The Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex earlier than they had anticipated, having been ousted before they even reached the postseason, which unfortunately marks the sixth consecutive season in which they failed to win a postseason game—tying their longest drought of the Super Bowl era. 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 9-8 and nearly making the postseason at all, a reflection of just how much talent they lost during the offseason, from Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Haden to most of their wide receiver room, not to mention Stephon Tuitt’s decision to retire.
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 2022 season.
Player: Montravius Adams
Position: DL
Experience: 5 Years
Picked up off the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad in the middle of the 2021 season, Montravius Adams has since logged over 450 snaps for the Steelers. That includes 281 during the 2022 season, a few games into which he was named the starting nose tackle over Tyson Alualu.
Granted, that had as much to do with Alualu as it did with him, because the 35-year-old veteran was significantly struggling after coming back from a broken ankle the year before. It wasn’t long before he became their only reasonable option.
We can ignore the fact that former Steelers draft pick Isaiah Buggs has managed to turn his career around and pick up his play with the Detroit Lions. We can, but we didn’t, as you can see. It would be nice to have him back, but hindsight is 20/20.
A former third-round pick by the Green Bay Packers, Adams spent his rookie contract playing being a Pro Bowl nose tackle in Kenny Clark. He ended his fourth season injured and spent the following offseason (2021) rehabbing, failing to stick with a New England Patriots team that stocked up on defensive linemen in free agency that year.
That’s how he wound up in New Orleans after the Patriots let him go. He played over 100 snaps for the Saints in just five games before he was moved to the practice squad, where the Steelers finally found him.
He made a strong impression, which he parlayed into a two-year, $5 million contract as an unrestricted free agent heading into 2022. Did he ‘earn’ that amount with his play on the field. I suppose. Did he exceed it? Certainly not. The Steelers will obviously want to be looking at interior defensive linemen this offseason. After all, they thought they were getting the old Alualu back. He was re-signed for depth.
