The Pittsburgh Steelers find that their 2016 season ended a bit prematurely, and are undergoing the exit meeting process a couple weeks sooner than they would have liked. Never the less, what must be done must be done, and we are now at the time of the year where we close the book on one season and look ahead to the next.
While we might not know all the details about what goes on between Head Coach Mike Tomlin and his players during these exit meetings, we do know how we would conduct those meetings if they were let up to us. So here are the Depot’s exit meetings for the Steelers’ roster following the 2016 season.
Player: Fitzgerald Toussaint
Position: Running Back
Experience: 3 Years
Fitzgerald Toussaint has been with the Steelers for a couple of years now, having originally been signed by the team to their practice squad following the final roster cuts during the 2015 season. He spent most of that year on the practice squad, but was called up by the end of the year and ended up ascending the depth chart to the backup role. He even ended up starting the team’s two playoff games.
In 2016, he found himself in a more reasonable role as the third player on the depth chart, although he had some competition for that role this time around. On the year, he got just 14 carries, but he did gain 58 yards, finally averaging at least four yards per carry. He averaged two yards per carry in his season with the Ravens, and just 2.3 yards per carry in 2015.
Toussaint also added 33 yards on three receptions, with a long of 15 yards, during the regular season, but he did not get any touches during the postseason—not even during the AFC Championship game after the Steelers lost their starter.
The former undrafted free agent’s most extensive work on offense came in the game against the Colts, which came on a short week. The Steelers played on the 20th and then had to play on the 24th. DeAngelo Williams was still out with a knee injury at the time, so when it became a blowout, he got some time at the end of the game, and got six carries for 28 yards.
He also got some work in the season finale when Le’Veon Bell was resting, and he carries the ball three times for 14 yards, adding two receptions for 24 yards. But he also showed his rust early on in that game in pass protection, though that area of his performance improved over the course of the game.
Toussaint also spent the season as the Steelers’ up back on kick returns, and wound up returning 13 kickoffs for 278 yards, averaging 21.4 yards per return. He did have one solid return of 33 yards, but in general he showed that he should not be returning kicks.
