DOG: The Final 53

Look at last year's (badly photoshopped) team photo. Lots of guys with Super Bowl rings are going to be gone from that team just one year later.

The thing I like about Mike Tomlin that I hated about Bill Cowher is that he seems to see what I see in many many Steeler players. Tomlin will choose his roster on the side of youth thinking he can have some time to coach a player up. Whereas Cowher would keep a retread 34 year old veteran over a borderline rookie or young vet because he knew what he was getting. And that's really important as we weigh the composition of the 2009 Picksburgh Stillers. It's also part of the reason for why the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year was cut 3 times by Cowher!

So I'm going to list for you the players I would choose for our team this year. It's not a prediction of what the team will look like. It's what I would do based on what I've seen of the players.

QB (3) Roethlisberger, Batch, Dixon

RB (3) Parker, Mendenhall, Moore

FB (1) Davis

WR (5) Ward, Holmes, Sweed, Wallace, McDonald

TE (3) Miller, Spaeth, Johnson

LT (2) Starks, Hills

LG (2) Kemoeatu, Foster

C (2) Hartwig, Legursky

RG (2) Essex, Urbik

RT (2) Colon, Capizzi

Offense has 25 players

LDE (3) Smith, Hood, Kierschke

NT (2) Hampton, Hoke

RDE (2) Kiesel, Eason

LOLB (2) Woodley, Bailey

ILB (4) Farrior, Timmons, Fox, Woods

ROLB (2) J. Harrison, Frazier

CB (6) Taylor, Gay, Townsend, K. Lewis, Burnett, Raitliff

FS (1) Clark

SS (2) Polamalu, Carter

Defense has 24 players

LS(1) Warren

K (1) Reed

P (1) Sepulveda

KR (1) Logan

Special Teams has 4 players

Practice Squad:

Grisham (WR)

Harris (DL)

Redman (RB)

Shipley (OL)

Mundy (S)

Summers (FB)

B. Davis (LB) maybe

plus one other guy.

It's possible Kirschke could get cut in favor of Scott Paxson. And I'm not sure Tomlin can hide Sonny Harris on the practice squad without some other team snagging him. But otherwise I'm thinking Tomlin is going to go to war with a lineup that looks very similar to the above.

These guys have got one last game to either play their final downs in the NFL or make that list. Tomorrow night we shall see.