The Pittsburgh Steelers were back in the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex earlier than they had anticipated, having been ousted before they even reached the postseason. That unfortunately marked the sixth-consecutive season in which the Steelers failed to win a postseason game—tying their longest drought of the Super Bowl era. Yet again, they found themselves undergoing the exit meeting process earlier than anticipated, which means so did we.
The Steelers did arguably perform at or above expectations this year by going 9-8 and nearly making the postseason, 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 retirement.
While we might not know what goes on between head coach Mike Tomlin and his players during exit meetings, we do know how we would conduct those meetings. So here are the Depot’s exit meetings for the Steelers’ roster following the 2022 season.
Player: Matthew Wright
Position: K
Experience: 2 Years
First of all, I stupidly didn’t realize until it was two days too late that I did already cover the Steelers’ starting specialists at the end of the first run of the exit meeting series. That means Chris Boswell and Pressley Harvin III both got a bonus write-up, but Christian Kuntz will not.
We still have two more players to talk about, however, before we put a bow on the 2022 season, since the Steelers needed three kickers to get through the year. But we’ll start with kicker number three since he played a bigger role and is more familiar.
Matthew Wright is the name in question, and his first contract in the NFL was with the Steelers as a college free agent in 2019. He spent most of the following season on the practice squad, in very large part as a COVID-19 precaution. He did end up kicking in three games that year, going four-for-four on field goals and seven-for-seven on extra points.
After spending most of the 2021 season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and performing admirably (making 21 of 24 field goals), Wright found himself in Kansas City to start the 2022 season with kicker Harrison Butker ailing. He went three-for-four there, including a 59-yard make, before finding his way to Pittsburgh.
With Chris Boswell ailing, the Steelers first signed Nick Sciba, who was more freely available, but when they had more time to plan and make moves, they signed Wright off the Chiefs’ practice squad.
You might recall that he actually struggled out of the gate, missing two out of four field goals in his first game back. But he straightened out for his final three games back in Pittsburgh, going 10-for-10 and perfect on extra points throughout.
Wright is now 40-for-46 in his NFL career on field goals, for 87 percent, and 35-for-37 on extra points. He’s a very solid kicking option overall who has also proven that he does have range, with two 59-yard makes on his resume. While he’s currently unsigned, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is somebody’s kicker full-time this year.
