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 the fifth consecutive season in which they failed to win a postseason game—a new record for the franchise since the merger. Yet again, they find themselves undergoing the exit meeting process earlier than anticipated, which means so are we.
The Steelers did arguably perform at or above expectations this year by going 9-7-1 and making the postseason at all, a reflection of just how much talent they lost during the offseason, from the majority of the offensive line to Mike Hilton, Bud Dupree, Steven Nelson, and Vince Williams—not to mention Stephon Tuitt, essentially.
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 2021 season.
Player: Joshua Dobbs
Position: QB
Experience: 5 Years
Describing the season of somebody who spent the entire year on the Reserve/Injured List is generally pretty simple, for the fact that there isn’t much to talk about. You don’t exactly do much that is worthy of note when you’re not on the Active Roster since you’re basically not allowed to.
Joshua Dobbs spent all of his fifth season in the NFL on the Steelers’ Reserve/Injured List after getting hurt at the end of the preseason. Up to that point, he had been in competition for the third quarterback job with Dwayne Haskins, but his injury rendered it moot.
With Ben Roethlisberger spending a lot of time not practicing, there were extra theoretical reps to go around, but with the team trying to learn as much as possible about Mason Rudolph and Haskins, Dobbs was routinely short-changed.
Still, Alex Kozora noted during his training camp notes that, even against a small sample size, he observed an improvement in Dobbs’ accuracy, which also translated to a degree into the preseason performances.
The thing he has always had going for him, aside from his legs, is his mind, and he continued to make use of it even while on the Reserve/Injured List. Roethlisberger has always talked about talking with Dobbs on the sidelines, and you’re much more likely to see an in-game cutaway of him talking to Dobbs than to Rudolph. He’ll also often be near Mike Tomlin or Matt Canada.
Will the Steelers be interested in re-signing him? It would probably only take a minimum salary to get him, which would come with a reduced cap hit, so there’s really no downside. They could probably even get away with not giving him a signing bonus. He probably wouldn’t make the team if they attack the quarterback position the way they should this offseason, but he would be a good person to have around. And with a 16-man practice squad, there’s always the potential of carrying another quarterback, especially with the Reserve/COVID-19 List feeling like it will still be relevant this Autumn.
