Former Colts Tight End (TE), Eric Ebron was the most recent recieving weapon the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired in the 2020 offseason.
I really like the ambitious move by the Steelers. They needed more weapons surrounding quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and I think the addition of Ebron will help them out.
Part of the reason they signed Ebron was to fill the void former Pittsburgh Steelers star wide reciever, Antonio Brown left behind. When the Steelers saw how slim on talent they were without a guy like Brown in the offense they knew they had to make some sort of change.
So in comes Eric Ebron to help with the Steelers fresh start.
Who is Eric Ebron though?
In 2014, Ebron was the number 1 tight end prospect out of UNC. Coming out of College he was a beast. He weighed in at 245 lbs, and was 6'4. During the NFL combine, Ebron ran a speedy time of 4.50 in the 40 yard dash and caught 62 receptions for 973 yards and 3 touchdowns in his final college season.
He was drafted in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft to the Detroit Lions where he played for four seasons. Ebron did alright in Detroit, but was not the main attraction there.
In 2018, Ebron signed a deal with the Colts where he had his best year in the NFL. In his first season with the Colts he was targeted 110 times and caught 66 receptions for 750 yards and 13 touchdowns! However, his 2019 season was much more dissapointing thanks to an injury that kept him out for 5 games as well as having a less productive QB at helm thanks to the retirement of Andrew Luck and also thanks to his role reduced because their starting TE Jack Doyle was healthy again .
As you can see, Ebron obviously can deal some damage in the NFL.
What will Ebron’s value be in 2020?
In fantasy, he is a bit of a boom or bust in my eyes. He definitely has top 10 potential, however he is outside of it due to the fact that in the past the Steelers haven’t placed a lot of value on their TE position.
Mcdonald, being the Steelers best TE since the departure of Jesse James was not particularly useful last year. In terms of receptions and yards he only managed 38 rec, 273 yds, 3 TDs in 2019.
Even the best Steelers TE in recent history was Heath Miller didn’t do too much ( this is with playing with a future hall of fame QB in (Big) Ben Roethlisberger). With Big Ben, Miller averaged 53.82 receptions, nearly 600 yards, and a little over 4 TDs a year over an 11 yr period as a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Seeing this as well as the fact that Ebron has to compete with guys like wide receiver (WR)Juju, TE Vance Mcdonald and all the other young receivers at the Steelers disposal (Diontae Johnson, James Washington, & Chase Claypool), it doesn’t bode great odds for Ebron in fantasy.
However, my guess is the Steelers are moving towards a different approach where they will treat him more like a reciever than blocking TE and that they will specifically use him as an Redzone threat. I also think as long as Ben Roethlisberger is healthy (which looks to be the case) all their players will have a much better year than they would without him.
Ideally, the Steelers are looking for Ebron to be the player he was 2 years ago with the Indianappolis Colts. Where again Ebron had 13 TDs, 750 yds and 66 receptions.
Considering all the reasons listed above, here is my 2020 stat prediction Ebron.
2020 Stat Prediction: 45 receptions, 560 recieving yards and 8 Touch Downs in 2020 with the Pittsburgh Steelers.