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: Calvin Taylor
Position: DL
Experience: 0 Years
We might as well continue on a theme here, as yesterday we covered one of the three rookie undrafted free agents that the Pittsburgh Steelers signed after the draft last year who remain with the team in punter Corliss Waitman. James Pierre is another, who was on the 53-man roster all of last season.
Then there is Calvin Taylor, the gigantic 6’9”, 310-pounder out of Kentucky. Signed after the draft, he spent the entire 2020 season on the Steelers’ practice squad, and was retained on a Reserve/Future contract after the season was over.
While that is generally a good sign for any player on the outside looking in, it is about all that we know about him, because there were no Spring workouts last season, training camp was closed to fans, and there was no preseason.
Basically, the only thing that we know is that the Steelers thought enough about him in 2020 that they didn’t feel the need to replace him. And in actuality, he didn’t quite spend all season with the team, but he was there for almost all of it.
The initial 14-man practice squad included two defensive linemen in Henry Mondeaux and Daniel McCullers. McCullers would get picked up by the Chicago Bears within the early weeks of the season, at which point Taylor was signed to take his place.
Mondeaux was later called up to the 53-man roster, where he remained for the rest of the season as one of seven defensive linemen. All seven of those defensive linemen are still with the team, so Taylor is still on the outside looking in. But at least he’s not so far away that he can’t see the inside.
