The Pittsburgh Steelers have a major set challenges facing them for the offseason of 2019 after they managed to miss the postseason for the first time in five years. The failure has been taken especially grievously because of the fact that the team was in position to control their own fate even for homefield advantage with six games remaining before dropping four games.
And so they find themselves getting the exit meeting process underway at least two weeks earlier than they have had to in years, since they have made it to at least the Divisional Round since 2015. Hopefully they used those extra two weeks with purpose.
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 2018 season.
Player: Antonio Brown
Position: Wide Receiver
Experience: 9 Years
Oh where, oh where to begin? Boy, it’s sure been an interesting year to follow Antonio Brown. The star wide receiver, who by performance alone was robbed of All-Pro recognition this season, put up some big numbers on the football field as he always does, but his performance off the field has at times been even more explosive. And since this is an exit meeting, that’s part of the discussion.
If there was a discussion to be had with Brown. Pick up the phone, man. It’s your friend, Giraffe. Anyway…
Another 100-catch season, his sixth in the row, the most in NFL history consecutively. Unparalleled. Just shy of 1300 yards. 15 touchdowns in 15 games, leading the league in that statistic and setting a franchise record in the process. All good stuff.
And his numbers could have been better, maybe even significantly better, if it didn’t take Ben Roethlisberger so long to actually start connecting with him, the failed connections between the two still being the most incomprehensible thing about the 2018 season. That used to be the one thing you could count it. What exactly was behind all that, anyway?
But things turned around and the pair had some big games together, as they very frequently have, and his statistics at the end of the year looked like they always do. All is well, except it’s not. What happens next? Where do we go from here—or better yet, where are we?
Only Brown himself can answer that question, and we’re all waiting for his answer. If he’s trying to force the team’s hand to trade him, then I guess he’s doing the right thing. He keeps teasing an interview that he’s going to give but we still have no information beyond that.
And as time goes on, the odds increasingly favor the possibility of him playing in another city this fall.
