Eric Ebron likes to have as much fun as the next guy but he – like any competitor – wants to win above all else. Joining a Pittsburgh Steelers roster with Super Bowl aspirations was an easy decision for him shortly after free agency began. In a Zoom call with reporters Sunday, Ebron explained his reason to sign with the black and gold and responded to if he had any goals this season.
“Honestly, I’m just tired of losing and me recreating any goal that I’ve had is pointless,” he told reporters. “I just want to win here and that’s kind of like my only goal.”
Drafted by the Detroit Lions 10th overall in the 2014 draft, he never won a playoff game with them. To be fair, the Lions had a couple winning years, including going 11-5 his rookie season but were bounced in the Wild Card game by the Dallas Cowboys. To date, he’s been apart of just one playoff win, a 2018 Wild Card victory over the Houston Texans as a member of the Indianapolis Colts. Last season, the Colts struggled and finished the year 7-9. Ebron finished things on IR with an ankle injury. He declared himself healthy following offseason surgery.
Of course, it would be blind to ignore the Steelers’ shortcomings the past two seasons. They’ve failed to make the playoffs since 2017, suffering end-of-season collapses in 2018 and 2019. Even in such a short amount of time, the roster looks and feels completely different compared to then. The 2020 version of the defense is light years ahead of where it was in 2018 thanks to Bud Dupree’s breakout, drafting Devin Bush, signing Steven Nelson, and trading for Minkah Fitzpatrick. Last year can be chalked up to poor QB play that led one of football’s most miserable offenses. That’ll quickly change with a healthy Ben Roethlisberger.
There’s every reason to believe the Steelers will return to the playoffs this season. They can offer a real challenge to Baltimore, defending Lamar Jackson better than almost any other team in football, for the AFC North crown, and are one of the game’s serious sleepers once you look past the favorites of the Chiefs and Ravens.
Ebron will only help the cause, hopefully returning the red zone offense to 2018 standards. Not only were they football’s #1 team inside the 20 that year, they were the best since the ’03 Chiefs.
