The Steelers are looking to inject life into their anemic offense — and they're willing to pay to get the guys to do it. Friday, the team signed tight end Eric Ebron to a two-year, $12 million deal, per Ian Rapoport.
And Ebron is ready to put on the black and *ahem* gold:
BLACK⚫️ & YELLOW🟡. My family and I are more than excited to be apart of this great and historic organization! @steelers nation! See y’all soon. In the mean time stay safe ✊🏾
— Eric Ebron (@Ebron85) March 20, 2020
Still just 26 years old, Ebron has the pedigree to make an immediate impact. A former top-10 draft pick by the Lions in 2014 (No. 10 overall), Ebron played his first four years in Detroit before spending his last two seasons with the Colts. Statistically, Ebron's best season came in 2018 with the Colts and Andrew Luck, when he caught 66 passes for 750 yards and 13 touchdowns, earning a Pro Bowl nod in the process.
He is a pass-catching tight end first and foremost, snagging 283 passes and 27 touchdowns in his six-year career to date.
Notice the patterns here?
The move comes after the team restructured the contract of Vance McDonald, giving them a formidable one-two punch of pass-catching, athletic bodies at the position moving forward. And, man, do the Steelers need some more juice. They ranked 30th in total offense in 2019 (276.8 yards per game) and 31st in passing yards per game (186.2), working with a mix of Mason Rudolph and Devlin "Duck" Hodges under center after Ben Roethlisberger went down with a season-ending elbow injury in Week 2.
The results were brutal, as the Steelers generated just 18 passing touchdowns in 2019, ahead of only the Panthers and Broncos and tied with the Redskins and — gulp — the Bengals. McDonald, to his credit, had three of them in 14 starts, many of which were shortened due to injury. With Ebron, though, the Steelers can certainly improve there — especially in the red zone, where a big, reliable target has been lacking:
New Steelers tight end Eric Ebron has been targeted 19 times in the end zone since 2018 (2nd-most among TE), hauling in 9 TD on end zone targets (most among TE).
In 2019, Steelers tight ends combined for only 3 end zone targets and 1 TD. https://t.co/xizWVFBsdb pic.twitter.com/1Smsquc125
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) March 20, 2020
With Roethlisberger on track to make a return at 100 percent, there's no doubt Ebron can become an effective piece in the Steelers' offense. The question becomes, how will he split the time with McDonald and was the two-year, $12 million investment worth it?
Ebron started just two games last season, battling an ankle injury from the jump before landing on injured reserve in late November. He has seen the field in all 16 games twice in his career, in 2017 with the Lions and in 2018 with the Colts. Furthermore, Ebron's a bit of a drop machine.
He led the Colts in drops in 2019 with five, hauling in just 59.6 percent of his catchable targets. If you want to blame Jacoby Brissett, don't. The year before, in Ebron's Pro Bowl 2018 campaign with Luck, he dropped nine passes — once again leading the team — while posting a 60-percent catch rate. For comparison, McDonald hauled in 69.4 percent of his catchable targets in 2018, dropping four passes, and 69.1 percent of his passes last season, dropping three.
Ebron may improve with Roethlisberger under center, but history suggests he'll be a little drop-happy and occasionally injured — but extremely talented when he's on the field and ready to roll.
Tight end leaders in yards per route run in 2019 (minimum 50 targets)
Kittle 3.11
Andrews 2.89
Higbee 2.58
Waller 2.41
Kelce 2.23
Cook 2.07
Ebron 1.78 👀👀👀
Ertz 1.69
Henry 1.67
Hooper 1.65 pic.twitter.com/44lPPptlzE— PFF PIT Steelers (@PFF_Steelers) March 20, 2020
The move, on that level, may remind fans a bit of 2016, when the Steelers signed Ladarius Green — a talented, pass-catching tight end with an injury history — to a four-year, $20 million deal. He started just two games with the Steelers in 2016 before ultimately being released.
No doubt, the Steelers are expecting Ebron to stay on the field and to make a more consistent impact than that. With cheaper options available, though, it's clear Kevin Colbert and company see something special in Ebron, and they made the move to get their guy.
Oh, and James Conner is clearly loving it, so some additional camaraderie never hurt:
😳🤯🤩 it’s over for y’all 😂 let’s go @Ebron85 !!!! 🦍 https://t.co/xZgwhrcKEN
— James Conner (@JamesConner_) March 20, 2020
HUNTER'S VIEW
I'm super torn here. I see the upside, no doubt, but will it surface? Ebron, to me, is a lot like McDonald, whereas the team could use a little more stability, or, as Dejan Kovacevic put it in a recent column, availability. The drops are concerning, too, and they've represented a consistent red flag throughout Ebron's career. I don't see that changing in Pittsburgh.
But there's also no doubt this Steelers offense needs weapons. Everywhere. If they can load up at tight end and threaten defenses with a real-deal touchdown machine inside the 20, that's a positive any way you analyze it. Ebron represents an upgrade on paper over Nick Vannett, Zach Gentry or other lower-budget free-agent tight ends, such as Charles Clay. This is a high-ceiling, low-floor kinda deal, when I personally feel the Steelers should've paid less to hover somewhere in the middle.
At the same time, doubting Colbert and company has made many a fool over the years. I just might be eating crow by Oct. 1 on this one.
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