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: Eli Rogers
Position: Wide Receiver
Experience: 4 Years
It was a long road back for Eli Rogers, and it wasn’t assured that he even would be given the opportunity, but I think when all was said and done it became obvious that it was quite worth it for all parties involved.
Rogers, a former undrafted free agent, was the team’s starting slot receiver in 2016 in his second season (after spending his rookie year on injured reserve), but he lost that role to JuJu Smith-Schuster in 2017. An opportunity presented itself to retake that spot after Smith-Schuster entered the starting lineup, but he was sidelined.
Rogers suffered a torn ACL in the playoffs at the end of the 2017 season, and the Steelers chose not to re-sign him until the start of training camp as he healed. He started the season on the Physically Unable to Perform List, where he remained for most of the year, but he finally got the chance to get called up for the final three games of the season.
And he had an instant impact, catching four passes against the New England Patriots. None of them were big in terms of yardage, as he gained just 20 yards in total, but they were valuable. In the season finale, he was targeted nine times, catching seven passes for 57 yards. He also caught a pass for a successful two-point conversion against the New Orleans Saints.
As we have discussed a few times around these parts, because he spent the vast majority of the season on the PUP List, and because he was entering his fourth season, his 2018 contract will ‘toll’, meaning that he will be under contract in the Steelers’ control in 2019 under the same salary as last year.
If the Steelers trade Antonio Brown, then it would be very easy to imagine Rogers playing a pretty big role in the offense. If the organization wasn’t fond of him, they could have walked away from him any number of times already, but they like what he brings to the table.
