3 players who the Steelers are asking too much of in 2019

The Steelers have some players that will be forced into larger roles this season. Here are three players that will be asked to do too much for the team in 2019.

As is the case with with most sports, football players often hit the market and sign with new teams at the end of their contracts. While the Steelers have been able to keep some of their best players for their entire careers, they can’t stop everyone from leaving.

A little thing called the salary cap forces teams to pick and choose how to spend their money. Because players often choose to leave a team in pursue of a bigger pay check, this can end up leaving an organization a bit short-handed.

This is exactly what happened to the Steelers this offsesaon. Here are three players who will be asked to do too much in 2019:

1. Xavier Grimble, TE

Xavier Grimble was a former undrafted free agent back in 2014. He bounced around practice squads in his first two seasons, and never saw any game action until he signed with the Steelers in 2016.

In three seasons with the Steelers, Grimble has often suited up as the teams’ 3rd tight end, but has just 6 starts to his name. Grimble has caught less than 58 percent of his NFL targets. With Jesse James gone, the former UDFA will be forced into a much larger role in 2019. With the Steelers failing to add veteran depth, Grimble will be asked to do too much this year.

2. Marcus Allen, S/DB

It’s been rumored that Marcus Allen will most likely be filling in for Morgan Burnett this year as the teams dime backer. The 2018 5th round pick is incredibly inexperienced and dressed for just two games as a rookie.

In his limited action, Allen has just 2 career tackles to his name, but will now likely be asked to play a major role on defense. Allen wasn’t a great cover guy coming out of Penn State, and really serves his best role coming down hill or in the box. The Steelers are asking too much of the 2018 late round draft choice.

3. Terrell Edmunds, SS

Despite being a young rookie draft choice last season, Edmunds was thrown into the fire right away in Pittsburgh. The 21-year old safety was asked to play 92.53 percent of defensive snaps for the Steelers in 2018.

Now in his second season, Pittsburgh may still be asking to much of the young safety. Remarkably, the Steelers elected to ignore the safety position in both the draft and free agency. There isn’t a veteran safety on the team with playing experience outside of 25-year old, Sean Davis. Edmunds could really use a mentor and someone that can take a few snaps away from him here and there. He will be asked to do even more in 2019.

For reasons I can’t really explain, the Steelers have chosen to ignore addressing a few important positions this offseason. It still remains to be seen what type of roles each of these inexperienced players will have in 2019, but I am willing to bet they will be asked to do too much.