Steelers make numerous roster moves ahead of the cut-down deadline

The Pittsburgh Steelers made a number of roster moves today. Here’s what that means for the team entering their second preseason game.

For many NFL players on the 90-man roster, today was a very difficult day. By 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, all NFL teams were required to reduce their roster from 90 players down to 85. This was the first of three roster cuts ahead of the 2022 season. The Pittsburgh Steelers said goodbye to a handful of players today.

Prior to deciding who would be released, the Steelers, unfortunately, had to place safety Karl Joseph (ankle) and wide receiver Anthony Miller (shoulder) on IR after they recently suffered season-ending injuries. These were the first of several moves to follow.

Later in the day, Teresa Varley of Steelers.com confirmed that the team has waived four players: defensive tackle Doug Costin, offensive tackle Jake Dixon, punter Cameron Nizialek and center Chris Owen.

To get back up to 85 players, the team signed offensive guard, William Dunkle. Dunkle originally signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent from the 2021 draft class.

Steelers will have many more cuts soon

I wasn’t surprised to see any of the aforementioned players depart. Defensive tackle, Doug Costin was a player that many fans liked because of his story as a former USFL player, but considering the circumstances and the depth of the interior defensive line, his release was imminent.

Some thought that offensive linemen Jake Dixon and undrafted rookie Chris Owens might have a shot at sticking around, but neither player did enough during training camp to separate themselves from the pack.

With two players landing on the injured/reserve list and four others recently getting the ax, it’s only a matter of time before Pittsburgh eventually cuts roughly 40 percent of their initial 90-man roster.

The first wave of cuts is always the easiest, but these decisions are about to get very challenging very quickly. The next cutdown day is Tuesday, August 23rd at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Steelers will be forced to cut another five players to get down to 80. This means that performances in the preseason this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars could be crucial for some players near the bottom of the roster to stick around a bit longer.

On the final cut-down day, NFL teams will have to drop their roster from 80 players all the way down to 53. That’s where there are sure to be some big surprises all around the league. When that happens, there is sure to be a frenzy of waiver claims made.

For now, I can’t really see a team out there who will have a lot of interest in the cuts Pittsburgh recently made to get down to 85 players. Losing Anthony Miller and Karl Joseph to IR hurts a bit, but it’s nothing like the sting that is going to come when they have to make the tough decisions to cut a whopping 27 players on their roster two weeks from now.