The Pittsburgh Steelers ended the 2019 season much as they did the 2018 season, by allowing their playoff fate slip out of their grasp. Slow starts and slow finishes permeated both campaigns, with strong runs in between. But while the results were the same missing the playoffs, the means were quite different.
Yet again, they find themselves undergoing the exit meeting process earlier than anticipated, which means so are we. But that they still managed to go 8-8 without Ben Roethlisberger, and with the general quality of play that they faced along the way, I suppose things could have been worse.
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: Tevin Jones
Position: WR
Experience: 1 Year
While we have wrapped up our discussion of all of the prominent players who were at one point or another on the Steelers’ 53-man roster last season, I think it’s also important to talk about those who were on the practice squad for a meaningful stretch, if not simply because it’s not uncommon to see them come up to the 53.
Of the 10 non-international players who made the Steelers’ initial 10-man practice squad in 2019, for example, six of them could go on to be promoted to the 53-man roster at some point in time during the season, although that includes Johnny Holton, who was promoted prior to the start of the regular season. Then again, his practice squad spot was filled by Devlin Hodges, who was also promoted to the 53-man roster, so there you go.
I have already covered most of the players who were promoted to the 53-man roster, such as Marcus Allen, Trey Edmunds, and Robert Spillane, but there were others as well, such as Tevin Jones, who originally joined the Steelers as a futures signing in 2018.
After spending that season on the practice squad (or at least parts of it), he was back on again, but following Ryan Switzer’s injury in the middle of November, he got the call up, and he did play. In fact, he saw 145 snaps over just five games.
He would even see 10 targets, but caught only four passes for 61 yards—including a notable 28-yarder—dropping two passes. He was released after the game in which he had two drops. A lot of his playing time was due to his ability to play both inside and outside and because he could block, but they began using Deon Cain more late in the year.
After his release, Jones was not re-signed back to the practice squad, nor was he retained as a futures player for a third consecutive year. He signed a futures deal with the Houston Texans instead, as the Steelers had already added several other wide receivers to the mix: Amara Darboh, Jamal Custis, and Quadree Henderson, all of whom are on the current 90-man roster.
