The Steelers have begun their preparation for the regular season with the beginning of training camp. While 90 men are fighting for the chance to make the roster, only 53 will ultimately last after the initial rounds of cuts.
While the goal of any team is to build a talented and deep roster, that isn’t a realistic dream for most teams. Even if you have all of your starters set, depth will be an issue, ad there is only so much talent to go around in the league. Depth is vital, but every team will have some less-than-stellar players make the team.
Pittsburgh is no exception, as their roster has quite a few names that stick out as mediocre options for the team. Here are the four worst Steelers players with the best odds of making the team out of training camp.
Steelers could keep Le’Raven Clark
The offensive line is one of the hardest positions to have great depth at. All 32 teams need to have 8-10 linemen on the roster, and with elite talent itself in short supply, the depth can sometimes be questionable.
While the Steelers have three capable tackles due to them drafting one in the first round, Le’Raven Clark sticks out as an undesirable name that could stick around for this season. Signed as insurance heading into the draft, Clark fits the mold of what this team wants in its tackles. He is big and long, but that hasn’t translated so far during his career.
Despite being a former third-round pick, Clark has yet to become more than a swing tackle. While he had some good games early in his career, his play has plateaued in a below-average range. While the likelihood of having a great fourth tackle on any roster isn’t likely, Clark certainly struggles and would be best suited to remain on the bench.
While the team could only carry three tackles, if they opt for a fourth, Clark is the favorite to land the job. If he does make this team, he will hopefully not see a lot of the field, as his play has been mediocre at best. He is only depth, but the Steelers need to hope that Clark doesn’t need to see the field much this season.
Steelers could keep Chandon Sullivan
Not only is Chandon Sullivan a good bet to make the roster, but he is also a name that could end up starting for this defense. All of this even though, to this point in his career, he hasn’t been a very good defender, and he certainly lacks consistency in his game.
Sullivan, to his credit, has been an undrafted success story. He had a good second and third season in the league, serving as a rotational player and a spot starter in the slot. He has maintained that type of role despite his play not progressing, and in the case of last season, regressing.
Sullivan had one of his worst seasons as a pro despite playing the most snaps to this point in his career. He wasn’t horrible, but he was picked on last year. All of this is despite the fact that the Vikings had one of the worst cornerback rooms in the league. Sullivan was still one of the usual targets for offenses to exploit.
He enters training camp as the Steelers most likely pure slot cornerback. While other names will be competing for snaps there, Sullivan has the most experience in the slot and has to be considered the favorite to work there.
Pittsburgh has gotten passable play out of unsuspecting slot players before, and while the hope is that Sullivan can continue that, he needs to improve his play from how it has been. As of now, he is one of the worst players in line to make the team as well as a potential weak starter for this defense.
Steelers could keep Kendrick Green
Everyone’s favorite former third-round pick, Kendrick Green has been about as abysmal of a player as you could have hoped for. The Steelers had a huge hole at center and drafted Green with the expectation of him starting right away. All of this even though he was mostly a guard in college and was undersized for the position.
It went as I expected it, as Green struggled to play with consistency as a rookie. He was eventually benched and quickly moved on during the offseason. While he was given a crack at returning to guard last season, it seems like he is back at center this year and competing for a backup spot.
While many fans are quick to dismiss Green as an afterthought and an easy-cut candidate, the reality isn’t quite the same. The Steelers will use Mason Cole as their center again this season, but they are lacking a true backup. Green has been seeing most of his work this offseason there.
Assuming he wins that job and another roster spot this season, Green will certainly be a big liability. He thankfully didn’t have to see the field much last year, but if he becomes the backup center he would be one snap away from resuming the role he lost as a rookie.
While Nate Herbig could be the emergency center on gameday, Green will likely figure in as the long-term solution if Cole was to be injured. While there could be quite a few different backups by the end of camp, Green seems to be the favorite to land that role as of now. Assuming he makes the roster, he is easily one of the worst players to land on the team.
Steelers could keep Gunner Olszewski
Far and away my least favorite name on this list, Gunner Olszewski proved last year to be as ineffective of a player as he could have been. Brought in as a return man, Olszewski couldn’t maintain that role. He was regularly muffing punts and proved to be an ineffective returner when compared to Steven Sims.
After losing the return man role, which the Steelers had brought him in to do, there was hope that he could still be an effective offensive tool. While not a notable weapon with the Patriots, Olszewski was used as a slot receiver and runner out of the backfield early in camp. With Chase Claypool traded, Olszewski could have been in line to see additional work.
While the opportunities were there, the effectiveness wasn’t. Olszewski had quite a few opportunities to make an impact, but he never amounted to much. He lost his return job and was a poor offensive player, all at an increased salary given the deal he had signed.
At the bare minimum, there was hope that Olszewski would be at least a capable special teams coverage player, but that didn’t happen either. Now, Olszewski is stuck on this roster, but there is an actual chance he sticks around.
This team is lacking a return man. Calvin Austin is expected to earn that role, but he isn’t an overly experienced option there. If Austin or someone else can’t become the return man, Olszewski could be brought back instead. I certainly wouldn’t be in favor of this, but it is a real possibility as of this writing.
The Steelers roster will be fighting for a job this summer, and while there is a lot of talent on this roster, there are also some less talented names that could stick around. These four players stick out as the worst ones likely to make the team after training camp.