Post-Draft 55 Man Roster/Depth Chart Prediction

[bigben07MVP]

Now this certainly won't be the final 55 man roster but this is my prediction for now. We will see a lot of roster movements leading up to the season. I predict we bring in a veteran safety and a nose tackle before camp, whether that be via trade or free agency. I also wouldn't sleep on us bringing Barron back on a super cheap 1 year deal. This is a pretty chalk projection. Here are a few notes:

- Duck beats out JT Barrett, Paxton Lynch for 3rd QB

- Jaylen Samuels and McFarland Jr. beat out Trey Edmunds and Kerryth White. McFarland Jr. sees about 4-6 carries per game unless Conner gets hurt. 

- Switzer is gone

- Claypool starts taking some of Washington's snaps as the season progresses. Ideally he starts making an impact around mid-season, similar to Martavis's rookie year. 

- Feiler moves over to left guard, Banner wins RT job and Chuks becomes top "swing" tackle, backs up both Villy and Banner

- JuJu sees more time in the slot with the drafting of Claypool. 

- For now, I have Tyson Alualu as the "starting" base NT. McCullers comes in on short yardage situations. 

- Ola, Highsmith, and Skipper all make the team due to the increase to 55 man rosters. They will battle it out in TC to be the top backup and take Chickillo's snaps. 

- Brooks Jr is listed as the backup to Edmunds, but if they bring in a veteran safety I would have him take over Leo Lewis spot as a ILB. 

- Cam Sutton is the top backup at all CB/NB postitions

- Corliss Waitman beats out Jordan Berry in camp, this is just me hoping

Criticize away!

Projected Depth Chart

Draft Pick

Free Agent/Trade

OFFENSE

QB: Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, Duck Hodges (3)

RB: James Conner, Bennie Snell Jr, Anthony McFarland Jr., Jaylen Samuels (4)

FB: Derek Watt (1)

WR: Dionte Johnson,  Deon Cain (2)

WR: James Washington, Chase Claypool (2)

Slot: Juju Smith-Schuster (1)

TE: Vance McDonald, Eric Ebron, Zach Gentry (3)

LT: Alejandro Villanueva, Chuks Okorafor (2)

LG: Matt Feiler, Kevin Dotson (2)

C: Maurkice Pouncey, Stefen Wisniewski (2)

RG: David Decastro, Derwin Gray (2)

RT: Zach Banner (1)

Offense: 25

DEFENSE 

DE: Stephon Tuitt, Chris Wormley (2)

NT: Tyson Alualu, Dan McCullers, Carlos Davis (3)

DE: Cameron Heyward, Isaiah Buggs (2)

OLB: Bud Dupree, Ola Adeniyi (2)

ILB: Devin Bush, Ulysses Gilbert III, Leo Lewis (3)

ILB Vince Williams, Robert Spillane (2)

OLB: TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith, Tuzar Skipper (3)

CB: Joe Haden, Justin Layne, Trajon Bandy (3)

CB: Steven Nelson, Cameron Sutton (2)

NB: Mike Hilton (1)

FS: Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jordan Dangerfield (2)

SS: Terrell Edmunds, Antoine Brooks Jr (2)

Defense: 27

SPECIALIST

K: Chris Boswell (1)

P: Corliss Waitman (1)

LS: Kameron Canaday (1)

Specialists: 3

[AFF]

Berry was pretty good IIRC to about the last month of season...doubt he gets beat.

Switzer will make the team.

[Dcash4]

I don’t think Duck makes the team. Fun story, but showed he doesn’t have NFL capable talent. Maybe practice squad, but if you can’t make throws physically, you gotta do a lot of other things right and his “gunslinger” mentality doesn’t work that well. 

It was fun (and I actually have his jersey) but it’s over now. 

[kurgan]

@bigben07MVP, I working on mine now.

No spoilers, but we have some differences.

I disagree highly on the DL, but... 

Also, if a UDFA ILB is making it, my money is on Houston, not Lewis.

[bigben07MVP]

12 hours ago, AlanFanecaFan said:

Berry was pretty good IIRC to about the last month of season...doubt he gets beat.

Switzer will make the team.

Yea Punter was a toss up for me. Berry finished strong but he also screwed us with some shanks too. He is way too inconsistent. We need to find a punter who can consistently switch the field and put the opposing team inside the 10. Just would make our defense that much more deadly.

Right now it seems Switzer has an easy path to the roster. He does have return ability (more of a safe/reliable guy than a threat to take it to the house). But if we add some guys to the roster which I anticipate we will, I think it might be tough for him to stick around. 

[bigben07MVP]

11 hours ago, Dcash4 said:

I don’t think Duck makes the team. Fun story, but showed he doesn’t have NFL capable talent. Maybe practice squad, but if you can’t make throws physically, you gotta do a lot of other things right and his “gunslinger” mentality doesn’t work that well. 

It was fun (and I actually have his jersey) but it’s over now. 

I could see that as well. We will see if Paxton Lynch or JT Barrett can show us something.

[43M]

On my phone at work....few notes....

Consistently good punters arent easy to find.  I wouldnt mind moving on from Berry, but its not that easy.

I didnt realize how bad our ILB depth is.  We might need to sign someone.

McCullers needs to go.  

[bigben07MVP]

7 minutes ago, FourThreeMafia said:

On my phone at work....few notes

I didnt realize how bad our ILB depth is.  We might need to sign someone.

McCullers needs to go.  

Yea, I’d say so. That’s why I mentioned the possibility of bringing Barron back on a 1 year deal. Kinda scary what would happen if either Bush or Minkah goes down, we would be screwed.

McCullers has a spot on the roster for at least goal line/3rd and 1 packages....for now (give me Snacks Harrison Colbert).

[43M]

Barron is garbage.  Id only bring him back on a really cheap deal.

Our depth isnt good.  Almost any injury to any starter would screw us.

[bigben07MVP]

1 hour ago, FourThreeMafia said:

Barron is garbage.  Id only bring him back on a really cheap deal.

Our depth isnt good.  Almost any injury to any starter would screw us.

He’s better than Spillane and I would trust him over UG3 at this point. Unless of course UG3 makes a huge jump but I’m not bullish on that happening. And yes Barron would be an extremely cheap deal.

Agreed. Only positions I feel comfortable with our depth is receivers, RBs, D Ends, and corners. Every other position could use a depth upgrade.

Edited April 29, 2020 by bigben07MVP

[Dcash4]

Depth doesnt exist in the NFL. If you have it at 4-5 position groups, you are probably ecstatic. 

Feels like the depth is decent at WR, OL, DL, and DB (I'm lumping S/CB together as Hilton and Sutton are both good players at multiple positions). That's probably not bad. At the positions we are weakest, we still have some high upside talent: Ben, Connor, Watt, Minkah). In a vacuum, looks weak. Compared to the reality of other NFL rosters...its pretty decent. 

[MOSteelers56]

10 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

Depth doesnt exist in the NFL. If you have it at 4-5 position groups, you are probably ecstatic. 

Feels like the depth is decent at WR, OL, DL, and DB (I'm lumping S/CB together as Hilton and Sutton are both good players at multiple positions). That's probably not bad. At the positions we are weakest, we still have some high upside talent: Ben, Connor, Watt, Minkah). In a vacuum, looks weak. Compared to the reality of other NFL rosters...its pretty decent. 

Yeah, I would say this is one of the deepest rosters I've seen this team have. 

[AFF]

Depth everywhere on your NFL team doesn’t exists in the salary cap era unless you have a stud QB on a rookie contract...why do you think the Chiefs a 1st round pick on a non elite RB?....or the Ravens going after Brockers and trading Wormley for just a 5th?

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by AlanFanecaFan

[bigben07MVP]

18 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

Depth doesnt exist in the NFL. If you have it at 4-5 position groups, you are probably ecstatic. 

Feels like the depth is decent at WR, OL, DL, and DB (I'm lumping S/CB together as Hilton and Sutton are both good players at multiple positions). That's probably not bad. At the positions we are weakest, we still have some high upside talent: Ben, Connor, Watt, Minkah). In a vacuum, looks weak. Compared to the reality of other NFL rosters...its pretty decent. 

While I agree with you...our current lack of depth at S and ILB is pretty alarming. Not saying it won’t be addressed before the season starts but as it stands now we would be screwed if Minkah or Bush went down.

[MOSteelers56]

4 minutes ago, bigben07MVP said:

While I agree with you...our current lack of depth at S and ILB is pretty alarming. Not saying it won’t be addressed before the season starts but as it stands now we would be screwed if Minkah or Bush went down.

I think safety depth hinges entirely on Edmunds' progression. If he improves his coverage, which I think he will, I think he will shift over to Minkah's spot in case of injury. Then we can plug in one of our seemingly endless in the box safeties to play SS. I don't think that's ideal, and I don't want people to think I believe Edmunds progression will put him anywhere close to replacing Minkah, but I think that's how it would go as of now.