A lot has changed for the Pittsburgh Steelers since Omar Khan took over. While not the most notable change, one quirk of Khan’s time with the team has come with his draft picks.
Specifically, Pittsburgh has yet to cut a member of their draft class under Khan.
This is a relatively remarkable stat. To this point, the Steelers have held onto every rookie heading into their first season. Heck, the only former draft pick not on the roster right now is Ryan Watts, and that was due to a career-ending injury.
It seems like 2025 will change this. Despite only an average-sized draft class, we could see the Steelers do something that Khan hasn’t done since taking over. It seems like some of this rookie class is bound to be cut.
The Pittsburgh Steelers can’t keep every pick this year
This issue starts with injured reserve. The league has allowed you to now move two players to injured reserve with a designated to return tag before roster cuts. This means that a member of the rookie class could miss the initial roster by being moved to injured reserve.
The Steelers essentially did this with Logan Lee last year. He made the initial roster before being moved onto injured reserve for the remainder of the season. While he was later designated to return, he spent his entire rookie year out. That said, he still made the initial roster.
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Donte Kent sticks out as an obvious choice to be moved like this. Unless he was put onto injured reserve outright with no option to return later this year, it seems like Kent is a likely stash candidate. If not, he has no path to the roster.
Equally likely is Will Howard. The sixth-round rookie injured his throwing hand in training camp and failed to play any snaps in the preseason. He could also be moved to injured reserve if he isn’t healthy enough yet to play.
Even if you want to look past this, as someone on injured reserve is still on the roster, Carson Bruener sticks out like a sore thumb as a cut candidate.
There was a lot of speculation that Bruner would take over Mark Robinson’s spot as the fifth linebacker and special teams star. Robinson shone in the preseason and in camp, though, and the Steelers aren’t keeping six linebackers.
While Bruener can stick around on the practice squad, he could be the first rookie out the door in the Khan era. It is a testament that it took three draft classes for a Khan-picked rookie to not make the team, but it seems like that trend is set to end in a few short days.