The Steelers cut another 10 players Monday morning, including ILB Tanner Muse and S Kenny Robinson.
Both players have had strong camps and played well during the preseason, so Pittsburg might be hoping these guys clear waivers and can be added to the practice squad.
Tanner Muse was surprising. He seemed to have a significant advantage over Kwiatkoski and no other ILB seemed to be close. I wonder what it means: will they just roll with 4? Are they bringing in someone else from outside? Is Kwiatkoski going to be the 5th? Maybe Kwiatkoski makes the 53 and goes to IR and they try to bring Muse back?
I was pretty surprised when we brought both of those guys in to be honest, we built a ILB out of some good names and kept adding more. Robinson always had a good chance to take the last ILB spot, so it’s really been a battle for the #3 ILB position all camp and Alexander has done pretty well with that. I imagine if anything we add someone to the practice squad, or if Kwiatkoski can be insurance towards the end of the season then putting him on IR could work. They would still need to cut someone for him to get back on the team though.
When they signed Kwiatkoski wasn’t it in response to losing someone else? Tae Crowder or Chapelle Russell maybe? I figured he was mostly a camp body and insurance in case one of the other guys got injured. I can’t remember if it was before or after Alexander signed though.
I’m really wondering how many ILB’s they’re going to keep. With Keanu Neal’s flexibility, plus other CB’s who can flex into safety, maybe they just keep 4 regular ILB’s?
Alexander was the last linebacker signed but he came in for a visit a couple weeks before signing, probably before we signed Kwiatkoski. I think that both Kwiatkoski and Muse were brought in to compete for the 3rd/4th linebacker spots after Alexander left without a deal, and then when he signed it cut those spots down to 1, and Mark Robinson has been a favourite of the coaching staff.
Looks like they did keep 4, which is what I was really expecting. Herbig might get some snaps inside as well this season.