Steelers sign OLB Ryan Anderson to their 53-man active roster

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced earlier on Saturday that starting safety Terrell Edmunds has been downgraded to out due to a concussion.

With two members of the starting secondary out for the game, the Steelers are likely to add two players from the practice squad to help fill out their roster. The Steelers have used a practice squad elevation each of the last three weeks to have an outside linebacker get a helmet in place of David Anenih, but no such elevation would be available this week if they needed to use both for the secondary.

With this in mind, it has been reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that the Steelers are signing outside linebacker Ryan Anderson to their 53-man roster from their practice squad.

Until the announcement is officially made by the Steelers, the player who will be released is only speculation. Based on Anderson‘s elevation last week in place of David Anenih, and the fact that Anenih has now spent the required three weeks on the Steelers roster after they signed him from the Tennessee Titans practice squad, he is the most likely candidate to be released.

UPDATE: The Steelers make the addition of Anderson to the 53-man roster official. The corresponding move was the release of David Anenih.

A second-round pick by Washington in 2017 out of Alabama, Ryan Andersen spent four years in Washington where he appeared in 52 games with only four starts. Anderson had 86 tackles and 6.0 sacks along with 15 quarterback hits, one pass defensed, five forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries through the 2020 NFL season. In 2021, Anderson signed a one-year contract with the New York Giants. At the very end of the preseason, Anderson was suspended for the first six games of 2021 for violating the NFL‘s policy on performance enhancing substances. Anderson was released several days later when the Giants cut their roster down to 53 players and did not play in the NFL last season. Anderson was added to the Steelers practice squad during Week 2 after the injury to T.J. Watt.

Stay tuned to Behind The Steel Curtain as the Steelers prepare to face the Bills this Sunday at 1 PM in Buffalo.