Soon We Must all Face the Choice Between What is Right and What is Easy

I'm channeling my inner Harry Potter with the title, but the fact remains the Steelers have some tough choices ahead regarding who will make this years squad. One of the toughest will be whether Stefan Logan, the CFL import who has looked electric returning the football makes the 53 man roster. A serviceable return man is one luxury the Steelers have not had since the departure of Antwann Randle-El after Superbowl 40. After the last two pre-season games it appears they may have found an answer for that problem in Stefan Logan (click for an article about Stefan from the PG). Stefan Logan has averaged 15.8 yards per punt return this preseason. The number one returner last season averaged 15.3 yards per return. Finally, an answer to our prayers.

There is just one problem. He needs to make the roster. Which means there needs to be room on the roster for him. The fact that the Steelers return 20 of 22 starters from last years Superbowl winning squad is great. We should be as good if not better than last season. The Steez also have the luxury of backups like Keyron Fox who could start on alot of teams. However, with so many starters and backups from last year still on the team, there is not a lot of room for untested and project players to make the roster. There also is not alot of room for players that can only fill one role. At first glance, Logan may fall into that group but I think the Steelers could find other uses for Logan if they keep him on the roster. If the Steelers O-Coordinator was smart, he would create some plays to get Logan open in space and just let him make something happen. That is what he is best at. How about a screen play? Maybe then Ben wouldn't get hit so much. Screens, if run well prevent the D from pinning their ears back and attacking the QB. The screen game has been non-existent the past few seasons.

I personally think Logan has the team made after the game against the Bills. As long as nothing goes terribly wrong (drops a couple kicks, fumbles, gets injured) in the last pre-season game, I think Logan will be a Steeler on opening night vs. the Titans. If he does make the team, it will be the second major improvement to our special teams from last year. The first was punter Daniel Sepulveda's return from a torn ACL in his non-kicking leg. If you though our D was awesome last season, just wait and see what they can do when oppenents have much worse starting field position all season. The second will be Logan. Our returns last year were awful. I can only remember one good return and it was Santonio in the playoffs vs. SD. I am sure there may have been a couple others but they were few and far between. Our offense could benefit greatly from more advantageous starting field position and it would lessen the chance Santonio gets injured returning kicks. I hope the Steelers make the right call on this one and keep him on the roster. They obviously signed him for a reason. Let's hope they go with the same instincts that made them sign him in the first place.

Here is another article from the PG discussing the difficulties of the upcoming roster cuts:

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/09243/994449-66.stm