Steelers 2-a-days: Can Anthony Miller win slot WR job? Can Henry Mondeaux on DL?

Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent College, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2022 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly-alphabetical order, two per day, between June 11 and July 25. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

WR ANTHONY MILLER

Experience: 5^th season

Contract status: $895,000 cap hit in 2022, after which scheduled for unrestricted free agency

2022 outlook: A former second-round pick, Miller’s career has sputtered the past two seasons to the point he was cut by the lowly Houston Texans last fall and even after getting picked up by the Steelers was deployed in just one game. But after an offseason that saw three of the Steelers’ top five wide receivers depart via free agency, there are jobs to be won at camp. Miller is confident he can become the Steelers’ slot receiver.

That is a role he held for three seasons with the Chicago Bears, where he worked with presumptive new Steelers starting quarterback Mitch Trubisky. The Steelers have no obvious natural slot receiver, particularly none with the NFL experience at the job Miller has. But that doesn’t mean Miller is the favorite to win the job. The wide receivers’ room includes Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool, who are shoo-ins to start. George Pickens and Calvin Austin III were drafted among the top four rounds. Cody White also is back after appearing in 15 of the Steelers’ 17 games last season. Return specialist Gunner Olszewski (who has NFL wide receiver experience) was signed and a recent (2019) third-round pick, Miles Boykin, was added via waivers. Then there’s practice-squad holdovers Tyler Vaughns and Steven Sims, plus undrafted rookie Tyler Snead.

That’s all a long way of saying that Miller has plenty of competition for the 1-2 WR spots that might be available on the 53-man roster.

After the offseason free-agent departures of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ray-Ray McCloud, there is no incumbent as the top inside receiver. #Steelers WR Anthony Miller would like it to be him.https://t.co/8KXChh3n6d

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) June 21, 2022

DL HENRY MONDEAUX

Experience: 26 games for the Steelers the past two seasons; entered league undrafted in 2018

Contract status: $895,000 cap hit in 2022 after which scheduled for restricted free agency

2022 outlook: Coach Mike Tomlin likes to say that one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. Last season, two men’s misfortune offered the most opportunity to Mondeaux.

Mondeaux was the player signed to the active roster following the season-ending broken ankle to Tyson Alualu in Week 2. With Stephon Tuitt also not playing at all last season, Mondeaux — directly, at least, in regards to the roster spot — was the proverbial next man up. He played every game the remainder of the season (including playoffs), taking almost a quarter of the Steelers’ defensive snaps in that time as well as holding down a role on special teams.

Mondeaux had made his NFL regular-season debut by appearing in 11 Steelers games in 2020 — his second year with the Steelers and third on NFL offseason/camp rosters and practice squads. Mondeaux recorded his first two NFL starts and first two sacks. He did not look out of place, albeit as part of a unit that was partly responsible for the Steelers having the NFL’s statistical worst rushing defense.

This season, Alualu is back, virtually everyone else on the defensive line who played last year returns — and the team added a high-profile free agent (Larry Ogunjobi) and higher-round draft pick (DeMarvin Leal) to the d-line mix. That means Mondeaux has his work cut out for him if he’s going to play for the Steelers in 2022.

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