Jacob Klinger | jklinger@pennlive.com

Beyond the yearly churn that overturns all NFL rosters, the group of stars that have defined Steelers teams for the past several years may be falling apart.

Plenty of Pittsburgh players will feel the ripple effects. Even more were going to have wildly scattered 2019s anyway.

Here are 19 such Steelers to keep an eye on this year — and why. Some of them won't be Steelers by the time the season hits:

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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19. Javon Hargrave, NT

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(AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

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The 2016 third-round pick improved on a second-year regression. As will be a theme further down in this list, however, it's unclear if he's done enough to force the Steelers into offering an extension before he plays out his rookie deal.

Though nose tackles are diminishing in relevance in the modern NFL, Hargrave has shown he can play some 3-4 defensive end, too, which helps his cause.

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18. Marcus Gilbert, RT

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(AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

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Gilbert played in only five games this season as he struggled with a knee injury. And whereas he is owed $4,865,000 in base salary in 2019 – the final year of his deal – his 2018 replacements Matt Feiler and Chukwuma Okorafor are to cost the team less than $1.3 million in 2019 combined. This usually only ends one way in the NFL.

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17. Artie Burns, CB

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He's playing for his career, likely with further challenges from other young prospects if not also a free agent signing in the position. It would be surprising if the team activated his fifth-year option before this season, his fourth.

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16. Eli Rogers

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(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

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Rogers added an extra wrinkle to a Steelers offense that was running out of such things as he played out the last three weeks of the season. Rogers and other Steelers have noted that receivers play more varied positions in the offense under Randy Fichtner and Rogers could benefit from a full season doing so. Pittsburgh can bring him back relatively cheaply, too, though he would have to clear the restricted free agent market — to the extent that such a thing exists.

If Rogers establishes himself in the Steelers' or any offense, though, the 2015 undrafted rookie free agent will finally get an NFL-sized payday in 2020, despite a pair of serious early career injuries.

That's a story in and of itself, wherever it happens.

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15. Terrell Edmunds, S

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Though he was far from flawless, Edmunds could be taken for granted as a steady enough force in the Steelers defense as he started for nearly all of his rookie season. Mike Tomlin is very public about his expecting second-year players to take large leaps. If Edmunds does, Pittsburgh begins to build an even more complete and dangerous defense. If not, the depth – or lack thereof – has to shuffle again.

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14. Jaylen Samuels, RB

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(Barry Reeger | Special to PennLive)

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Players without positions are always interesting. And while Samuels has one now, running back, he'll likely be fighting for a roster spot at first. Should he agains make the 53-man team, however, he can be an X-factor in an offense that will still miss Le'Veon Bell, and possibly Antonio Brown.

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13. Mason Rudolph, QB

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It would be great for the Steelers if he could overtake Joshua Dobbs this offseason. Then, Pittsburgh could go into the season knowing it has a viable post-Ben Roethlisberger signal caller for one year longer than it would if Dobbs had to be that player. This allows the front office to plan out a couple years farther and – ideally – pre-pave a rebuild.

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12. Cameron Sutton, CB

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(AP Photo/Fred Vuich)

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Maybe he suffers from having too many positions and no one spot on the field. He took some of Mike Hilton's first-team nickel corner reps at the end of the 2018 campaign, but never factored into the outside cornerback situation in a season when the spot was wildly unsettled.

It's not crazy to expect the 2017 third-round pick to change that. His success would take a ton of pressure off a Pittsburgh secondary that hardly needs any more.

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11. Chukwuma Okorafor, OT

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The Steelers barely needed him to start in 2018. He did, once, and subbed in as an extra blocking tight end. But in 2019 he could cement himself as Pittsburgh's longterm right tackle of the future, and present, especially if Gilbert is released.

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10. James Washington, WR

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Because it would be awfully hard to manufacture a vertical passing attack, much less pull defenders from a featured wideout without Washington taking massive steps in 2019.

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9. Chris Boswell, K

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(AP Photo/Don Wright)

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His fall from repeated game-winner in 2017 to liability in 2018 was one of the stranger turns in the story of this past season. As a result, one of the top-paid kickers in the league is likely to be fighting to keep that contract come training camp 2019.

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8. T.J. Watt, OLB

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(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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On a defense full of good players and void of week-to-week playmakers, Watt has come the closest of any prospect to breaking that mold. The 2017 first-round pick compiled 13 sacks last season and six forced fumbles. Pittsburgh may be downright dependent on similar, if not greater, production.

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7. Sean Davis, S

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It's a contract year, unless the Steelers give him an extension before the season starts. That negotiation is curious and telling, too, as Davis has proven himself an NFL starter while not breaking through as a reliable game-changing threat.

Addressing that business – or not – will tell us plenty about the medium term future of a unit his draft class once seemed poised to transform.

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6. Joe Haden, CB

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(Barry Reeger | Special to PennLive)

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The Steelers' best corner will be 30 by the time the next season starts. He'll also be approaching the final year of his contract, which the team may want to extend. It's a complicated negotiation, if it happens at all, because a three-year deal could stick Pittsburgh with a stiff cap hit should Haden fall off sharply a season or so from now. Corners seldom age gracefully.

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5. James Conner, RB

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Building on a Pro Bowl season when the rest of the league has had an entire offseason to game plan for him would've been difficult even if he wasn't likely to be running behind a changed offensive line.

Depending on other personnel situations, the Steelers may be forced to rely on Conner more in 2019.

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4. JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR

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(AP Photo/Mark LoMoglio)

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He proved a lot in 2018. A year later, he may have to make his way as a No. 1 threat for a full season.

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3. Le'Veon Bell, RB

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Wherever he goes, he's still a generational talent who made a series of contract decisions that threatened to shake the entire league's bargaining dynamic. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

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2. Ben Roethlisberger, QB

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Assuming he gets a contract extension, the length and structure of the deal will be the greatest reveal of the front office's vision for this team that the reading public will have received in several years. Roethlisberger said before last season he could play another 3-5 years, which makes a lot of sense to say with two years left on one's contract.

He has one remaining now and is reportedly likely to sign an extension early in this offseason.

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1. Antonio Brown, WR

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(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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The offense and the team as a whole are not the same without him. The locker room ebbs and flows with his energy or absence, too. And the final years of a seemingly closing Super Bowl window are about to be wagered, or not, on just how much Brown and all that comes with him, is worth.

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