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

Cornerbacks (5): Joe Haden, Cameron Sutton, James Pierre, Justin Layne, Arthur Maulet

In my opinion, Isaiah Buggs is the best player I left off the Steelers roster in my final 53-man prediction. However, if I could get one additional spot for Pittsburgh, I might use it to keep cornerback Mark Gilbert. Despite being an undrafted free agent this year, Gilbert has the size and athletic traits worth gambling flashed this summer. He has the potential to compete at outside cornerback down the line and was impressive on special teams.

However, I did have Gilbert just missing the mark this year and landing on the practice squad. Instead, I have the Steelers keeping just five cornerbacks with Antoine Brooks now in IR.

Joe Haden, Cameron Sutton, and James Pierre are all roster locks in my mind, and cutting Justin Layne was never as likely as what some people wanted to believe. I think Layne makes the roster pretty easily, in fact.

I also nickel defensive back Arthur Maulet rounding out the roster. Maulet has been less than impressive but makes the roster by default due to a lack of depth in nickel. I think this is very likely to be a position the team tries to upgrade after cutdowns.