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: B.J. Finney
Position: G/C
Experience: 6 Years
B.J. Finney thought he was leaving for greener pastures in 2020 when he signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 2020 as an unrestricted free agent. It didn’t exactly turn out that way, and within a year, he would be traded and then released. Yet his old team didn’t forget about him.
The Steelers actually brought Finney back before free agency even started (which they could do, of course, because he was a street free agent, readily available after his release), although he was only signed to a one-year qualifying contract with no signing bonus.
After playing some musical chairs at the start of the year—he was initially released knowing that they could easily re-sign him so that they could make some roster moves to place players on the Reserve/Injured List—Finney would spend every other second of the season with the team.
He opened the year as their primary backup guard, while J.C. Hassenauer was their primary backup center, and did log offensive time in four games. After Kevin Dotson was injured late in the year, he was the next man up to start, making it through one start playing every snap, but he suffered a back injury three plays into the next game.
He spent the remainder of the season on the Reserve/Injured List, and Hassenauer would soon join him there, allowing for John Leglue to get the opportunity to showcase himself. Hassenauer would eventually come back, however.
As it stands, Finney is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent later this month, and it is unknown if the Steelers will re-sign him. They should be able to easily do so on another minimum deal with no signing bonus, so if they do decide to bring him back, it would be no harm, no foul with nothing—including a roster spot—guaranteed.
