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 gone 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. They posted 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.
We might not know all the details about what goes on between head coach Mike Tomlin and his players during these exit meetings. But we do know how we would conduct those meetings if they were up to us. So here are the Depot’s exit meetings for the Steelers’ roster following the 2020 season.
Player: Anthony Johnson
Position: WR
Experience: 0 Years
Anthony Johnson’s name might be a bit more familiar to you than those of most players with a similar background. And not just because ‘Anthony’ and ‘Johnson’ are both common. Although he was not with the Steelers in 2020 until signed to the practice squad in late October, he was actually here before that.
Coming out of the University of Buffalo, he went undrafted in 2019, where he spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Chargers. Pittsburgh signed him to a Reserve/Future contract at the end of the year, even though he hadn’t been with them earlier.
The Steelers did bring him to training camp, but waived him with an injury designation in late August. We don’t know the details of the injury or how long it took him to recover. But when he was signed to the practice squad, it came as a one-for-one swap with Amara Darboh, a former Seahawks’ third-round draft pick who actually finished the 2019 season on Pittsburgh’s 53-man roster.
Johnson spent the final couple of months of the 2020 season on the Steelers’ roster, prior to which he had not been with anyone after receiving an injury settlement from the team, since he reverted to the Reserve/Injured List when he went unclaimed injured.
There isn’t a lot that we know about him at the NFL level. He caught five passes for 47 yards for the Buccaneers in the 2019 preseason. You can read our draft profile for him here when he came out of college. The Steelers love giving 6’2” wide receivers a shot, though. Cody White, whom we talked about yesterday, is 6’3”, and there were previously the likes of Deon Cain and the aforementioned Darboh.
