Third in a daily series leading into the 2020 NFL Draft, April 23-25:
Two years ago, the Steelers' tight end trio of Vance McDonald, Jesse James and Xavier Grimble combined for one of the best seasons the team had seen at the position since Heath Miller was in his prime.
Led by McDonald, the trio caught 86 passes for 1,119 yards and six touchdown catches.
But James was lured away by the Lions in free agency and two weeks into the 2019 season, Ben Roethlisberger went down with a season-ending elbow injury.
With Roethlisberger out of the lineup -- and no Antonio Brown to keep them honest over the top -- opposing teams flooded the middle of the field with defenders, attempting to force young quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges to work outside the hashes.
That directly affected the ability of the tight ends to find open areas on the field. And often times when they did, Rudolph and Hodges ignored them, knowing that errant throws over the middle of the field often wind up in the hands of opposing defensive backs.
As a result, that stellar production of the position from 2018 fell off in 2019, as the Steelers' tight ends combined for just 53 catches for 408 yards and three touchdowns.
Grimble was unable to hold down the No. 2 job, then got injured himself, prompting the team to send a fifth-round draft pick to the Seahawks for Nick Vannett. And fifth-round draft pick Zach Gentry was more of a project than an immediate contributor, further leading to the team's issues at tight end.
In fact, most of the time, offensive tackle Zach Banner wound up being the team's defacto No. 2 tight end.
The Steelers went into the offseason vowing to upgrade the position. But after getting a close-up view of a less-than-stellar group at the position at the NFL Scouting Combine, the team decided instead to sign former Pro Bowl player Eric Ebron to spice up the position.
A pure receiving tight end, Ebron will be used in conjunction with McDonald, who returns for his fourth season with the Steelers, to perhaps give the team a combination that more closely resembles the 2018 version of the position.
Roethlisberger is expected to be back healthy this season, as well, to help out.
That should take the Steelers completely out of the tight end market in this year's draft, which isn't a bad thing. Unlike 2019, when four tight ends were taken in the first 52 selections -- including two in the top 20 -- there might not be a tight end who hears his name called in the top 50 of this year's draft.
The position is lacking a clear star, something driven home by their performances at the combine, where most turned in 40 times of 4.70 seconds or slower.
Notre Dame's Cole Kmet is widely considered the best of the bunch, though there is even some argument about that, as Kmet isn't going to be what every team is looking for at the position.
At nearly 6-foot-6 and 262 pounds, Kmet has outstanding size for the position. His 4.70 40-yard dash at the combine was passable in terms of straight-line speed, but he also averaged just 11.5 yards per catch in his career, proving to be more of a catch-and-tackled tight end.
There are some ties to the Steelers, however, as his uncle is former Steelers defensive tackle Jeff Zgonina. His father, Frank, played at Purdue with Zgonina.
Also, there is some feeling in scouting circles that if Kmet, a two-sport star at Notre Dame where he also played baseball, concentrates solely on football, he'll get considerably better.
"I’m done. I’m playing football now. That’s where it’s at,” Kmet said. "I kind of knew it for a little while. This past season it kind of felt like that. But at the end of the day, it was kind of a tough decision in January, after the bowl game. But I just felt like this was what I wanted to do … At the end of the day, football was where my heart was and that’s what I wanted to do.”
Dayton's Adam Trautman, more of a true receiving tight end, could surpass Kmet to be the first player taken at the position, depending on what kind of tight end teams desire. Others expected to hear their names called early in the draft include Florida Atlantic's Harrison Bryant, Albert Okwuegbunam of Missouri and Devin Asiasi of UCLA.
Unlike the others, Asiasi (6-3, 257) spent most of his time lined up at the end of the line instead of in the slot. He's got the ability to both test the seam and seal the end of the line as a blocker.
Beyond those five, the talent level drops off considerably, which is perhaps one of the reasons the Steelers felt the need to dip into free agency to improve the position.
Unlike 2019, when Gentry was the 11th tight end selected, there might not be 11 tight ends taken in the entire draft this year. In this year's group, Gentry might have been one of the first five or six tight ends taken.
But the Steelers have faith Gentry will make big improvements this year, as well.
"Zach Gentry got better and better as the year went on," GM Kevin Colbert said prior to the combine. "He's still somebody we think can be an NFL-caliber tight end. ... I think Zach will only get better."
The Steelers weren't going into this draft looking for another developmental player at the position, which is what they would have likely gotten. Instead, they signed Ebron.
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