Pittsburgh Steelers 53-man roster prediction: Who makes the final cut?

Edge defender (5): T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Melvin Ingram, Cassius Marsh, Jamir Jones

In the past, the Steelers have typically only kept four edge defenders on their roster, so I’m going out on a limb here and having them keep five this year. I typically try to avoid a move like this when it goes against what they’ve done in the past (as I try to predict the roster as accurately as possible); however, keeping five just seems to make sense.

Instead of using this roster spot on another offensive lineman like Rashad Coward, Pittsburgh could get another core special teams player in Jamir Jones – who has had an excellent preseason this year. Jones has earned the most special teams snaps of any Steelers player in the preseason and was the highest-graded player on the team in this department.

The top three players in T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Melvin Ingram are obvious roster locks, so I won’t spend any time talking about them. This essentially comes down to how many edge defenders will the Steelers keep and which of the three best remaining will make the roster.

I get the feeling the Steelers still like Cassius Marsh as a special teams player and reserve edge defender, and if Danny Smith gets a say, he could stick around. I have Jones making it as the additional player this year with 6th-round rookie Quincy Roche missing the cut and landing on the practice squad after waivers.