Roster Moves Coming?

[steelreserve]

Releasing Chickillo and eating that salary cap money isn’t going to make or break the team in the least bit. If that’s why they are keeping him, that’s just poor.

I believe it's a couple million bucks.

They made up their minds early on that they were going to roll with this guy no matter what for at least a year, and gave him a contract that locked that in. Whether that was a smart move is open to interpretation, but that's what they did.

Bottom line, I do not think they will make a move that amounts to spending $2.5M for the 53rd man on the roster, when they can accomplish the same thing for $500K. I don't see any other guys likely to be released who are worth that instead of Chickillo.

[AtlantaDan]

https://steelersdepot.com/2019/10/be...n-off-waivers/

Great. At least Switzer, Chickillo, and Dangerfield are still on the roster. I get that special teams is 1/3 of the game and all that.

But c'mon. When are they going to just realize these guys don't actually contribute? I mean Switzer had one play specifically called up for him and he couldn't elude a single defender. He isn't a viable NFL player.

Dangerfield can't push Kelly for snaps in the newish 3 safety package. That tells me all I need to know about his usefulness as an NFL defender.

Chickillo can play a little. But I'd rather Ola gets his snaps to see if Ola can take over a starting role once Dupree is off to $greener$ pastures.

Losing Johnson adds to a pattern of losing players who may develop in the future

[Mojouw]

Losing Johnson adds to a pattern of losing players who may develop in the future

I guess it’s good that the bottom of your roster is better than the bottom of other teams rosters?

I suspect we won’t be lamenting much of this as long as this upcoming off-season cycle yields another crop of promising players.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Losing Johnson adds to a pattern of losing players who may develop in the future

Yup, I think Johnson with his size and preseason performance, was poised to be another Ramon Foster type UDFA find. But, since they left him unprotected, then maybe it wasn't that strong of a possibility and maybe they think Derwin Gray wasn't as far off. I think Gray moves into Guard spot and has a chance to make the 53 next season.

Steelers also signed Tony Brooks-James to the PS. As a RB at Oregon he ran a 4.45 at his pro day, has breakaway speed and decent balance between the tackles. At 5/9" 190lbs, he is sturdy, but not big. Another Oregon RB with speed. I kind of like what he could bring instead of Edmunds, but he likely wont see any action up with Steelers this year.

[AtlantaDan]

I guess it’s good that the bottom of your roster is better than the bottom of other teams rosters?

I suspect we won’t be lamenting much of this as long as this upcoming off-season cycle yields another crop of promising players.

True assuming none of these players become valuable starters for other teams and in hindsight would have been starters for the Steelers

Only reason I can see for Switzer still being on the roster is there is nobody else who Tomlin regards as a safe bet not to fumble punt fair catches & returns - being Ben's pal presumably was of little protection for Switzer once Ben was lost for the season and Ben could not contend Switzer was a valued dump off receiver for him

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

True assuming none of these players become valuable starters for other teams and in hindsight would have been starters for the Steelers

Only reason I can see for Switzer still being on the roster is there is nobody else who Tomlin regards as a safe bet not to fumble punt fair catches & returns - being Ben's pal presumably was of little protection for Switzer once Ben was lost for the season and Ben could not contend Switzer was a valued dump off receiver for him

I think Switzer has the best hands on the team and the quickest lateral movement on the team. But, currently with the QB situation and all the wildcat offense and heavy run game with no deep passing, it crowds the LOS where the notion of spreading the defense out and letting a quick guy work the underneath routes isn't part of the offense. Fichtner seems to want to run crossing routes and have WR's block for the run.

I think you are correct in that he is the best returner and that has value, but I also think with the pared down offense, his skillset isn't as important. I still don't think Dionte Spencer is that much of an upgrade, if at all, other than to run reverses to and return kicks, so letting him move on isn't a deal breaker for me.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

Spencer as a kick returner is a big upgrade over Switz. Wr neither bring that much to the table.

[Born2Steel]

Until the return units learn to effectively block I don’t think any returner is an upgrade over any other. Go with the guy with the sure hands. Maybe the return teams aren’t helping us but we sure as hell don’t need any fumble fingers back there hurting us.

And on this topic...I’m not looking for TD returns every week but why can we not get decent returns on kickoffs? They made them where everybody starts from the same place now basically. Is the 25-30 yardline really asking that much?

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Spencer as a kick returner is a big upgrade over Switz. Wr neither bring that much to the table.

Spencer has 13 punt returns for 113 yards, 9.1 yards per return. Switzer 5 returns for 28 yards, 5.6 yards per return. If we take Spencer's average and apply it to the 5 returns to compare, its a total of 17 yard difference. Not exactly game changing.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

Until the return units learn to effectively block I don’t think any returner is an upgrade over any other. Go with the guy with the sure hands. Maybe the return teams aren’t helping us but we sure as hell don’t need any fumble fingers back there hurting us.

And on this topic...I’m not looking for TD returns every week but why can we not get decent returns on kickoffs? They made them where everybody starts from the same place now basically. Is the 25-30 yardline really asking that much?

I know Balt was kicking short on kickoffs cause they knew our return game sucked.

- - - Updated - - -

Spencer has 13 punt returns for 113 yards, 9.1 yards per return. Switzer 5 returns for 28 yards, 5.6 yards per return. If we take Spencer's average and apply it to the 5 returns to compare, its a total of 17 yard difference. Not exactly game changing.

What about Kick returns? Are they using Spencer for that ?

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

I know Balt was kicking short on kickoffs cause they knew our return game sucked.

- - - Updated - - -

What about Kick returns? Are they using Spencer for that ?

Not sure. The kickoff game has really been ruined by the NFL to the point where it is so devalued and slanted against the returning team, I hardly consider it part of the game any more.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

Not sure. The kickoff game has really been ruined by the NFL to the point where it is so devalued and slanted against the returning team, I hardly consider it part of the game any more.

I got curious and look it up, Spencer has 1 kick return for 60 yards. Since he only has one return and a nice one. I guess teams are kicking out of the stadium to avoid him.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

I got curious and look it up, Spencer has 1 kick return for 60 yards. Since he only has one return and a nice one. I guess teams are kicking out of the stadium to avoid him.

Yeah, he probably reminds the rest of the league of a young Devin Hester.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

Yeah, he probably reminds the rest of the league of a young Devin Hester.

Problem is teams are kicking on us where we have to return it cause they know we won't get to the 25.

[86WARD]

Spencer has 13 punt returns for 113 yards, 9.1 yards per return. Switzer 5 returns for 28 yards, 5.6 yards per return. If we take Spencer's average and apply it to the 5 returns to compare, its a total of 17 yard difference. Not exactly game changing.

That could also be the way the Special Teams are fun. Unless your name is Antonio Brown, I wouldn’t expect much as far as a return goes in the Steelers punt return game...