New Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Eric Ebron passed along some great news Thursday on Twitter about his surgically repaired ankle as you can see below.
The thought that he’s passed his physical and running and cutting without pain is certainly encouraging. Ebron, in case you missed it, Ebron reportedly underwent ankle surgery in early December and after signing a two-year, $12 million contract with the Steelers in March, admitted in early April that he still wasn’t 100 percent.
“If the season started today, I don’t think I’d be able to 100% perform,” Ebron said in April, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “But we don’t play today.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Steelers have yet to see Ebron firsthand since they signed him. On Wednesday, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert confirmed that when he was asked about Ebron and him possibly being used in two tight end sets during his interview on 105.9 The X with Mark Madden.
“Well you know what, we’re anxious to see Eric and again we haven’t physically seen him since we signed them back in March,” Colbert said. “Anxious to see what he, he can do. I’m sure Ben’s anxious to get with him and work with him to see what he can do. But I think that’ll be another red zone type of contributor much like [Chase] Claypool might be because they have size, they have athleticism and again, you’re going to need those contested catch guys in that confined area.
“So, we do have a comfort with Eric Ebron because he does have some unique receiving skills. And, again, this game’s more about throwing than it is running. You do have to run and you want those tight ends to block, but when they’re exceptional receivers like we think Ebron is, I think it can give us another dimension that we really didn’t have in the past.”
In his first six seasons in in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts, Ebron, a former first-round draft pick, hasn’t been known for the overall quality of his blocking. Because of that, it will be surprising to see him attached to the end of the line in a three-point stance often in his first season with the Steelers.
Ebron has shown to be an excellent red zone threat to date, however, as well as a player that can fiction in the slot or out wide like a wide receiver would be used. There’s plenty of time to speculate about how much and exactly how Ebron will ultimately be used in the Steelers offense in 2020 but for now rejoice in the fact that it sounds like he’ll be a full go when the team hopefully begins their annual training camp in Latrobe in the middle of July.
