Steelers News: Since Heath Miller retired the Steelers have failed at finding a tight end

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2019 season is officially over. After finishing the year 8-8, the Steelers, and their vast fan base, has another long offseason awaiting them. Just because the games are done doesn’t mean we stop providing you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over throughout the offseason!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at how since Heath Miller retired, the Steelers have failed to find an answer at the tight end position.

Let’s get to the news:

• Could the Steelers have finally found their tight end group for the first time since Heath Miller hung up the cleats?

Steelers on to Plan D or E in long quest to find tight end to succeed Heath Miller

By: Chris Adamski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The familiar calls of “HEEEEEEEATH” from the Heinz Field crowd have faded in the four years since Heath Miller announced his retirement.

There probably still are some fans, even with Miller at 37, who are still making those elongated cries in an effort to bring him back to Pittsburgh.

Since the best tight end in franchise history abruptly walked away from the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016, the team has gone several routes in an effort to replace him.

None have worked. General manager Kevin Colbert gave it another shot last month when he signed Eric Ebron to a two-year, $16 million contract.

It was the Steelers’ second significant attempt to find the next Miller via free agency. They also twice traded for veterans and once spent a mid-round draft pick.

None of those investments paid dividends, at least not statistically. The best season any Steelers tight end recorded over the past four seasons pales in comparison to what Miller typically produced: Vance McDonald’s 50 catches and 610 yards in 2018. Miller had more catches in each of his final five seasons, and he had more receiving yards than that in five of his final six seasons.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Eric Ebron wants to be Ben Roethlisberger’s security blanket...

Eric Ebron wants to be Ben Roethlisberger’s security blanket

By: Josh Alper, ProFootballTalk

One of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger‘s most fruitful partnerships during his Steelers tenure was with tight end Heath Miller.

Most of the 592 passes that Miller caught over 11 seasons in Pittsburgh were thrown by Roethlisberger and many of them came at moments when the Steelers were in need of a first down. Other tight ends have filled the position since Miller retired after the 2015 season and that group grew when Eric Ebron signed with the team last month.

Ebron has seen the work that Roethlisberger did with Miller in the past and hopes to make the same kind of impact as the former Steeler.

“I hope to be that safety blanket, that go-to, that loved tight end that everybody wants,” Ebron said, via the team’s website. “That is all you hear. That Ben loves his tight end. It’s going to be pretty cool to see what we can do together. I have been texting him asking him as many questions as I can as early as I can. I want to pick his brain. If I can be his best friend and we can think the same, good things happen. That is really all I am trying to do.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• A look at the Steelers’ 2020 NFC opponents.

Steelers’ 2020 NFC opponents transitioning

By: Mike Prisuta, Steelers.com

The NFC teams on the Steelers’ 2020 schedule are, by nature, less recognizable than their more familiar AFC North Division and American Conference opponents.

They’re becoming even less so this offseason, with one notable exception.

PHILADELPHIA: The addition of former Steelers defensive lineman Javon Hargrave made an area of strength even stronger, General Manager Howie Roseman maintained.

”Javon Hargrave’s a guy that we studied coming out of college,” Roseman told Dave Spadaro on the Eagles Insider Podcast on eagles.com. “We think he’s a tremendous football player who will fit this scheme really well. And that’s our priority, it’s always going to be starting up front on both sides of the ball. You add him to the guys that we have on the defensive line and we’re very excited about the havoc that they potentially can create.

”When you talk about the quarterbacks in this league, they are so talented, so good. The only way to disrupt them is to get pressure. And when you get pressure up the middle with the defensive line we think we have now, it’s hard for quarterbacks, when they get edge pressure, to step up when you have that interior defensive line that we have. For us, there’s nothing more important than that.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

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