The Pittsburgh Steelers have their official 53-man roster in place, and nobody could have predicted a few of the moves they would make at the bottom of the roster. The team waved goodbye to veterans like linebacker Elandon Roberts and running back/specail teams ace Travis Homer, while electing to keep quarterback Will Howard.
This was Mike McCarthy's first summer as the Steelers' head coach, which meant his first time meeting with the front office and the coaching staff to make challenging roster decisions. And it's clear that McCarthy valued some things differently than former head coach Mike Tomlin did.
We could (and likely will) see a few changes at the bottom of the Steelers' roster before the start of the season. But these three takeaways from the initial 53-man roster resonate most after cutdown day.
The Pittsburgh Steelers made a statement with these three takeaways from the 53-man roster
Mike McCarty showed how much he values the QB position
As Tomlin often didn't place enough emphasis on the quarterback position in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era, we may already be seeing the reverse effect with McCarthy. Keeping four quarterbacks feels excessive, and the Steelers were among just five of 32 NFL teams to do so—joining the Eagles, Browns, Vikings, and Falcons.
The weirdest part about this is that McCarthy insisted on keeping Will Howard despite the immense struggles from the second-year quarterback during the preseason. Howard finished exhibition action throwing three interceptions en route to a 67.1 passer rating.
Though I don't believe Howard has many tools or upside to work with, McCarthy clearly wanted to keep every resource possible at the quarterback position. And now that Howard has made the roster, the plan may be for Howard and rookie Drew Allar to compete for the job next season.
I won't be shocked if Howard ends up on IR/eligable to return, but the fact that McCarthy kept four QBs shows that he's well aware of how much this position matters.
Steelers made it a point to keep all of Omar Khan's rookie draft picks
With the exception of players who have landed on season-ending IR, the Pittsburgh Steelers have kept the full Omar Khan draft class every year since he's been the general manager making the draft decisions, which started in 2023. But with 10 draft picks this year, it was a bit shocking to see every selection make the team.
This is the largest full rookie draft class to make the initial Steelers roster in decades, and this may have been Khan looking to save face. Some of Khan's busted draft picks stole the news spotlight when Broderick Jones and Kaleb Johnson were traded before the NFL roster deadline for pennies on the dollar.
Khan knows he can't continue to miss on early-round picks, and perhaps the GM was pushing for all of his 2026 draft picks to make the team—giving them the best shot at a future with the Steelers. Eli Heidenreich's job was likely the most in doubt, considering he was a seventh-round draft choice and didn't do much to separate himself from the pack this summer.
However, the Steelers not only found a way to keep all 10 rookie picks on the initial roster but also added an additional rookie: undrafted free agent defensive lineman Kevin Jobity Jr. This team just got a lot younger, and Khan made it a point to leave his mark on the 2026 roster.
Not all of the 53 best players from the summer made the Steelers' 53-man roster
Here's the harsh reality that we don't like to admit: the Steelers cut their roster from 90 down to 53 players, but it wasn't the best 53 players from the summer who made the team. This is hardly up for debate.
There were a handful of NFL hopefuls who played their hearts out and couldn't have done much more to earn the respect of the coaching staff. Cornerback Doneiko Slaughter and running back Lew Nichols are two easy examples—players who were excellent this summer and better than most of their peers but didn't make the team.
Likewise, veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts looked set to pick up right where he left off with the Steelers in 2024, only to be surprisingly released by the team. Meanwhile, we all assumed Travis Homer, the long-time special teams ace, was going to assume the Miles Killebrew role as Pittsburgh's upback and captain on special teams.
Instead, the Steelers favored younger players and draft picks when finalizing their 53-man roster. We were rooting for the rookies, but that doesn't mean that all of them were the best or most deserving of making the roster.
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