1
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,520
Speaker 1: He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on

2
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,160
Speaker 1: your twenty four seventh home of the Black and Gold

3
00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:17,480
Speaker 1: SNR Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly,

4
00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,599
Speaker 1: he is Matt Williamson and Matt it's a Friday. We've

5
00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:26,360
Speaker 1: now seen two whole days a free agency. At this point, Um,

6
00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,200
Speaker 1: you know, people kind of forget that. It's it's we're

7
00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,040
Speaker 1: very we're not very far into this. Let's put it

8
00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,559
Speaker 1: down now or not, despite it feeling like being very

9
00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,120
Speaker 1: far into this, but I wanted to talk. Obviously, the

10
00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:42,920
Speaker 1: Steelers have made some moves. Um, you know, they've been

11
00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,199
Speaker 1: very uh, as I wrote in my five for Friday today, Um,

12
00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:55,600
Speaker 1: I think they've been thoughtfully aggressive. We're per prudently aggressive.

13
00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,200
Speaker 1: They've gone after guys in his first week and they've

14
00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,160
Speaker 1: signed three they her Big Landing Roberts and Cole Holcombe

15
00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:07,040
Speaker 1: from outside the organization and of course Patrick Peterson. So

16
00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,000
Speaker 1: four actually now they get my numbers right, So they've

17
00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:15,679
Speaker 1: signed four guys. But they've obviously had a plan in place,

18
00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,400
Speaker 1: like they're not going to jump outside their budget, right,

19
00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:22,880
Speaker 1: It's almost like that, you know, hey, we're not gonna

20
00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,120
Speaker 1: We're not gonna wait two weeks to sift through what

21
00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,040
Speaker 1: we think are going to be the bargains. We're gonna

22
00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,720
Speaker 1: offer contracts the guys and then take the guys who

23
00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:36,840
Speaker 1: accept the bargains. Were Yeah, yeah, and you know I

24
00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,440
Speaker 1: think that they've also you know, people were going nuts

25
00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,840
Speaker 1: about Cam Sutton and the eleven million dollar contracted or

26
00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,400
Speaker 1: per year contract that he got. Eleven million dollars per year.

27
00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,080
Speaker 1: I looked us up at the cornerback position for average

28
00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,280
Speaker 1: contract of contract. That makes him the sixteenth highest paid

29
00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 1: cornerback in the league, is it? Yeah? So you know,

30
00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,240
Speaker 1: if I'm looking at that, I like Cam Sutton. Sure

31
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:06,920
Speaker 1: think I think he's a fine number two cornerback. Do

32
00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:08,960
Speaker 1: I want to pay my number two cornerback the sixteenth

33
00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:12,240
Speaker 1: highest paid average money in the league. Do I want

34
00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,320
Speaker 1: to pay Mike Hilton, you know, eight million dollars a

35
00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,359
Speaker 1: year to be to be my nickel corner These are

36
00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:20,880
Speaker 1: the decisions that they've had to make, and they've decided

37
00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,919
Speaker 1: that they didn't want to do that at those positions. Right,

38
00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,560
Speaker 1: You stay within your budget makes all the sense in

39
00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,000
Speaker 1: the world. I didn't realize he would be that high

40
00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:34,400
Speaker 1: on the cornerback annual list and kind of related, kind of,

41
00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:36,639
Speaker 1: isn't I mean, he was on the first corners it signed.

42
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,640
Speaker 1: But I was a little shocked at the corner market

43
00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:42,720
Speaker 1: was as team friendly as it was, you know, across

44
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:44,560
Speaker 1: the league. I thought some of these guys would make

45
00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,240
Speaker 1: astronomical numbers, and the corners didn't get paid quite as

46
00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,079
Speaker 1: well as I thought, and you get guys like Peterson

47
00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,680
Speaker 1: at a good price as a result. Well, we've seen that,

48
00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,239
Speaker 1: I kind of across the league. We haven't seen the

49
00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,320
Speaker 1: massive contracts given out that you're that you're usually see.

50
00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,480
Speaker 1: I think I think teams are being a little more

51
00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,320
Speaker 1: prudent with who they pay and how much they pay them.

52
00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,440
Speaker 1: For example, you know, there was a report out there

53
00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,680
Speaker 1: that the Steelers were interested in Orlando Brown. He got

54
00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,480
Speaker 1: sixteen million from the from the Cincinnati Bengals. Now, I

55
00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:20,400
Speaker 1: think you and I are both on the same page

56
00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:25,120
Speaker 1: with this. Orlando Brown's not a top ten left tackle

57
00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,600
Speaker 1: in the league. Agreed to pay that guy sixteen million.

58
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,680
Speaker 1: An average is sixteen million when he is an average

59
00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:38,480
Speaker 1: left tackle. Maybe that's the going rate. I don't know.

60
00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,520
Speaker 1: I would have to look up the values of left

61
00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:46,640
Speaker 1: tackle contracts. But I bet I know the Steelers weren't

62
00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,000
Speaker 1: going to high with him. I don't think he's worth it,

63
00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,560
Speaker 1: but I'll be honest. I thought, and I'm sure we

64
00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,880
Speaker 1: had this conversation pre free agency. I thought he would

65
00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,000
Speaker 1: be the biggest overpay in the entire free agent class,

66
00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:01,560
Speaker 1: in the whole league. And it wasn't as bad as

67
00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:03,800
Speaker 1: I thought. I mean, is he worth sixteen million to

68
00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,240
Speaker 1: your point, probably not. I mean he's the twelfth fifteenth

69
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,920
Speaker 1: best left tackle. That's fine, but I thought that someone

70
00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,600
Speaker 1: would give him twenty Yeah, and I Llegue really didn't

71
00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,960
Speaker 1: look that way. A couple of spots I mentioned, corner

72
00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:21,760
Speaker 1: and backup quarterback didn't make much either. There's a couple

73
00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:23,960
Speaker 1: of spots that didn't get paid nearly as much as

74
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,760
Speaker 1: I thought they would. The one spot that did, which

75
00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,159
Speaker 1: is steel irrelevant with Ogan job though interior d lineman

76
00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,440
Speaker 1: did well. Yeah, I'm just looking here at the left

77
00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,560
Speaker 1: tackle where the offensive tackle average salaries. That puts Orlando

78
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,840
Speaker 1: Brown at tenth as the tenth highest you got Trent

79
00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:46,080
Speaker 1: Williams at twenty three, Buck DR's at twenty three. Trent

80
00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,920
Speaker 1: Williams is at twenty three thousand or twenty three million,

81
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,920
Speaker 1: ten thousand buck dr He's twenty three million even, Yeah,

82
00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,960
Speaker 1: you're gonna be the highest paid tackle. Larry meet Tounsil's

83
00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:01,640
Speaker 1: twenty two million, Ronnie Stanley's nineteen seventy five. Wow, you

84
00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,200
Speaker 1: mean you want to talk about not getting anything for

85
00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,719
Speaker 1: your buck on that one? Then you got Jake Matthews

86
00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:10,680
Speaker 1: at eighteen three, Colton Miller at eighteen, Cam Robinson at eighteen,

87
00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:16,840
Speaker 1: Dj Humphries it's seventeen two five. Let's talking about getting overpaid. Yeah, yeah,

88
00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:22,120
Speaker 1: Garrett Bowls at seventeen again overpaid, Orlando bron at sixteen

89
00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:27,400
Speaker 1: point zero two three, and then Jordan mailatta Is at sixteen. Okay,

90
00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:34,560
Speaker 1: you know, so I look at that. You know Storis

91
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:36,920
Speaker 1: didn't give him seventeen I'll be oh, without a doubt.

92
00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:38,760
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that would have been a huge mistake.

93
00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:44,080
Speaker 1: Would he have been an upgrade over Damn Moore? Sure? Yeah? Yeah,

94
00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,279
Speaker 1: But you gotta pay for that. I mean the Bengals

95
00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,920
Speaker 1: are doing the same thing. Is he an upgrade over

96
00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:54,960
Speaker 1: Jonah Williams? Absolutely, Jonah Williams is bad. But you're paying that.

97
00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,640
Speaker 1: I mean, it's costing you, It costs you. It probably

98
00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,240
Speaker 1: costs you both your starting safeties. Yeah, good point. Yeah,

99
00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:04,760
Speaker 1: And I was looking at Jonah Williams because he's demanding

100
00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,080
Speaker 1: a trade now or whatever. He's making like thirteen or

101
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,560
Speaker 1: fourteen already on the last year of his deal. I mean,

102
00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,279
Speaker 1: that's not a great contract to take over either. You know,

103
00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:15,520
Speaker 1: I've had allred people at should Steel try to trade

104
00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,400
Speaker 1: for Joana Williams, Like, well, he's the actually North For

105
00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,919
Speaker 1: one thing, he's maybe the most overrated left tackle on

106
00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,520
Speaker 1: I don't know he would start for them right And

107
00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,840
Speaker 1: it seems like he's unwilling to play other positions, which

108
00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:28,680
Speaker 1: is the only beauty of the guy is you can

109
00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,000
Speaker 1: put him at right tackle or guard. I think that's

110
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:32,400
Speaker 1: why he went out because he wants to stay at

111
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,960
Speaker 1: left tackle. Well yeah, I mean they're gonna they're gonna

112
00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,479
Speaker 1: make him a guard this year if he's still in Cincinnati,

113
00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:40,839
Speaker 1: and then he hits the free agent market and teams

114
00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:44,520
Speaker 1: look at him as a guard. Yeah. That was the

115
00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,479
Speaker 1: biggest thing I liked about the Orlando Brown signing, which

116
00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:49,320
Speaker 1: I still thought was an overpay. Was first off, I

117
00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:50,960
Speaker 1: thought some team would give him twenty which I was

118
00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,360
Speaker 1: gonna go crazy over, but they by keeping Jonah, I

119
00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,839
Speaker 1: thought they got better at two positions. Your left tackle

120
00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:00,320
Speaker 1: improved and Joan knows better than one of the arts,

121
00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,840
Speaker 1: you know, and doesn't seem like you're getting that effect

122
00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:04,800
Speaker 1: out of it if you're gonna trade I don't know,

123
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,600
Speaker 1: for fourth round pick or something. Yeah. Yeah, so our

124
00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:13,120
Speaker 1: friends Cynthia Freeland. Yeah, without an article on NFL dot

125
00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:17,960
Speaker 1: com ranking four analytical fits and three headscratchers that have

126
00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,720
Speaker 1: happened thus far in free agency. One of the ones

127
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:23,320
Speaker 1: that she Yeah, one of the ones she loved to

128
00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:29,160
Speaker 1: fit on was Cam Sutton to the Lions because she

129
00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:31,920
Speaker 1: says the Lions want to play defensively much the way

130
00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,960
Speaker 1: the Steelers do. Yes, okay, a lot of a lot

131
00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,080
Speaker 1: of mixing of zone and man. But she also she

132
00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:40,920
Speaker 1: also has a Landau Brown is a good fit for

133
00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,440
Speaker 1: the Bengals. I'm sorry. Yeah, that's the one I disagreed with. Yeah,

134
00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:46,400
Speaker 1: so she also on the on the ones that she

135
00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,680
Speaker 1: didn't like, she has Patrick Peterson. H Here's where I

136
00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,480
Speaker 1: think people are looking at this the wrong way. I

137
00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,320
Speaker 1: think it's an interesting observation. And she didn't say this

138
00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,760
Speaker 1: is a bad signing, but I did think it was

139
00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,480
Speaker 1: an interesting way to look at it. Good. Yeah, so

140
00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 1: I did how they fit on the Steelers defense for

141
00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,680
Speaker 1: Steelers dot Com and she touches on some one of

142
00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,320
Speaker 1: the things that I mentioned as well. So Patrick Peterson

143
00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,360
Speaker 1: only played seventeen percent of his snaps last year in

144
00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:20,800
Speaker 1: manned defense. Right, Um, she says that. You know, so

145
00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,760
Speaker 1: Peterson was much better last year in zone coverage. Obviously,

146
00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:28,880
Speaker 1: he got his hands on fifteen passes, he intercepted five

147
00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:31,880
Speaker 1: a really good year, had a really good year, took

148
00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:36,480
Speaker 1: the ball away. I'm wondering, Matt if this doesn't signal

149
00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:38,840
Speaker 1: something of a shift with what they want to do.

150
00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:44,440
Speaker 1: And Peterson talked about this at his press conference on Thursday,

151
00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,520
Speaker 1: how he feels like with his ball skills, he's a

152
00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:53,560
Speaker 1: he's a better cornerback when he has his eyes on

153
00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,040
Speaker 1: the quarterback because of how he can play with his mind. No,

154
00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,080
Speaker 1: I says, yeah, I can. I can turn and run

155
00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,560
Speaker 1: with you know, receivers. But you don't want me doing that.

156
00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,360
Speaker 1: You know, time and time and you know play in

157
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:07,840
Speaker 1: and play out, Uh, you know, play after play turning

158
00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,199
Speaker 1: and running with receivers or you know, I'm I'm thirty

159
00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,959
Speaker 1: three years old. Uh, you know. The ideal thing here

160
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:15,560
Speaker 1: is to let me keep my eyes on the quarterback.

161
00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:17,760
Speaker 1: I can play, he said, I you know, he basically

162
00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:20,800
Speaker 1: said he can play single high, he can play the

163
00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,839
Speaker 1: robber position. He can do a bunch of different things

164
00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,160
Speaker 1: for your defense. And if you put his eyes on

165
00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,640
Speaker 1: the quarterback, he's going to take the ball away. I

166
00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:32,200
Speaker 1: had the same thoughts. So to touch on a little

167
00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,760
Speaker 1: bit more what Cynthia wrote, she didn't say he can't

168
00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,720
Speaker 1: play man because, unlike some of these signings, there's a

169
00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:41,760
Speaker 1: lot of tape in Patrick Peterson's career of him just

170
00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:44,200
Speaker 1: locking dudes down in man coverage. Now, he was a

171
00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:46,520
Speaker 1: younger then, and he probably moved a little better and

172
00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:49,200
Speaker 1: all those things. He's not. It's not gonna be Revus

173
00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,679
Speaker 1: Island anymore. I mean, that's not what they're gonna ask him.

174
00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,080
Speaker 1: He's not gonna follow around number one receivers. They don't

175
00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,920
Speaker 1: follow anyway. But he also had a small sample size

176
00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,160
Speaker 1: of man last year too. I thought the same thing though,

177
00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,720
Speaker 1: And I didn't want to throw around the word safety necessarily,

178
00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:10,319
Speaker 1: but the difference between slot corners and safeties and corners

179
00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,360
Speaker 1: are getting blurry anyway, you know what I mean? Yeah,

180
00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,760
Speaker 1: And the Steelers do play a lot of man, but

181
00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:18,880
Speaker 1: you don't see them pressing at the line of scrimmage

182
00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,720
Speaker 1: like they're Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes and Mel Blunt either,

183
00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,760
Speaker 1: you know. I mean some of these man zone discrepancies,

184
00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:31,560
Speaker 1: I question because the Steelers play a lot of chup zone. Yeah, yeah, exactly,

185
00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,880
Speaker 1: so there's not a lot of snaps of just coming down.

186
00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,079
Speaker 1: I got him, and I'm gonna follow him, follow his

187
00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,800
Speaker 1: belt buckle the entire snap, no matter where he goes.

188
00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,280
Speaker 1: If he goes in motion, I go with him. So

189
00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:44,560
Speaker 1: I'm not real worried about that. But she did have

190
00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,920
Speaker 1: a little nugget that his numbers were worse with single

191
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,800
Speaker 1: high safety, which the Steelers do a lot than with

192
00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,679
Speaker 1: two high safety, which adds up to me, I mean

193
00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:56,880
Speaker 1: at his age, but it really doesn't concern me considering

194
00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,360
Speaker 1: his body of work. And I thought the same thing too, like,

195
00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,320
Speaker 1: is he gonna be like Jalen Ramsey's been in the

196
00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:06,920
Speaker 1: news lately. Boy, he's a lockdown corner. No, he's a

197
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,760
Speaker 1: slot that puts the line of scrimmage a lot because

198
00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:13,320
Speaker 1: he kills people in the run game, and they it's

199
00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:15,720
Speaker 1: easy to throw away from him if he's outside the numbers,

200
00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:18,480
Speaker 1: Mike Peterson do some of those things, you know, just

201
00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:20,920
Speaker 1: be closer to the line of scrimmage, play off the ball,

202
00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,640
Speaker 1: you know, just looking for versatile defensive backs. I think's

203
00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,240
Speaker 1: where you're going with this. Yeah, and you know, he

204
00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,600
Speaker 1: basically said he's he's very open to doing that. He says, Look,

205
00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,800
Speaker 1: I I would always talk to my previous coaches about,

206
00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:36,800
Speaker 1: you know, hey, let's use me more, let's let's move

207
00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:38,720
Speaker 1: me around more and let me do some different things.

208
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,560
Speaker 1: The problem was is that he was he was a

209
00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:46,240
Speaker 1: lockdown cornerback, and that was a Okay, you're gonna take that.

210
00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:48,400
Speaker 1: You're gonna take the other team's best guy, and that's

211
00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,679
Speaker 1: what you're gonna do because you're so good at it. Well,

212
00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,720
Speaker 1: now that he's older, but why would we ask you

213
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:55,440
Speaker 1: to do that. It's like asking you want to drop

214
00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,920
Speaker 1: in the coverage? Right, Yeah, he could do it, but

215
00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,360
Speaker 1: you know, is that the ideal usage of him now

216
00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:03,040
Speaker 1: at this point in his career. I think it might

217
00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:07,320
Speaker 1: be better usage of him. And he's on a defense

218
00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:10,960
Speaker 1: that you know, I think that I think they're starting

219
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:12,800
Speaker 1: to you know, I think we're seeing a change if

220
00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,600
Speaker 1: they're going to start valuing those kind of guys make

221
00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,920
Speaker 1: sure seemed to. I mean, Casey's a little different, of course,

222
00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,520
Speaker 1: but he was obviously a priority. They acted on him quickly.

223
00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:24,560
Speaker 1: You know. He can do a lot of different things too.

224
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,600
Speaker 1: Has a little bit of a corner background. Um you know,

225
00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:31,079
Speaker 1: I remember you used the Mark Andrews example. Like, for example,

226
00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:33,240
Speaker 1: if it was two years ago and you're playing the Ravens,

227
00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:37,600
Speaker 1: I could see Peterson having more snaps against Andrews than

228
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,920
Speaker 1: Marquis Brown, you know who's run to fourteen. Yeah, yeah,

229
00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,040
Speaker 1: and that makes perfect sense to me. And you draft

230
00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,560
Speaker 1: an outside corner made and you could still draft that

231
00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:54,760
Speaker 1: outside cornerback and Patrick Peterson can still talk to that

232
00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,520
Speaker 1: young guy about what it's like to be a lockdown

233
00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,600
Speaker 1: cornerback guy who gets up and presses and can do

234
00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:03,880
Speaker 1: those kind of things because he's done it. He has

235
00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:07,080
Speaker 1: done it, and just where they would be. I don't

236
00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,240
Speaker 1: even know who that early draft pick corner I don't

237
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:12,720
Speaker 1: know what name it is, and it doesn't matter. But

238
00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,280
Speaker 1: you don't have to be cerebral to do that right away.

239
00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:18,040
Speaker 1: I mean, if, especially the way the Steelers do it,

240
00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,640
Speaker 1: you're you're the right guy, you're the left guy. Well, yes,

241
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,160
Speaker 1: we have some different coverages, but it's not the hardest

242
00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:27,840
Speaker 1: position to come in and contribute outside the numbers where

243
00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,840
Speaker 1: Peterson could be your Sutton. You know of some snaps

244
00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,320
Speaker 1: you're in, some snaps you're out. Some depends on how

245
00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,920
Speaker 1: defensive backs are on the field. Where young times last

246
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,120
Speaker 1: year where Kem Sutton was playing free safety right right right,

247
00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,920
Speaker 1: And I didn't see the press Scott. Did Peterson mention

248
00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,679
Speaker 1: single high or safety or things like that, you kind

249
00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,760
Speaker 1: of yeah, yeah, you know, he mentioned he mentioned, you know,

250
00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,400
Speaker 1: he's he's not opposed to doing all that stuff. Yeah,

251
00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:56,200
Speaker 1: I bet he does it, Yeah, exactly, But you know,

252
00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,079
Speaker 1: he said, look, we haven't talked any of that kind

253
00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,160
Speaker 1: of stuff yet. But he also said that the Steelers

254
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,920
Speaker 1: had talked to him last year and he thought he

255
00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,400
Speaker 1: might he might sign here. So they've been they've been

256
00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,839
Speaker 1: in the market for him, they've they've Mike Tomlin's known

257
00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:14,400
Speaker 1: him for a long time, as he mentioned his work

258
00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,120
Speaker 1: for a long time. Yeah, well yeah, he's like I

259
00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,520
Speaker 1: met Mike Tomlin. You know his cousin, His first cousin

260
00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,880
Speaker 1: is Brian McFadden. So he met Mike Tomlin when Brian

261
00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:27,760
Speaker 1: McFadden was a Steeler. He's like I've known Mike Tomlin

262
00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,760
Speaker 1: since before I went to LSU. H makes sense. So,

263
00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:37,640
Speaker 1: I mean there's there's draft that guy. You know, coach

264
00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:40,240
Speaker 1: pays a little extra attention to the great d backs

265
00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:45,560
Speaker 1: in the league too. Absolutely, absolutely so. But yeah, I

266
00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,240
Speaker 1: think Cynthia is kind of looking at this a little

267
00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,680
Speaker 1: bit like they're not going to ask Patrick Peterson to

268
00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:52,520
Speaker 1: go out there and play man defense fifty percent of

269
00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,160
Speaker 1: the time. No, I don't think so. He's not gonna

270
00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:59,520
Speaker 1: follow around number one. No, they're gonna use him, is it.

271
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,720
Speaker 1: You know, like they use their other cornerbacks. They're gonna

272
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:03,680
Speaker 1: play some zone, they're gonna play them off, they're gonna

273
00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:06,760
Speaker 1: you know, they're gonna switch things up, and you know

274
00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,120
Speaker 1: they're going to be times when Patrick Peterson is playing

275
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,240
Speaker 1: free safety. There may be times where he's the robber

276
00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,440
Speaker 1: in the middle of the defense and at Freezemaker again

277
00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,120
Speaker 1: Freezemaker Fitzpatrick up to be the guy who goes out

278
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:24,800
Speaker 1: and makes plays. Yeah, And I immediately didn't look at

279
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,360
Speaker 1: that angle. I thought, maybe later in his career he'll

280
00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:29,680
Speaker 1: make the Woodson move, the safety type of thing in

281
00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,000
Speaker 1: his size and his intelligence. But the more I think

282
00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:37,640
Speaker 1: it through. He may play more snot snaps in the

283
00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:40,720
Speaker 1: slot than I ever thought, you know, like not that

284
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,800
Speaker 1: you even be the primary slot, but I bet there

285
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,680
Speaker 1: will be snaps where he's close to the line of scrimmage.

286
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,120
Speaker 1: I bet he blitzes twenty times next year, you know,

287
00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,080
Speaker 1: things like that. Yeah, it's just a good way to

288
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:54,480
Speaker 1: use your guys. But to get back to my original

289
00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:59,400
Speaker 1: point here, you know, if you go out and you

290
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:04,600
Speaker 1: give Cam Sutton the eleven million per year, you had

291
00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,600
Speaker 1: to resign Larry Oganjobi or somebody of his ilk. That

292
00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,360
Speaker 1: was going to be expensive. That was a tough market

293
00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:13,000
Speaker 1: swimming in this year, right that those guys get paid,

294
00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:18,120
Speaker 1: and then you had to remake your inside linebacker room,

295
00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:21,800
Speaker 1: which they've done. I was very happy that they agreed

296
00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,600
Speaker 1: with me that that was had to be priority one

297
00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,320
Speaker 1: or was unacceptable last year. Yeah. Yeah, and I think

298
00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:30,720
Speaker 1: that's pretty clear. I think people are looking at that

299
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,080
Speaker 1: a little bit like I keep saying, seeing that, well,

300
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:36,360
Speaker 1: the Steelers are making a shift at what they wanted

301
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,600
Speaker 1: insigned linebacker they've got. They signed two guys that can't

302
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:41,880
Speaker 1: cover well. First of all, I don't know that Cole

303
00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:45,720
Speaker 1: Holcombe can't cover I think he's an ascending coverage player.

304
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,520
Speaker 1: I think he's a better cover guy than say, Miles Jack.

305
00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:53,120
Speaker 1: I know he's a better cover guy than Robert Splaine.

306
00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,360
Speaker 1: Yeah right. They showed us that they didn't trust Devan

307
00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,920
Speaker 1: Bush last year in coverage. Is he any worse than

308
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,320
Speaker 1: any of those guys? I don't think so. I think

309
00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:08,679
Speaker 1: he's Yeah, you'd like better, there's no doubt, But you

310
00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:14,160
Speaker 1: can't have everything. I think Holcombe is an ascending coverage

311
00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,119
Speaker 1: player with a lot of athletic ability, where I like

312
00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:19,520
Speaker 1: the Roberts signing, but he's never going to be a

313
00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:22,560
Speaker 1: great cover guy. He's a to me, Landon Roberts is

314
00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:29,119
Speaker 1: a better version, a more skilled version of Robert Spillin. Yeah,

315
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,760
Speaker 1: he's a good blitzer better. Yeah, he's a good blitzer.

316
00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:34,639
Speaker 1: He knows how to play the game. He's started a

317
00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,040
Speaker 1: ton of games in the NFL. He's much more athletic.

318
00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:44,040
Speaker 1: Yes he's. Yeah, he's a tone setter. He's a tone setter.

319
00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:46,800
Speaker 1: So we haven't talked a lot of Roberts. I'm sure

320
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:48,720
Speaker 1: you're aware of this, but I bet our fans aren't

321
00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:53,200
Speaker 1: our listeners. He played a lot of fullback for the Patriots. Yeah,

322
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,440
Speaker 1: I think between him and Connor Heyward, you could save

323
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,840
Speaker 1: a roster spot. Oh yeah, I think that's you know,

324
00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:03,360
Speaker 1: certainly in the plans, you know, whether that's using him

325
00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,320
Speaker 1: some at fullback, whether that's using Hayward some of a fullback, whatever,

326
00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,840
Speaker 1: whatever it may be. M Atlanta. Roberts is a thumper.

327
00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,639
Speaker 1: He's a great special teamer. You mentioned ass Rosh. He

328
00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:18,040
Speaker 1: consistently racks up sacks, he has Super Bowl rings. I

329
00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,000
Speaker 1: think he's an ideal. I don't call him a placeholder,

330
00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,760
Speaker 1: because I do think he might be better than majority

331
00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,399
Speaker 1: of what we saw from the linebackers last year. You

332
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,480
Speaker 1: can obviously line up and play with robertson Holcomb right now.

333
00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:33,600
Speaker 1: In a perfect world, Roberts would be my three. Which

334
00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,480
Speaker 1: could happen in the draft right or Robinson's product, you know,

335
00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,879
Speaker 1: grows up or Robinson grows up. You've you've got a

336
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,960
Speaker 1: guy in a Landon Roberts, I think, who has been

337
00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:46,320
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, he's been on two Super Bowls. He's

338
00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:50,480
Speaker 1: played in three Super Bowls one two of them. You've

339
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,919
Speaker 1: got a young linebacker Mark Robinson who's a similar style,

340
00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:59,200
Speaker 1: yeah player, you know he can learn from him. Again,

341
00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,800
Speaker 1: this doesn't preclude you from drafting one again this year

342
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,320
Speaker 1: at all, and you know that that guy maybe turns

343
00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:08,480
Speaker 1: into you know, let's let's say you take Jack Campbell

344
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:12,280
Speaker 1: at forty nine. Okay, well, now he's you know, he's

345
00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,200
Speaker 1: gonna be in the mix somewhere. Maybe he's not forced

346
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 1: to start right away. Yeah, but if he does, great,

347
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:23,000
Speaker 1: and don't take us the wrong way. But Campbell's a

348
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:24,840
Speaker 1: bad example in my opinion. Now I would think like

349
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,520
Speaker 1: a Simpson or a third round alf yes, a learning linebacker. Yeah, Campbell,

350
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:31,800
Speaker 1: I think it's more plug and play. But maybe you

351
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,680
Speaker 1: take the more athlete now because I don't need a

352
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,040
Speaker 1: week one, you know. Yeah, no, I'm with you. So

353
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,480
Speaker 1: you know. I just think that they've been very prudent

354
00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:45,000
Speaker 1: and thoughtful in how they've approached this. And again part

355
00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:47,440
Speaker 1: part of the negotiations is being willing to walk away

356
00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:50,320
Speaker 1: from the table. No, that's too much that we don't

357
00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:52,199
Speaker 1: want to pay that that's gonna because if you do that,

358
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,439
Speaker 1: if you overpay for guy, well, we really like Cam Sutton,

359
00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:57,520
Speaker 1: so we had to go to twelve million with him

360
00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,960
Speaker 1: per year. Screws up a whole puzzle. Okay, now, now

361
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,119
Speaker 1: you cost yourself that extra linebacker, that extra you know

362
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,560
Speaker 1: that that that the guard that you signed Nate herbert

363
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:10,720
Speaker 1: Um you know you don't, So you've hurt your depth

364
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,840
Speaker 1: somewhere else. The idea, and again I'm gonna go back

365
00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 1: to what Peterson talked about, and he's played in the

366
00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:18,320
Speaker 1: league a long time. He says, Look, the best team

367
00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:21,560
Speaker 1: doesn't always win the Super Bowl. Sure a lot of times,

368
00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,080
Speaker 1: just the team that stayed the healthiest. And to help

369
00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:26,879
Speaker 1: and to be able to stay the healthiest, you depth

370
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:31,720
Speaker 1: is also important. I mean, see are very fortunate, especially

371
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,000
Speaker 1: on offense, that their depth wasn't greatly tested last year.

372
00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:37,119
Speaker 1: It's gonna be tested. I mean like that's not gonna

373
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,719
Speaker 1: that's not gonna. Yeah, that's not the norm in the NFL.

374
00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,040
Speaker 1: You better have guys ready to step in. And if

375
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:45,679
Speaker 1: those guys are starter guys who have started a lot

376
00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,760
Speaker 1: of games in the league, yeah, that's a nice that's

377
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,320
Speaker 1: a nice thing to have. And the other thing is

378
00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:54,080
Speaker 1: if you would go the extra million on Sutton or whatever,

379
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,159
Speaker 1: when the next Joe Hayden becomes available, when no teams

380
00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,199
Speaker 1: have cap space, you can't be the team to do

381
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:01,080
Speaker 1: that either, you know. That's the other part of it. Yeah,

382
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:03,320
Speaker 1: money in your pocket. Yeah, you don't have to go

383
00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:07,400
Speaker 1: spend at all. And you know this is again free

384
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,720
Speaker 1: agency is never free, no, And it's a long process.

385
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,359
Speaker 1: It's only two days old as you open to show it.

386
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:15,520
Speaker 1: And none of the steel none of the signings that

387
00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:18,600
Speaker 1: the Steelers have made, are going to be the splash. Hey,

388
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:24,000
Speaker 1: the Steelers won the offseason thing conversation. But I do

389
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,840
Speaker 1: believe in week fourteen, you know, when you've got three

390
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,480
Speaker 1: guys out with you know, hamstringer and an ankle injury,

391
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,359
Speaker 1: that's when these kind of signings pay dividends. Yeah, And

392
00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,159
Speaker 1: I think there's a theme as well, a lot of

393
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:43,080
Speaker 1: teaching captain types, a lot of high character guys, likable dudes,

394
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 1: some ascending guys. Holcom and Herbig come to mind in

395
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:50,320
Speaker 1: particular their leaders, and a lot of physicality. Yeah, I

396
00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,639
Speaker 1: mean Roberts is a banger, Herbig is a banger. Peterson's

397
00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,119
Speaker 1: a big corner. Like. There's not a lot of finesse

398
00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:00,760
Speaker 1: dudes that they're Yeah, maybe that's you know again, I

399
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 1: think that's something that you do in with with the

400
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 1: AFC North in mind, we play in this division. The

401
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:10,160
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns are gonna try to run the football against

402
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,399
Speaker 1: this the Cincinnati Bengals, despite the thoughts where I think

403
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,959
Speaker 1: they're a high flying offense, they're gonna run the football

404
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,159
Speaker 1: against you. You know with Joe Mixon, same thing with

405
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,040
Speaker 1: the Ravens. So you know, you got to get out

406
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:25,360
Speaker 1: of your division first, and this all helps that. Hey,

407
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,600
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a break. He is Matt Williamson. I

408
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,760
Speaker 1: am Dale Lally, and you're listening to the drive here

409
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,399
Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. And Matt, did you know that

410
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,919
Speaker 1: you can now listen to Steelers Nation Radio anytime anywhere

411
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,359
Speaker 1: through your smart speaker. You just say Alexa, play Steelers

412
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:41,439
Speaker 1: Nation Radio from my heart, and Alexa will take care

413
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,440
Speaker 1: of the rest. We're gonna be back with the second

414
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,719
Speaker 1: segment here on the Steelers Nation Radio right after this