The Steelers have decided to sign Paul Ernster and they have released Mitch Berger to make room for him.  The 26-year old Ernster has played in 19 games in his NFL career and he has punted the ball 92 times for 3,772 yards (41.0 avg).  He has also placed 26 punts inside the opposing 20 yard line and he has 7 touchbacks in his career.  Berger punted the football 42 times for the Steelers this season for 1,760 yards (41.9 avg).  He placed 14 punts inside the opposing 20-yard line and he had 2 touchbacks.  The problem with Berger is that he was a tad gimpy with a hamstring issue and the Steelers couldn’t afford to keep him starting.

Due to injuries to Willie Parker and Rashard Mendenhall the Steelers have to add a back and brought Najeh Davenport back into the fold.  He played in 15 games (1 start) for the Steelers last season and he carried the ball 107 times for 499 yards (4.7 ypc) with 5 TD runs.  He also caught 18 passes for 184 yards (10.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs last year.  Davenport’s main duty in his first game (against the Jaguars Sunday Night) will be to return kickoffs so that Mewelde Moore can concentrate on offense.  Davenport returned 7 kickoffs for 123 yards (17.6 avg) last season which isn’t great but the Steelers were very lucky that no team picked Davenport up after they cut him.  This was a great signing for them.

The Steelers have brought back 34-year old DE Orpheus Roye on a 1-year contract.  Roye played in 13 games for the Cleveland Browns last season and he made 37 tackles and had 1/2 a sack.  Roye is on the last legs of his NFL career and he will likely be nothing more than a backup for the Steelers this season.  Roye has now played in 174 games in his NFL career and he has made 510 tackles, defensed 41 passes, has 18.5 sacks, forced 5 fumbles and has 2 interceptions.  This was a solid depth signing for the Steelers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed 36-year old punter Mitch Berger to compete with Paul Ernster for the starting punter job.  Berger played in 5 games for the Cardinals last season and he averaged 40.7 yards per punt with a net of 33.1 yards.  He placed 6 punts inside the opposing 20-yard line (30%) and he only had two touchbacks (10%).  This will be an interesting battle for the starting punting gig between Berger and Ernster with Berger probably holding a small edge due to experience.  Berger has now played in 164 games in his NFL career and he has averaged 43.1 yards per punt with a net of 37.7 yards.  He has placed 233 punts (31.9%) inside the opposing 20-yard line in his career and he has had 72 touchbacks (9.9%).  This was a solid signing for the Steelers as Berger could win the job outright.

With Charlie Batch breaking his collar bone last night the Steelers needed to act fast to replace him as he might miss the entire 2008 season.  With that in mind the Steelers have signed Byron Leftwich and Daunte Culpepper.  It’s possible that they are fighting for only one job but the Steelers might be smart to keep them both if they prove they are healthy.  28-year old Leftwich is a big guy at 6′5″, 250 pounds.  He’s a pure passer with a good arm but limited mobility which could be a problem behind the Steelers’ offensive line.  Leftwich played in 3 games (2 starts) with the Falcons last season and he completed 32 of 58 passes (55.2%) for 279 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 interceptions (59.5 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 6 times for 7 yards (1.2 ypc) last season.  It will be interesting to see how Leftwich responds to the challenge that Culpepper gives him as he didn’t handle competition from David Garrard too well in Jacksonville.  Still, he is a talented player when healthy.

31-year old Daunte Culpepper is also a huge guy at 6′4″, 260 pounds and he’s trying to get back to where he was when he was throwing longballs to Randy Moss in Minnesota.  Culpepper played in 7 games (6 starts) last season for the Raiders and he completed 108 of 186 passes (58.1%) for 1,331 yards with 5 TD passes and 5 interceptions (78.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 20 times for 40 yards (2.0 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  Culpepper still has a gun attached to his right shoulder but knee injuries have robbed him of his running ability.  Culpepper has now played in 92 games (90 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 1,867 of 2,927 passes (63.8%) for 22,422 yards with 142 TD passes and 94 interceptions (89.9 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 484 times for 2,536 yards (5.2 ypc) with 33 TD runs. 

Personally, I think the Steelers should keep both Leftwich and Culpepper if healthy and put Dennis Dixon on the practice squad for a season.  Signing these two guys was a smart move for the Steelers as they have both been good QBs in their careers.

UPDATE:  The Steelers have in fact declined to sign Daunte Culpepper as was first reported here.  For some reason he thought he would be given a chance to compete with Ben Roethlisberger for the starting job.  It’s quite possible that Culpepper couldn’t pass a drug test if he thought he would get to compete for the starting job.  Leftwich will be the #2 QB for the Steelers until Batch returns from injury and maybe even longer than that.  The Steelers were fortunate to be able to sign a QB with Leftwich’s experience this late in training camp.