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: Daniel McCullers
Position: Nose Tackle
Experience: 5 Years
Since being drafted in the sixth round of the 2013 NFL Draft, the big man Daniel McCullers has flipped back and forth between being a gameday backup and inactive. Last year was a backup year, leapfrogging L.T. Walton on the depth chart, who had done the same to him in 2017.
Still, that didn’t exactly say much, as not only did McCullers fail to log many snaps, he also failed to make much of a significant impact when he did play, although he did record a sack, which was arguably the most successful pressure, let alone sack, of his five-year career.
He ended up playing 111 snaps during the 2018 season, which was 200 fewer than Tyson Alualu, and about 60 more than Walton. He only recorded five tackles on the season, but four of them qualified as defensive stops, though that shouldn’t be a shocking number for a lumbering nose tackle who would obviously be near the line of scrimmage.
McCullers dressed as the backup to Javon Hargrave at nose tackle, but with the team playing so much in their nickel and dime defense, there wasn’t necessarily a lot of need for a rotation at the nose tackle position during the year.
It did seem as though new defensive line coach Karl Dunbar may have perhaps been able to get more out of McCullers—though in the offseason he also talked about being more fired up because he knows he is facing his last chance.
Still, it’s hard to envision the Steelers re-signing him yet again for a sixth season. He is pretty much at his ceiling at this point, which is something the team can have a good shot at upgrading from in free agency or in the draft.
