even still, Beachum looked dreadful. I would have rather seen Ryan Lee make it.
10Dan and Admin,
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see much of Lee’s performance. Most of the reports I have read are saying that he did well but it was against…less than stellar players. It’s easy to armchair coach a team. I wasn’t there for training camp and I haven’t been able to review the tape on the games so I’m going to reserve judgement. But, I really hope that he does not become another Essex cause we could use the slot and and cap space in so many other ways.
I don’t foresee us picking up scraps from other teams. Not really the Steelers way. Saying that, it has happened so it’s not a 0% chance…I’d say 2%…maybe 3…JS
As for the use of our TEs…I’m pretty sure we can expect to see quite a few 2 TE sets this year. Add a Rainey in the back field plus Wallace and AB and you have all the makings for a very unpredictable, target rich, and productive offense. Run + Quick Dump to AB, TE core, and Rainey anywhere underneath + Wallace goes deep = Tired, Frustrated, Mistake Riddled Defenses. Add in a franchise QB to the mix and you got a legit Super Bowl team. We got more weapons than a special forces regiment.
Primary concerns: OLine…OLine…and oh yeah…THE OLINE. Penalties and injuries have plagued us over and over again. In my opinion, 1 of these is quite easy to fix, which would be the penalties. The other should only be commented on by those in the locker room. Injuries happen but…sheesh.
11Ryan,
You’re probably right. The Steelers probably won’t sign any of the castoffs from other teams. But every now and then they surprise us.
You make a great point about the weapons. The Steelers have a RIDICULOUS number of weapons. I’d hate to be a defensive coordinator who had to play the Steelers. Do you double team Mike Wallace? Or do you double team last year’s MVP Antonio Brown. And if you do that, then who’s left to cover Emmanuel Sanders, or Heath Miller. And we haven’t even mentioned Chris Rainey out of the backfield.
Yeah, this should be a fun season for Steelers fans. But not for opposing defensive coordinators.
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