Keisel completes Steelers’ roster
Brett Keisel had been in contact all summer with the Steelers, who wanted to see what else they had on the defensive line before committing to the soon-to-be 36-year-old veteran.
So they agreed to terms on a two-year deal Wednesday with Keisel, who isn鈥檛 coming back to be a reserve. He鈥檒l line up with the first team soon enough, but whether it鈥檚 in 2陆 weeks for the opener is up to his conditioning.
With that roster maneuver out of the way, and armed with the knowledge the Steelers won鈥檛 have to keep two long-snappers on the opening-day roster, I can present my take of the 53-man roster, still with one preseason game left tonight in Philadelphia and another next week at home against Carolina:
QUARTERBACK (2) 鈥� Ben Roethlisberger, Bruce Gradkowski.
RUNNING BACK (4) 鈥� Le鈥橵eon Bell, LeGarrette Blount, Dri Archer, Will Johnson.
WIDE RECEIVER (6) 鈥� Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton, Lance Moore, Martavis Bryant, Justin Brown, Darrius Heyward-Bey.
TIGHT END (3) 鈥� Heath Miller, Matt Spaeth, David Paulson.
OFFENSIVE LINE (9) 鈥� Kelvin Beachum, Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, Marcus Gilbert, Guy Whimper, Cody Wallace, Mike Adams, Wesley Johnson.
DEFENSIVE LINE (7) 鈥� Brett Keisel, Cameron Heyward, Steve McLendon, Stephon Tuitt, Daniel McCullers, Cam Thomas, Josh Mauro.
LINEBACKER (9) 鈥� Jarvis Jones, Ryan Shazier, Lawrence Timmons, Jason Worilds, Arthur Moats, Terence Garvin, Vince Williams, Sean Spence, Vic So鈥檕to.
DEFENSIVE BACK (10) 鈥� Ike Taylor, Cortez Allen, William Gay, Troy Polamalu, Mike Mitchell, Shamarko Thomas, Robert Golden, Antwon Blake, Brice McCain, Will Allen.
SPECIALISTS (3) 鈥� Shaun Suisham, Brad Wing, Greg Warren.
Toughest Cut: Chris Carter. I don鈥檛 even know what So鈥檕to looks like out of uniform, but on the field he鈥檚 bigger than Carter and has made more plays.
In fact, I went looking for So鈥檕to in the locker room the other day and couldn鈥檛 find him. I asked another reporter where he was.
鈥淚n the backfield,鈥� came the reply.
The Steelers pride themselves on letting the competition speak for itself, and that鈥檚 why I kept So鈥檕to over Carter, while also cutting a promising linebacker such as Jordan Zumwalt. I do believe Zumwalt is the riskiest cut, in terms of getting him through waivers and back on the practice squad, but if he鈥檚 claimed by someone else the Steelers could put Dan Molls on the practice squad instead. In fact, here鈥檚 my 鈥�
PRACTICE SQUAD: Nick Williams DE, Chris Hubbard OG, Howard Jones OLB, Rob Blanchflower TE, Zumwalt ILB, Shaquille Richardson CB, Jordan Dangerfield S, Josh Harris RB, Isaiah Green CB, Landry Jones QB.