The 2011 Pittsburgh Steelers final roster cuts are in. To get to 53 men, the Steelers cut punter Jeremy Kapinos, veteran tight end John Gilmore, undrafted rooke free agent Jarrett Crittenton and in two surprise moves, veteran guard/tackle Tony Hills and sophmore cornerback Crezdon Butler.

The departure of Butler is surprising because he recently had a strong preseason outing against Atlanta, although he had a difficult night against Carolina.

Daniel Sepulveda will again start the season as the Steelers punter. The Steelers have flirtered with letting him go for some time, but just can’t seem to pull the trigger — even a moster performance in preseason by Kapinos couldn’t pus them to do it.

The move to cut Tony Hills draws even more surprises, given that Hills was in contention for the starting right guard spot just a week ago.

John Gilmore’s departure is less of a surprise and amounts to a huge vote of confidence for Weslye Saunders.

Practice Squad Candidates?

The Steelers will most certainly attempt to bring Crezdon Butler back via the practices squad.

It will be interesting to see if Tony Hills makes the practice squad. Although drafted in the 4th round of the 2008 NFL draft, Tony Hills has only played in 3 NFL games, which may leave him eligible for the practice squad.

The Steelers can sign 8 players to the practice squad and may begin doing so tomorrow.

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