This week the Pittsburgh Steelers made three roster moves which in it’s purest form didn’t surprise anyone. No one was dumbfounded as to why the Steelers cut ties with Mitch Trubisky, Chuks Okorafor and Pressley Harvin; however, there were questions about why the team made these moves when they did.

Let’s start with the biggest head-scratcher, the release of Harvin. Pressley Harvin was still on his rookie contract, and his release didn’t save the Steelers hardly anything in terms of salary cap space. So, why make the move now? Why not keep Harvin and bring in competition?

In his most recent article for Steelers.com Dale Lolley talked about the why of the organization’s decision to completely move on from Harvin instead of another camp competition:

Harvin is talented. He’s got a big leg. But he also never adjusted to kicking in poor weather, which is a must if you’re going to be the punter in Pittsburgh.

Harvin averaged 45.2 yards per punt in the first four games of the season over his career. But in games in Week 13 and beyond, that average dipped to 41.9 yards per punt

The Steelers could have brought Harvin back and provided him with some serious competition. The problem with that, however, is that Harvin has had competition before.

And as evidenced from his career stats, he’s a much different kicker in August and September than he is in December and January.
So the past couple of seasons, they had brought legitimate competition to camp to work against Harvin, only to see him win the job. That included Braden Mann last season.

Harvin was clearly the better option when the Steelers made the decision to keep him over Mann a year ago. He kicked the ball better throughout August.

But following his release, Mann was signed by the Eagles and averaged 49.8 yards per punt. Harvin, meanwhile, was at 43.8 yards.
The Steelers decided to not be tempted by Harvin’s August kicking again.

Outside of Harvin the biggest question among the fan base was the reason why the team didn’t try to get something via trade out of Chukwuma Okorafor. Okorafor, while his time in Pittsburgh had clearly come to an end, was still a very talented young player with a lot of experience under his belt.

They could have gotten something for him, right? After all, something is better than nothing.

Well, according to Lolley the team didn’t want to wait around until potentially the draft to seek a trade partner. Instead, they wanted to cut ties to help Okorafor find a new team, and the organization can move forward with the need at tackle more glaring than ever before.

There was perhaps a chance the Steelers could have gotten something in return for Okorafor via a trade. After all, in an offensive lineman-starved league, a 26-year-old offensive tackle with 59 career starts under his belt could be attractive.

The problem the Steelers had, however, is that any interest in Okorafor via a trade probably wasn’t going to appear until after the NFL Draft in April.

With free agency set to kick off in a few weeks and a draft that is deep in offensive tackles, teams were more likely to try to fill their needs via one of those two avenues before considering a trade for a veteran tackle.

So the Steelers decided to make the move with Okorafor now rather than wait.

It helps them in terms of salary cap relief now and Okorafor with getting a fresh start with a new team.

These answers from Lolley might not satisfy all the questions of the global Steelers fan base, but they certainly shine some light as to what the organization was thinking when they made the moves earlier this week.

What do you think of these answers? Let us know in the comment section below, and be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the rest of the 2024 offseason.