Vance

McDonald

A 2013 second-round pick of the 49ers, McDonald spent the last four years with the Steelers, starting 47-of-53 games. The 30-year-old finishes with a career 181/2,036/15 line over 101 appearances. McDonald’s retirement saves the Steelers $5.2 million in 2021 cap space.

Roethlisberger’s locker is next to McDonald’s too. McDonald played in Sunday’s win over Dallas before testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday. The Steelers QB will self isolate for the next five days. Unless he tests positive for the virus during the period, Roethlisberger should be able to come off the reserve/COVID-19 list Saturday, just in time for Sunday’s game against the Bengals. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Roethlisberger would be able to participate in the team’s Saturday walk through if all goes according to plan.

Steelers OL Jerald Hawkins, RB Jaylen Samuels, and LB Vince Williams were also put on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Vance McDonald on Monday tested positive after he played 20 snaps in the Steelers’ Week 9 win over the Cowboys. Roethlisberger was considered a high-risk close contact of someone who tested positive for the virus, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. He’ll have to self isolate for five days. Barring a positive COVID test, Roethlisberger should be able to come off the list on Saturday and play this week against the Bengals. Mason Rudolph should be picked up in deep superflex leagues in the meantime.

McDonald tested positive only 24 hours after he played 20 snaps in the Steelers’ Week 9 win over the Cowboys. Contract tracing is underway at Pittsburgh’s facilities in order to identify those who may qualify as high-risk close contacts. If caught in the next 24 hours, the team’s close contacts could still potentially be cleared in time for Week 10 against the Bengals.

Farabaugh posted on Twitter that Ebron allowed the team “to feel comfortable going to 5 WRs since he’s almost like another himself.” He added Ebron would “be flexed out all over the field as a mismatch chess piece. Ebron’s going to get a lot of targets and looks this year.” There’s reason to believe Ebron will be deployed as the team’s pass catching tight end, as Vance McDonald ran a pass route on a lowly 41 percent of his 2019 snaps. Ebron has regularly run routes on more than 70 percent of his snaps. He could emerge as an every-week fantasy option in 12-team leagues sooner rather than later.

Previous reports indicated that the Steelers do intend on keeping McDonald around in 2020. He averaged a brutal five yards per target and scored just three times during a disappointing 2019 campaign, but to be fair everything about the Steelers’ passing game was fairly brutal after Ben Roethlisberger went down last season. A bounce-back campaign could be in store if they don’t re-sign TE Nick Vannett.

McDonald’s pending club option is worth $7.127 million against the cap. A fantasy darling for his projected every-down usage heading into the season, the 29-year-old suffered the same fate as the rest of the Steelers’ cast in battling through subpar play under center for a total 38/273/3 receiving last year. Only one season removed from a career-high 50/610/4 in 2018, McDonald will undoubtedly fly under the radar as a late-round bounce-back candidate worth chasing in every format.

It ends a quiet year for McDonald, who missed two games with concussion. After a career high 610 yards in 2018, McDonald finishes with 38 catches and 273 yards, finding the end-zone just three times. Signed through the next two seasons, McDonald will be back as the Steelers’ No. 1 tight end, but even with improved quarterback play, his stock is down going into 2020.

He was the intended receiver on Devlin Hodges’ first-quarter interception. Lines like this have become standard operating procedure for McDonald, who hasn’t cleared the 40-yard receiving threshold since the Steelers’ season-opening loss to New England. He never stood a chance with Pro Bowler Jamal Adams wreaking havoc in the Jets’ secondary Sunday. Coming off his best season in 2018, McDonald’s 2019 campaign was essentially sunk as soon as Ben Roethlisberger was lost to elbow surgery. The 8-7 Steelers will need a win and a Titans loss next week to reach the postseason. Working in their favor is the fact Baltimore has nothing to play for (the Ravens already clinched home-field advantage in the AFC) and will likely employ backups in Sunday’s meaningless finale.

McDonald is good to go for the team’s Week 16 matchup against the Jets. Still, there isn’t much reason to expect a breakout at this point. The once-explosive TE hasn’t surpassed 40 yards in any of his 12 games to this point. McDonald is a touchdown-dependent TE2 at best and off the fantasy radar if Jamal Adams (foot) returns.