Steelers Trade acquire Vance McDonald TE for 4th round pick

They are all too busy saying they should fire Steve Mariucci and cut Jeff Garcia and they will then be restored to prominence.

 

How come we've never noticed that before. That's the reason he does 1,100lbs leg presses so he can get the right velocity on the snap.

 

I'm interested to see what he does with a Top 5 quarterback. He had Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert throwing passes to him. That's not going to lead to a lot of stat production. Great quarterbacks make average guys better.

 

They are mostly making puns about his catching, from what I've seen.

Couldn't catch on here...
Opportunity slipped through his hands...
Didn't hold on to his roster spot...

Etc.

I don't see much gnashing of teeth and wailing, tbh

 

There's no way that's true. Happy to be proven wrong. Please provide link/data.

Are you counting Hubbard's snaps filling in for injured oline?

 

Wrong.

DJ played 259 Snaps at TE last year (~20% of the snaps or ~16 per game)

Hubbard played 325 Snaps last year

However, Marcus Gilbert missed 236 Snaps and 204 of those snaps were taken by Hubbard

He also played Guard and Center when Foster/Pouncey were dinged up for about ~100 snaps.

I can't say for sure how many snaps Hubbard took at TE, but I'd bet it was fewer than 20, and ONLY when we lined up in 3 TE sets around the goalline.

Hubbard cannot do what DJ does as a blocking TE. It's simply not the same position.

 

There was little risk in the trade, in my opinion for the Steelers.

Let's hope it pans out and McDonald does well here.

 

It speaks to the quality of our TEs, that this is still a good move.
I'm happy to see Grimble go. He wasn't good with anything other than straight line routes. I like Vance to operate in space much better. He's far more athletic. And that space element will be invaluable when moving Bell out of the backfield to work routes in the corresponding space.

 

The data I've seen is confusing, and I might be wrong. Some of the time Hubbard lined up as a third TE, DJ was in the formations as well. I will go back and look at the game books for last seasons games. I know the Steelers used the jumbo formation plenty toward the end of the season, with Hubbard as a third tight end.

 

Yea, you need to check the starting 5 OL in those games. Hubbard played the majority of those snaps when Gilbert was out for 3 weeks. He also filled in at Guard for Foster, and Center for Pouncey at different times.

 

It's more accurate to refer to his snaps as 3rd OT (when he wasn't playing 1 of the 5 primary spots as the backup)

vs KC - 5 snaps, multiple oline injuries
vs NYJ - 76 snaps, all at RT
vs MIA - 55 snaps, all at RT
vs NE - 73 snaps, all at RT
vs BAL - 3 snaps, as 3rd OT
vs DAL - 1 snaps, as 3rd OT
vs CLE - 12 snaps, as 3rd OT
vs IND - 6 snaps as RG, 11 Snaps as 3rd OT
vs NYG - 18 snaps as 3rd OT
vs BUF - 30 snaps as 3rd OT (I remember this game now, Hubbard specifically)
vs CIN - 19 snaps as 3rd OT
vs BAL - 10 snaps as 3rd OT
vs CLE - 6 snaps as 3rd OT

I stand corrected (partially). It looks to me like ~110 snaps as the 3rd OT in our Big formation. Still not nearly as many snaps as DJ, nor were they the position DJ would play. Our Big formation would have both DJ and Hubbard in the formation.

I was right, over 200 of Hubbards snaps came filling in for an injured Oline.

That was fun

 

Is he healthy? Are his ankles ok? Has he had a concussion?

I'm not sure what made me think of this?

 

I went lurking and its a mixed bag of nuts. Some suggested he didn't live up to potential. Some say he can't catch. Others say Kaepernick couldn't throw and he should do better under Ben.

 

Perfect

 

So the Steelers traded for an injury-prone tight end who can't catch, but they are doing nothing to address the secondary? Color me unimpressed.

 

Here's the problem with this. He's not going to block in this scheme with them bringing him in this late.

Not happening until he learns the reads. So he's basically a pass catcher until about midway through the season. Teams (Good ones) will game plan for that and make sure they can take advantage when they trow him in.

 

Surrounded by 9ers fans/friends out here on the west coast... Referred to as meat hands

 

I kind of agree. But I am impressed they actually made a move this late to address some needs. I just wish it was the secondary as well. If his hands are as bad as some claim, I will not be happy. I would take a sure handed receiver with less athletic potential the majority of times. He can run fast and can work well in space, yes great, but what happens when the ball hits his hands. I haven't seen him play often so I'll reserve judgement in that area I guess.

 

They released TE Phazahn Odom and DE Christian Brown

 

All I saw was he broke his scapula (should blade) in December 2016.... not sure about recovery time issues with shoulders.