Post Retirement Review: Vance McDonald, TE
By: NFLHeads2020
Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Vance McDonald announced today that his career is at a close. McDonald has never been any kind of a player that has taken the league by storm, and he is not a household name, but he was very important to the Niners and Steelers in his career, and his eight seasons in the NFL deserve respect.
McDonald played college ball for Rice, and had 1054 receiving yards in four years with the Owls. McDonald was drafted in the second round, 55th overall pick, by the San Francisco 49ers in 2013.
McDonald did not make an immediate impact on the Niners, starting only four games while being available for 15. McDonald continued to just kind of be there for the NIners, never catching more than 30 receptions, and never starting more than 11 games in a season. After being impactful for the Niners, McDonald was traded to the Steelers for a fifth round pick. This is where his biggest impact came in, McDonald became a full time starter, even raking 20th among all tight ends in PFF in 2018, posting 610 receiving yards.
McDonald mostly flew under the radar, but he was very important for the Steelers, and it will really hurt that their only tight end option is now Eric Ebron.
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