The Pittsburgh Steelers released their first depth chart of 2018. During their first preseason game, though, it won’t have much effect on who’s on the field.
Excitement was high when the news broke that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first depth chart had been released. Plenty of new names made a story like this more suspenseful than more years, only to leave people dry when they saw the results.
Without playing a preseason game, the Steelers used one method to itemize the players on their roster. Before their first action in a real game, Pittsburgh used the seniority method to place their players in the order they chose.
Expectations shouldn’t be James Washington sitting last on the depth chart or Mason Rudolph being the fourth quarterback on the field. Instead, you’ll probably see both of them before the end of the first quarter, and for most of the first half before the backups go in.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs play a lot of the first game. The Steelers most important position battle on offense continues to be the third string quarterback.
This is a second-half battle, though. Neither QB is going to see much, if any, of the field during the regular season. Meaning playing with starters isn’t benefiting anyone but themselves. Frankly, the Steelers aren’t concerned about anyone outside of Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph seeing time with the first string.
On the defensive side, Terrell Edmunds and Marcus Allen are the guys to watch. Both of them sit dead-last on the depth chart, but neither will see less time than anyone in front of them.
Sean Davis and Morgan Burnett are the starters, but with both of them dealing with injuries, there’s a strong chance the two rookies in the starting lineup.
The position battle to watch will be Tyler Matakevich and Jon Bostic. After a long summer of Matakevich starting, Bostic seems to finally have a grip on the first-team. In the first preseason game, the offseason signing should be the man up first, but you’ll see plenty of time when both Bostic and Matakevich are on the field.
The initial depth chart doesn’t say much of anything for the Steelers. It’ll likely be somewhat of the same in Week 2 of the preseason, but as the roster gets trimmed and roles become established, we’ll see a more realistic depth chart in Pittsburgh.