Tomlin: Steelers Won’t Rush to Make Cuts after Preseason Ends

ATLANTA — The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Atlanta Falcons will be the first teams to finish their 2023 NFL preseasons schedules after the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium tonight.

That means those two teams will have five full days in between the end of the preseason and when they must have their 90-man offseason rosters cut down to 53 players. In the past, the Steelers have made some cuts immediately after their final preseason game, and did not wait until the final moment, but that was with a lot less time in between. 

This season, it seems that they might wait, as the Steelers could end up having multiple practices in between the game in Atlanta and the cut-down deadline at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

“There’s no need to cut the roster until you have to cut the roster. to be quite honest with you,” head coach Mike Tomlin said in a question and answer session with Bob Labriola of Steelers.com on Thursday. “You could be making strategic plans relative to that decision, but no need to turn in the scorecard early. So those decisions are kind of ongoing. That mindset in terms of what our 53 might look like and how we divide the labor up, I’m processing that as we speak. But in terms of decision making, you know, it has been our general principle or approach that there is no need to make those types of decisions until you have to.”

That could lead to a few days in purgatory for the Steelers players that don’t do enough to make the team on Thursday night. This is also the first time in several years that the NFL will cut all the way down from 90 players to 53 in one round of cuts.

After the rosters are cut down to 53 on Tuesday, players will clear waivers on Wednesday a noon and can begin being added to practice squads.

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