Steelers slot receiver Eli Rogers announced on his Twitter page on Tuesday that he would be hitting the open market on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the onset of NFL free agency.
Going on the Market The BullsEye In a target.
— Eli Rogers (@__bELIeve17) March 13, 2018
The reason Eli Rogers, who was actually a restricted free agent at the start of the offseason, is now a total free agent,is because Pittsburgh elected to not tender him the lowest possible restricted, which would have been $1.9 million.
Steelers made Eli Rogers an unrestricted free agent. Photo Credit: USA Today, via The Cardinal Connect
Eli Rogers, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Louisville in 2015, spent his entire rookie season on the Steelers Injured Reserve list after suffering a foot injury in training camp.
- After impressing just about everyone in his 2016 training camp, Eli Rogers made the Steelers roster as their slot receiver.
Rogers caught 48 passes for 594 yards and three touchdowns in 2016, with his role becoming more critical as the season progressed, what with injuries ravaging the receiving corps.
Things took a turn in 2017, however, when Martavis Bryant, who missed all of 2016 with a drug suspension, and JuJu Smith-Schuster joined the ranks, making for a crowded position.
With so many targets vying for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger‘s attention–especially superstar receiver Antonio Brown and dual-threat running back Le’Veon Bell–the chances of Eli Rogers repeating his 2016 performance seemed pretty slim.
And they became even slimmer when JuJu Smith-Schuster, a rookie sensation if there ever was one, burst onto the scene and took reps away from Rogers at the slot position. By season’s end, he even surpassed Bryant as the team’s number two receiver, tallying 58 receptions for 917 yards and a fairly impressive seven touchdowns.
That second part–Smith-Schuster taking playing time and targets away from the often disgruntled Martavis Bryant–may have worked out in Eli Rogers favor, as it pertained to a blueprint for the 2018 campaign.
After all, for all the talk of how physical and tough Smith-Schuster is, fact is, he has the potential to be one hell of a receiver, and if he’s good enough to be the number two guy, why mess around with Bryant, as skilled as he so obviously is?
And with Martavis Bryant far from your prototypical slot guy, that would be good news for Eli Rogers, this despite his production dipping to just 18 receptions for 149 yards and a score in 2017.
- Furthermore, Eli Rogers was decent enough as a punt returner a year ago, averaging 7.7 yards per return, he looked primed to permanently wrest the job away from the very valuable Brown.
While I’m not sure what the Steelers plans for Eli Rogers were prior to January 14, the torn ACL he suffered that day in the 45-42 playoff loss to the Jaguars certainly didn’t help his cause.
Faced with an entire offseason of rehabilitation, Rogers doesn’t appear to be valuable enough to the team to risk paying him just under $2 million.
- Word is Eli Rogers may still be in Pittsburgh’s plans, but undoubtedly at a much lower price.
And therein lies the plight of your average NFL UDFA.
Had Eli Rogers been a premium draft pick, the team may have been less willing to expose him to the open market so soon into his budding football career.
- Eli Rogers is your prototypical slot receiver and may eventually excel in the role, given time to develop.
But second round picks are given second and third chances, such as 2015 second round pick, cornerback Senquez Golson, who never played a down in two-plus years due to multiple ailments, yet the Steelers carried Senquez Golson on the roster for, well, two-plus years.
- Receivers with potential to burn, such as Mryant Bryant, a fourth round pick with top-10 talent, are given multiple chances, even in the face of multiple drug suspensions.
In fact, recent reports of other teams showing interest in Martavis Bryant’s services were quickly squashed at the Combine by Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, who made it quite clear No. 10 was not available.
That’s right, Pittsburgh is willing to risk the chance that Martavis Bryant will again become disgruntled and ask for a trade and/or throw his teammates under the bus on social media (behavior during the 2017 season that ultimately forced head coach Mike Tomlin to deactivate him for the Lions game on October 29) in the hopes that he will finally fully develop into the Randy Moss-like receiver everyone has been waiting for since he was drafted.
- But the Steelers aren’t willing to gamble much on Eli Rogers’ abilities or injured knee.
- Again, that’s the life of an undrafted free agent in the NFL.
Where Eli Rogers ultimately goes from here is still unclear, but regardless of how long his football career lasts, he’ll likely never have to stop proving his worth.
Has Steelers free agency left you scrambling? Click here for our Steelers 2018 Free Agent tracker or click here for all Steelers 2018 free agency focus articles.
