Steelers cut notable names at the deepest position on their roster

The Pittsburgh Steelers had one of the deepest interior defensive lines in the league, but three quality players are now out of a job as a result. 

I wasn’t surprised to see some of the Steelers roster cuts we saw take place just before the August 30th NFL cut-down deadline. Going from 80 to 53 players in a matter of hours is never easy for any team. However, I was still saddened by some of the names we were forced to wave goodbye to on Tuesday.

I’ll be the first to admit that the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have an elite roster. There are some very questionable projected starters this season who could prove to be detrimental to the team as well as razor-thin depth across many positions that we really hope don’t need to be called up this year.

It’s because of this that makes cutting quality football players that much more disheartening. The strength of Pittsburgh’s roster this summer was the interior defensive line. For the first time in a decade, it looks like the Steelers are going to keep a seventh interior defender on the roster for the season, but even with that player, Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin had to make some difficult cuts.

On the interior defensive line alone, the team was forced to release players like Henry Mondeaux, Carlos Davis, and Khalil Davis, according to Teresa Varley of Steelers.com.

This is a position I’ve written and talked about a lot throughout the summer. After the depth on the interior defensive line ran razor-thin last year when Stephon Tuitt didn’t play and Tyson Alualu and Carlos Davis were injured, I knew that wasn’t going to be the case this season. Sadly, the team was forced to let go of some quality, young football players who are deserving of roster spots somewhere in the NFL.

Steelers cut quality players at their strongest position

There really was just no way of getting around this. If the depth had been a bit thinner, Mondeaux and the Davis twins might have stood a chance. All three of them have seen game experience early in their NFL careers, and they each tested as impressive athletes coming out of college. These traits often show up when rushing the passer.

However, when you looked at the Steelers roster, you could tell there was never going to be any room for them. Ahead of them on the depth chart were Cameron Heyward, Larry Oginjobi, Tyson Alualu, Chris Wormley, Isaiahh Loudermilk, DeMarvin Leal, and Montravius Adams. Already with the names listed, the Steelers had more interior defenders than what they typically keep.

Unfortunately, the fate of Mondeaux and the Davis brothers was sealed when the team spent a third-round draft choice on Leal this past April. We knew that, barring a few serious injuries, getting cut before the deadline was going to be their fate.

Perhaps the Steelers could have tried to be more proactive and see if they could deal one of these young interior defenders to another team, but the most they could have hoped for would have been a player swap, and finding the right partner would have been difficult.

It’s possible that Pittsburgh could keep two as many as two of these players on the practice squad and promote them if injuries occur, or these guys might press their luck with a different organization. Having depth in an important position like this is a great thing, but we hate to see them go.