Steelers release RB Master Teague, make 3 other roster moves

It goes without saying, but my early Pittsburgh Steelers 53-man roster prediction immediately following the NFL Draft is not going to come to fruition. Because the team had not re-signed running back, Benny Snell Jr., I had Master Teague making the squad as one of my final players. That's not going to happen.

On Monday morning, the Steelers announced four roster moves -- one of which was releasing Teague. The other moves include releasing linebacker Tae Crowder and edge defender Emeke Egbule while signing linebacker Toby Ndukwe.

Ndukwe was invited on a tryout basis to Steelers rookie minicamp, but he apparently did enough to impress that the coaching staff wanted to take a closer look at him this summer. He played in eight games at Sam Houston last year -- starting all of them and recording 34 tackles and 10 tackles for a loss. Prior to that, Ndukwe was on SMU from 2017 to 2021 where he played in 43 games and had limited production.

Steelers may still be looking for a RB3

The decision to release Master Teague was an interesting one. The Pittsburgh Steelers had just signed him to a reserve/future contract earlier in the offseason. When healthy, Teague flashed at training camp last year thanks to an impressive combination of size, power, and speed.

Teague appeared to be the front-runner for the RB3 job in Pittsburgh, with his closest competition being former fourth-round pick, Anthony McFarland Jr. (who didn't make the initial roster last year). However, McFarland doesn't possess the ability to play on special teams coverage units. By default, we would have thought that this would have given Teague a leg up on the competition.

It remains to be seen what the Pittsburgh Steelers will decide to do in his place. The team does have RB Jason Huntly currently on the 90-man roster behind McFarland, but he is just 5'9'' and 193 pounds. They may look to add a bigger body who can handle special teams work and step in as part of a rotation with Jaylen Warren if Najee Harris were to get hurt this season.

The Steelers aren't done making roster moves, as Omar Khan and Andy Weidl continue to put together the best 90-man roster they can come up with for this summer. Next up is OTAs, and we will see what other moves are made between now and then.