3 Steelers veterans likely on the roster bubble in 2020

Daniel McCullers

McCullers has been on the roster ever since being drafted in 2014. He has mainly been a deep depth player at nose tackle on defense and served on the field goal block unit.

Big Dan’s huge frame was a very exciting aspect of him being the Steelers pick six years ago but, the Steelers have not been able to get him to utilize that size to its full extent. He has underwhelmed when in on defense as a gap-plugging nose.

The Steelers did lose Javon Hargrave in free agency so there are some holes in their defensive line after Stephon Tuitt, Cam Heyward, and Tyson Alualu. Big Dan will start the season as a favorite to take up some room on the depth chart but he is not a shoo-in to be on the team.

The Steelers traded for Chris Wormley from the Baltimore Ravens to help fill a gap on the defensive line. They also drafted Carlos Davis in the seventh round in this year’s draft.

Wormley will likely be one of the defensive linemen that are kept on the roster so that leaves two spots left if they follow suit with 2019 and keep six defensive linemen. McCullers has good chances to be one of the remaining two but some young guys are hungry to take that spot from him.

Isaiah Buggs is an exciting second-year player looking to make his mark on the team at camp. He is expected to make a leap in 2020 and become a more involved player on the line.

McCullers has a chance to finally become the nose tackle the Steelers need in their scheme with the loss of Javon Hargrave. If he can finally use his size to his advantage, he could avoid being on the wrong end of his roster bubble popping.