Isaac Redman Was The Starting RB At Practice Today

As expected, Isaac Redman was the starting Tailback in practice today. Redman, who was named starter until Bell returns from his foot injury, said he will try to make it hard for the team to go with anyone else. Bell told media today that he hopes to be back by week two, but can’t make any promises. According to Redman, the coaching staff doesn’t want to do “running back by committee” this year, and he wants to give them reason not to.

Redman suffered a stinger early in preseason and didn’t make an appearance during the remainder of the games. When asked about being injured during preseason, Redman said:

‘I could have played in the final two preseason games but I was held out by coaches.’

When asked if he was surprised about Dwyer being cut, he said, “I can’t say I was surprised…I knew somebody had to go.”

Steelers Elect Team Captains

The Steelers have named their offensive and defensive team captains for the 2013 season. Ben Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey were chosen on offense. Ryan Clark and Brett Keisel were named as defensive team captains. No special teams captain was selected as of yet.

This marks the fifth year that Roethlisberger has been named team captain and the second consecutive year for Keisel.

Steelers Waive John Malecki, Sign Cody Wallace

In what you might call a surprise move, the Steelers have waived John Malecki in order to sign C/G Cody Wallace. Wallace has spent time on various practice squads over the past few years, and was just waived by Tampa Bay during their final roster cuts. Wallace is 6-4, 300 lbs.

Wallace drew somewhat sporadic grades from ProFootballFocus during the preseason. He scored well in run blocking during some games, and poorly in others.  He is a four year veteran.

Alameda Ta’amu Claimed Off Waivers By Arizona

The Cardinals have claimed former Steelers 4th round draft pick Alameda Ta’amu off of waivers. Ta’amu was released by the Steelers yesterday after losing the battle for the backup NT spot to Hebron Fangupo.

Ta’amu was suspended by the team last fall and subsequently released after being arrested for DWI and other charges. The team signed him back to the practice squad last November where he spent the remainder of the season.

He missed a good deal of time during camp due to a hamstring injury, but looked promising in his preseason performance.

https://twitter.com/MEDATAAMU74/status/374284936586334208

Steelers Sign Eight To Practice Squad

The Steelers have signed the following eight players to their practice squad:

OL Chris Hubbard

OL Joe Long

RB Alvester Alexander

DE Brian Arnfelt

LB Alan Baxter

LB Terence Garvin

DB Devin Smith

WR Justin Brown

Some notable exclusions from that list are Marshall McFadden and 5th round pick Terry Hawthorne.  I expect that Spaeth’s roster spot will open up on Tuesday and most likely one of these guys gets promoted to the active roster.

The 2013 Steelers 53 Man Roster

Below is a sortable table with the complete 2013 Steelers 53 man roster as it stands today. This will almost certainly change in a few days, and when it does, I’ll update accordingly.

[table id=13/]

[table id=14 /]

[table id=15 /]

Share your questions or comments in the forum here: http://thesteelersfans.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?5-Steelers-Talk

Heath Miller Activated From PUP

The Steelers announced that they have activated Heath Miller from the Physically Unable To Preform list today. This is a great news and reinforces the fact that Heath’s rehabilitation was progressing ahead of schedule. If Heath had remained on the PUP list, he would have had to sit out the first six weeks, keeping him out of team activities until the first week of October. This way, Miller can begin practicing with team right now, and can be worked back into the line up as soon as his knee allows.

Steelers Cut Roster Down To 53

The team announced the remaining roster moves today that were necessary to reduce the roster to the required 53. The most surprising move to many people perhaps is the release of Dwyer. Here is a list of the roster moves:

RB Jonathan Dwyer
NT Alameda Ta’amu
CB Terry Hawthorne
WR Justin Brown
P Brian Moorman
CB Josh Victorian
LB Marshall McFadden
TE Jamie McCoy
WR Reggie Dunn
OL Mike Golic Jr
OL Joe Madsen
OL Chris Hubbard
DE Brian Arnfelt
LB Alan Baxter
LB Terence Garvin
CB Devin Smith
WR Kashif Moore
RB Alvester Alexander
TE Nathan Overbay
OL Joe Long
LB Brian Rolle
S Ross Ventrone

Report: Steelers Release LB Marshall McFadden

The team is expected to announce their final roster moves at 4:oo PM EST today, but early reports are indicating that Marshall McFadden has been released. McFadden is practice squad eligible, so it seems likely that he’ll wind up there. For what it’s worth, PFF scored McFadden lowest out of the Steelers ILB’s during the preseason.