It is offical. The Steelers have placed rookie free agent Nik Embertate on injured reserve. To take his place on the roster, the Steelers have signed former Pittsburgh West, aka Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman D’Anthony Batiste.
The Steelers like to sign offensive lineman who are versatile, and Batiste has shown he can get around:
#Steelers sign veteran OT D’Anthony Batiste. He has spent time with 6 different NFL teams, 3 leagues.
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) August 3, 2013
But this isn’t the kind of versatility that the Steelers want or need. As noted earlier, Arizona had a bad offensive line in 2012, and Batiste was one of its worst players. D’Batiste broke into the leauge in 2007 with the Atlanta Falcons, and actually started 4 games for them, according to the site Pro Football Reference.
He spent 2009 with the Washington Redskins, working on a line replete with problems, then spent 2010 with the Denver Broncos and Cardinals. While only appearing in 5 games in 2010 and 2011 for Arizona, he played in 15 games and started 10.
As Neal Coolong of Behind the Steel Curtain observed prior to the Steelers signing of Batiste:
The idea of the Steelers holding enough interest in free agent offensive tackle D’Anthony Batiste seems absurd.
Even dangerous.
Now it seems that the Steelers have decided to strike the proverbial bell and bide the danger….
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