3 Steelers that could surprisingly not make the final roster

Steelers LB Robert Spillane

Of the names on this list, neither have had as far of a fall as Robert Spillane. Everyone knows his story at this point. He filled in well for Devin Bush last season before being injured. When he came back, he was ok, but not great, but he was the presumed starter at off-ball linebacker after Vince Williams retired. Unfortunately, camp has been an absolute disaster for Spillane, and his poor play may cause him to be off the roster entirely.

Reports came out early that Spillane wasn’t performing well. The hope was that he could turn it around in the actual preseason games, but he was regularly being exposed by other team’s backups. This cumulated into the team trading for Joe Schobert. Even then, Spillane was a decent backup and special team’s player before ascending on the defense, so the odds of him being the top backup looked good.

He was outplayed by rookie Buddy Johnson though on defense and Marcus Allen has taken on a larger role on special teams. Spillane could realistically be the last man on the depth chart. With the impressive play from the edge rushers, namely Quincy Roche and Jamir Jones, the team may opt to keep five at that position and only four in the inside. Had Spillane even performed averagely, this conversation wouldn’t be happening. His play was so bad in the preseason though that you have to question if he will be on this final roster.

These three players were all at one point seen as roster locks. Now, after players around them performed better than expected and they floundered, one has to wonder if they will even crack the final 53-man group. While anything is possible, don’t be surprised if these three Steelers fail to stick on the final roster after cut-down day.