The day after the Pittsburgh Steelers signed TE Darnell Washington to a contract extension, news broke that they are reportedly signing TE Robert Tonyan. He was in Pittsburgh for a tryout this week, and it appears that the Steelers were quite happy with how it went.
So far in Tonyan’s career, he’s caught 149 passes for 1,550 yards and 17 touchdowns in 107 games. But who is he?
Here are five things to know about the Steelers’ newest tight end.
Holds His High School Yardage Record… As A Quarterback
Robert Tonyan attended McHenry High School – East Campus in McHenry, Illinois. There, he set the school record with 5,000 yards. That’s passing yards, because Tonyan was a quarterback in high school.
He also threw for 40 touchdowns in high school. He was not well-recruited out of high school and went to Indiana State.
“I thought I was going to be the next Cam Newton,” Tonyan said in an interview with the Rich Eisen Show in 2021. “I was a big Peyton Manning fan growing up, and I loved watching Cam Newton. I thought I was a dual threat. I probably was a little less athletic than I really thought I was.”
Switched From QB To WR In College, Set Career Record For The Sycamores
Tonyan redshirted his first year on campus at Indiana State. In 2013, he appeared in 11 games for the Sycamores, throwing for 348 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 209 yards and two touchdowns.
However, ahead of the 2014 season, he switched from quarterback to wide receiver. From there, he went on to set the career receiving touchdown record at Indiana State, hauling in 20 touchdowns.
Not bad for a former high school quarterback.
Reunited With His Old Quarterback, Position Coach
Tonyan initially signed with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent. However, he never saw the field in the regular season with the Lions.
He joined the Packers’ practice squad in December of 2017 before officially joining the full roster in 2018. The quarterback of the Packers? Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers. His tight end coach? Steelers offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio. In fact, Angelichio helped him with his transition from college wide receiver to NFL tight end.
(And his head coach for most of the season? Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy).
Tonyan is going to be in familiar territory with the key people around him, even if Pittsburgh itself is a bit foreign.
His First NFL Catch? Also His First NFL TD
In Week 10 of the 2018 season, the Packers traveled to the West Coast to take on the Seattle Seahawks. Tonyan had seen the field before this point, largely on special teams but sparingly on offense.
To this point, he had only seen one target from Rodgers back in Week 7 against the Los Angeles Rams. He did not pull it in, either.
That changed in the first quarter against the Seahawks. Facing a 2nd-and-10 from the Packers’ 46-yard line, Rodgers took the snap. The Seahawks got pressure on him from his left, and Rodgers rolled out right while directing traffic. He stepped up and threw it deep to Tonyan, who caught it right at the goal line.
AARON RODGERS IS NOT HUMAN 😳 #GBvsSEA pic.twitter.com/DR3vsGGOxK
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 16, 2018
Every NFL player who has the opportunity to catch passes dreams of their first catch in the league. They dream even more of catching a touchdown.
Robert Tonyan got to fulfill both of those dreams in one moment.
Credits Rodgers For Helping Him Stay Focused On Improvement
Robert Tonyan had an incredible year in 2020, finishing the season with 11 receiving touchdowns. It was by far his best season in the NFL to date.
While he hasn’t come close to that kind of season, he still wants to be great at what he does. During their time together in Green Bay, he credited Rodgers with feeding into that.
“Just from day one, I think he saw how hungry I was,” Tonyan said in that Eisen interview. “And I just want to be great. I’ve always wanted to be great. I don’t want to be middle of the pack. I don’t ever want to be sugar-coated with coaching or a coaching point or someone wanting to change my game.
“I just want to be told straight-up how I have to go get better at or if that was good enough. And for him to know how coachable I am and how great I want to be, he’s just always been on me and never let me stoop below that mentality. He’s been like that with me from day one.”
Perhaps one last season with Rodgers could elevate Tonyan again.
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