Predicting the 5 players the Steelers will release in Round 2 of roster cuts

One of the next items on the horizon for all 32 National Football League organizations in 2022 is the first trimming of their offseason roster. The roster starts with 90 players, and it used to be trimmed from 90 to 75, and then 75 to 53 not so long ago. But following the pattern established last season, the cuts are now a little different.

After Week 1 of the preseason teams have to cut their rosters from 90 to 85. After Week 2 of the preseason it goes from 85 to 80, and after the preseason on Tuesday, August 30, is when the roster needs to be set at 53 players.

That’s right, the Steelers need to trim their roster from 85 to 80 today, Tuesday August 23rd. With that said, Dave Schofield and Jeff Hartman decided to predict the five players who will be let go. We have vastly different lists, and different reasons for those lists.

Take a look at the lists below, and our analysis for why we made those predictions:

Jeff Hartman

K Nick Sciba
LB Ron’Dell Carter
NT Donovan Jeter
C Ryan McCollum
S Donovan Stiner

Analysis: When I sat down to pick these five players, I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. Sure, we can all look at the roster and predict the players who won’t be making the team, but when you are looking at who won’t be on the team for the Steelers’ third, and final, preseason game is tough. You have to look at veterans who won’t play much, and positions which need that depth to finish the preseason. I had Sciba getting cut considering the team doesn’t need a second kicker for the entire preseason. On top of that, the other positions are ones which the Steelers have a lot of depth. Not necessarily quality depth, but depth nonetheless. Other than those, I went with players who are at the bottom of the depth chart at an already deep position. I’m prepared to be extremely wrong with my picks...

Dave Schofield

S Donovan Stiner
CB Linden Stephens
WR Christian Blake
K Nick Sciba
TE Jace Sternberger

Analysis: I felt the Steelers have already released any offensive lineman they feel they could live without in order to try some new ones. So for that reason I had them keeping that unit intact. With Jace Sternberger seeing no offensive snaps in the second game, I thought he’s a prime candidate for the chopping block. The Steelers have saved Boswell‘s leg throughout camp, but there’s no reason to keep Nick Sciba around for another week as maybe he’ll get a shot to kick for somebody else this weekend. The Steelers would be fine losing one wide receiver, and I picked two players from the secondary simply because it’s the defensive position groups that are the most healthy and have the most players available. Hopefully there will not be any Reserve/Injured designations in this round of cuts.

What do you think of these predictions? Let us know your predictions in the comment section below, and be sure to stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and notes on the Steelers as they prepare for the 2022 regular season.