Wait, what? The Steelers have roster space?! How come they don’t sign more free agents?

Well, short of this little thing called a salary cap, there are several reasons why the Steelers currently only have 80 players (out of a maximum 90) on their current roster (with one exception we’ll list below).

Before we get into the “meat” of things, let’s look at that current roster first.

	Name	Pos.	Exp.	College
1	Alualu, Tyson	DE	7	California
2	Ayers, Demarcus	WR	2	Houston
3	Bell, Le’Veon	RB	5	Michigan State
4	Berry, Jordan	P	3	Eastern Kentucky
5	Blount, Akil	LB	0	Florida A&M
6	Boswell, Chris	K	3	Rice
7	Brown-Dukes, Brandon	RB	1	Mercyhurst
8	Brown, Antonio	WR	8	Central Michigan
9	Burns, Artie	CB	2	Miami (FL)
10	Canaday, Kameron	LS	0	Portland State
11	Chickillo, Anthony	LB	3	Miami (FL)
12	Coates, Sammie	WR	3	Auburn
13	Cockrell, Ross	CB	4	Duke
14	Dangerfield, Jordan	S	2	Towson
15	Davis, Knile	RB	4	Arkansas
16	Davis, Sean	S	2	Maryland
17	DeCastro, David	G	6	Stanford
18	Dixon, Brandon	CB	2	Northwest Missouri State
19	Ducre, Greg	CB	3	Washington
20	Dupree, Bud	LB	3	Kentucky
21	Fanaika, Jason	LB	0	Utah
22	Feiler, Matt	OL	1	Bloomsburg (PA)
23	Finney, B.J.	C/G	2	Kansas State
24	Fort, L.J.	LB	3	Northern Iowa
25	Foster, Ramon	G	9	Tennessee
26	Friend, Kyle	OL	0	Temple
27	Gay, William	CB	11	Louisville
28	Gilbert, Marcus	OT	7	Florida
29	Golden, Robert	S	6	Arizona
30	Golson, Senquez	CB	3	Mississippi
31	Green, Ladarius	TE	6	Louisiana-Lafayette
32	Grimble, Xavier	TE	2	USC
33	Hagen, Jacob	S	1	Liberty
34	Hamilton, Cobi	WR	2	Arkansas
35	Hargrave, Javon	DT	2	South Carolina State
36	Harrison, James	LB	15	Kent State
37	Hawkins, Jerald	OT	2	LSU
38	Heyward-Bey, Darrius	WR	9	Maryland
39	Heyward, Cameron	DE	7	Ohio State
40	Hilton, Mike	CB	1	Mississippi
41	Hooks, Lavon	DT	1	Mississippi
42	Hubbard, Chris	C/G	4	UAB
43	Hughes, AJ	P	0	Virginia Tech
44	Huguenin, Farrington	LB	1	Kentucky
45	Hunter, Justin	WR	4	Tennessee
46	James, Jesse	TE	3	Penn State
47	Johnson, David	TE	9	Arkansas State
48	Johnson, Devonte	CB	0	Weber State
49	Johnson, Gus	RB	1	Stephen F. Austin St.
50	Johnson, Steven	LB	6	Kansas
51	Jones, Landry	QB	5	Oklahoma
52	Malleck, Ryan	TE	0	Virginia Tech
53	Matakevich, Tyler	LB	2	Temple
54	Matthews, Mike	OL	0	Texas A&M
55	Maxey, Johnny	DE	1	Mars Hill
56	McCullers, Daniel	DT	4	Tennessee
57	Mettenberger, Zach	QB	4	LSU
58	Mihalik, Brian	OT	2	Boston College
59	Milton, Keavon	OL	2	Louisiana-Monroe
60	Mitchell, Mike	S	10	Ohio
61	Moats, Arthur	LB	8	James Madison
62	Nix, Roosevelt	FB	3	Kent State
63	Philon, Roy	DT	1	Louisville
64	Pouncey, Maurkice	C	8	Florida
65	Roethlisberger, Ben	QB	14	Miami (Ohio)
66	Rogers, Eli	WR	3	Louisville
67	Sensabaugh, Coty	CB	5	Clemson
68	Severin, Canaan	WR	2	Virginia
69	Shabazz, Al-Hajj	CB	2	West Chester (PA)
70	Shazier, Ryan	LB	4	Ohio State
71	Smith, Dreamius	RB	1	West Virginia
72	Stewart, Dez	WR	1	Ohio Dominican
73	Toussaint, Fitzgerald	RB	4	Michigan
74	Tucker, Marcus	WR	1	Northern Michigan
75	Tuitt, Stephon	DE	4	Notre Dame
76	Villanueva, Alejandro	OT	3	Army
77	Walton, L.T.	DE	3	Central Michigan
78	Warren, Greg	LS	13	North Carolina
79	Williams, Trey	RB	2	Texas A&M
80	Williams, Vince	LB	5	Florida State

With a maximum 90 roster spots available until the thick of the preseason is underway, how will the Steelers utilize those ten remaining spots?

Martavis Bryant

Remember that “exception” I listed above?

Bryant is technically listed under a “Reserve/Suspended by Commissioner” roster exemption. That exemption, like those serving suspensions before, does not count against the active roster (in much the same way that Injured Reserve or Physically Unable to Perform lists do not). When Le’Veon Bell sat out the first three games of the 2016 season, the Steelers had to release someone for their Week 4 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, once Bell had become activated (and of course, eligible to return).

We’re patiently waiting for any news of Bryant’s return, but all reports indicate is should happen soon. Pittsburgh will need a roster spot for Bryant, and there’s little doubt he will take one of those ten remaining.

Draft Picks

The Steelers have eight picks in the upcoming 2017 NFL Draft. While every draft pick isn’t guaranteed a final roster spot, they will be signed and get a shot to make it.

If you’re doing the math on your fingers or toes, you’ll realize that this would still leave the Steelers with one more vacant roster spot. However, what if they trade during the draft for an additional pick? Moving back in the draft could net them an extra pick, as well as trading a future pick to jump into one of the middle or late rounds for a player they value on their board.

Should the franchise decide to do so, they would need that extra space for one more rookie they select. But if not…

Adding another free agent

I titled this vaguely because there are a number of ways this could go down.

First, the Steelers could add an undrafted college free agent immediately after the draft. Now, as you may have guessed by the topic above, if Pittsburgh only has one spot left or less, how can they add more than one undrafted player to the roster?

The answer is simple: someone in the above list will become a casualty and be released to make room for the new players.

Typically, the bottom portion of any NFL roster is a volatile one all season long. Players are frequently activated from the practice squad, released, and re-signed (or sign elsewhere). Upon conclusion of the season, practice squad players immediately become free agents and are signed to futures contracts. Those players under futures contracts have the most at risk since no club is going to cut ties with a high-priced player who could do damage to their salary cap. (Those who don’t do damage: not so much!)

Aside from college free agent signings, the Steelers could decide to bring someone in “off the streets”. This could be a known veteran or an unknown journeyman player. Some examples from the past include Pittsburgh re-signing QB Bruce Gradkowski on the Monday following the 2016 NFL Draft, adding QB Bryn Renner during the preseason (when Gradkowski was injured), or bringing back Brett Keisel to add depth when the defensive line looked shaky halfway into the 2014 preseason.

If you want to subscribe to this theory, one player who could be targeted for the Steelers who was on the roster last season is RB DeAngelo Williams, who still remains a free agent. Despite having his 34th birthday this month, should Pittsburgh pass on a backup running back in this year’s draft, they could reach to “D-Will” to help shore up any concerns over their depth chart.

At this time that’s more speculation than anything, but based on history, it’s certainly plausible.