Stock up, stock down among Steelers after preseason finale

For the first time in a quarter century, the Pittsburgh Steelers completed a preseason with an undefeated record.

Does that mean anything? No.

Before the “real” games start in less than two weeks, here’s the final look back on a preseason game with a list of who came out looking good and who might not want to re-watch the film of Sunday’s 19-9 win against the Detroit Lions:

Stock up

Mitch Trubisky/Kenny Pickett

During this particular training camp, the performance of the quarterbacks reigned supreme. And the Steelers have to end their preseason pleased knowing it would be difficult to ask for too much more than what they saw from Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett.

Neither (nor Mason Rudolph) threw an interception over three preseason games. The Steelers finished the preseason third in completion percentage (72.5%), third in passer rating (111.0), ninth in passing yards (239.7 per game) and ninth in yards per attempt (6.6).

More important than the statistics in the preseason is the subjective eye test. And Trubisky and Pickett, each in his own way, looked the part. Though Pickett had some struggles over the opening days of training camp and Trubisky had an off practice or two, the Steelers’ QB1 of the present (Trubisky, presumably) and QB1 of the not-too-distant future (Pickett) showed legitimate reason to believe they are well worthy of those designations.

Tre Norwood

Norwood didn’t have the best game against the Lions, but he might have been a winner because of the wrist injury suffered by Damontae Kazee. Kazee was the Steelers’ No. 3 safety and was in line for a considerable role on the defense during the regular season. With indications Kazee is out for a good chunk of time, Norwood is the next man up as the third safety.

As a rookie seventh-rounder last season, Norwood played a not-insignificant role in all 17 games. Sunday, Norwood played both more snaps from scrimmage (55) and on special teams (12) than any other Steelers player. The unfortunate situation with Kazee might translate into a big workload for Norwood come September, too.

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Delontae Scott

Scott splashed in his final audition, having a sack in addition to a tackle for loss in the running game. That capped a camp during which he, arguably, was the best of the lot of edge defenders behind starters T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. A holdover from last year’s practice squad, Scott’s stock rose Sunday because he played well and because some of the players he’s competing with did not have their best showings.

Hamilcar Rashed had the momentum after being claimed off waivers from the New York Jets less than two weeks ago, but Rashed did not pop in his second preseason game with the Steelers like he did in the first. Neither did Ron’Dell Carter nor Derrek Tuszka.

Scott seemed to show enough to earn the role as a top backup outside linebacker.

Stock down

Dan Moore Jr.

The offensive line, as a unit, was better Sunday than it was Aug. 20 against the Jacksonville Jaguars — admittedly a low bar to clear — but Moore was not.

Called for two holding penalties over a three-play span during the Steelers’ second drive of the game, Moore was part of a first-team unit that cleared the way for just 15 rushing yards from running backs in the first half. Trubisky was sacked twice.

Entering his second year, Moore was supposed to ascend after a solid rookie season for a fourth-round pick playing left tackle. This preseason has to be leaving the Steelers less than confident that will materialize.

Injured ‘bubble’ players

Veteran holdovers Marcus Allen, Montravius Adams and Derek Watt entered training camp as heavy favorites to be part of the 53-man roster when the regular season began, but none was a lock, either. And none of them managed to make it into even one preseason game. All three have missed the vast majority of training-camp practices because of injury: Watt a shoulder, Adams an ankle, Allen a hamstring.

Each has question marks surrounding his usefulness. Watt has an absurdly high salary-cap hit ($4.71 million) for a fullback, and rookie Connor Heyward might be showing he can handle those seldom-used duties. Adams is in a crowded position room in which at least one NFL-caliber player is going to have to be waived, so why not make it the injured guy? Allen is a trusted special teamer but never has carved out a significant niche on defense.

Allen, Adams and Watt returned to practice over the past week-plus, so not getting into a game has to sting.

Mason Rudolph

Rudolph played just six snaps against Detroit. That likely wasn’t Tomlin’s ideally mapped-out plan (the Steelers had just four second-half possessions) nor an intentional slight from the organization. But it was one final clear-as-day indication Rudolph never was given a realistic chance to be the Steelers’ starter in 2022.

Some will say that’s on merit, based on Rudolph’s mediocre play in the past and, quite simply, Trubsiky and Pickett being better. That’s probably true, but being limited to one drive in “mop-up” time in the final audition had to feel like an insult to one of the Steelers’ longest-tenured players.

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