Speaker 1: He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
Speaker 1: your twenty four seventh home of the Black and Gold
Speaker 1: Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome back. I am Dale Lolling. He
Speaker 1: is Matt Williamson, and this is the Drive on Steelers
Speaker 1: Nation Radio. And man, I wanted to ask you. We
Speaker 1: started to see some some pro days start to happen
Speaker 1: across the college landscape here, and so you know, Georgia
Speaker 1: and Clemson and some of these other schools have had
Speaker 1: their their pro days. At this point, we've seen the Combine,
Speaker 1: We've seen the Senior Bowl. Have you at all started
Speaker 1: to adjust how you look at the guys in this
Speaker 1: draft of how many guys are first round? Are sure
Speaker 1: fire first round picks? Sort of? Now, it's hard to
Speaker 1: comment on Jalen Carter's current situation. You know, some information
Speaker 1: came out on him pleading guilty and he's gonna do
Speaker 1: some s No contest, actually, no contest. Okay, you're right.
Speaker 1: I guess there's a distinction there, without question, and he's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: I think he's the best player in the Soul Draft.
Speaker 1: People are going nuts because, well, Jalen Carter was nine
Speaker 1: pounds heavier than than he was at the combine. No kidding,
Speaker 1: everybody's combines guy. Yeah, a three hundred pound guy nine pounds.
Speaker 1: It's like it is like, yeah, it's like a two
Speaker 1: hundred pound guy gaining four pounds. Yeah right, right, that's
Speaker 1: one meal, you know or whatever. Yeah, and these guys
Speaker 1: want to be lean at the combine because they're sitting
Speaker 1: there in their underwear, and he planned on working out
Speaker 1: in full to combine, but it didn't work out that
Speaker 1: way for him. So you know, that doesn't bother me
Speaker 1: at all. I mean, his tape so good, but it's
Speaker 1: not the Jalen Carter segment. I mean, I think Will Anderson, Bijeon,
Speaker 1: several others maybe that's it with blue chips. To be
Speaker 1: honest with you, quarterbacks aside, we know those four are
Speaker 1: going to go early. I'm warming up to the quarterback
Speaker 1: class a little more than I did a month ago.
Speaker 1: I had more concerns than excitement. Now that's swaying a little.
Speaker 1: But I don't think it's a great quarterback class. Besides
Speaker 1: those three Anderson, Bijeon and Carter, I don't know that
Speaker 1: there's anyone that's a blue chip. Now. I probably could
Speaker 1: give you ten names which is less than usual that
Speaker 1: basically any year or first rounders. But I don't love
Speaker 1: the first half of the draft, you know, like if
Speaker 1: the Steelers are picking ten verse seventeen, I don't think
Speaker 1: it would be that advantageous. But I do like thirty two.
Speaker 1: I like Day two a lot. And if I was
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl team, if I'm the Chiefs, the Eagles,
Speaker 1: of Bills, any of these type of teams, You're gonna
Speaker 1: get a pretty quality player at the end of the
Speaker 1: first round. Yeah. If I'm looking at the guys that
Speaker 1: I think go in the first round any year, and
Speaker 1: I'm not going to include the quarterbacks either, because the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are they're a different ya. But Anderson, I think
Speaker 1: Tyree Wilson's the first round pick any year. Yeah. I agree.
Speaker 1: I think Skronski's a first round pick any year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: even if he's at twenty four instead of you know,
Speaker 1: third or whatever, he's going in earlier in this draft
Speaker 1: than other some others. Yeah, he's a first rounder all
Speaker 1: day long. You mentioned Jean Robinson, Um, I think Christi
Speaker 1: is the first round but he's a great player. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think Christian Gonzales is a first round pick any year. Yes,
Speaker 1: I don't know about the other corners though, I don't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. None of these guys are. While that
Speaker 1: guy's going to be a slam dunk number one cornerback,
Speaker 1: I think some of them have a chance to be
Speaker 1: that Gonzalez trades. I mean he's going early every Yeah,
Speaker 1: he runs, he's he's got size, he takes the ball away,
Speaker 1: he does everything as you like in any other in
Speaker 1: any year. He's no worse than the third cornerback on
Speaker 1: the on the board, yes, right, right right. I mean
Speaker 1: last year was Stingley in sauce, he would have been
Speaker 1: a very high quality three. Yeah. Um, looking at the
Speaker 1: rest of this, uh, I think Paris Johnson's I mean
Speaker 1: too is a first round days. He's an offensive tackle,
Speaker 1: and so I think you can also say the same
Speaker 1: thing about the Georgia kid Jones. Yeah. I think Jones
Speaker 1: is similar because of a really good combine as well
Speaker 1: matches the tape. He's a first round pick. Yeah. Obviously
Speaker 1: Carter is a first round guy no matter what. And
Speaker 1: then after that that might be it. Maybe on Miles Murphy,
Speaker 1: but there's quite yeah, maybe on van Ness, but there's questions.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't Dkart Wiels over either one of
Speaker 1: those guys. I think Smith was probably a first round
Speaker 1: pick no matter what, but maybe earlier this year than
Speaker 1: most years. Like, I don't think he goes ahead of
Speaker 1: Waddle or certainly Chase. You know, guys like that, they've
Speaker 1: been drafted high. But I think in the first frame
Speaker 1: any year he comes out. So let's talk about him,
Speaker 1: because you sent me a text last night. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: getting a little excited about him that you would take
Speaker 1: him over a bunch of the guys we just talked about.
Speaker 1: If you're the Steelers at seventeen, if he were in
Speaker 1: last year's draft coming out he had come out last year,
Speaker 1: obviously he couldn't so he didn't have the he didn't
Speaker 1: have the injury plagued year that he just that he
Speaker 1: just had h is Jackson Smith and Jake By the
Speaker 1: number one receiver off the board, I think. So. I mean,
Speaker 1: he still probably wouldn't have run a grade forty. But
Speaker 1: the people he's competing with, if you know, to refresh everyone,
Speaker 1: I mean the guys that he were his teammates right right.
Speaker 1: It was a Lave and Wilson who were awesome as rookies,
Speaker 1: and they went what eight and eleven? Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think he goes ahead of both of them. London was
Speaker 1: either eight or nine, I can't remember. They went right
Speaker 1: next to each other. He was eight maybe for the
Speaker 1: giant receiver, but he would be write in the mix
Speaker 1: with those guys for sure. And then he'd Jamison Williams.
Speaker 1: Jamison Williams transferred to Alabama because of Jackson, Smith and
Speaker 1: Jigba right right right exactly. And Williams was my favorite
Speaker 1: receiver in that draft, but he was coming off an injury,
Speaker 1: so he fell a little. And then Dotson went high
Speaker 1: from Penn State. And I think that Smith Najigba is
Speaker 1: clearly a better player than him, So I think he
Speaker 1: would absolutely be in the mix. And I would say, yes,
Speaker 1: he would have been last year's version of Smith na
Speaker 1: Jigba would have been the first receiver off the board.
Speaker 1: I feel pretty strong about that, Yes, coming off the
Speaker 1: year he had. Yeah, So in your rise is Smith
Speaker 1: and Jigba. Could this be a Heath Miller type situation?
Speaker 1: He didn't do anything wrong to her to Stock, He's
Speaker 1: still a good player, still a great player. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you look at the numbers he put up two
Speaker 1: years ago in Ohio State. It's better than anything those
Speaker 1: other guys did. And oh, by the way, one of
Speaker 1: those receivers that he was playing with was just the
Speaker 1: offensive rookie of the year in the NFL, right right, right,
Speaker 1: So I'm pulling up the draft order now, like you
Speaker 1: never see him mocked near the top. But I mean
Speaker 1: Seattle at five is probably rich, but Tennessee at eleven,
Speaker 1: Houston at twelve, you know, Patriots of fourteen. I think
Speaker 1: the Patriots or fourteen is one that I mean, they
Speaker 1: don't have any receiver. They just signed. They signed Juju
Speaker 1: dies Juju keep you from drafting Jackson Smith and Jake
Speaker 1: but it wouldn't me, not me, but they signed so
Speaker 1: they I mean they signed mike Yasicki and Juju Smith
Speaker 1: Schuster the last the last two days. But you're really
Speaker 1: two slotters, so they might be out of the Smiths.
Speaker 1: Maybe I shouldn't I think he can play outside. I don't.
Speaker 1: I mean I look at him and I see, you know,
Speaker 1: the same the same things that people were saying about
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson. Well he was just a slot uh you
Speaker 1: know at LSU. Well, how's that look? Now? Well, much
Speaker 1: like LSU, he was a slot because Jamar Chase was
Speaker 1: one of the outside guys. Yeah, and Tay who was
Speaker 1: phenomenal early in his career, was the other outside guy.
Speaker 1: Or Marshall, I mean, they were all NFL players, quote,
Speaker 1: keeping him in the slot just like Ohio State. And honestly,
Speaker 1: I think to me, Matt, when when you've got a
Speaker 1: guy who's he's on a slot because he's a little
Speaker 1: guys six you know, he's six one, two hundred pounds, right,
Speaker 1: he's he was a slot because that's where he could
Speaker 1: get on the field the quickest, right, right, right, right,
Speaker 1: And so I look at him, I say, he's shown
Speaker 1: slot receivers see a lot more physicality on the inside. Right,
Speaker 1: It used to be kind of a knock. I don't
Speaker 1: see it as a knock. So if I to me,
Speaker 1: if you're a big, if you're a decent sized receiver
Speaker 1: who's played in the slot, I think you should be
Speaker 1: able to move outside pretty easily for the most part. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean sometimes it's speed prohibitive, but speed receivers is
Speaker 1: the most overrated thing in the world without a DeAndre
Speaker 1: Hopkins is a four six guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and
Speaker 1: held him back in his career. He's physical um and oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, the best receiver on in college football
Speaker 1: is at Ohio State right now too, in Harrison Junior.
Speaker 1: And then they have another kid whose name I don't know.
Speaker 1: This should both be a first round pick next year too.
Speaker 1: So why would they have pulled him out of the
Speaker 1: slot anyway? And it worked your stars everywhere? I love
Speaker 1: Pitt has mentioned next guy. But if Smith and Jigbo
Speaker 1: was a Pitt Panther, he'd been outside, he'd be outside.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't be just a slot, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Schools in the league. He would not have been just
Speaker 1: a slot. If he had played with Kenny Pickett two
Speaker 1: years ago instead of Jordan Addison, it had been better. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: have been better, all right? Yeah, So why are we
Speaker 1: talking so much about him? Because I'm now infatuated with him?
Speaker 1: They need an receiver early, absolutely not, they don't. I
Speaker 1: like their receiver room. I have hopes for Austin and Miller.
Speaker 1: I think slot is their weakest receiver spot at this moment.
Speaker 1: But we even come close to doing this, but we
Speaker 1: do it every year. Who are your top seventeen players?
Speaker 1: If you're looking through the Steeler's eyes, I have a
Speaker 1: feeling he's gonna be like fifth for me. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think he's going to be so high because to
Speaker 1: start the shows, he's a first rounder every year and
Speaker 1: there aren't many of them. So I think he fills
Speaker 1: a need. It's not a must have, it's a want.
Speaker 1: It's not a need for a slot receiver. Here's my
Speaker 1: thought process of it. If if he is there at seventeen,
Speaker 1: they go to the podium with the seventeenth pick of
Speaker 1: the draft, the pitch first Steeler Silextracson Smith and the Jigba.
Speaker 1: If I'm the Bengals, Browns and Ravens, I go, oh crap.
Speaker 1: You know, think of this through the opponent's eyes. If
Speaker 1: you're any defensive player or defensive coordinator, Boy, did this
Speaker 1: offense just get so much harder to play against? And
Speaker 1: your quarterback, who's the most important asset in the whole place,
Speaker 1: is thanking you up and down because his life got easier.
Speaker 1: I think, I think you become really hard to play
Speaker 1: against with a guy like that. But he's the only
Speaker 1: one on considered. I don't want Adison, I don't want
Speaker 1: the others, you know, just him. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people are centering in on Addison
Speaker 1: because of course the connection with with Picket at Pitt
Speaker 1: But Smith and Jigba was a better player, and the
Speaker 1: fact that he's quote just a slot doesn't bother me
Speaker 1: at all for the Steelers because that's where I want
Speaker 1: to play him anyway, And if he can do more,
Speaker 1: aren't great. I think he can do more. I'm just
Speaker 1: infatuated a player. If Jordan Addison ends up on the Steelers,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to cry about it. I just think
Speaker 1: Smith and Jagbo is a great fit and makes you
Speaker 1: really really hard to play against. Yeah, absolutely, so that
Speaker 1: I'm with you. You know, I look at some of
Speaker 1: these other things. Now would I take him over some
Speaker 1: of the other guys that I'm infatuated with myself. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I can go there, but if they
Speaker 1: did it, I wouldn't kill it. I mean to me,
Speaker 1: you know, if if Brian Brusse is there, I'm probably
Speaker 1: still taking Brian Brusse because I want the big guy.
Speaker 1: He'll definitely be my top seventeen, but it'll be after
Speaker 1: Smith n Jigbo. Okay, all right, you know you could
Speaker 1: probably talk me into, you know, waiting on Brian Branch,
Speaker 1: but you're probably not going to get Brian Branch at
Speaker 1: thirty two. I don't think so. I'd be very happy
Speaker 1: with Branch seven. Ye, you know. So it's just it's
Speaker 1: just more options, I think. To me, then, you know,
Speaker 1: I just look at this draft and say, okay, there's
Speaker 1: there are some guys there. If if your top three
Speaker 1: cornerbacks are gone and and or you have one of these,
Speaker 1: you know, Smith's and Jake By ahead of Joey Porter,
Speaker 1: I would get that. I'm leaning that way. Same with Witherspoon,
Speaker 1: Nkins of right right, um, you know if you if
Speaker 1: you have him again. To me, you know, I think
Speaker 1: the planet theory comes into play a little bit with
Speaker 1: between him and Brussey, I'll hear you. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that take the talented big guy who, by the way,
Speaker 1: is still just twenty. I think he's twenty one, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe just turned twenty two, like might be your defensive
Speaker 1: captain for the next you know, eight years after cameratires,
Speaker 1: right right, right, No, I think he has great value
Speaker 1: and there aren't many and unlike corner you're not getting
Speaker 1: a fac simile to him in the one day two No, No,
Speaker 1: that's the that's the other part of that equation and
Speaker 1: a guy you know, you could line up on Day
Speaker 1: one with Brussee at nose tackle between Cam Heyward and
Speaker 1: Larryog and Jobi. Yes, I agree now, and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe you don't want that one hundred percent of the
Speaker 1: time because you know that's not his ideal fit. But
Speaker 1: he's played nose. Yeah what were you? Yeah? And I
Speaker 1: would prefer that. There were times last year and they
Speaker 1: were putting Cam Heyward on the nose. I don't want
Speaker 1: to do that. No. I mean it's different if it's
Speaker 1: third and long, but I mean if it's first and
Speaker 1: ten against Ravens, that's not what you want to be doing,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, Um, real quick back to Smith and Jigba. Now,
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that if I don't get him in
Speaker 1: round one, I'm better get with day two slot. I
Speaker 1: don't feel that way. I just love this player, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's all about the just about this guy. It's about
Speaker 1: taking the best player available. And that's the other great
Speaker 1: thing that what they've done thus far in free agency
Speaker 1: has set them up to do. That's why I wasn't
Speaker 1: good with it too, right, want to do more side
Speaker 1: between now and the draft and they'll be like, wow,
Speaker 1: that's really plausible. Together now, you could just take anybody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe Edmonds is on the team, or Bud the Prix
Speaker 1: or whoever, you know, whatever it is. I mean, those
Speaker 1: are basically those two spots safety and outside linebacker third
Speaker 1: outside linebacker. Right now, those are the only two absolute needs,
Speaker 1: right that might not be I mean, like they're gonna
Speaker 1: draft a corner, but they're not gonna sign another corner
Speaker 1: right right, you know, unless you know somebody gets cut
Speaker 1: loose that they just got to take that guy. I
Speaker 1: couldn't believe he's out there type of thing, right Yeah,
Speaker 1: And like Pete Scronsky did nothing wrong obviously in the
Speaker 1: last week. He's still a really good prospect, But now
Speaker 1: that they've signed a guard, he's not gonna be real
Speaker 1: high on my list, you know, Like I'll take Smith
Speaker 1: Najigbo over Scronsky. But if you're give me a pure
Speaker 1: left tackle, I'm still interested. But I just don't want
Speaker 1: to take a lineman and we'll find a spot for
Speaker 1: him anymore, you know, Like I think that's less valuable
Speaker 1: after her big signing. No, I agree with you, and
Speaker 1: I think that you know the people who are pigeonholing.
Speaker 1: And you see this a lot nationally, the people pigeon
Speaker 1: holding the Steelers. Steelers have to go offensive lineman where
Speaker 1: they have to go cornerback. I don't think they have
Speaker 1: to do anything now they can. The board is pretty
Speaker 1: open for them. Like Osires, Torrence is not going to
Speaker 1: be my top seventeen no, I mean right, yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean the only thing I know that they're not going
Speaker 1: to take is a quarterback or a running back. Right.
Speaker 1: Probably it's probably a tight end in the first round.
Speaker 1: Probably not probably not. Those spots are all kind of filled.
Speaker 1: But they could, you know, they could. But you know,
Speaker 1: if they if they fell in love with with John
Speaker 1: Michael Schmidt's or Tipman or something like that, they're probably
Speaker 1: not gonna take an interior linement at seventeen. But if
Speaker 1: they took one of those guys at thirty two, be like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: I get it, right, yeah, uh you know, you know,
Speaker 1: if they if they do happen to you know, one
Speaker 1: of the tackles falls to them, Okay, I get it.
Speaker 1: You're you're you're gonna take a tackle at some point.
Speaker 1: Why not take one of the most island ones out there? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of how high and if that
Speaker 1: guy you know who's available, but they're not, they don't
Speaker 1: have to do any of that stuff in the first
Speaker 1: if with their first three picks, those first three picks
Speaker 1: could be basically at any position. Maybe maybe fight you
Speaker 1: on is I still think a corner with one of
Speaker 1: the first three picks, No, if it has to happen,
Speaker 1: But should Oh it's yeah, I definitely should. And I
Speaker 1: think the way that this draft is going to fall,
Speaker 1: it probably will because that's that's where the values at exactly,
Speaker 1: and that's not by accident. To set yourself up for
Speaker 1: that too. Right, well, I think you you know the
Speaker 1: roster moves that you make in free ages here with
Speaker 1: that in mind, I mean, that's that's why some of
Speaker 1: these cornerbacks aren't getting paid huge money and free agency
Speaker 1: exactly same everybody. Everybody knows this is a deep cornerback draft, right,
Speaker 1: right or right? I mean, and again it's not quite
Speaker 1: the same. It's not apples apples, but these tight ends
Speaker 1: are getting nothing. Well everyone's say, I'm gonna get mine
Speaker 1: in the drafty, just wait, take a young guy that's
Speaker 1: that I've got cost control for four years at least Yeah,
Speaker 1: d tackles are getting paid like crazy. Well there's like
Speaker 1: two or three you really like the draft, you're probably
Speaker 1: not gonna get them, you know. Yeah, I mean that's
Speaker 1: kind of just the way it goes when you're when
Speaker 1: you're looking at these things. I mean, you get the draft.
Speaker 1: Everybody has now seen had eyes on um, you know
Speaker 1: these guys at some point, and it's got a pretty
Speaker 1: good idea of how this all breaks down. The Pro
Speaker 1: days and things of that nature aren't going to necessarily
Speaker 1: change this greatly. Somebody's not gonna come charging it. Oh
Speaker 1: this I thought this guy was a fourth round pick.
Speaker 1: Now he's a first rounder. No, that's not going to happen.
Speaker 1: That's not gonna happen. I mean, there'll be a couple
Speaker 1: forties at pro days that are better or worse than
Speaker 1: the combine, and you can say, well, one of those
Speaker 1: days he had a bad day, or there's there's certainly
Speaker 1: more medicals, you know, that's certainly still out there. You know,
Speaker 1: there'll be a second round of medical checks in Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: and that could you know, put a fine great on things.
Speaker 1: But I guarantee teams don't value Pro days. That's down
Speaker 1: the list of things that they're accumulating a paid for
Speaker 1: and yeah, it's perfect situations for the players. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're throwing your own guys, Christine, Yeah, you know you
Speaker 1: you say what what I'm okay, I'm gonna throw you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen outs today because I know I do it really well.
Speaker 1: But I'm like, I'm not gonna throw fifteen go routes
Speaker 1: because I don't do that very well. Exactly exactly. It's
Speaker 1: not windy that day. I think back of the like
Speaker 1: Ta's workout at Alabama a couple of years ago. I'm watching,
Speaker 1: like people are raving about his workout. I'm watching it.
Speaker 1: In every pacity threw was like eight yards. Look at
Speaker 1: this one. Look at his workout. Okay, he threw a
Speaker 1: bunch of eight yard passes. Yeah, he's not throwing twenty
Speaker 1: yard in routes where he's got to drive it, you know,
Speaker 1: over a linebacker or whatever. Too. Yeah, we're all scripted,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, bench press is a bench press
Speaker 1: forties basically a forty, but you know, if it's a
Speaker 1: fast track and things like that too. But most of
Speaker 1: the hay is in the barn for these guys. Great, yeah,
Speaker 1: I will say, and this is This is why Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin goes likes to go to the pro days, the
Speaker 1: meet and greet situations, the opportunity to have boots on
Speaker 1: the ground and and see these guys in their environment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and how they interact with people I think is beneficial,
Speaker 1: no doubt. And teams taking out the dinner or pull
Speaker 1: him aside. You know, it's not sit down in this
Speaker 1: little apartment for fifteen minutes while a horn blows to
Speaker 1: go in and out. You know, it's a lot more
Speaker 1: not relaxed, but it's a lot more real in my opinion.
Speaker 1: And you know, I was thinking, like you mentioned Jalen
Speaker 1: Carter boy, he was a little heavier this pro day,
Speaker 1: like he should have his own private workout a month
Speaker 1: from now. Tear it apart. Everybody comes, he spends all
Speaker 1: day with everybody, goes to the podium, answers every question,
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna be talking about, Oh, he might
Speaker 1: be the third overall pick. Yeah, he probably had three
Speaker 1: teams take him out to dinner the night before the
Speaker 1: pro day. He probably he probably ate three stakes before
Speaker 1: the night before. Like if Arizona asked you to go out,
Speaker 1: you say yes. They the third pick of the draft right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it could be true. Hey, you can subscribe now
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Speaker 1: is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lali. You're listening to
Speaker 1: the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. We're gonna be
Speaker 1: back with our final segment segment right after this