The Steelers traveled to the North Carolina Thursday night and came away defeated. Here are three players who stood out in the loss.
With the Steelers preseason finale comes the inevitable: cut down day. By August 31st at 4 PM, all NFL teams must trim their rosters down to 53 men. Some players will go home and never see another crack in the big leagues; others will have their shots elsewhere.
In a game filled with high stakes, the competition was fierce. Players on the outside looking in had something to prove and surely gave their strongest of efforts—even if it was not strong enough at the end of the night.
There was a lot of sloppy play, especially on the offensive line. In the first half, a bad snap squandered an early drive. In the second half, the offensive line started with three consecutive negative plays and could not establish a consistent ground game.
Marcus Allen, who I mentioned this week was in a big competition for the final safety spot, let a big play happen on his watch with a bad angle. His counterpart, Jordan Dangerfield, showed his veteran awareness and was around the ball a good bit when he took the field.
Make no mistake, however, that with the bad came some good. Despite the lack of ground game, Benny Snell showed he is a capable option in the passing game—showing strong pass protection and hands. On the other side of the ball, Cameron Sutton continued his strong preseason with an interception while Devin Bush recorded 6 total tackles.
However, three other players stood out the most. These three either solidified their spot on the roster, made themselves strong practice squad candidates, or enticed their prospectors preparing to snatch them up after cut-downs: