Ben Roethlisberger has already won 2 Super Bowls for the Pittsburgh Steelers and there’s no reason to think he can’t do it again provided that the pass blocking improves.  It was a weakness last season for the Steelers as Roethlisberger got jacked up quite a few times.  He holds the ball too long sometimes and that’s part of the reason he gets hit so many times, but, it’s also the reason that he makes a ton of big throws.  Roethlisberger is not the kind of player that will ever likely throw for 4,000+ yards but he’s a winner in the mold of ex-Steeler great Terry Bradshaw.  With Byron Leftwich off to Tampa, the Steelers have retained Charlie Batch to back up Roethlisberger.  Batch has been great whenever called into action for the Steelers.  He doesn’t have a great arm but he makes whatever throw the Steelers need him to.  2nd year man Dennis Dixon will battle undrafted rookie Mike Reilly for the #3 QB job on the Steelers.  The likely scenario is that Dixon winds up being the #3 QB and Reilly makes the practice squad.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON:  A

The Steelers have signed undrafted QB Mike Reilly.  Reilly will compete with Dennis Dixon for the #3 QB job on the Steelers in 2009.  Reilly has nice size at 6′2″, 215 pounds but he’s more of a dropback passer.  He has a very quick release which makes up somewhat for his lack of arm strength.  In his 4-year career at Central Washington, Reilly played in 46 games (all starts) in which he completed 995 of 1,553 passes (64.1%) for 12,448 yards with 118 TD passes and 40 interceptions.  He is a longshot to make the Steelers out of training camp.

The Steelers have released 28-year old inside linebacker Larry Foote.  Foote played in all 16 games for the Steelers last season and he made 63 tackles, defensed 3 passes, had 1.5 sacks and he forced 1 fumble.  In his 7 years with the Steelers, Foote played in 110 games making 423 tackles, he defensed 18 passes, had 14.5 sacks, forced 7 fumbles and he picked off three passes.  Foote was a salary cap casualty who will be replaced in the starting lineup by Lawrence Timmons.  Foote quickly was signed by the Detroit Lions after his release.

The Steelers have signed 27-year old WR Shaun McDonald.  He is on the small side at 5′10″, 183 pounds but he’s not scared to go over the middle to make a catch.  McDonald played in 12 games for the Lions last season and he caught 35 passes for 332 yards (9.5 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He also returned 11 punts for 104 yards (9.5 avg) last season.  McDonald has now played in 84 games in his 6-year NFL career catching 220 passes for 2,490 yards (11.3 avg) with 11 TD grabs.  He has also returned 72 punts for 452 yards (6.3 avg) in his career.  This was a good signing for the Steelers as McDonald will have a good chance of being their #3 WR in 2009.

The Steelers like Johnson as more of a H-Back.  He is 6′2″, 260 pounds and he runs a 4.7 40.  He caught 45 passes for 760 yards (16.9 avg) with 9 TDs in his 4-year career at Arkansas State.  Look for Johnson to have a hard time getting a lot of playing time as a rookie.