3 Steelers veterans who will be cut before Week 1 and why

The Pittsburgh Steelers have made a great turnaround of their roster this offseason. They completely revamped the offense and as a result, they revamped the culture in the locker room as well.

This has led a lot of Steelers fans to remain quite excited and optimistic about the upcoming NFL season. Although there is a ton of excitement about the upcoming season, there are still a ton of moves that Pittsburgh is going to have to make before the season officially kicks off.

This involves roster cuts down to the mandated 53-man roster. Some of these cuts may even include veterans of the game.

3. MyCole Pruitt, TE

Some of the roster cuts that will take place between now and Week 1 of the regular season are obvious. Some will be surprising. Obviously the fifth quarterback on the team will be cut before the season kicks off. Teams only typically carry three signal callers. But as the roster dwindles down to 60 or 65 players, the cuts become a lot harder to predict. Players begin to make the roster for their leadership or their intangibles.

One of the cuts that shouldn't surprise anybody though, is the veteran tight end MyCole Pruitt.

Pruitt is a 32 year old veteran of the NFL that hasn't recorded more than 16 catches in any season across his career. Last season, his statline looked like a 2016 Antonio Brown game -- nine catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.

Pruitt is somebody that offensive coordinator Arthur Smith really likes, as he has worked with him in Tennessee and in Atlanta, but Pruitt simply doesn't have a spot on this team this year.

The tough reality for Pruitt is that Pittsburgh has their top three tight ends in Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward, each of whom provide a distinct strength to the Steelers offense. Pruitt doesn't move the needle for the Steelers, and he will be cut because of it.

2. Matthew Wright, K

Out of all cuts that are to be made heading into a season, there's one that's easier to predict than anything else.

It's not the quarterbacks. Most teams know their top two signal callers, but after that, a team could keep a guy for his raw talents or his veteran leadership. You never really know. The same can be said with running backs. A fourth or fifth running back may seem like an easy cut, but the team could keep him just because he serves the purpose as a goal line back.

The easiest prediction is with the kickers. A team will only carry one kicker on their active roster and for a lot of teams, they already know who their kicker is. Pittsburgh is one of those teams, as they have Chris Boswell, who has been one of the more reliable kickers over his time in the NFL.

That spells disaster for veteran backup Matthew Wright. Wright has kicked for the Steelers in the past when Boswell has been down with injuries. He's an impressive 16 for 18 in his Steelers career. Sadly, for him, the Steelers have their guy in Boswell and there really is no kicker competition to be had.

1. Anthony Averett, CB

One place that nearly every NFL team will carry a ton of bodies during the preseason and training camp is in the defensive backs room, specifically in cornerbacks. Cornerback is such a tough position with the risk of injury being so high that teams aren't scared to carry eight to ten corners during the preseason. It's always a position battle to watch in camp.

And the more than football progresses, the more that cornerback turns into a young man's position. Of course there will be outliers that can still perform at corner when they are entering their 30s, but for the most part, those guys won't keep up with the young crop of wideouts in the league.

Steelers veteran corner, Anthony Averett, will likely be cut due to his age compared to those around him, like Joey Porter Jr.. He's low on the Steelers depth chart and without any game-breaking abilities, he's not much more than a body for Pittsburgh at this point.

There's a chance that the Steelers want to keep him around as a veteran presence, but with TJ Watt, Cameron Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick on the defense, they don't really need more veteran leadership. They would be better off with the younger guys with the better raw abilities.