Are Steelers the team hurt worst by cancelled preseason?

The Pittsburgh Steelers were supposed to play five preseason games this year, Here’s why the NFL’s decision to cancel preseason affects them most.

I may have been one of the only people pumped to plant myself in front of the TV for five Steelers preseason games this summer (and you better believe I would have watched every second). Unfortunately, we recently learned that Pittsburgh will no longer be playing any of those games.

It started with the NFL cancelling the Hall of Fame Game against the Dallas Cowboys to kick off the preseason – something that wasn’t a total shocker, given the circumstances. Eventually, however, the NFL decided to shorten preseason by at least two games, then recently, cancelling the preseason altogether. Here’s what NFL Networks Ian Rapoport had to say:

While I’m not surprised the 2020 preseason has been cancelled, I’m certainly disappointed – and not just because I was looking forward to watching some of the young players in action.

With five preseason games on their schedule this year, the Steelers would have had ample time for rookies and young players to prove themselves on the football field and earn the opportunity to carve out a role with the team this fall. Starters typically only play a large number of snaps in the third preseason game (which would have technically been the fourth for the Steelers this year because of the Hall of Fame Game). This means that the rest of the time would have been given to backups and unproven players.

Already without a first-round draft choice entering the league this year, it will be hard for the Steelers to find any rookie that can help their cause in a closing Super Bowl window this offseason. As the team’s second-round pick this past April, we could have expected wide receiver Chase Claypool to be the player that would make the difference, but that probably won’t be the case. With a shortened preseason and no game time to work with Ben Roethlisberger, he will likely be limited to special teams for most of his rookie campaign.

The same could be said for edge defender Alex Highsmith and offensive guard Kevin Dotson. Running back Anthony McFarland may actually have the best chance of carving out a role, as running backs typically don’t need a lot of practice time to see the football field in the regular season.

Regardless, we can certainly make a case that the Pittsburgh Steelers drew the short straw this offseason.  With a small 2020 draft class and five preseason games taken away from them, let’s hope they can still make the necessary improvements to be one of the best teams in the AFC this year.