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: Jake McGee
Position: Tight End
Experience: 1 Year
I imagine a lot of you might find it pointless to cover Jake McGee right now. For one thing, he has never been on the 53-man roster for the Steelers. For another—oh yeah—he’s not even on the roster right now. But he was on injured reserve for all of last season (and thus technically has an accrued season), and I’m also not convinced we’ve seen the last of him.
The Steelers liked McGee a fair bit after they brought him in to training camp mid-flight in 2017. He was singled out for praise following multiple preseason games because of his strong blocking performances, and he lasted on the practice squad all year.
He figured to compete for a spot on the 53-man roster with (or against) Xavier Grimble before he suffered an Achilles injury all the way back in OTAs in May. He was placed on injured reserve even back then.
Now with Jesse James gone and the team having not otherwise yet addressed the position, I would imagine that there’s a fair chance they eventually bring back McGee, assuming that he is back to full health.
They may explore their options—they are evidently kicking the tires on a couple of bargain-bin free agents, and there is always the draft—before making a decision about what to do with him, and there is still Bucky Hodges (and Christian Scotland-Williamson) from the practice squad a year ago, but I can’t dismiss the high praise of McGee just yet.
Maybe I’m speaking through personal bias, but I’d like to see him brought back to compete for a spot this year provided that he is healthy. I was nearly ready to put him on the 53-man roster back in 2017, though, so take this all for what it’s worth to you.
