The Pittsburgh Steelers announced their final roster cuts this afternoon. P Jeremy Kapinos was among them, making Daniel Sepulveda the starting punter for the 2011 Steelers.
Kapinos and Sepulveda had a tightly contested battle throughout training camp and preseason action. Kapinos had been the first team holder throughout much of the preseason which caused speculation that he was the favorite to win the job. Kapinos was also especially strong in the final preseason game against Carolina.
In the end, though, it’s possible that the Steelers decided that they have too much invested in Sepulveda to let him go. He’s had season ending knee injuries in both 2008 and 2010, but the Steelers used a 4th round draft pick on him in 2007 and could still hold out hope that he’ll become one of the top punters in the league.
While this was the biggest ‘battle’ for a roster spot this summer, it’s unlikely that the choice of Sepulveda over Kapinos will have any major effect on the outcome of the season. Both have proved to be average to above-average punters and there isn’t a big gap between the two of them. The Steelers have also had Chris Gardocki and Mitch Berger — who were both awful — as their punters on their last 2 Super Bowl winning teams.
The team also cut a few other players: T Tony Hills, CB Crezdon Butler, TE John Gilmore, DE J.Crittenton.
Hills and Butler are the surprises out of that group. The team has a ton of young cornerbacks, but Butler has impressed this preseason. Hills was slated by most to be the team’s starting RG against Baltimore next weekend, but Doug Legursky has won that starting job so it’s not too surprising to see Hills gone, as he was not a good tackle option at all.
Gilmore’s release means undrafted TE Weslye Saunders is on the team and Crittenton’s release was good news for Chris Hoke and Steve McLendon.
