After a strong offseason, Donte Moncrief quickly lost his job as the Steelers’ No. 2 wide receiver. Weeks after his demotion, Moncrief will now be on the waiver wire.
The Steelers will part ways with the veteran wideout, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Although Moncrief is a vested vet, all players cut after the trade deadline head to waivers. Running back Tony Brooks-James will take Moncrief’s roster spot.
Moncrief signed a two-year, $9MM deal in March and was then believed to be Pittsburgh’s top supporting-caster in its post-Antonio Brown receiving corps. The signing did not work out. The former third-round pick dropped several passes in his first two games as a Steeler, with a drop against the Seahawks in Week 2 leading to a demotion.
Rookie Diontae Johnson has since stepped into the Steelers’ No. 2 receiver role, with second-year player James Washington filling in alongside JuJu Smith-Schuster as well. This release will tag the Steelers with a seven-figure dead-money hit, but it obviously pales in comparison to the cap penalty the Brown trade brought.
This move stands to benefit the Steelers’ 2020 draft haul as well, with Moncrief’s departure set to balance out the franchise’s compensatory formula. Similar to the Ravens’ release of Justin Bethel, the Steelers’ Moncrief decision will give the Steelers a comp pick next year. Only in this case, Pittsburgh is expected to gain a third-rounder from the Jets’ Le’Veon Bell signing. Moncrief needed to be on the Steelers’ roster for 10 games to cost the team that compensatory slot. This stands to help a Steelers team that traded its 2020 third-rounder to the Broncos in the Devin Bush deal.
Saturday’s transaction marks another setback for a once-promising wideout. Moncrief, 26, showed flashes early in his Colts run, hauling in 13 touchdowns between the 2015-16 seasons. He also finished with 668 receiving yards last season, despite catching passes from Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler. As a Steeler, Moncrief caught four passes for 18 yards.
Brooks-James will help patch up a Steelers running back corps that is without Benny Snell and is expected to be without starter James Conner. The latter is doubtful to face the Colts on Sunday due to a shoulder injury.
Will they recoup the compensation pick from the bell deal? I thought I read that somewhere.
Essentially yes. They had lost it when the Eagles released LJ Fort, who left the Steelers as a free agent after last year, but releasing Moncrief should balance things out again.
Thank God. If they chose to keep him over a potential 3rd round comp pick it would have been insane. The WR corps may not be all that great/experienced, but it’s not like he was going to transform it into a powerhouse.
Hopefully switzer is next
Switzer isn’t great but he can at least catch the ball, especially on punts. But I’d rather give that chance to Johnson and see if he can break one loose. May drop one in the process though.
So the signing of Nelson wasn’t enough to cost them a 3rd
No because they also lost Jesse James to Detroit.
James wasn’t anything special, but he was better than everyone other than McDonald. Going to need to use a pick on a TE soon. Florida’s TE is really good and not draft eligible until 2021.