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Friday, September 02, 2011

Steelers start making moves

The Steelers have placed quarterback Byron Leftwich on their Reserve/Injured List and released 21 others, reducing their roster to 58 players. Leftwich suffered a broken arm in the Steelers’ third preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons and will miss the 2011 season.

The team needs to release five more players before Saturday’s 6 p.m. deadline to get their roster to the league-mandated 53 players.

The 21 players released today include linebackers Baraka Atkins, Mario Harvey, Chris McCoy and Mortty Ivy, defensive lineman Corbin Bryant, defensive backs Brett Greenwood, Macho Harris, Donovan Warren and Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith, running backs James Johnson and John Clay, offensive linemen Colin Miller, Kyle Jolly, John Malecki, Trevis Turner and Keith Williams, wide receivers Armand Robinson, Wes Lyons and Tyler Grisham, tight end Jamie McCoy and kicker Swayze Waters.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

No surprises here.

Mohammed said...

Mortty Ivy and Donovan Woods are not surprises? I thought those two made the roster with no doubt in my mind. Very disappointed to see those two gone, and unfortunately, both are most likely destined for other teams in the NFL before they reach our PS.

Vaflyer said...

Donovan Warren would be the one surprise to me.

Mohammed said...

Donovan *Warren, wrong Donovan, sorry, haha.

Anonymous said...

Warren is too slow to play corner and not versatile enough to play safety, granted I'd rather have him than Gay. I'm not sure why we still throw Gay out there, he's toast every game.

Anonymous said...

Big fan of Ivy as well, but it boiled down to who would you rather have? Ivy or Sylvester? Foote was not an option to be cut because that would put us only a few freak injuries away from having two second-year career special teamers starting at ILB. Tomlin doesn't roll like that.

Ironcity said...

Very disappointed Warren was cut. I'll take his potential over Gay and the oft-injured McFadden. Oh well...hopefully he makes the PS.

Henry said...

There's a reason Warren was out of football last year.

I'm more concerned that Corbin Bryant is done with us. Signing with us as a priority FA and then we cut him to keep Crittendon.

What the hell?

Anonymous said...

They're not keeping Crittendon, he'll be one of the next cuts.

Anonymous said...

This team is deep and you can't keep everyone. What are you going to do? Hopefully we'll get a few of these guys (plus Anthony Gray) on the practice squad.

Anonymous said...

Was Crittenton playing better than Corbin Bryant? Haven't even noticed his name in the games..

datruth4life said...

My prediction for the final cuts are: WR A. Battle, P Jeremy Kapinos, DE Crittenton, TE Gilmore and T Chris Scott.

Practice Squad: WR Lyons, WR Grishham, LB M. Harvey, LB Thad Gibson, G Keith Williams, OT Chris Scott, DE Crittenton, S Cromartie-Smith.

Anonymous said...

Cutting Battle and leaving 2 receivers in the practice squad makes sense. Battle is an excellent special teamers, but his spot is in jeopardy with so much talent, especially young talent

datruth4life said...

Having Heath Miller and W. Saunders at TE are like having a 6th and 7th WR anyways. A. Battle's place on special teams can be replaced by one of the extra DB's, probably Curtis Brown or C. Butler on game days. Besides, Battle will be there if they need to pick up someone during the regular season.

Patrick said...

from Steelers.com:

The five players released today include cornerback Crezdon Butler, offensive lineman Tony Hills, tight end John Gilmore, punter Jeremy Kapinos and defensive lineman Jarrett Crittenton.


Yeh I guess I'm such an idiot for saying all of those young DB's weren't going to make it. I'm sooooo stupid.

Anonymous said...

Dale, he's really ruining your blog.

Henry said...

2 blog posts ago I called them keeping 3 NTs with hoke and hampton's age. Congrats to McClendon.

PatRick said...

Best, truest quotation of the year: " I'm sooooooo stupid."

Patrick said...

thats all you got? really?

and with posts like the above one, how am I ruining his blog? You're joking right?

adamg said...

A little surprised about Butler, but maybe they felt they could sneak him through to the PS. Maybe they decided with Sanders' foot and Cotchery's hammy, they needed another WR just in case.

I thought Hills might be in trouble when he didn't win the RG spot. They needed extra Gs more than Ts and both Essex and Foster can play all OL positions.

Patrick said...

I got owned earlier this week, and I'm still stunned by it.

But, hey, I'm proud that I figured out they couldn't keep 11 DBs. I'm still a stud!

Patrick said...

when you contribute something, let us know. Until then you are worthless.

Those who never say anything useful besides criticize, you realize you contribute nothing, right? You don't have the opportunity to be criticized yourself so don't talk.

Anonymous said...

I thought Hill's release was long overdo. The timing of it surprised a little bit, with it seeming like many more positive reports, or at least not as many negative ones, had been coming out regarding his play this training camp. I think the final cut came down to or CB's potential, with a fresh memory of the last time we let a key ST'er go (Madison '09). Of our 4 young but promising corners, 2 were this year's draft picks, one had been making progress, albeit inconsistently, and one had a ton of promise but hadn't practised much. I still would have liked them to have kept Butler over Battle, but for a team with Super Bowl aspirations this year, and with a well-documented weakness in special teams coverage, compounded by the fact that we're not bringing back Madison or keeping Ivy, a ST standout in camp, leaving us only Will Allen and Sly as the other notables... I guess I can understand the decision. Even with Ivy, I'd imagine they'd rather keep a known commodity rather than a rookie if the goal is to shore up a known weakness. And there's no one that can be added to the PS that could have been kept as ST insurance, had we cut Battle. If only Butler had electrified on Teams.... The timing of it surprised a little bit, with it seeming like many more positive reports, or at least not as many negative ones, had been coming out regarding his play this training camp. I think the final cut came down to or CB's potential, with a fresh memory of the last time we let a key ST'er go (Madison '09). Of our 4 young but promising corners, 2 were this year's draft picks, one had been making progress, albeit inconsistently, and one had a ton of promise but hadn't practised much. I still would have liked them to have kept Butler over Battle, but for a team with Super Bowl aspirations this year, and with a well-documented weakness in special teams coverage, compounded by the fact that we're not bringing back Madison or keeping Ivy, a ST standout in camp, leaving us only Will Allen and Sly as the other notables... I guess I can understand the decision. Even with Ivy, I'd imagine they'd rather keep a known commodity rather than a rookie if the goal is to shore up a known weakness. And there's no one that can be added to the PS that could have been kept as ST insurance, had we cut Battle. If only Butler had electrified on Teams...

Anonymous said...

So we kept 7 defensive linemen or 8?

Tom Pratt said...

Dale, I've read your blog for a couple of years, good stuff. We get informed debate and all the rest of it on this blog. I'm speaking from London. Yeah, the Patrick trolls used to annoy me, yeah it was futile. The sad thing is the real Patrick is worse than the lot of them. It's pretty sad, he may be a lovely bloke but he feeds the trolls far more than anyone else. I'm beginning to think this Patrick is just trying to promote himself. Keep doing what you're doing, I love the insider info and I enjoy the debate from the majority of Steelers fans on here.

Steve-O said...

I don't think C. Butler will make it to the practice squad, my guess is he's picked up by another team... maybe even the dreaded Ravens.

Anonymous said...

Is it possible we find an O-lineman out there on the market that can help us at either guard position? Or at least find some solid depth.

Ordinary Steeler Fan said...

I think the blog knows the truth of things here, Patty Ricky.

So, yeah, back in the self promotion, I-broke-my-little-baby-toe-and-still-played-through-the-Super-Bowl department, a certain Pittsburgh quarterback gave an interview in an area publication. He said things that suggest he might be retiring early. Things like, "If this is my last year, so be it." Honestly, to me the sunset of that career wasn't even on mind, but here he is pushing the issue a bit. Could this be why the Steelers are so keen on keeping Dennis Dixon around? I don't know.

Frankly, this is a lot more interesting and central to the Steelers story line than than speculating about which scrub was cut from the team. I'm a bit sick of this fantasy football driven focus on players on the edge. It bores me. This is a team that came off a Super Bowl season and was a play or two away from a third title in the 21st century. I really don't care who the seventh wide receiver is, or the fourth tight end. Who cared about James Harrison until he stuck around and became a starter? Who's the d-bag who rushes in here to announce the last five cuts that he or she pasted in from steelers.com?

Anyway, sorry for venting.

adamg said...

Steelers kept 7 DL (Smith, Kiesel, Hampton, Hood, Hoke, Heyward, McClendon).

adamg said...

Dale, I see Davonte Shannon (Jeannette, U of Buffalo) was cut. Since the Steelers really have no depth at S, do you think they'd be interested in him for the PS?

Patrick's Sister said...

Patrick,

The next time I catch you in my room putting on my makeup, I'm telling mom!

Dale Lolley said...

I couldn't even begin to speculate on guys they might sign from other team's cuts at this point, adamg. But I have to believe if they wanted him, he would have signed here to begin with.

The only cut that really surprised me was Hills. Chris Scott had done little, in my eyes, to stick around. But, then again, he's got one less year vested. Hills was headed for free agency after this season, while Scott is locked up for at least another year. So maybe that was a bit of a factor.

adamg said...

Thanks, Dale. I guess we'll see. Saw Shannon play in high school and he was a very good athlete, but overshadowed by Pryor and Hall.

I am kind of surprised the Steelers haven't put much emphasis on signing developmental safties given Troy's injury history and the fact that both he and Clark are now in their 30s.

Anonymous said...

Dale, Hills proved in previous seasons that he couldn't play tackle against the big boys. Harrison owned him in practice and think about what Brian Orakpo did to him in preseason last year. So they game him a chance at guard, and he proved he couldn't do that either. Too tall to pull and trap properly. Chris Scott has a chance to play guard. He was beaten because of missed assignments, but he can physically do the job. Additional experience may allow him to blossom into a starter, something Hills proved he couldn't be. This decision shouldn't have been a surprise.

Anonymous said...

Steve-o - the ravens won't pick up Butler, they have 5 quality corners

Steve-O said...

I guess it doesn't matter, Arizona signed him.

Patrick said...

Yes, we're all waiting for me to contribute something!!!