Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 Surprise cuts from 53-man roster

The Pittsburgh Steelers have made the necessary moves to trim the roster down to 53 players, making some surprising moves in the process.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be an exciting team in the 2019 season. While the team isn’t as star-studded as in past years, Pittsburgh is looking to move on from the drama that has plagued the team for the better part of a year. In many ways, it’s a new beginning with some old faces.

There weren’t as many surprise cuts for the Steelers as there were for other teams. I guess that just fits Pittsburgh’s identity though. The team has always been fairly conservative and straight-forward with their decisions.

Still, the Steelers chose to move on from some young players before they even got the chance to prove themselves in real games. The team also moved on from a veteran pass-catcher who played a significant role in the offense a few years ago.

These are the three most surprising cuts the Steelers made when trimming their roster down to 53 players.

Marcus Allen, S

Even if he was just a fifth-round pick, it’s surprising that the Steelers would give up on a young player so quickly. The team drafted Marcus Allen out of Penn State in the fifth round in 2018. As a rookie, Allen appeared in only two games for the Steelers.

News had been swirling that Allen’s chances of making the final roster were falling, but I didn’t expect him to be cut. While Allen hasn’t made any great contributions to the team during his short stay, he was always going to be a project player.

I’ve gotten used to being very tense whenever the Steelers draft or cut a defensive back because the team has struggled to find stability and quality in that area since the dissolution of the Troy Polamalu-era secondary. If the team released Allen though, they must have felt confident that he had nothing major to offer the organization.

The Steelers have added Allen to their practice squad.