The 53 man roster has finally been finalized. I know I promised an update on Friday, except I stupidly assumed the press conference scheduled by head coach Mike Tomlin was to be about the cuts.  Instead, he decided to announce he would make the announcement on Saturday.  Well played, Tomlin.

Anyway, let’s take a look at some of the notable additions and subtractions from the roster. You can find the complete list here. Without further ado, here are your brand new 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers:

Stefan Logan – Nicknamed “Joystick” by his teammates (shocking that wasn’t already taken by Santonio Holmes), Logan is by far the most exciting off-season acquisition for the Steelers.  This refugee from the CFL had some absolutely EPIC returns during the preseason. Logan’s final numbers were 5 kickoff returns for 185 yards and 9 punt returns for 191 yards and a touchdown.  If he can duplicate even a portion of that success during the season, we’ll all be thrilled.

Keiwan Ratliff - Veteran CB who provides some experience and depth to a very young group of defensive backs. Will.i.am Gay is only in his 3rd season (1st as a starter) and two of our backups are rookies. Another thing which helped him make the team is the fact he can play both CB and safety. Ratliff was a high 2nd round pick back in 2004 and it’d be nice if his play finally matches up to his potential.

Shaun McDonald – Another veteran who provides depth to a team fairly loaded at the WR position. McDonald caught a ton of balls during the preseason, demonstrating he is still a top notch possession receiver. He’ll be #4 on the depth chart, playing in a slot as an underneath option in a four WR formation. Limas Sweed has seemingly won the #3 receiver spot but McDonald is great insurance to have in case he struggles or one of the guys ahead of him suffers an injury.

Draft Class of 2009 - Defensive rookies seldom play their first season (Troy Polamalu only played special teams his rookie year) so don’t expect to see any of them this year.  Still, first rounder DE Ziggy Hood looked great and I think has a great career ahead of him. DBs Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis showed a ton of potential even though two rookie DBs on your bench is a little scary.  OL Kraig Urbik showed little but our offensive line depth is paper thin so he stays.  Frank “The Tank” Summers also didn’t show much (he was injured early in camp) but there were flashes of being a good blocker so he’s now the team’s lone fullback. TE/FB hybrid David Johnson, a 7th round pick, made the team thanks to some decent blocking and an unfortunate season-ending injury to TE/FB Sean McHugh.

Now, let’s pour a forty on the ground and bid a fond farewell to the following players:

Carey Davis – The man who beat out Dan Kreider for the FB job in 2007 has thankfully been given the boot.  Clearly, the compromising photos he had of Mike Tomlin at a Furry Convention must have been lost in a fire or something. Davis won the job because he could supposedly catch, run, and block. In three years, he’s been barely used as a lead blocker, showed no ability as a short yardage back, and caught maybe a dozen or so balls. Good riddance.

Bruce Davis – Bad day to have the last name “Davis.” A UCLA grad (in other words, a douche), Davis was a third round pick in 2008. They projected him as a pass rushing LB but he never showed enough speed to beat anybody nor the strength to overpower them. Mark this one down as a bust and let’s move on.

Anthony Madison – Madison was a free agent this summer who was re-signed by the Steelers. I think they hoped with the departure of Bryant McFadden and the aging of Deshea Townshend, he might move up our CB depth chart. Unfortunately, we drafted two DBs and signed another (see above) and all of them played better than AMad during the preseason. Madison’s biggest contribution to the Steelers was as a gunner on special teams. To be fair, he was very good at covering kicks the past couple years. However, the Steelers couldn’t justify keeping a special teams specialist over guys who can cover kicks AND play their positions.

Finally, there are a couple notable names who did not make the main roster but cleared waivers and are now Practice Squad fodder.

A.Q. Shipley – One of only two 2009 draft picks to be cut (DE Sonny Harris, claimed by the Carolina Panthers, was the other).  Shipley was given every shot to make the main squad but he’s too undersized to compete at the NFL level.  Since there are many weight training techniques and *ahem* special vitamins athletes can take to bulk up, I guess the Steelers want to keep him around hoping he can eventually put on some size.  Shipley is a local kid and I’m sure we’d all like to see the local kid make the hometown team, even if he did play his college ball at Penn State.

Isaac Redman – The biggest surprise and, with the exception of Joystick, probably the star of the Steelers’ 2009 training camp.  Redman, an undrafted rookie, led the team with 145 rushing yards and three touchdowns this preseason.  He also put on a legendary performance during goal-line drills, scoring seven times against the Steelers first team defense to earn the nickname “Redzone” Redman.  Between Skippy, Big Snack, Silverback, and now Joystick, the Steelers lead the NFL in cool nicknames as well as Lombardi Trophies.

Hopefully some of the names mentioned here will help lead us to another.

As I stated in a previous post, I usually skip preseason games. The tedium of watching fourth and fifth stringers compete for the honor of becoming practice squad fodder simply doesn’t interest me. However, it’s been so long since my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers last took the field, I was compelled to watch their inaugural effort last night.

Since I took the time to highlight a few select training camp battles here, I thought I’d share some early observations on those competitions. I’ll also throw in a couple snap judgments about some notable players suiting up this season for the Black and Gold.

Limas Sweed – Sweed got a bad rap by Steeler Nation for some horrible drops late last season (including a sure touchdown in the AFC Championship Game). He looked terrific last night, catching 2 balls for 56 yards, highlighted by a 45 yard grab where he out jumped a defender Plaxico Burress-style and caught the ball with a helmet assist reminiscent of David Tyree. That kind of tall, athletic, jump ball catching WR is exactly what the Steelers have been missing. It’s why they drafted Sweed and it looks like he may be ready to provide it.

Shaun McDonald - The veteran caught 6 passes for 69 yards. The #3 receiver spot is still Sweed’s to lose but McDonald seems to at least be in the mix. He mostly played late in the game against fourth stringers which either means the coaches are comfortable about what to expect from him or he’s already an afterthought. I would guess the former is more likely the case.

Mike Wallace – The rookie made the best impression out of the remaining WRs. He only caught 2 balls for 35 yards but showed some excellent vertical speed in going deep. He didn’t connect on any bombs (mostly due to poor throws from the quarterback) but that speed is very enticing. He was also used as the kick returner, returning one ball 35 yards. That’s a lot better than Gary Russell’s catch-the-ball-and-plow-ahead-5-yards strategy last year.

Daniel Sepulveda - Many a feminine heart was aflutter as Dreamy Daniel made his welcome return  to the Steelers. He seemed to show no ill effects from last year’s torn ACL as he boomed 6 punts for an average of 50 yards. I’ll leave it to my female readers to swoon over his looks, I’m perfectly happy to swoon over the fact we finally have a punter that can kick the ball more than 15 yards down the field.

Ziggy Hood - The Steelers top draft pick played well in his pro debut. He got some nice pressure off the edge, albeit playing against backup offensive linemen. I also noticed him hustling downfield to get involved in the play several times. They said the kid had a great motor and seeing is believing. He’s not going to play much (if at all) this season but I feel good about what we’ll be seeing from him in the future.

Joe Burnett, Keiwan Ratliff- Cornerback depth is one of the few concerns on this team. Will.i.am Gay is the new starter and he looked okay in limited action. Anthony Madison is supposedly #4 on the chart (after the starters and ageless wonder Deshea Townshend) but he didn’t play well at all. Keiwan Ratliff, the journeyman free agent pick up, had an excellent game. He recorded 6 tackles and had a nice corner blitz-sack. I liked what I saw from this guy.

Burnett, another rookie, had mixed results. He played nice corner, intercepting a pass at the end of the half and returning it 42 yards (but not for a score) in a play eerily similar to James Harrison‘s Super Bowl pick six. However, Burnett is probably more important to the team as a return man. He handled the punts and didn’t fare well at all. His first one was fumbled away, while he returned the two he managed to catch 12 yards each. Obviously, I’ll give him a break for nerves and the sample size is very very small but I wasn’t impressed with what I saw.

Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon - Batch, making his return from a broken collarbone, played very sparingly. He had the one completion to Sweed but misfired badly on his other attempt.  They yanked him after those two pass attempts over two series.

However, if Dixon hopes to take the #2 spot from Batch, he has to play better than he did tonight. He played the majority of the game, going 10/19 for 112 yards with no TDs or INTs. He showed a lot of Slash-like tendencies in that on some passes he’d fire beautiful strikes right on target, then on the next play badly overthrow a wide open receiver. Lack of playing time may very well account for this inconsistency so let’s give him time.  The Steelers are clearly high on him, letting him play almost three entire quarters to get a good look. Off of what I saw, though, I wouldn’t want to put my season into his hands for any extended period of time should Big Ben take another wrong turn on his motorcycle.

Isaac Redman - Isaac who?  Trust me, I’ve saved the best for last.  Isaac Redman is an undrafted rookie out of college football powerhouse Bowie State. The 5’10 228 pound back put up some pretty impressive rushing totals for that school during a four year career.

While fellow rookie Frank “The Tank” Summers got all the hoopla coming in to camp, Redman put on the best performance last night.  The Tank was used primarily as a fullback, carrying only twice for 3 yards.   Meanwhile, Redman had 10 rushes for 32 yards.  Not exactly the greatest numbers but two of those rushes were for TDs.

Short yardage TDs to be specific.  Both were goal line attempts where Redman was stopped at the line and then bulled his way forward for the score.  At 5’10, he’s a tall target with a fairly vertical running style that makes him easy to hit.  What he does have is the bulk and leg drive to push ahead in a very impressive fashion.  If the Steelers are looking for a short yardage back to take Russell’s place, Isaac looks to be the early favorite for the role.

Still, one must keep in mind Redman played against fourth stringers when he performed his heroics.  Then again, in goal line drills earlier this week, Redman was the only back to score on our first team defense.  It also bears mentioning that Rashard Mendenhall, playing most of the first half with Fast Willie nursing an injury, only had 27 yards on 9 carries playing with the first and second string offensive lines.  He looked fine making cuts but showed very little in the way of power running, which is what the Steelers need from him.