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: Jayrone Elliott
Position: OLB
Experience: 6 Years
One way or another, Jayrone Elliott continues to carve out a career for himself. A former undrafted free agent out of Toledo, he has managed more often than not—or at least more recently, as often as not—to spend time on 53-man rosters, and over the past two seasons, his time has come in Pittsburgh with the Steelers.
Brought back in training camp, Elliott was initially signed to the practice squad, made eligible under new rules that allow players to retain veterans of any number of accrued seasons there, but he would ultimately be called back up to the 53-man roster, where he spent some time the year before.
Ultimately dressing four eight games, his primary function, as is no surprise, was on special teams. He finished the season with seven tackles and a sack, including two tackles for loss, but he only saw 36 total snaps on defense. Conversely, he logged more than 100 for Danny Smith’s units. I’m not a math wizard, but that would prorate to over 200 snaps over a 16-game schedule.
With Bud Dupree having already committed to signing elsewhere in free agency, and with Cassius Marsh and Ola Adeniyi also scheduled to be free agents, the Steelers have a significant lack of depth at outside linebacker behind T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.
Elliott would be cheap to re-sign, surely for nothing more than the veteran minimum, when considering the fact that he hasn’t gotten action from any other organization since the beginning of the 2019 season, but he wouldn’t be the one you want functioning as your number three at the position.
