Shortly before the Pittsburgh Steelers formally announced the move to promote Fitzgerald Toussaint to the active roster, releasing Isaiah Pead in the process a short comment by Todd Haley actually caught my attention.
For the first time since he’s been signed, someone on the Steelers actually acknowledged Toussaint, which was a sure nice start. In this week’s Coordinator’s Corner, Bob Labriola asked the standard question of evaluating the group behind DeAngelo Williams.
After giving the non-answer and maintaining the status quo by briefly mentioning Jordan Todman and Pead, he turned his attention to Toussaint.
“We got Fitz on the practice squad that gets some reps. I’m sure he’s ready at any moment.”
Ready at any moment. Haley should be a writer because that’s some Grade A foreshadowing.
Mike Tomlin noted during his Tuesday press conference that having the bye week allowed time for the younger players to get evaluated. He pointed out Todman and Pead specificlaly, but I bet the same went for Toussaint. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think Toussaint showed more in practice and Pead struggled, causing the Steelers to make the move they did.
Pead was never anything more than a flier. We know the team liked him coming out of Cincinnati, and we know Pead struggled in his brief time in the NFL. He was a player worth getting to know, finding out which side of the coin Pead’s talent truly was on.
It’s still unclear if Toussaint will dress Sunday and even if he does, playing time is unlikely. But he’s one injury away from being seriously talked about and is a player worth watching. He is wearing #33 for the Steelers. That normally isn’t something I add, but I bet about one percent of fans knew that, much less the fact he was actually on this team.
As of this writing. the Steelers now have one practice squad spot free. We’ll see if they fill it up today or not.
