Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

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.

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.

September 5, 2009
By Donald Starver

The Steelers have finally published their final cuts for the 2009 season.  Head coach Mike Tomlin was originally scheduled to announce his cuts yesterday at a press conference at 4:00PM.  However, the Steelers decided not to give the other NFL teams advance notice of which players the Steelers would be releasing.  The Steelers believed that would have given the other 31 NFL teams too much time to negotiate with and steal players that the Steelers would like to sign to their practice squad.  So instead, the Steelers kept their official cuts secret until the last possible moment.

Among those cut by the Steelers were preseason star Isaac Redman, last year’s 3rd round draft pick Bruce Davis, fullback Carey Davis, Dallas Baker, and 2009 draft picks Sonny Harris and A.Q. Shipley.  Also cut was CB Anthony Madison, who was seldom used as a defensive back but was the team’s leading special teams tackler.

The Steelers tried to make last minute trades, but appear to have been unsuccessful.  One area that they would have liked to upgrade is their backup left tackle position.  Tony Hills is the top backup at left tackle, but the Steelers would rather have a more experienced veteran playing this critical role.

So the Steelers’ roster appears to be as follows:

Quarterbacks – Ben Roethlisberger, Charlie Batch,and  Dennis Dixon.

Running backs – Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, Mewelde Moore, Frank Summers, and Stefan Logan.

Wide Receivers – Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Limas Sweed, Mike Wallace, and Shaun McDonald

Tight ends – Heath Miller, Matt Spaeth, and David Johnson.

Offensive linemen – Max Starks, Chris Kemoeatu, Justin Hartwig, Trai Essex, Willie Colon, Doug Legursky, Neo….ummm, I mean Tony Hills, Ramon Foster, and Kraig Urbik.

Defensive linemen – Casey Hampton, Chris Hoke, Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel, Ziggy Hood, Travis Kirschke, and Nick Eason.

Linebackers -  James Harrison, James Farrior, Lawrence Timmons, LaMarr Woodley, Keyaron Fox, Patrick Bailey, Andre Frazier, and Arnold Harrison.

Safeties – Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark, Tyrone Carter, and Ryan Mundy.

Cornerbacks – Ike Taylor, William Gay, Deshea Townsend, Keenan Lewis, Joe Burnett, Keiwan Ratliff.

Specialists – Jeff Reed, Dan Sepulveda, and Greg Warren

This is almost the exact roster that I predicted last week in this article.  The only real changes are Summers instead of Redman, Eason instead of Harris, Ryan Mundy instead of Donovan Woods, and Joe Burnett instead of Anthony Madison.

So this is the group that will take the field for the black and gold in their quest for championship #7.  Here we go!

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