Speaker 1: Life's and adventure and it's waiting. Hi. This is Merril
Speaker 1: Hodge at S ANDT Bank. They know life's for the living.
Speaker 1: That's why S and T Bank offers solutions to help
Speaker 1: you get the most out of it, whether you're investing
Speaker 1: in your home, planning for the future, are just making
Speaker 1: the most of every day. St D Bank is here
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Speaker 1: by j D Power for JD Power two Award Information
Speaker 1: Visit JD power dot com Slash Awards. Is the Drive
Speaker 1: with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your home of
Speaker 1: the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome to the Drive.
Speaker 1: I am Dale Lolly here with Matt Williamson. Is the
Speaker 1: Monday after the Draft? Yeah, you know the Pittsburgh Marathon
Speaker 1: was run on Sunday. Sure was there. The real Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Marathon was you and I on the early Saturday. But
Speaker 1: the whole Draft Saturday was a marathon. Saturday was a marathon.
Speaker 1: The stretch before the Hayward pick was like a deserted
Speaker 1: island there for a while of radio trying to find
Speaker 1: stuff to talk about. But no, it was fun. We
Speaker 1: had I saw Stan when we were here and that
Speaker 1: was awesome. And we had Alan Fannica coach Bradley. I mean,
Speaker 1: we had a lot of people contributing over the weekend too,
Speaker 1: which broke it up well. And his great scene everyone too,
Speaker 1: and actually being in a facility, it was. It was
Speaker 1: fantastic being in the facility. Of course. The Steelers making
Speaker 1: seven draft picks, uh. They added Kenny Pickett in the
Speaker 1: first round, the quarterback out of pitt George Pickens in
Speaker 1: the second round, the wide receiver out of Georgia, to
Speaker 1: Marvin Leel out of Texas, A and M on the
Speaker 1: defensive line. Then in the fourth round they added Kelvin
Speaker 1: austin the third I don't know as he was. He
Speaker 1: is a third out of Memphis, a wide receiver, Connor
Speaker 1: Hayward in round six fullback slash, tight end slash whatever
Speaker 1: you want to utility knife out of Michigan State. And
Speaker 1: then in the seventh round linebacker Mark Robinson of Ole
Speaker 1: Miss and Chris a lot of Cone quarterback out of
Speaker 1: South Dakota State will go down in history as the
Speaker 1: final pick. So it started with Tlexico Burrus and two thousand,
Speaker 1: it ends with Chris. A lot of con there you go.
Speaker 1: It was kind of an odd selection and we're not
Speaker 1: gonna spend much time on the seventh rounders, I'm sure,
Speaker 1: but um, they must have liked him enough to bring
Speaker 1: him to camp and didn't want to compete with the
Speaker 1: rest of the world for him, so um um. And
Speaker 1: speaking to Kevin, I mean, his press conference was pretty awesome,
Speaker 1: too emotional, and you know he was uh rightfully honored
Speaker 1: and talked about it. He was an amazing person and
Speaker 1: contributor to the team and team builder. Yeah. After the draft,
Speaker 1: the Steelers signed ten undrafted free agents as well. That
Speaker 1: would be offensive tackle Jake Dixon of Duquesne. I believe
Speaker 1: he's a Bethel Park kid. Running back Mateo Durant out
Speaker 1: of Duke, defensive lineman Donovan Jeter of Michigan, outside linebacker
Speaker 1: Tyree Johnson of Texas A and M. There's a school again.
Speaker 1: He's got a little juice to him. Outside linebacker t
Speaker 1: Day T. D. Moultrie of Auburn, guard Chris Owens from Alabama, Um,
Speaker 1: cornerback Chris Steele out of usc UM, offensive tackle Jordan
Speaker 1: Tucker from North Carolina, running back Jalen Warren from Oklahoma State,
Speaker 1: and cornerback Bryce Watts out of you Massa. So I mean,
Speaker 1: one of those names will make the team, you know,
Speaker 1: don't forget about them. I don't know much about them yet,
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking about the camp, but you know, I
Speaker 1: know one of the things and the ones will jump
Speaker 1: into this. People looked at Um, they didn't had any
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. If you start running the numbers on, it's
Speaker 1: a pretty four. They've got nine guys, and actually more
Speaker 1: than that with NFL experience when you add in like
Speaker 1: a uh, Chaz Green and guys like that, guys who
Speaker 1: have started NFL games. They've got like twelve of them
Speaker 1: in a dozen or so. Yeah, and probably ten roster
Speaker 1: spots at most, maybe nine if you know, if if
Speaker 1: he keeps seventh, if you keep seven defensive lineman, then
Speaker 1: you probably only keep nine offensive lineman. Or if you
Speaker 1: keep you know, I mean, they're gonna keep at least
Speaker 1: five receivers and probably six if you start looking at
Speaker 1: those numbers. I actually broke things. I think about the
Speaker 1: Haywards of roster spot that they don't usually have to
Speaker 1: like a utility guy or so. I haven't thought about
Speaker 1: the roster construction that much yet, and we got a
Speaker 1: lot of time to break down the final roster. But still,
Speaker 1: that's that's interesting. They don't have a lot of old
Speaker 1: line spots of it, right, so, you know, if so,
Speaker 1: that's when when people talked about, well they wasted a
Speaker 1: pick in the seventh round on an offense on a quarterback,
Speaker 1: they should have just taken an offensive line in there.
Speaker 1: Guys probably not gonna make your roster. Yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: more and more that the league cares very little about
Speaker 1: the seventh round anymore. And I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: just a perception thing, but lots of punters and kickers,
Speaker 1: and I think it's an analytically driven an approach. The
Speaker 1: people look at the seventh round and like, these guys
Speaker 1: never make thee right, you know, make an NFL career
Speaker 1: like right, I mean some of these teams that made
Speaker 1: a lot of moves and trades. I mean, like the
Speaker 1: Jets are done picking in the fourth round, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean they got they dumped this. We've seen that
Speaker 1: in recent years as well. That those veteran guys. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna trade for a veteran, it's a fifth
Speaker 1: round pick, like or sixth round pick or seventh round pick.
Speaker 1: To your point about the instead of fighting the open
Speaker 1: market when they get cut type of deal, and there's
Speaker 1: a saying out there that there's no number of seventh
Speaker 1: round picks equals the first round pick, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like they don't just that they're not all
Speaker 1: a penny and they end up eating equal in a dollar.
Speaker 1: They just don't. Yeah, you could will trade you our
Speaker 1: next ten seventh round all, yeah, to a first round pick. No,
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna do that. Um, you're not taking volume over quality,
Speaker 1: right right, right? So I think really the the your
Speaker 1: draft is made by what you do at the top
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, it's nice if a fifth rounder hits
Speaker 1: or absolutely, they seldom become stars, right, fifth rounders hit
Speaker 1: here and there. Seventh rounders, I mean don't even make
Speaker 1: teams anymore. So. Yeah, anyway, the two positions the Steelers
Speaker 1: didn't the two things that they didn't do. They didn't
Speaker 1: get a running back and they didn't get line. They
Speaker 1: didn't get a true nose tackle. No, you know, I
Speaker 1: think you know, that tells me he they trusted Tyson
Speaker 1: and Lulu is going to be ready to go. And
Speaker 1: you know the fact that they didn't address a defensive
Speaker 1: line until round three tells me they failed stuff on two.
Speaker 1: It is coming back as well. Yeah, or in free
Speaker 1: agency up until this point, yeah, I mean, they didn't
Speaker 1: spend money on a guy. So yeah, I think now
Speaker 1: have seven defensive lineman that they are excited about, including
Speaker 1: louder Milk and Warmly and those guys. I mean, they
Speaker 1: all improved last year. Those two improved last year as
Speaker 1: well as Adams. If your second line, your second hockey
Speaker 1: line is Adams, louder Milk, Warmly, I'll take that. You know,
Speaker 1: I mean that those aren't starters, but they're your your
Speaker 1: your second line guys. And you and I talked about
Speaker 1: nose tackles, particularly Jones, and everyone talked about Jordan Davis.
Speaker 1: Of course, I don't know that that's a priority for them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's other ways to stop the run, folks,
Speaker 1: There's other ways to play defense than putting three or
Speaker 1: fifty pound guys out there. I'm sure they liked Jones,
Speaker 1: I'm sure they like Davis because they can run. But
Speaker 1: they didn't just grab a hog just stick in the
Speaker 1: middle of the line, you know. I mean the league
Speaker 1: has changed, it really has. And if you look at
Speaker 1: the last one that they drafted, it was Javon Hargrave
Speaker 1: and he's a different kind of you know, he's a
Speaker 1: pendant rating up the field. How many did he have
Speaker 1: in college to like a million? Yeah, that's and did
Speaker 1: so again last year with the Eagles and got paid big.
Speaker 1: I mean, those guys are coveted. But um, who was
Speaker 1: the dude from Baylor a couple of years ago that
Speaker 1: the Billings you know, the big power guy, power lifter,
Speaker 1: but also the fourth round picker down? Where's yet? You know?
Speaker 1: So let's talk about Kenny Pickens. Pick good, Pikett. I
Speaker 1: did that again. I'm you know why, I'm looking here
Speaker 1: at George Pickens name and I'm saying I've said this
Speaker 1: a couple of times over the weekend, Billy and Wolf
Speaker 1: with picks and pickens And how many times I say
Speaker 1: the word pick in the last three days? All the
Speaker 1: next pick? And then I hope Kenny Pickett doesn't throw
Speaker 1: too many picks when he's targeting Pickens, you know, like
Speaker 1: it's it's good stuff though it makes me chuckle. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, we were both I'm not gonna not gonna
Speaker 1: fudge just we were both on the Hey draft, Malik
Speaker 1: Willis for the upside um. They know more than we do.
Speaker 1: That they know more than they know more about their
Speaker 1: roster than we do as well, they know way more
Speaker 1: about the players in particular, which is a knock on Willis.
Speaker 1: And I'm look, people have already been saying, well, the
Speaker 1: league didn't like this this draft class very much. Malik
Speaker 1: Willis was invited to the draft to sit in the
Speaker 1: green room. They do that based off what NFL teams
Speaker 1: are telling them. They don't just they don't pull Keiper's board.
Speaker 1: They're not. They're not inviting Mark Robinson to sit in
Speaker 1: the in the green room. Any invite guys who they believe,
Speaker 1: based on the people they're talking to, are going to
Speaker 1: go in the first round. I don't want four kids
Speaker 1: sitting there. Yeah, they don't want you know, a day four,
Speaker 1: a Day three guy going sitting in that room for
Speaker 1: four rounds. They want someone a valid chance to go
Speaker 1: in the first round. And he didn't know, he didn't.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that he can't play or whatever. But
Speaker 1: the Steelers valued Kenny Pickett. Now, I've also heard the argument, well,
Speaker 1: they could have waited and taken him in the second round.
Speaker 1: You don't know that, Yeah, I don't know that. People say, well,
Speaker 1: if the Steelers hadn't taken him in the first round,
Speaker 1: there have been no quarterbacks in the first round. That's
Speaker 1: not true either. Somebody would have taken Kenny, whether it
Speaker 1: was Kenny Picket or some he would have made that
Speaker 1: first move at that quarterback, whether it be a team
Speaker 1: trading back into the first round, whether it be the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Titans, whoever may may have been, would have made
Speaker 1: you know, made that pick in this in that first round.
Speaker 1: There would have been a quarterback in the first round.
Speaker 1: I think so. I mean, I think you could look
Speaker 1: at in a negative light and say, boy, they could
Speaker 1: have waited for the second round. And obviously this is
Speaker 1: Monday morning quarterbacking. They could have got Willis later, they
Speaker 1: could have got ridd or later whoever. And that's true.
Speaker 1: We know that to be true. Now. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: do think it is safe to say the league didn't
Speaker 1: like this quarterback class as much as other years, or
Speaker 1: maybe as much as some mock draft told us the
Speaker 1: teams had already made all their quarterback moves. There's been
Speaker 1: The Steelers even made a quarterback move in the in
Speaker 1: the you know, in the free agency. They didn't an
Speaker 1: adventure and it's waiting. Hi. This is Merril Hodge at
Speaker 1: S ANDT Bank. They know lives for the living. That's
Speaker 1: why S and T Bank offers solutions to help you
Speaker 1: get the most out of it, whether you're investing in
Speaker 1: your home, planning for the future, or just making the
Speaker 1: most of every day. St D Bank is here to
Speaker 1: help learn how S ANDT Bank can help you live
Speaker 1: the life you want at st bank dot com member
Speaker 1: f D I C. S and D Bank was ranked
Speaker 1: number one in customer satisfaction with retail banking and Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: by j D Power for JD Power two Award Information
Speaker 1: visit JD power dot com Slash Awards. Need to draft
Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett right, they wanted to draft Kenny Picket. There's
Speaker 1: a huge difference there. And we don't know if Pickett
Speaker 1: was their twentieth guy on the board or their fifth.
Speaker 1: You know, we that sounds stuff we don't know, will
Speaker 1: never know. We also don't know did the league look
Speaker 1: at piket Gap the rest of them. You know, we'll
Speaker 1: never know that, you know, the Steelers apparently, and we
Speaker 1: also don't know this. If Pickett would have went at nineteen,
Speaker 1: maybe they would have taken Willis. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: They still best player or eighteenth best players. So the
Speaker 1: way it worked out, it doesn't the optics don't look fantastic,
Speaker 1: you know, like, boy, this class isn't any good. I
Speaker 1: don't see it that way, you know. I look at
Speaker 1: it and think, I bet Ritter starting in Atlanta by
Speaker 1: week eight at some point of seasonally will start games
Speaker 1: for the Atlanta Feli. I bet korl starts in in Carolina.
Speaker 1: Even wouldn't shock me if we see Sam how a
Speaker 1: fifth round pick in Washington at some point and Willis,
Speaker 1: I think it's an awesome location for him. I know
Speaker 1: we're talking Steelers here, but those guys should look at
Speaker 1: Davis Mills and say, I need to do that. I
Speaker 1: need to convince this team that I'm on now not
Speaker 1: to use next or year's first round pick. So much
Speaker 1: less pressure too, And there's so much less pressure, right,
Speaker 1: and then you added a first round pick. Oh, there's
Speaker 1: Drake London. That makes my life easier. So I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I understand the picket A great picket, pick a
Speaker 1: great deal. I mean, there's a lot of logic behind it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The other part of the equation is that the Steelers
Speaker 1: took a guy. They went for the guy who they
Speaker 1: know is is a clear duble over the guy who
Speaker 1: could be a home runner, could be a strike up.
Speaker 1: They didn't want Dave Kingman to use your analogy last week.
Speaker 1: They wanted the guy who's going to hit the do
Speaker 1: they want to Barry Bonds, Early Berry Bonds who hit
Speaker 1: doubles and everyone first base and we'll go from there,
Speaker 1: you know, and see what happens. Maybe maybe he scores
Speaker 1: a run or not. But it's there's no outce that
Speaker 1: I gotta my number two hit her up, and I
Speaker 1: got a guy in first that can maybe steal second,
Speaker 1: you know, go from there. But the comps on the
Speaker 1: comps on picking or picket, I'm gonna do this again,
Speaker 1: and the comps on picket, we're Kirk Cousins or you know,
Speaker 1: some whatever, middle of the road starter. But starters average,
Speaker 1: they were better than that average to above average starters.
Speaker 1: You want to compare him to um I don't know
Speaker 1: that he's People talk about his ceiling, Well, he's he's
Speaker 1: already as good as he's going to get. That's absolutely
Speaker 1: not true. No, that's not really how sports work or
Speaker 1: scoring to continue to evolve as a player, we like
Speaker 1: to get. We know this is what he is. He
Speaker 1: can only you know, he's got a low ceiling. And
Speaker 1: the people that loved them thought, boy, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of Joe Burrow here. Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: we could Joe Burrows. I mean I'd rather Burrow, don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong, But to say that his story is
Speaker 1: written and the best he's a double I think it's
Speaker 1: a little unfair, especially if you put him in a
Speaker 1: good situation. I say it's a million times when I'm
Speaker 1: evaluating quarterbacks. Once they land, I almost care about where
Speaker 1: they land more than I care about the player themselves. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and absolutely they're gonna be able to put stuff around him.
Speaker 1: He should succeed here unless Trabinsky is better, right, which
Speaker 1: is very possible too, And then you're in a good situation.
Speaker 1: I know, people, well, that's you know, what if what
Speaker 1: if Trabinsky hits Okay, that's wonderful, that's great. I mean,
Speaker 1: you could trade pick it. He could be a lifetime
Speaker 1: back up. You know, if you've got you've got five
Speaker 1: years of cost controlled quarterbacking. Here. If Trabinsky hits, you've
Speaker 1: got him for two years of cost control. You can
Speaker 1: extend him. Because you're not paying you're not paying picket anything.
Speaker 1: You could franchise them. You can franchise tag him and
Speaker 1: then oh, after year three pickets ready to go. Oh,
Speaker 1: people are calling you. Hey, you know, I mean, you're
Speaker 1: trading one of your guys. We'll listen. Yeah, right, So
Speaker 1: having too many quarterbacks isn't a bad thing, and you
Speaker 1: got them all relatively cheap, which allows you to do
Speaker 1: things like you know, we've seen We saw a j.
Speaker 1: Brown traded over the weekend. We saw Marquise Brown traded
Speaker 1: over the weekend. Apparently, if your name last name is
Speaker 1: Brown is a wide receiver, you're on your way out.
Speaker 1: The teams that that aren't paying the wide receivers are
Speaker 1: the teams that have established quarterbacks. For the most part.
Speaker 1: For the most part, we're paying, I should say, paying
Speaker 1: their quarterback a decent amount of money. The raiders and
Speaker 1: bills are kind of exceptions, But I think that that's
Speaker 1: the trend that's really developed. But they're the Bills made
Speaker 1: the trade for stuff on digs before they were paying
Speaker 1: Josh Allen. I know, but they just reupped them, right.
Speaker 1: But you know, but your points valid if you're at
Speaker 1: my homes or Rodgers, sorry, you don't get you want
Speaker 1: to make fifty million dollars, you better make these receivers
Speaker 1: into something after. Rodgers can complain about it as much
Speaker 1: as he wants. He's not complaining about it when he's
Speaker 1: cashing the checks. And you know what happened with those
Speaker 1: two teams and what they think about it. They mostly
Speaker 1: drafted defense, Yeah, I mean both the Packers first round
Speaker 1: picks were defense. Almost everything Kansas City did except for
Speaker 1: sky More, was defense. I mean, Pat, you're in charge
Speaker 1: of the offense. You make this thing go. You know,
Speaker 1: the Packers went up and got Christian Watson in the
Speaker 1: second round, right, right, I mean they both You get
Speaker 1: a second round wide receiver. You don't get a first
Speaker 1: round wide receiver because you're making fifty million dollars and
Speaker 1: you don't get twenty five million dollar Witers. You certainly
Speaker 1: don't get that, right, But you know who gets a
Speaker 1: nice receiver? Jalen heard to, you know, first round, second
Speaker 1: round guys that need help. So your point I assume
Speaker 1: is if by chance DK Metcalf becomes available and the
Speaker 1: Steelers want him next year, they could get him, or
Speaker 1: we're do do those things you can afford to build,
Speaker 1: continue building that nest. You can afford to spend money
Speaker 1: on a cornerback, or spend money on you know you can.
Speaker 1: You can pay t J. Wat To and make him
Speaker 1: the highest paid defensive player. Will never lose somebody you
Speaker 1: want to keep from your own team. You'll know that
Speaker 1: will never keep Jvan Hardgrave if you wanted to do Filer,
Speaker 1: I think would be a Steeler right now, and Hardgrave
Speaker 1: would be a Steeler and you know we wouldn't be
Speaker 1: talking about there's no nostackle here. You know, the Steelers
Speaker 1: haven't been in this situation in a very long time. Right.
Speaker 1: It's almost like they've gotten a reset on their salary cap. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: It's not like they'll spend foolishly, I don't think. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think they're very wise with where they spend their money.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna be the Jags just buying things left
Speaker 1: and right. But they're gonna have the ability to do
Speaker 1: to fix a team in more ways than the draft. Correct,
Speaker 1: you can fill in the holes they I mean they
Speaker 1: did it if you look at it early into two thousand's, Um,
Speaker 1: you know they were they were you know they were
Speaker 1: able to sign James Ferrier. They're gonna go get you
Speaker 1: have hardings, trading for Bettest and things like that, things
Speaker 1: like that, you know, Okay, we need a guy, Well
Speaker 1: we can go get one, you know, and when you're
Speaker 1: paying Ben Roethlisberger, now you get okay, we gotta go
Speaker 1: spend uh sign these bargain basement guys and hope they
Speaker 1: hit or this third round pick needs to be a
Speaker 1: starter for us. You know that's hard on coaches. That's
Speaker 1: a tough way to live. So you can you know,
Speaker 1: this this works, this gives this could be something that
Speaker 1: that works for the Steelers. Um, you know they're they're
Speaker 1: essentially by taking by signing for Bisky and then taking Picket,
Speaker 1: you're taking two bites out of the apples. One of
Speaker 1: these guys is going to be your starting quarterback. And
Speaker 1: I still think Rudolph is somebody they know and like,
Speaker 1: you know, like they don't think he's the answer, that's clear,
Speaker 1: but he's in the mix and you can get you
Speaker 1: out of a game or whatever. Right, you took two
Speaker 1: big swings that weren't risky. That's the thing. The first
Speaker 1: round piss pick is not much to risk overall pick
Speaker 1: trading several picks, they'll get that quarterback. That's where you
Speaker 1: you know, trade lance has to hit, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? If pick it doesn't hit, if he's a
Speaker 1: terrible player, it doesn't set the organization in the draft
Speaker 1: a second draft one next year. Yeah, I mean, it
Speaker 1: doesn't set you back at all if he's terrible, which
Speaker 1: I don't think any of the thinks he is, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean so I very much understand it. And I
Speaker 1: don't know this for a fact, but I bet the tiebreaker,
Speaker 1: if there ever is one, it was just all the
Speaker 1: knowledge you have about pick it is rare, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean you could go the relationship they have with
Speaker 1: all the people next door and you know all do
Speaker 1: you think they may be mentioned to some of their players. Hey,
Speaker 1: when you get a chance, go uh shoot to breathe
Speaker 1: with Pickett. Tell me what you think of them? You know.
Speaker 1: Offensive coordinator right was Mark Whipple, who was Ben Roethlisberger's
Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach. Right in two thousand four and two thousand five.
Speaker 1: You can't know anymore like this is. I had to
Speaker 1: get glowing reviews of Picket without doubt, without a doubt.
Speaker 1: And you trust, you trust who's giving you that information, right,
Speaker 1: I've said just a thousand times this week. And scouting
Speaker 1: is really gathering information and interpreting it is the biggest
Speaker 1: portion of it. And you hope your information is really good.
Speaker 1: You know, we did another show recently and you mentioned
Speaker 1: the the A and M connection. Well, I think they
Speaker 1: trust what they're getting out of that building more than
Speaker 1: they do other schools. I mean it shows yeah, absolutely. Um,
Speaker 1: so he's the pick. He's going to get an opportunity
Speaker 1: to compete for the starting job. Malik Willis would not
Speaker 1: have gotten that. And to me, that was the one
Speaker 1: thing that I looked at that was a plus for
Speaker 1: Willis because I I'm willing. I was willing to give
Speaker 1: Trabinsky the opportunity to be the guy this year and
Speaker 1: if it didn't work out, fine, you spent the year
Speaker 1: with Willis, you you know, developed him over the course
Speaker 1: of the year, and maybe he's your starter next year.
Speaker 1: I think it'd be easier to get Trabisky ready for
Speaker 1: Week one. If Willis was the pick instead of picking correct,
Speaker 1: you know, that is what it comes down to, you know,
Speaker 1: so I think that's one of the negatives that's for
Speaker 1: the coaching staff to right. That doesn't mean that they
Speaker 1: were close. I mean, they probably like to pick it
Speaker 1: much more than Willis. I don't know that, but the
Speaker 1: pick shows that that's probably the case. Yeah. So you know,
Speaker 1: the Steelers take Kenny Pickett. Um, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: weird because I was this whole thing, this whole process. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, when I went to the Senior Bowl, I
Speaker 1: was told, well, the Steelershi, this was by somebody who
Speaker 1: in the know, it looks like they really like Kenny
Speaker 1: pick Itt, and they would they would, really, you know,
Speaker 1: if he's available twenty they'd probably take him. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'll stash it away. Every I wrote it at the
Speaker 1: time not surprising. And then he you know, coming out
Speaker 1: of the Senior Bowl, you hear all this stuff, Well
Speaker 1: the Steelers really they're enamored with with Malik Willis, and
Speaker 1: that that continued throughout the process. Kenny Pickett was always there.
Speaker 1: I didn't think Kenny pick talking to Willis. I didn't
Speaker 1: think Kenny Pickle would be available to them at twenty.
Speaker 1: I didn't either. One it was all said and done,
Speaker 1: I thought he not that he was clearly head and
Speaker 1: shoulders above everybody else, but he's a very safe safe.
Speaker 1: He was the most pro like you stay, okay, you're
Speaker 1: a team like the Carolina Panthers, you don't have a
Speaker 1: starting quarterback, you take Kenny Pickett or I thought the
Speaker 1: Saints could be a spot. And there are a lot
Speaker 1: of trade up to eighteen if you're many teams. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I don't believe at all that you know, they
Speaker 1: they settled on Picket three or four months ago. I'm
Speaker 1: sure they knew who he was and loved them. But
Speaker 1: I don't think that it was a smoke screen that
Speaker 1: Willis and how and all these other guys they investigated.
Speaker 1: They just did all their work and came back to
Speaker 1: the original conclusion. And he was still like him the most,
Speaker 1: you know, So I get that. Absolutely, we're gonna take
Speaker 1: a break. We'll come back and talk about the rest
Speaker 1: of the draft. Here. He is Matt Williams and I
Speaker 1: am Dale Lally. You're listening to the drive here on
Speaker 1: Steelers Nation. Radio Life and Adventure and it's waiting Hi.
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