With the Steelers set to kick off training camp, some fringe veterans on the roster bubble must secure their spots. Opinions will vary about who is vulnerable and to what extent, but some are easy enough to predict. On the eve of camp, Steelers beat writer Mike DeFabo provided his own list of players.
Listing eight players on the roster bubble, DeFabo included four Steelers in one-on-one battles. Most on the list won’t surprise you, but perhaps the one-on-one matchups will, to a degree. Some battles will only take shape after we gauge the numbers needed at other positions.
That applies, for example, to the first name on the list, Cordarrelle Patterson. Even DeFabo has openly wondered why he is still on the team. He is certainly on the Steelers’ roster bubble, but I think most are jumping to conclusions. The fact that he is still here entering camp should tell you they aren’t just doing him a favor. “In a crowded backfield now featuring Jaylen Warren, Johnson and Kenneth Gainwell”, DeFabo writes, “can Patterson keep his roster spot as a “Joker” or could he be a 34-year-old cut candidate?”.
Next on the list of Steelers on the roster bubble is DeMarvin Leal, but this could easily be a versus. Leal is going against Isaiahh Loudermilk, Logan Lee, Dean Lowry, Daniel Ekuale, and Esezi Otomewo. Only two or three of them will make the team. DeFabo predicts he doesn’t make it out of this group.
Mark Robinson is another obvious veteran Steelers player on the roster bubble, now in a crowded room. And that’s not just because they drafted Carson Bruener, who seems to be his direct competition. They already have Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson, Malik Harrison, and Cole Holcomb. DeFabo doesn’t really make a prediction but points out Holcomb’s inclusion in special teams this summer.
The last Steelers veteran DeFabo names without pitting him against another on the roster bubble is Connor Heyward. After the trade for Jonnu Smith, Heyward certainly looks a lot less important. Still, DeFabo predicts he makes the roster due to his special teams contributions, and I concur.
Even though the Steelers re-signed Ben Skowronek to a two-year, $4.475 million contract, DeFabo believes he shares roster bubble status with Scotty Miller. “Miller’s shifty route running might be a match with [Aaron] Rodgers”, he argues. “We’ll see how that position battle plays out on the back half of the depth chart”.
The last roster bubble duo features Steelers cornerbacks Beanie Bishop Jr. and Cory Trice Jr. DeFabo argued that Bishop looked like the Steelers’ starting nickel prior to the Jalen Ramsey trade, but that move changed all that. Now he sees the two pitted against one another for the dime role. He doesn’t mention Brandin Echols or James Pierre, so it’s unclear how he views them relative to the group.
This list is not exhaustive, nor do I think that was DeFabo’s intention. Obviously, as I mentioned, one could list a host of Steelers defensive linemen as being on the roster bubble. There is also arguably a competition at punter, for one thing. And chances are, training camp will greet us with a development or two we didn’t anticipate.