The Steelers announced the release of preseason hopeful Vic So'oto, a talented and athletic outside linebacker. In doing so, it thinned down the team's competition for what would appear to be the fourth and final outside linebacker behind Jarvis Jones, Jason Worilds and Arthur Moats.
With six more players to cut today by 4 p.m. ET, it would seem the battle is between veteran Chris Carter and rookie undrafted free agent Howard Jones.
If So'oto was released with the early wave of cuts out of courtesy to give him a chance to catch on elsewhere (which wouldn't be a surprise), it would make sense. It would also suggest Carter and Jones beat him out. With Thursday's game against Carolina set for 7:30 Thursday, perhaps the team is giving Jones one last shot to make this team.
If Jones is not one of the six remaining players to be cut, it would all but confirm it's Jones' team to make. If he performs well enough, perhaps the team decides to take on the rookie over the veteran. Jones has excellent athleticism and could be a solid contributor on special teams this year. At the same time, keeping Jones through Thursday's game lessens the amount of time he'd have to be picked up elsewhere upon clearing waivers, thus giving the Steelers the chance to keep him on their practice squad.
Carter hasn't been incredibly impressive in his three years with the team, and entering the final year of his contract, he's shown what he can do on numerous occasions. The veteran likely had the advantage over both So'oto and Jones from the beginning, but high-end potential is hard to ignore, especially on a team that made a mandate of bringing in athleticism this offseason.
Not implying any kind of advanced knowledge, but with the team breaking their cuts in two waves (nine before today's 4 p.m. deadline and six coming at a later point today) only suggests the team wanted to dig a little deeper, but didn't want to make the players they were sure of sit through another meeting and/or practice. A decision on either Jones or Carter could be made today, but it seems more likely they want to give both of them another game to make an impression.