Should the Steelers be concerned with their tight ends going into the regular season?

There has been a lot of speculation lately surrounding the Steelers and their depth chart at the tight end position. Everyone from fans to the media has talked about the team adding another body at the position, with a report surfacing that Pittsburgh even went as far to attempt to claim former Cardinals TE Ricky Seals-Jones off of waivers. (That claim went unsuccessful.)

But why has there been so much talk about tight ends this offseason as opposed to others? The Steelers experimented with finding the next Heath Miller for ages: even while Miller was still on the field. An ironman who nearly played every game for the team between 2005 and 2015, Miller was Ben Roethlisberger’s security blanket. A two-time Pro Bowler, he holds nearly every significant receiving statistic at his position, while also ranking high as a receiver period.

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Needless to say when he walked away from the field following the 2015 season, the Steelers have been on a search for a reliable option at the position. Jesse James, drafted in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Penn State, was never really looked upon to be that guy. As much as we all loved to chant Heaaaaaatttthhhhhh when James hauled in a pass, he was never the same type of player that Miller was.

And that’s okay. Jesse was Jesse.

However, the Steelers wanted more than what James could offer at the position. This was evident when they handed a large contract to free agent tight end Ladarius Green the next season. Green would struggle with health issues, appearing in only six games before being released the following season.

The Steelers would once again ramp up their efforts to find another tight end at the end of the 2017 preseason, trading for former 49er Vance McDonald. While McDonald would become a hit, it took him time to adjust (he wasn’t in camp) and also nagging injuries saw him only appear in ten games that season.

McDonald would explode on the scene in 2018, playing in all but the first game of the season.

Last season would prove to be McDonald’s best as a pro, yet there’s still chatter surrounding he position. There are several reasons for this, notwithstanding:

  • McDonald has never played a full season
  • Jesse James left via free agency
  • Fans believe every position should be filled by a potential All-Pro talent

A combination of those three items makes for saucy discussion. I understand that Jesse James left as a free agent, signing a big money deal with the Detroit Lions, but I’m not certain the team really viewed him as a main option his entire time in Pittsburgh.

He was, more or less, the default option, when others, such as Green or McDonald, got hurt.

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The team returns a veteran tight end to backup McDonald, Xavier Grimble, but that too has been met with skepticism as Grimble’s fumble in Denver is still fresh in fans’ minds.

The Steelers also drafted a Jesse James clone this spring when they selected Michigan tight end Zach Gentry in the fifth round. Like James, Gentry is going to need time to adjust to the pro game and grow: he’s not a Week 1 option, at least in the sense that you don’t want to rush him out there if you don’t have to.

That adds to the drama surrounding the position, but it also kind of deals Vance McDonald a bad hand. He’s loved by fans, but why are fans also so quick to write off that the team needs another option at the position?

I understand how “if” works: “if” McDonald is healthy, but there isn’t reason to dismiss that he won’t be 100% for much of the season just yet.

Then there’s Grimble, a very athletic journeyman who is one of many undrafted talents the Steelers have developed on their roster throughout the years. I get it: he fumbled. So has Vance. So has Heath, etc. It happens.

I also understand the love affair with Jesse James. Many Steelers fans also follow Penn State and/or Big Ten football. He’s also a local legend growing up in McKeesport, PA and attending South Allegheny high school.

However, that’s where the love affair needs to end. Yes, Jesse “caught it” in a controversial play against the Patriots two seasons ago, but he didn’t offer the upside of other tight ends such as Miller, McDonald, or even the oft-injured, one-year castoff Ladarius Green. And when you think about it, what other Steelers tight end in the last decade has offered much more, who couldn’t simply be replaced?

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Matt Spaeth made a career of being a blocker: something asked of other Steelers tight ends, but certainly not something that the current crop excels at. That’s where a lot of us were likely thinking, that the team may want someone who is multidimensional, yet the claim put in for Seals-Jones, more of a receiving tight end than a blocker, suggests otherwise.

It also suggests that the team isn’t comfortable with their current status and would like to improve the position. But as we head into the middle of preparation for the first week of NFL action, it doesn’t appear that the Steelers will be able to find any better alternative that what we already see on the depth chart.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

There will be growing pains if we see Gentry get snaps and we also know what to expect from Grimble: splash plays with the occasional disappointing lack of concentration. We are also aware not to expect crushing blocks from any of the tight ends: not that they’re not physical, but because it’s not their specialty. (It’s why Kevin Rader made the practice squad, because he is a blocker.)

Yet, if we go back and look at the other tight ends the Steelers have had, minus Spaeth at spells here or there (he left the team and then rejoined them before retiring) Pittsburgh has usually gotten by with utilizing a fullback or an h-back.

Just so happens they have both on the roster with Roosevelt Nix and Jaylen Samuels, who was first considered a tight end in college before his diversified role at N.C. State saw his position changed to simply “H”.

The Steelers, among other teams, will often deploy an “eligible receiver” tackle in big sets as well, with Chukwuma Okorafor and Zach Banner being more than capable of lending a hand.

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If that’s not enough to convince skeptics of how trivial needing another tight end is, there’s the snap counts of the tight ends in question above. McDonald often split time with James, even when both were healthy. Yet, neither were often seeing more than 60-70% of playing time individually. In fact, McDonald only saw 70% or more of the offense’s snaps in two of his fifteen games played last season.

James did the same, with one of those games being Week 1 where McDonald didn’t play.

In other words, we’re talking about finding a big-time backup who will see half or less playing time every Sunday. Rather than push the issue, McDonald could see an uptick in playing time making the depth behind him a moot point (barring injury or where both tight ends were used on the field at the same time).

It’s still early and sometimes trades could happen midseason, but with a veteran player who knows the system in Grimble and developing a rookie to see more snaps with Gentry, I feel the Steelers are in an alright place. If they truly felt a glaring need to do more with their tight ends, I surmise they would’ve done so either in the draft or free agency; or perhaps even went after one of several players released whom they showed interest in prior years.

However, the only tip we received was that of Seals-Jones. Interesting enough, I feel he may have been a slight upgrade to Grimble or Gentry, but perhaps not enough to make a splash in releasing either: that cut may have come somewhere else on the roster, such as with the ten linebackers the Steelers currently have on their 53.

Is that enough to risk it for a player who may, at best, see less than half of the game?


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