Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 Exit Interviews: Demarcus Christmas and Chris Wormley

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 NFL season has come to a close. Because the Steelers are among the 31 teams who did not finish fulfilling their ultimate goal, they are in the process of wrapping up their season and moving forward into 2022.

Since the Steelers conduct exit interviews with all their players, we here at BTSC thought we would do the same. By outlining two players each day, we will be able to look at their season in retrospect as well as looking toward the future. Since Coach Tomlin stated he starts his interviews with rookies, first year players, and those heading into free agency, we will do the same. To start off, we paired a potential free agent with a first-year player as we worked through this process to eventually cover the entire Steelers roster. And with these last two players, the process is now complete.

Finishing up is defensive tackles Demarcus Christmas and Chris Wormley.

Demarcus Christmas

Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

Position: Defensive tackle
Years with the Steelers: 0 (Spent 2021 on the Reserve/Injured List)
Years in the NFL: 0
Contract Status: Exclusive right free agent
Contract Details: Will be under contract with the Steelers for $705,000 if they chose to sign him, and would carry no dead money if released.
Games played in 2021: None
Games started in 2021: None
Snaps (regular season): None
PFF score: None
Notable stats (regular season): None

Notes: Who? That would be the reaction of most Steelers fans as they did not realize that Demarcus Christmas landed on the Reserve/Injured List for the Steelers the first week of July well before training camp. Someone who wasn’t on the radar to even make the team, there is no downside to bringing Christmas back as an exclusive rights free agent for training camp in 2022. But if Christmas is still injured, don’t look for him to stick around long.

Chris Wormley

Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

Position: Defensive tackle
Years with the Steelers: 2
Years in the NFL: 5
Contract Status: Signed through 2022
Contract Details: $2,600,000 salary cap hit for 2022. Would cost the Steelers $600,000 in dead money if released.
Games played in 2021: 15 regular season, 1 postseason
Games started in 2021: 14 regular season, 1 postseason
Snaps (regular season): 729 (offense), 113 (special teams)
PFF score: 69.3 (28th of 110)
Notable stats (regular season): Wormley had 51 tackles, six of which were for loss, 10 quarterback hits, 7.0 sacks, one forced fumble, and three passes defensed.

Notes: Stepping into the starting role starting in Week 2, Wormley saw his most career starts and snaps played in a single season. Accordingly, he crushed his former career best in sacks of 1.5 as well as tackles, tackles for loss, and quarterback hits. With one more year under his contract, it’s much better for the Steelers if Wormley is used in a reserve/rotational role due to the quality of their other players. Whether or not the Steelers can get back to that is still up in the air, but Wormley will be in the mix regardless.

So what do you think? How would you conduct Christmas’ and Wormley’s exit interview? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Make sure you check back each day for another set of exit interviews. If you have missed any of the previous articles, they are listed here:

Ben Roethlisberger & Najee Harris
Eric Ebron & Pat Freiermuth
Trai Turner & Kendrick Green
Chuks Okorafor & Dan Moore Jr.
Robert Spillane & Buddy Johnson
Montravius Adams & Isaiahh Loudermilk
Joe Haden & Tre Norwood
Christian Kuntz & Pressley Harvin
JuJu Smith-Schuster & Cody White
J.C. Hassenauer & John Leglue
Marcus Allen & Tegray Scales
James Washington & Chase Claypool
Taco Charlton & Alex Highsmith
Ahkello Witherspoon & James Pierre
B.J. Finney & Kevin Dotson
Kalen Ballage & Anthony McFarland
Stephon Tuitt & Carlos Davis
Ray-Ray McCloud & Diontae Johnson
Terrell Edmunds & Miles Killebrew
Dwayne Haskins & Joshua Dobbs
Arthur Maulet & Justin Layne
Cam Heyward & Henry Mondeaux
T.J. Watt & Derrek Tuszka
Zach Genry & Kevin Rader
Derek Watt & Benny Snell Jr.
Chris Boswell & Mason Rudolph
Devin Bush & Ulysees Gilbert III
Joe Schobert & Tyson Alualu
Joe Haeg & Zach Banner
Cam Sutton & Minkah Fitzpatrick