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The Pittsburgh Steelers didn't have a ton of question marks on their roster heading into the 2022 campaign. Obviously, their quarterback situation is worth watching, but the position didn't end up factoring into the Steelers roster cuts, which wasn't too surprising. Still, the Steelers 53-man roster cuts on deadline day did not come and go without some surprises.
Overall, the Steelers roster cuts weren't overly shocking. Many of their position battles had been resolved aside from a couple of folks fighting for some of the last roster spots. While those are certainly important, they aren't as captivating as some of the other position battles across the league.
Still, there were some surprising moves made by the Steelers along the way yesterday that certainly drew some attention. Let's take a look at the three most surprising Steelers roster cuts of the day and see how they could impact the makeup of the team's depth chart.
Steelers 53 Man Roster Cuts Shockers
3. Joe Haeg
Joe Haeg had a very solid start to his career with the Indianapolis Colts back during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Haeg was the team's starting right tackle, and seemed set to be a key piece of their offensive line for quite some time. Haeg ended up struggling through an injury-filled 2018 season, and never earned his starting gig back with the Colts back.
Haeg ended up on the Pittsburgh Steelers as a backup tackle last season, and seemed like a safe bet to continue to hold onto that role heading into the 2022 season. Haeg was often the team's sixth offensive lineman last season, and played 37 percent of the Steelers' snaps on the season, so it was safe to assume he would stick around for the upcoming season.
Haeg's spot on the roster quickly got thrown into jeopardy when Pittsburgh acquired Jesse Davis from the Miami Dolphins yesterday afternoon. Davis is a clear upgrade over Haeg, and it wasn't surprising to see Haeg cut shortly after Davis was acquired. The events leading up to Haeg's departure, however, were much more surprising, and a supposed roster lock ended up on the free agent market in the blink of an eye.
2. Trent Scott
Sticking with the offensive line, another fairly surprising release was Trent Scott. Scott was picked up in free agency this past offseason by the Steelers, and seemed like a safe bet for a roster spot as a versatile backup lineman. Instead, he's in a similar spot as Haeg, looking for a new team to join before the start of the season.
Scott had turned himself into a solid sixth man on the offensive line in previous stops with the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers. Scott wouldn't start every game, but he was versatile enough to fill in at a couple of different spots, and generally held his own when he found himself on the field.
For that reason, it seemed reasonable to expect Scott to earn one of the Steelers backup offensive line spots. Instead, he was part of the Steelers roster cuts, most likely due to the Davis trade as well. Whereas Haeg was more likely to get cut because of the addition of Davis, Scott's release was a bit more surprising given his versatility and success when he played over the past couple of seasons. For now, though, he's back to square one in free agency.
1. Jace Sternberger
Jace Sternberger had the inside track to the Steelers backup tight end role heading into training camp. It became clear throughout training camp, though, that his roster spot wasn't as secure as initially expected. Still, it was pretty surprising to see Sternberger get the ax considering the lack of proven talent behind Pat Freiermuth on the Steelers tight end depth chart.
It's not as if Sternberger is exactly a proven talent himself. Sternberger was a 2019 third-round pick of the Green Bay Packers, and ended up on the Steelers practice squad last season after he didn't pan out in Green Bay or with the Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks. Given Sternberger's introduction to Pittsburgh's offense last season, he should have had a leg up on Zach Gentry and Connor Heyward, especially considering he was a third-round pick as well.
But Sternberger got beat out fair and square by the pair of late round draft picks in Gentry and Heyward. It is surprising to see Sternberger struggle as much as he did, and it doesn't exactly bode well for his future in the NFL if he couldn't find his way onto Pittsburgh's roster given the circumstances.
This also hurts the Steelers, because now they will be forced to turn to Gentry as their second tight end behind Freiermuth. Gentry was OK in the role last season, but it's clear Pittsburgh was hoping Sternberger would be an upgrade over him. But since Sternberger struggled, and was subsequently part of the Steelers roster cuts, Pittsburgh is back to square one here.
