Today's roster cutdown day came with few surprises, as the Pittsburgh Steelers reduced their roster to the mandatory 53 players.
A name that perhaps few expected to make the roster was offensive lineman Dylan Cook.
Cook’s story is an interesting one. After transferring to Montana from Montana State–Northern, Cook made the transition from quarterback to offensive line. This change would pay dividends, as he would play in 13 games with 11 starts, and was the anchor on a line that produced its first 1,000-yard rusher since 2014. As a senior, he was ranked as one of the top offensive linemen in the Big Sky Conference and earned fourth-team All-Big Sky honors from Phil Steele Magazine.
Coming into this year's training camp, Cook was a relative unknown commodity with little expectations. Cook responded by quietly putting together solid camp performances. During the preseason, Cook played in 101 offensive snaps, allowing no sacks and no penalties, while registering an overall grade 66.2.
With departures of Kendrick Green and Kevin Dotson through trades, and William Dunkle's release on Monday, the had more than enough room to add Cook to their roster.
What his role with the team going forward remains to be see. For now, Cook has earned the opportunity to prove himself worthy of a spot and potentially a bigger role, if all goes well.