One of the new wrinkles that were added in 2020 as a result of Covid-19 was the ability for each team on a weekly basis to protect four players on their practice squad, meaning that other teams would not be permitted to sign them. If a team wants to protect a player for an entire season, they will have to choose to protect him each week.
The protected players for Week One were revealed earlier today, and the following are the players the Pittsburgh Steelers opted to protect: OLB Jayrone Elliott; S Curtis Riley; RB Wendell Smallwood; and DL Henry Mondeaux.