Steelers 2-a-days: Team keeps keeping Dan McCullers, taking a look at Henry Mondeaux
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 2019 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly-alphabetical order, (at least) two per day, between June 14 and July 26.
DT DAN MCCULLERS
Experience: 6th season
Contract status: $1.123 million cap hit in 2019 after re-signing a two-year deal with Steelers
2019 outlook: McCullers is a curious study from the side of the Steelers organizationally: They keep him on the roster and have twice now even signed him to contract extensions. But he rarely gets on the field during the regular season, and he is tied to a position (nose tackle) that has less and less prominence every year in professional football. Still, McCullers has shown an ability to be disruptive at times, and as the old cliché goes, you can’t teach 6-foot-7 and 352 pounds. He’s amenable to coaching, he’s fit in to the Steelers’ goal-line and short-yardage packages in recent years, and he has enough experience in the system to fill in as a rotational defensive lineman. There’s no reason to believe any of that will change this year.
How much longer can Daniel McCullers stick around? #Steelers https://t.co/timV2gGfJN
— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) January 10, 2019
DL HENRY MONDEAUX
Experience: Spent rookie 2018 in training camp with New Orleans and on the practice squads of Saints and Chiefs
Contract status: $495,000 cap hit in 2019, under Steelers contractual control for four seasons
2019 outlook: A starter for 2 ½ seasons at Oregon, Mondeaux had 10 sacks and 13 ½ tackles for loss in college. He went undrafted last season but stuck with the Saints through their training camp and spent time on their practice squad in addition to that of the Chiefs’ before the Steelers signed him off a tryout in May. Though he faces an established, veteran-filled position room to find a niche in, Mondeaux is versatile enough at 6-4, 280 pounds to play different roles on the Steelers’ defensive line. He’s certainly a good candidate for the 2019 practice squad.
Henry Mondeaux and Kaulana Apelu in a new tackling drill the Ducks implemented this preseason. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/f13IyAXjOc
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) August 20, 2016
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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