{"id":1034736,"date":"2026-08-31T10:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T10:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1034736\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T10:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T10:26:16","slug":"steelers-initial-53-four-qbs-eli-heidenreich-in-joey-porter-jr-activated-off-pup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1034736\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers initial 53: Four QBs, Eli Heidenreich in; Joey Porter Jr. activated off PUP"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Steelers\u2019 initial 53-man roster is set. It includes four quarterbacks, more than a few surprises, a pair of trades and a critical roster move.<\/p>\n

As anticipated, the Steelers will keep Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Drew Allar on the 53-man roster. By trading OT Broderick Jones to the Cowboys<\/a> and RB Kaleb Johnson to the Packers<\/a>, GM Omar Khan got some compensation for a pair of underperforming players who sat on the roster\u2019s fringe.<\/p>\n

The more surprising moves involved a pair of rookies and a veteran fan favorite. Eli Heidenreich made the 53-man roster as the third running back, beating out Travis Homer and others. They chose to keep all 10 players they selected in April\u2019s draft. Another rookie, undrafted free-agent defensive lineman Kevin Jobity Jr., also secured his spot on the initial 53. On the other side, the Steelers cut inside linebacker Elandon Roberts. They also placed safety DeShon Elliott on the injured reserve with a designation to return.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the most important move came with a player whose spot in the starting lineup is secure: Joey Porter Jr. If Porter remained on PUP after Sunday\u2019s 6 p.m. ET deadline for roster cuts, the 26-year-old cornerback would have been forced to miss the first four games of the regular season. The contract dispute that has lingered<\/a> through training camp remains unresolved. However, activating Porter is the first step to getting him back on the field.<\/p>\n

Joey Porter Jr. and Steelers at an ‘impasse’ on contract talks<\/p>\n

Mike DeFabo<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dig deeper into each position group.<\/p>\n

Offense (26)<\/p>\n

Quarterbacks (4):<\/strong> Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, Drew Allar
In an ideal world, Howard would have won the QB2 job and made this decision easy for the Steelers. However, after an up-and-down preseason from Howard, the team chose to straddle the line between two windows. Rudolph gives the Steelers the best chance to win a game or two if Rodgers goes down. Howard and Allar give coach Mike McCarthy two young passers to develop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Running backs (3):<\/strong> Jaylen Warren, Rico Dowdle, Eli Heidenreich
Traded: Kaleb Johnson
Notable cuts: Travis Homer, Lew Nichols
Heidenreich faced long odds to make the team as a seventh-round pick. The Steelers began to pave the way for the Mount Lebanon native by trading Johnson to the Packers. Still, it\u2019s a bit of a surprise that the Steelers opted for Heidenreich over Homer, a standout special-teams player. Heidenreich has been one of the primary kick returners. The team officially listed his position as \u201crunning back\/wide receiver\u201d; it remains to be seen how wide McCarthy will open the playbook to find unique ways to use Heidenreich on offense.<\/p>\n

Fullback (1):<\/strong> Riley Nowakowski
The fullback may be going extinct elsewhere in the NFL, but it\u2019s still a valuable part of McCarthy\u2019s offense. Nowakowski\u2019s special teams value and positional flexibility helped him secure his spot.<\/p>\n

Tight end (3):<\/strong> Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, Robert Tonyan
Notable cuts: Lance Mason, Lake McRee
Tonyan was on the bubble when he joined the Steelers. His strong preseason and long-standing relationship with Rodgers led the Steelers to keep him. Given Washington\u2019s unique body type, Tonyan now gives the Steelers a tight end with a route tree more similar to Freiermuth\u2019s, adding some needed depth to the room.<\/p>\n

Wide receivers (6):<\/strong> DK Metcalf, Michael Pittman Jr., Roman Wilson, Germie Bernard, Ben Skowronek, Kaden Wetjen
Notable cuts: Max Hurleman, Brandon Smith
This group has been easy to project dating back to draft weekend. The competition continues, though, for the WR3 spot. Wilson took the overwhelming majority of reps during camp and played well in Latrobe. He\u2019ll need to translate that practice production to stadiums to hold off Bernard during the year.<\/p>\n

Offensive line (9):<\/strong> Troy Fautanu, Mason McCormick, Zach Frazier, Spencer Anderson, Dylan Cook, Brock Hoffman, Max Iheanachor, Gennings Dunker, Ryan McCollum
Traded: Broderick Jones
IR: Jack Driscoll
Notable cuts: G Doug Nester, G Steven Jones
Keeping four quarterbacks comes with a price, and it appeared that McCollum would be the one to pay it. However, after the Steelers traded Jones to the Cowboys on Saturday night, Pittsburgh had another spot open to retain their backup center. The new battle to watch is for the starting right tackle job. Iheanachor looked the part in pads, but missed considerable time in camp due to injury. It seems to be a matter of time before the rookie supplants Cook for the starting job.<\/p>\n

Defense: 24<\/p>\n

Defensive line (7):<\/strong> Derrick Harmon, Keeanu Benton, Cameron Heyward, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Yahya Black, Gabriel Rubio, Kevin Jobity Jr.
Notable cuts: Dean Lowry, Esezi Otomewo, Anthony Goodlow, Kyler Baugh
The Steelers went with youth over experience by keeping Rubio (a sixth-round pick) and Jobity (an undrafted free agent). Rubio appeared to secure his spot, but Jobity is one of the biggest surprises. He posted elite testing numbers and is a player worth developing. The Steelers obviously saw enough to place him on the 53-man roster rather than stashing him on the practice squad.<\/p>\n

Outside linebackers (4):<\/strong> T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer
Cuts: Julius Welschof
This was one of the easiest position groups to predict. The new challenge is determining how the Steelers will split the reps between their top three.<\/p>\n

Inside linebackers (4):<\/strong> Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson, Cole Holcomb, Carson Bruener
Notable cut: Elandon Roberts, Malik Harrison, Jamin Davis
One of the most surprising moves of the day came early, when the Steelers cut Roberts. It remains to be seen if Pittsburgh truly intends to move on from the physical veteran or if this was some type of paper transaction. As a vested veteran, he\u2019s not subject to waivers. He\u2019s a strong candidate for the practice squad and can be elevated for specific matchups \u2014 that is, if he\u2019s not snatched up by another club.<\/p>\n

Cornerbacks (6):<\/strong> Jalen Ramsey, Joey Porter Jr., Jamel Dean, Asante Samuel Jr., Brandin Echols, Daylen Everette
Notable cuts: Doneiko Slaughter, D\u2019Shawn Jamison\u2028
IR: Donte Kent
The contract negotiations between Porter and the Steelers have grown contentious, but missing four games would deal a significant blow to the team. The Steelers avoided that issue by activating Porter off of PUP. The new deadline to watch is Sept. 13, as the Steelers have a long-standing policy to not negotiate contracts in-season.<\/p>\n

Safeties (3):<\/strong> Jaquan Brisker, Rayshawn Jenkins, Robert Spears-Jennings
IR (designated to return): DeShon Elliott
Notable cuts: Jack Henderson, Devan Boykin
Elliott has been limited throughout the offseason, but the fact that he played in the second preseason game makes his spot on IR a bit of a surprise. This is a group without a ton of depth, especially at the free safety position.<\/p>\n

Specialists (3)<\/p>\n

Kicker:<\/strong> Chris Boswell
Punter:<\/strong> Cameron Johnston
Longsnapper:<\/strong> Christian Kuntz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Steelers\u2019 initial 53-man roster is set. It includes four quarterbacks, more than a few surprises, a pair…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1034737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,1545,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1034736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117189645531403338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1034736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1034737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1034736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1034736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1034736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}