Tuesday night, the Steelers made their second in-season trade for a veteran player in the last eight days. And this time, they insist, it wasn't made out of need.
A week after Mike Tomlin maintained the Steelers acquired safety Minkah Fitzpatrick because of an injury to Sean Davis, Tomlin said the Steelers' acquisition of tight end Nick Vannett for a fifth-round pick was not made because of an injury to Vance McDonald. In fact, Tomlin seemed to think McDonald, who is dealing with a shoulder issue suffered in the second quarter of last Sunday's 24-20 loss to the 49ers, might be able to play -- at least sparingly -- when the Steelers host the Bengals Monday night at Heinz Field.
"I'm optimistic about Vance being available to us in the game, but maybe limited in some form or fashion," Tomlin said. "Adding quality depth like Nick is significant."
Backup tight end Xavier Grimble also was injured during the game against the 49ers, leaving the Steelers without their top two players at that position in the game. Fortunately for the Steelers, rookie Zach Gentry was active for the first time this season.
Grimble was placed on injured reserve Tuesday to make room for Vannett on the roster. With the designation, Grimble is eligible to be activated from IR in eight weeks, if the Steelers so choose.
Without McDonald and Grimble, along with injured fullback Roosevelt Nix, who is expected to miss his third consecutive game with a knee injury, the Steelers found themselves lacking additional run blockers in the second half against the 49ers.
"It got a little thin when we lost the two tight ends, coupled with the fullback position, but such is life in the National Football League," Tomlin acknowledged. "We're not making any excuses in regards to the outcome. It's our job to adapt and improvise and overcome."
The addition of Vannett does show the Steelers don't want to find themselves in that position again. Gentry, a fifth-round draft pick, isn't ready to contribute as a blocker and Grimble has underwhelmed in his ascension to the No. 2 role, created when Jesse James left in free agency. The Steelers had been in the market for a veteran tight end to fill the backup role behind McDonald since training camp began and found one in Vannett, a 2016 third-round draft pick.
"I'm very familiar with him," Tomlin said. "Ohio State is one of the schools I'm at annually, so I got a good feeling for those guys. I remember, specifically, him at his pro day. You couple that with the fact we just played those guys a couple of weeks ago. I familiarized myself with him in today's ball in terms of the things he provided for them. He made a few plays against us a week ago. That's really consistent with what we expect from him. Also, he was a handy (special) teamer. He started on their punt and kickoff return team just two weeks ago. He has an opportunity to be helpful for us even if Vance runs the course and is available to us in the game."
Vannett had one catch for 13 yards in the Seahawks' win two weeks ago over the Steelers, playing 33 snaps.
Considered more of a blocker than a pass catcher, Vannett does have four receptions for 38 yards this season and 48 catches for 463 yards and four touchdowns in his four-year career. (For comparison, Grimble, also in his fourth season, has 23 career catches for 239 yards and three touchdowns) Vannett's addition could help a struggling Steelers running game that has produced just 192 yards in the team's first three games.
"The competitor in all of us is pissed off, and appropriately so," Tomlin said in that regard. "We've got to do what we need to do to close out ball games and get ball games started faster. The start of games doesn't define games, but we're really putting ourselves behind the eight ball with our inability to win some possession downs and get manageable possession downs."
Running the ball more effectively would help that. James Conner is averaging just 2.9 yards per carry on 34 rushing attempts. And the Steelers have converted just 25.7 percent of their third downs.
This most recent trade leaves the Steelers with just five remaining picks in the 2020 draft, their own second, two fourth-round picks and one each in the sixth and seventh rounds, though the team is expected to gain a third-round compensatory selection for the loss of Le'Veon Bell when those are announced early next year.
Some have suggested the Steelers, who have not traditionally been this aggressive in the past trading draft picks for players, have changed course and are mortgaging their future to win now, despite an 0-3 start.
Tomlin disagrees.
"I don't know that it's anything we're juggling," Tomlin said. "We're just singularly focused on Monday night and winning this football game."
DALE'S VIEW
The Vannett trade was essentially dealing the fifth-round pick the Steelers got from the Jaguars three weeks ago for a second tight end. And that was what a lot of fans wanted them to do before the season began, because it's been obvious for nearly two months Grimble wasn't up to being a guy to handle a heavy workload — he was forced to play 38 snaps against the 49ers. Because of the McDonald injury, Gentry played 10 snaps.
In that regard, the trade is something that was needed for some time.
At the same time, Vannett is in the final season of his rookie contract, meaning the Steelers could lose him at the end of the year, essentially making him a rental.
But a fifth-round pick isn't a lot to give up for that. In fact, the 2015-2017 drafts produced just five Pro Bowl players from the more than 120 players selected in those three years. And of all those players, 31 appeared in fewer than 25 games from the 2015 and 2016 drafts, while 19 players from the 2017 draft have appeared in fewer than 20 games.
For the Steelers in those drafts, their past five fifth-round draft picks have been Gentry, safety Marcus Allen, running back Jaylen Samuels, cornerback Brian Allen and James. And they did not have a fifth-round pick in 2016, as both Allen and Samuels were selected in the 2018 draft.
Then there is this: Teams such as the Rams and Patriots have been praised in the past couple of years for renting players for a year, sending them into free agency and then recouping a compensatory pick. Even if Vannett leaves after this season, that could be the case for the Steelers.
Given that James, a similar player, received a four-year, $22.6-million contract from the Lions in the offseason, it can be assumed Vannett might command something similar on the open market. That won't net a high compensatory pick, but it could, at least, bring back a late round compensatory selection or offset a free agent signing next spring.
The Steelers aren't giving up on this season, despite their 0-3 start. Two of those losses are in NFC play, which means they don't hurt quite as much in terms of tiebreakers.
With a win this week against the Bengals, the Steelers could find themselves a game out of first place Monday night with a win by the Browns on Sunday against the Ravens, with a home game against Baltimore in Week 5 looming.
