The Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex earlier than they had anticipated, having been ousted from the postseason in the opening round, which unfortunately marks a slight improvement from the past two seasons, during which they did not even qualify for the playoffs altogether. They have now done four seasons without securing a victory beyond regular season play.
Yet again, they find themselves undergoing the exit meeting process earlier than anticipated, which means so are we.
They did manage to go 12-4 during the regular season, and secured their first AFC North title since 2017, posting a new franchise record by opening the season with 11 consecutive wins, but of course it all fell apart after that. Their only victory after that required a 17-point comeback.
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 2020 season.
Player: Kameron Canaday
Position: LS
Experience: 5 Years
You’ve had to sit through more than three weeks of exit meetings as we worked our way through all of the offensive starters, then the defensive starters, and then even the kicker and the punter, before we got to the article we know you’ve been waiting for this time: the exit meeting for Kameron Canaday, the Steelers’ long snapper.
As is typical of the position, there isn’t much worth noting, but we can say that Pro Football Focus at least was none too impressed with Canaday. In fact, he was their lowest-rated player on the roster in special teams grades with a grade of just 32.8. He is credited with one missed tackle, and two successful tackles.
Of course, tackling isn’t what you bring in a long snapper for, even though the Steelers tend to prefer a bigger-bodied player at the position. In terms of snapping, Canaday had a pretty representative season. He’s not the most accurate and consistent long snapper out there, but he generally gets the job done.
There were at least a couple of kicks, however, where he was saved by either Dustin Colquitt or Jordan Berry serving as the holder, being able to pull down an errant snap in time to enable Chris Boswell to record a successful make.
As an unrestricted free agent who has four years of tenure working together with Boswell and Berry, it’s a foregone conclusion that he will be at least re-signed, but he can be given competition. The Steelers have had Christian Kuntz around at times in each of the past two years, who has some long snapping experience, though he is primarily a linebacker, so it wouldn’t be wise to view him as a potential upgrade.
And this has been your annual long snapper update.
