As the final cuts came in and teams’ rosters began to take shape, one thing became clear about this Pittsburgh Steelers team: it’s not as ‘local’ as you might expect. That is to say, a lot of the players on the roster were added as veteran free agents who played for other organizations.
A recent study showed that they have among the fewest homegrown players on their roster in the NFL, at just under half—26 of their 53. They were just one of five teams below the 50-percent threshold. But two positions stand out in being responsible for this: the inside linebackers and the secondary.