Vance McDonald irked by NFL re-scheduling, not with diminished role for Steelers
Vance McDonald is annoyed, but not about his diminished role in the Pittsburgh Steelers offense.
The veteran tight end is OK with ceding snaps, targets and receptions to free-agent signee Eric Ebron. What he’s not OK with is the team’s season being disrupted by a coronavirus outbreak that was no fault of their own.
“There’s got to be some sort of foundation that we can come back to as a league that establishes fair play,” McDonald said Thursday, referring to the conundrum the NFL finds itself in with players testing positive for covid-19.
“If one team’s blunder is just another team’s misfortune, like Ben (Roethlisberger) mentioned, we kind of got the short end of the stick. Yeah, I feel that same way. However, at the same time, I know I play a game for a living at the end of the day, and so whatever direction we end up going, as an NFL player, I am going to have to accept that.
“We were just joking around: ‘2020 is the year of, ‘It is what it is.’ ”
McDonald takes a similar mindset toward another new reality for him in 2020: a demotion to No. 2 tight end. While that designation is not official, McDonald lags behind Ebron in snaps (150 to 115), targets (14 to seven), receptions (nine to five) and routes run (86 to 46, per Pro Football Focus).
This after he spent his first three seasons with the Steelers as top dog at the position.
“I don’t care,” McDonald said. “I consider myself a soldier, and I’m going to do what the coaches ask me to do. I told Eric point blank, ‘Dude, I would rather block all game than catch one ball.’ And that’s the absolute truth.
“I absolutely love investing my time into Eric.”
A former No. 10 overall draft pick, Ebron signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Steelers in March. He has a 13-touchdown season (2018).
“I’m not an idiot,” McDonald said, “Eric is a better pass-catching tight end and threat than I am.
“I don’t bury my head in the sand because of that fact. I’m not gonna walk around with some false pride and ego, and so with all that, I love watching Eric succeed.”
That happened in the most recent game, when Ebron had season highs in catches (five) and yards (52) and his first touchdown as a Steeler. But McDonald also had season highs in targets (three), catches (three), yards (35) and snaps played (41) during that win against Houston that served as a template of the value of having two accomplished tight ends.
The Steelers used McDonald and Ebron together for more than 20 snaps. According to PFF, McDonald was used in a blocking role for 29 of his 41 snaps.
“Vance is a very versatile player for us,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We believe that he is a type of guy that can be impactful in the running game and in the passing game.
“He’s a guy that’s a willing point-of-attack blocker. He’s also a capable puller in the run game.”
The role of a blocker is perhaps not what McDonald expected when he signed a $19.7 million contract with San Francisco prior to his trade to the Steelers. But it has come to be one he has embraced.
“Vance is one of those guys who is a team player,” Roethlisberger said. “He’s not coming in concerned with his catches, yards, touchdowns. He is concerned with wins and losses. He’s doing everything you ask him to do and more.”
Don't make him angry.
You won't like him when he's angry. pic.twitter.com/e3WBR7oAss— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 25, 2018
In 2020, teams are asking their players some extraordinary requests such as avoiding crowds or even leaving their homes.
The Tennessee Titans reportedly last week ignored some league-mandated protocols put in place to avoid exposure to covid-19, and members of the organization are testing positive almost daily since.
McDonald admits he spent part of last weekend “angry” he and the Steelers had an unscheduled bye forced upon them because of the Titans’ positive tests.
McDonald has since, though, found peace with the situation — 2020 is the year of, “It is what it is,” remember? But he also believes the NFL must recognize it needs a better plan for when it happens again.
“Let’s have respect and honor for everyone, and let’s follow the rules,” McDonald said. “That, to me, is the only way we’re going to have any fair play. As soon as any of that is compromised, you’re going to have some other team on the other end who gets the short stick. And I feel, in my opinion, as though we were that team this past weekend.”
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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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