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: Trey Edmunds
Position: Running Back
Experience: 1 Year
Just for a quick bit of clarification, Trey Edmunds has one year of accrued NFL experience. He was only on the Steelers’ 53-man roster for the final four games of the 2018 season, which is one short of what’s necessary to accrue a season, so only his rookie year with the New Orleans Saints in 2017 counts.
Trey is, of course, the older brother of Terrell Edmunds, the safety who was the Steelers’ first-round draft pick in 2018. Terrell was more or less a starter from day one due to the circumstances at the position. Trey, on the other hand, will have a difficult time of making the 53-man roster in 2019, though surely he would love to hang around..
The Saints chose not to carry him in 2018, and the Steelers signed him to their practice squad soon after that. That would have been where his story ended were it not for a high ankle sprain suffered by James Conner in Week 13.
Following that injury, Edmunds was promoted to the 53-man roster, and he dressed for each of the four final games, though he did not contribute on offense. Instead, he was used on special teams, which was a role that he already had with the Saints, and frankly is his best chance of retaining his spot this year.
What’s notable is that when Conner returned for the season finale, Edmunds continued to dress, while Stevan Ridley, who had a costly fumble in the previous game, was inactive for that game. In fact, the only games that Ridley was a participant in since his first fumble in the seven game were during Conner’s injury and for a short-week game against the Panthers.
Still, Edmunds doesn’t have much of a body of work to speak of, and one gets the sense that the Steelers will be addressing the running back position this offseason. With Conner and Jaylen Samuels already in place, another addition would not bode well for him.
