Like James Daniels, the Pittsburgh Steelers are right where we are: sitting at home being mad. Although they managed to make the playoffs in 2023, they lost in the first round. It has now been seven years without a postseason victory, the longest drought in franchise history. The question is what to do next.
The first step is always taking stock of what happened and what is left. That’s part of the exit meeting process, in which coaches meet with each player. They discuss the season and their expectations moving forward—and potentially their role within it.
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 2023 season.
Player: James Daniels
Position: RB
Experience: 6 Years
The Steelers signed James Daniels to a three-year contract in 2022. He is two years through that deal now, and nothing indicates he won’t play it out. While he has been a slow starter in each of his two seasons here, he has provided quality guard play.
With that being said, on the whole, he struggled more than he did in his first year in Pittsburgh. The slow start didn’t last as long, but he didn’t bring his game to as high a level, either. He was at his best in the middle of the season, particularly in pass protection, an area in which he struggled late in the year.
The offensive line as a whole was not what the coaching staff would have liked it to be, at least not consistently. They had a few promising stretches during which they played very well either in pass protection or in the run game. Rarely did they do both at a high level. Rarely did Daniels do both at a high level.
His best stretch came in the wins over the Green Bay Packers and the Tennessee Titans, most likely. That was when he had his strongest balance between run-blocking and pass-blocking. But frankly, we are still waiting to see the player that the Chicago Bears allowed to walk in free agency at the height of his career. He wasn’t a Pro Bowler, but he may have had that potential.
The Steelers will have to revisit James Daniels’ status after the 2024 season is over. Is he a long-term solution, or did he merely provide yeoman-like work while under contract? He only turns 28 during the first month of the 2025 season, so he still has youth on his side.
On top of that, LG Isaac Seumalo is already 30 right now. He will be celebrating his 32nd birthday two days before Halloween in 2025. In other words, he’s not getting any younger. And they don’t have any surefire future starts in the pipeline. Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook have potential, but nothing more than that right now.
