Donte Moncrief signing fills several holes for Steelers
Right around the turn of the clock early this morning the Pittsburgh Steelers landed another free agent acquisition. As many here at SCU were predicting, the team would fill offseason needs by bringing in veteran players as well as through the draft, as is their standard practice when there’s a glaring weakness at a position.
While we don’t know who the Steelers will draft in the coming months, we were able to anticipate which needs they have and where they would seek to stabilize them. A need at the cornerback position was strengthened earlier this week with the signing of former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Steven Nelson.
Now another need is shored up with the announcement of a two-year deal with former Colts and Jaguars wide receiver Donte Moncrief.
The news leaked in the wee hours of the night for those on the East Coast, so as Steelers Nation woke up this morning to the news, some are wondering how Pittsburgh could replace a sure bet Hall of Famer in Antonio Brown with Moncrief. However, they should not be viewing Moncrief in this way at all.
Moncrief represents the usual Steelers dip into free agency. With little cap room they typically ride out the first wave of higher priced free agents, opting to find value in players other teams have overlooked. Donte Moncrief is among those players in a lower tier of free agents, but he’s not a receiver to sleep on either. Regardless if “Mr. Big Chest” left town or not, the Steelers wide receiver room was already looking quite strong. There are few doubts that JuJu Smith-Schuster should be able to take the reigns as the team’s top receiving threat away from AB. There are the returning slot receivers such as Ryan Switzer and Eli Rogers (whose contract tolled for 2019), with each making their mark on the 2018 campaign.
Then there’s last season’s second round draft pick, James Washington, who showed flashes of brilliance with most of that being relegated to training camp sessions and team practices, stuck within a shuffle of talented receivers.
That’s where Moncrief should be expected to factor in: a veteran presence who can start should Washington not pick up steam in his second season. However, I would not sleep on Moncrief’s talents, and I don’t believe the Steelers are either since his new deal is for two seasons.
Last year with the Jaguars Moncrief still caught 48 passes… that’s 48 passes from the likes of Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler. (Not exactly your All-Pro passing duo!) He finished the season second on the team in receiving yards, 49 yards behind leader Dede Westbrook: but averaged three more yards per reception than the latter, and with 18 fewer receptions.
Donte Moncrief coming out of Ole Miss was a was an explosive WR with a lot of size (6'2'' 221). Moncrief has never eclipsed 733 yards or 7 TDs in a single season, but is still just 25 years old. He should fit well in #Steelers offense. pic.twitter.com/KBqjnuzVif
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) March 14, 2019
That’s solid production from a good player on a bad team, which has been the M.O. for Moncrief for several seasons. He came out of college with a lot of fanfare. His Combine numbers were stacked, including a 4.40 forty-yard dash. He had a lot of promise playing with Andrew Luck his first two seasons in the league, but injuries slowed Moncrief’s career in more ways than one when not only the receiver got banged up and missed time, but the Colts quarterback also went on the shelf.
That left Moncrief operating with the likes of Scott Tolzien and Jacoby Brisset. Combined with Blake Bortles, those are quarterbacks who struggle to complete 60% of their passes. He should instantly see a boost to his career if he can pick up where he left off with a far superior Ben Roethlisberger throwing in his direction.
Make no mistake: while Moncrief may theoretically sit somewhere on the depth chart in the Darrius Heyward-Bey area, his ability to catch the ball is far greater. Pairing his speed with his 6-2, 220 lbs. frame, the newest Steeler should quickly become a favorite target of Ben Roethlisberger regardless of what the team does in the draft. Moncrief will help take some pressure off of JuJu Smith-Schuster in more ways than one, allowing JuJu to continue to operate out of the slot while also making sure defenses don’t stack the deck against JuJu as well.
My prediction would be a depth chart that sees 2WR sets featuring a combo of Juju and Washington/Moncrief, with the veteran having the early edge. 3WR sets could feature all three, or add the occasional wrinkle of a Ryan Switzer or Eli Rogers. But as we witnessed late last season upon Eli’s return, the team is more than willing to toss four and five receiver looks out there, something they should easily be able to do with the addition of Moncrief.
In that way we should look at this signing not as a Brown replacement, but someone who will shore up any potential deficiencies on the offense. James Conner, Jaylen Samuel and Vance McDonald are still receiving threats on that side of the ball and some of AB’s production will be spread across those players as well as the receiving unit.
In that way Moncrief best represents a former veteran signing such as Jerricho Cotchery. At age 29 after seven years with the Jets, Cotchery was a solid veteran receiver with only one thousand-yard season under his belt. He came to the Steelers after a 41-reception season with only 433 yards and two touchdowns. While he didn’t make an immediate impact, by his final season in the Steel City (his third) he would snag 46 balls for 602 yards and a whopping ten touchdowns.
Like Cotchery, Moncrief was a mid-round draft pick. Both a similar in size/stature. However, Moncrief is younger (25 going on 26 in August) and appears to be more of an athlete.
That’s why I feel this is the most Steelers-y signing of the free agent period and have high hopes for Moncrief to help fill the gap left by Brown’s departure and the rise of a young receiver. (Be it Washington or a yet to be added rookie.) It also allows the team to move on from other veteran receivers such as Darrius Heyward-Bey and Justin Hunter, who have had sparse roles within the Steelers offense over the last two seasons.
