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Speaker 3: Our number two after day number two in the books
Speaker 3: here for the Steelers, West Shuler, Matt Williamson. Of course,
Speaker 3: it's the drive. We are in the press box at
Speaker 3: Chucknollfield High Top, Saint Vincent College's campus here, of course,
Speaker 3: in another beautiful day in Latroll. So far, so far,
Speaker 3: so good. The Skies man, the I know we say
Speaker 3: this every and some of the things are a little
Speaker 3: redundant because we're here in the same setting every year
Speaker 3: describing it. But there are so many days out here,
Speaker 3: and Matt, this is one of them where the sky
Speaker 3: and the scenery just almost looks painted. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. You've got rolling mountains.
Speaker 3: You've got the rolling mountains off to the right, and
Speaker 3: the blue sky with some clouds, and you've got the
Speaker 3: church basilica in front of us. I mean it it is.
Speaker 3: It looks.
Speaker 2: It's a pretty campus to architecture.
Speaker 3: Our guy Ed Trupe, who you know, of course, hosts
Speaker 3: the Steelers Standard. You can catch him every day here too,
Speaker 3: with Baco and a Dan Ski. This is Ed's well
Speaker 3: I guess I think he got hired right around this
Speaker 3: time last year. He's giving me a thumbs up. Ed was.
Speaker 3: Ed was out here a couple times last year, but
Speaker 3: this is his first time really out here every day,
Speaker 3: hosting a show, big part of training camp. He actually
Speaker 3: like the last hour. I told him, I was like, dude,
Speaker 3: just go for a walk, go check it out here,
Speaker 3: and he did that. He went around campus and everything
Speaker 3: and was raving about how beautiful it is. It's a
Speaker 3: small campus, Matt, but there's just so many beautiful areas
Speaker 3: here and all around this entire kind of Laurel Highlands,
Speaker 3: Laurel Valley, area. It's just a beautiful part of the
Speaker 3: state of Pennsylvania out here in another beautiful day today.
Speaker 2: I gotta take your advice and ask you roam around
Speaker 2: campus a little more. I think the same pass everywhere,
Speaker 2: and like when we went to the basketball court the
Speaker 2: other day, the first time I've been in there, even
Speaker 2: been in that building. But no, it's it's very cool.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a small school. Obviously there's a religious
Speaker 2: background to it as well, so maybe it's not for everyone,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not here to recruit sating, you know,
Speaker 2: people to go to Saint Vincent's, but I could see
Speaker 2: the allure for sure, and it's really perfect for what
Speaker 2: we use it for. There's a reason that the Steelers
Speaker 2: have been here this long.
Speaker 3: It's fantastic. I do. I do love a college campus.
Speaker 3: I've been. I've been fortunate to be on a lot
Speaker 3: of a lot of big schools in their campuses, a
Speaker 3: lot of smaller schools in their campuses. This is one
Speaker 3: of my favorite campuses in the entire country. It is.
Speaker 3: It's just beautiful out here. Most of my other ones
Speaker 3: would be like Texas and the Michigan a little different,
Speaker 3: you know, a little different, but this, This would definitely
Speaker 3: be towards the top of my list. I love it
Speaker 3: out here and it is another beautiful day today here
Speaker 3: with practice number two in the books for the Steelers.
Speaker 2: So it's no surprise or no you know secret. I
Speaker 2: listened to a ton of podcasts, almost all NFL stuff,
Speaker 2: and every year, without fail, I'll stumble into a podcast
Speaker 2: where one of the hosts or somebody prominent does a
Speaker 2: camp tour or whatever and comes here for the first time.
Speaker 2: You know, there's there's some people that have been coming
Speaker 2: year after year. They know what to expect, you know,
Speaker 2: but there's always someone that I'm listening to that comes
Speaker 2: the first time. It's like, okay, so the Steelers have
Speaker 2: this weird magic of how does Tomlin get them the
Speaker 2: over wins all the time, and it's like almost everyone's
Speaker 2: like it starts there. Yep, it starts here, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. There's there's a reason people can laugh
Speaker 2: at the tradition or boy they're lucky with turnovers and
Speaker 2: blah blah blah, and you know, the metrics don't line
Speaker 2: up to be in a playoff team. And I'm not
Speaker 2: saying this is the only reason it happens, but it's
Speaker 2: part of it. Yeah, absolutely right.
Speaker 3: Wolf used to point this out. Every Steelers team that
Speaker 3: has ever won a playoff game, it started right here.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Every Steelers team that's ever won a Super Bowl, it
Speaker 3: started right here. Now, those two years during COVID, I
Speaker 3: used to joke with Wolf like, hey, you know, if
Speaker 3: the Steelers win a playoff game or win a Super Bowl,
Speaker 3: you can't say that anymore, right, But all six Super
Speaker 3: Bowls the Steelers. Of course, that first playoff win, the
Speaker 3: Immaculate Reception in seventy two. You know, that was a
Speaker 3: few years after they started coming out here. So yeah, things,
Speaker 3: you know, there's I like the phrase there's no such
Speaker 3: thing the coincidences, right, yeah, yeah, I kind of butchered
Speaker 3: that there. But there's a phrase of like, there's no
Speaker 3: such thing as a coincidence, And I certainly don't think
Speaker 3: there's any coincidence that the Steelers organization started winning a
Speaker 3: lot more games and producing a lot more Hall of
Speaker 3: Famers and a lot more good times when they started
Speaker 3: coming out here to Saint Vincent College.
Speaker 2: But it is a beautiful day as you started.
Speaker 3: It absolutely is. And I know the earlier practice times
Speaker 3: for some people might make it a little more difficult
Speaker 3: because you can't like take the half day of work
Speaker 3: and then and then get out here for the two
Speaker 3: o'clock practice. But always, as we tell people, if you
Speaker 3: can make it out here on a Saturday or for
Speaker 3: any of these days, it is it's wonderful. I think
Speaker 3: it's gonna be bonkers. Yeah, it's gonna being I think
Speaker 3: Saturday is gonna be insane. I think all the weekend
Speaker 3: practices again with you know, with a little earlier practices.
Speaker 3: We understand for some people, you know, eleven am practice
Speaker 3: versus at two o'clock. You know two o'clock practice, you
Speaker 3: can leave work at noon or twelve thirty or one
Speaker 3: and still make it out here for it. Uh, not
Speaker 3: as easy with the eleven am practices. But yeah, I
Speaker 3: think that's gonna result in the weekend practices being crazy. Matt.
Speaker 3: Saturday night lights next weekend, I bet you will be
Speaker 3: will be absolutely out of control at all the cool tradition,
Speaker 3: another very cool tradition, but especially with it being on
Speaker 3: a Saturday and not a Friday, I bet you it'll
Speaker 3: be even more of a wild crowd. And then Monday
Speaker 3: here on campus is gonna be nuts, Matt, because obviously
Speaker 3: it's the first day that the pads go on, but
Speaker 3: also right across the way from us here at the
Speaker 3: baseball field, the Pat McAfee show will be live. Oh
Speaker 3: that's Monday, from from noon to to on ESPN. That
Speaker 3: is on he was he was behind us over here
Speaker 3: on the side, and I think that created quite a
Speaker 3: log jam of traffic there. It was nuts. So he
Speaker 3: will be uh saw. I saw Bert tweeting about that today,
Speaker 3: Bert Lawton. Of course, he was tweeting that it's going
Speaker 3: to be in the baseball field over there, and I
Speaker 3: think the entrance is going to be kind of set
Speaker 3: up in the outfield, and.
Speaker 2: So you might be more doubt into this than me.
Speaker 2: Does McAfee do several training camps?
Speaker 3: No, I think he just does thought he just does
Speaker 3: this one. He does. They move his show around a
Speaker 3: lot to different stuff, right, but I think this is
Speaker 3: the only.
Speaker 2: Training he doesn't do a training camp tour.
Speaker 3: They might do a day with the Colts too, because
Speaker 3: obviously he's based out of indian I think he does.
Speaker 3: I think he does. I think they do one day
Speaker 3: with the Colts, obviously, the team he played for and
Speaker 3: where he lives now, and then one day here, you know,
Speaker 3: the area that.
Speaker 2: He grew up. But if he was in if he
Speaker 2: grew up in Olpasso, he wouldn't come.
Speaker 3: Out here, correct, right deep in the west. So Samora
Speaker 3: moving and shaking out on the field in front of us.
Speaker 3: Matt is, we'll have another walk through. I would imagine
Speaker 3: before they started coming down here, I would think so
Speaker 3: I would. It was I think late in the later
Speaker 3: in the four o'clock hour, when they started matriculating their
Speaker 3: way down here. Yesterday we see some of the equipment
Speaker 3: guys getting some stuff set up as the Steelers will
Speaker 3: have their their walk through portion of proceedings here in
Speaker 3: the evening on this Thursday.
Speaker 2: And we say this all the time, and Dale and
Speaker 2: I said it for decades. It feels like that these
Speaker 2: guys work on the fields constantly too. I mean there's
Speaker 2: there's not much going on, but there's always something going
Speaker 2: on on these football.
Speaker 3: Fields, absolutely right. Yeah, it's it's there's very rarely a
Speaker 3: time when it's quiet here on the grounds.
Speaker 2: There's nobody touching the field in any way, shape or
Speaker 2: for him, it like never.
Speaker 3: Happened right midnight exactly. I was gonna say, maybe when
Speaker 3: maybe when the sun goes down. That's about it. And
Speaker 3: you know what, it's funny. I was I was talking
Speaker 3: about this with with Ed and some other people towards
Speaker 3: the end of camp. A lot of times, Matt, it'll
Speaker 3: be eight o'clock at night here and you'll see like
Speaker 3: the Saint Vincent lacrosse team or the women's soccer team
Speaker 3: or whatever. They'll be out here doing their practices. But
Speaker 3: they're always on the turf field over there and not
Speaker 3: the grass ones right here. But you'll see that when
Speaker 3: we get to the last few days of camp, when
Speaker 3: all those Saint Vincent athletes start reporting to campus.
Speaker 2: You see a lot more people around.
Speaker 3: You'll see like the lacrosse team and the soccer team
Speaker 3: in the evenings because that's the only time they can
Speaker 3: get out there, down on the turfield.
Speaker 2: And often I haven't seen it yet these two days,
Speaker 2: but you'll see a lot of kids in like flag
Speaker 2: football and like some kind of little camps on that
Speaker 2: that turf field. I don't know why, but the Steelers
Speaker 2: barely ever step foot on that field. I don't know
Speaker 2: if the quality is not to their liking or I
Speaker 2: don't know, it's it's usually field turf field.
Speaker 3: It's usually only when it rains and they're like, we
Speaker 3: don't want there outside.
Speaker 2: And now they're going to the new indoor, the new
Speaker 2: indoor here, and rarely do you see them on that
Speaker 2: field in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 3: It is a little bit smaller of a field, I think.
Speaker 3: I don't think it looks more narrow. I don't think
Speaker 3: it's a full one hundred yard and I think it's
Speaker 3: full dimensions if you will, but it is. It's the
Speaker 3: only one outside here that is not grass. It's it's
Speaker 3: the one turf field over there. But then yeah, it's also.
Speaker 2: A very dangerous wall in the back corner too. If
Speaker 2: you're throwing fade balls back there.
Speaker 3: There absolutely is a nice retaining wall over there in
Speaker 3: the corner. And that's a great point by you. You know,
Speaker 3: we would see if it was if it was a
Speaker 3: thunder and lightning type storm in the past, they would
Speaker 3: move into the gymnasium because that was their only option.
Speaker 3: But if it was just a real rainy day, they
Speaker 3: would go to the turf field over here.
Speaker 2: They would do at least like individual stuff. Yes there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Now though you're right, I mean, we haven't assumed
Speaker 3: they go. Weather's been great, but I would assume that
Speaker 3: the new building that we talked about, the new rec
Speaker 3: center behind us, that has I think it's like a
Speaker 3: seventy yard indoor field in there. Hey, hopefully the weather
Speaker 3: will hold out and we won't have to uh to
Speaker 3: see them inside there.
Speaker 2: And just chatting with some of the beat writers last
Speaker 2: night at Sharky's, they I guess they don't know if
Speaker 2: they're invited or not to the indoor if and when
Speaker 2: that happens.
Speaker 3: Interesting, Yeah, maybe they'd use that as an opportunity to
Speaker 3: get some some closed doors work done. Maybe maybe very interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, interesting that this hasn't come up yet.
Speaker 3: I guess, yeah, it'll be. It'll be. Uh, it'll be
Speaker 3: something we'll keep an eye on. If we do have
Speaker 3: one of those days again, Hopefully it stays in the
Speaker 3: in the seventies and warm and beautiful like it has
Speaker 3: been out here. Looks like next week there's some possibility
Speaker 3: for some weather, but we always know that. We also
Speaker 3: know that can change very quickly.
Speaker 2: It does happen quickly on here. So I don't know
Speaker 2: if people like our play by play of groundskeeping or not,
Speaker 2: but I do it every year a little bit because
Speaker 2: it intrigues me going on. But my man here with
Speaker 2: the rollers, he's got the three heavy rollers that's patting
Speaker 2: it down. They've only done from the numbers to the sideline. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he is not even cross midfield. He's doing the length
Speaker 2: of the field. But he's only working on really one.
Speaker 3: Third of the field at the boundaries.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's only basically gone from I'm not sure if
Speaker 2: his hashes or the numbers to the far sideline. He
Speaker 2: has not worked on this side of the field at all.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he will or if there's just
Speaker 2: they think that side's a little loose, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: the more drills.
Speaker 3: Drill on the sidelines.
Speaker 2: But oh again, I'd love to get one of the
Speaker 2: guys up here and coach es up.
Speaker 3: It's almost it's kind of like a field zamboni that
Speaker 3: he's he's cat rolling around there right now, heavy roller weights.
Speaker 3: See all right, he's making a turn. Is he going
Speaker 3: to go through the center of the field here this time?
Speaker 2: Is he gonna still be shock comes all the way
Speaker 2: our direction?
Speaker 3: You gonna stay out on the bound Now he's gonna
Speaker 3: prove me wrong.
Speaker 2: He's done.
Speaker 3: He's finally going down the hash marks here. Oh, I
Speaker 3: tell you what This is thrilling stuff I do. It's
Speaker 3: the nerdy stuff that you can. You don't come out
Speaker 3: here to Saint Vincent College just because you love the
Speaker 3: Steelers in football. You come out for all these different
Speaker 3: uh you know, the minutia, the details.
Speaker 2: These scene definitely the closest to us that he's come.
Speaker 3: Maybe I was off on that seeing how the sausage
Speaker 3: is made out here is uh is the great Kyle
Speaker 3: Powers equipment manager is driving some looks like lights and
Speaker 3: video equipment.
Speaker 2: Remember yesterday fifty the massive work they were doing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were talking. They did a pretty good job there.
Speaker 3: There's uh, there's always It is amazing to me how
Speaker 3: fast even with all the I mean, they spend hours
Speaker 3: on these fields every day and it is still amazing
Speaker 3: how fast they get torn up. But when you have
Speaker 3: what ninety some athletes out there, plus all coaches and
Speaker 3: ninety some big athletes out there, it does It does
Speaker 3: make sense. And that's that's why they need all these
Speaker 3: different fields mad of, you know, to to make sure
Speaker 3: that they're keeping it all safe and playable and all
Speaker 3: that good stuff for the guys.
Speaker 2: And you were describing this to me too, because it's
Speaker 2: sort of topical because World Cup was just around. But
Speaker 2: I mean the damage that a football team does to
Speaker 2: a field compared to a soccer match. Nuts, right, Nuts,
Speaker 2: That's why the that's why the yourceros.
Speaker 3: That's why all those stadiums went back to their turf
Speaker 3: as soon as the World Cup was over. Is because
Speaker 3: it is quite the maintenance cost. You know what, Messi's
Speaker 3: what like five foot nine and probably weighs one hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty hundred and sixty pounds. There's there's not many
Speaker 3: Darnell Washington's out there for Argentina or Spain or in
Speaker 3: the World Cup. It's a little bit of a different
Speaker 3: beast out here, actually.
Speaker 2: Dark size shoes digging into the into the turf, you know.
Speaker 3: Good lord, imagine though Max Starks is like a center
Speaker 3: back or like a striker trying to corner kick, trying
Speaker 3: to get the get that guy to not get a
Speaker 3: header on the ball. I'll tell you what he might
Speaker 3: have He might have been onto something there. I think
Speaker 3: he'll take a couple Super Bowl rings that he won
Speaker 3: here with the Steelers.
Speaker 2: Though they're still not coming very far away. Though it's
Speaker 2: like the same everything over there has gotten a lot
Speaker 2: of rolling things over here.
Speaker 3: Haven't gotten any it's all meticulously playing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's definitely like McCarthy practice report down to the
Speaker 2: fifty six minute.
Speaker 3: Speaking of offensive linemen and big people, I do want
Speaker 3: to uh Brandon Thorne, who were big fans of put
Speaker 3: out his annual offensive line rankings. I was kind of
Speaker 3: surprised where the Steelers landed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's some reasons for that. We'll save
Speaker 2: it for next segment. We will talk that when we
Speaker 2: be a little more encouraging than the number that they're at.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's talk some some offensive line and some expectations
Speaker 3: for this unit as we roll along here in the
Speaker 3: second hour, West Uler, Matt Williamson. All part of our
Speaker 3: ongoing training camp coverage. It's the Drive Steelers Nation Radio
Speaker 3: on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1: This is live coverage up the twenty twenty six Steelers
Speaker 1: Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
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Speaker 3: If you listen to the Drive regularly, you know, Matt
Speaker 3: and I we have our analysts, are guys that we
Speaker 3: go to at certain times of the year or for
Speaker 3: certain topics.
Speaker 2: Right, Oh no, no, Dame becialists out there like.
Speaker 3: A draft season. We love Dame Brugler, Nate Tye and
Speaker 3: Matt Harmon. Some of these guys.
Speaker 2: Harman's my wide receiver expert. I referenced them all the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Sando's quarterback tiers.
Speaker 2: Sure, there's a lot of fantasy people that are you know,
Speaker 2: worth digging into even if you're not into fantasy. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And one of the guys that Matt and I really
Speaker 3: like is Brandon Thorne, who of course is the offensive
Speaker 3: line guru for establish the run, and we think he
Speaker 3: is one of the guys who does the best analysis
Speaker 3: if you're looking for offensive line analysis.
Speaker 2: So a lot of people ask me nowadays, you know,
Speaker 2: and times have change, so my path won't help you now,
Speaker 2: But how do I get into what you guys do
Speaker 2: for a living, or how do I get into scouting?
Speaker 2: And one thing I could definitely recommend is if you
Speaker 2: can find a niche like Brandon does and just be
Speaker 2: the best O line guy out there, best wide receiver guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah that's you know, Harmon's the best receiver guy. So
Speaker 2: if you were a corner back background and you can
Speaker 2: teach the world about corners and why Certains better than Porter,
Speaker 2: but Porter's better than Gonzalez and this is particular coverage,
Speaker 2: might be a world for you out there.
Speaker 3: You know, hey, people are always uh, people are always
Speaker 3: looking for good content, especially around National Football League circles
Speaker 3: where we just can't get enough of this stuff. Matt
Speaker 3: Brandon Thorn has put out his annual offensive line rankings.
Speaker 3: He ranks all thirty two units in the NFL into
Speaker 3: five five different tiering systems. You know, Tier one obviously
Speaker 3: being elite, Tier five being a fragile as he likes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a huge or an overlapping observation. I don't think
Speaker 2: the elites are quite as good as they have been
Speaker 2: in previous years, you know, like the Lions when they'd
Speaker 2: rag now and Kelcls and those guys. I think they
Speaker 2: were better than the elites. But I also think the
Speaker 2: crappy ones are a little better than they have been too.
Speaker 2: You know, like the Browns are going to come in
Speaker 2: low and they just totally revamped their O line, and
Speaker 2: I thought they did a pretty good job with the
Speaker 2: cards they were dealt. I mean, now, I mentioned this
Speaker 2: the other day when we were talking about Steelers, oh line,
Speaker 2: but really hit me hard reading through all these profiles
Speaker 2: and all his write ups. Are none of these lines
Speaker 2: look horrendous right now, but so many of them are
Speaker 2: just one bad thing away from being a house of cards,
Speaker 2: you know, like the starting five.
Speaker 3: You lose that one, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: That very few of that Steeler depth that we talked
Speaker 2: about that Heaven forbid. I know you'd even hate hearing this.
Speaker 3: You lose feature.
Speaker 2: You know, don't put Hoffman in there.
Speaker 3: You'll survive.
Speaker 2: You can survive, you know what I mean, right?
Speaker 3: You would? You can? You can not even prevent the
Speaker 3: ship from sinking. You could maintain course and direction and
Speaker 3: all that good stuff. Matt, how do you want to
Speaker 3: do this? Do you want to start the top? Do
Speaker 3: you want to start the back? Do you want to
Speaker 3: start with the Steelers?
Speaker 2: I don't care. I really don't.
Speaker 3: Let's start with the Steelers.
Speaker 2: We don't spend a lot of time on all these,
Speaker 2: all of them, but you know, right.
Speaker 3: Let's start. Let's start. Let's start with the Steelers then,
Speaker 3: because that's what kind of surprised me a little bit.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: He had the Steelers in Tier three as the nineteenth
Speaker 3: best offensive line in.
Speaker 2: The NFL basically average or slightly below.
Speaker 3: And here's here's his right up there. Okay, Yeah, they
Speaker 3: have a talented foundation of left tackle, left guard in
Speaker 3: center from Faltonu, McCormick, and Fraser, but two members are
Speaker 3: changing sides and an inexperienced right side makes the overall
Speaker 3: outlook unstable. Pittsburgh enters twenty twenty six with our King,
Speaker 3: Zach Fraser anchoring a talented three man foundation. Fraser is
Speaker 3: one of football's strongest interior blockers in a top two
Speaker 3: center because of his rare leverage, play strength and down
Speaker 3: to down control. Man, I like hearing that. Let's read
Speaker 3: let's read that back ten times. Here. Troy Faltonu and
Speaker 3: Mason McCormick will move together from the right side to
Speaker 3: the left. Both played the left side in college, making
Speaker 3: the switch as a pair should preserve some familiarity. McCormick
Speaker 3: was solid last season, while Faltonu played very well with
Speaker 3: a clear upward trajectory. The right side is far less settled.
Speaker 3: Rookies Jennings Dunker and Maxie Haunachuur offer the highest long
Speaker 3: term potential at guard and tackle, while Dylan Cook is
Speaker 3: a scrappy stopgap and Spencer Anderson is better suited for
Speaker 3: backup work. Fraser, Faltanu and mccormickers streng enough to keep
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh near the middle of the league, but the competition
Speaker 3: must produce two viable right side starters for the unit
Speaker 3: to climb.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to defend Brandon a lot because he
Speaker 2: does phenomenal work, and I've also listened to him on
Speaker 2: many outlets as opposed to just reading that paragraph about
Speaker 2: the Steelers O line. So I don't want to speak
Speaker 2: for him, but I have a pretty good idea of
Speaker 2: what he's thinking here is there's probably some listeners going
Speaker 2: he doesn't know enough about Anderson and Cook. He didn't
Speaker 2: watch them, you know, he is. He's just kind of
Speaker 2: writing a sentence about him and they're not high pedigree guys.
Speaker 2: Oh no, he knows he knows about every offensive alignment
Speaker 2: in the league. Can't tell you much about safeties or
Speaker 2: running backs, but he can tell you about every alignment
Speaker 2: in the league, and probably I'm sure he could break
Speaker 2: down Cook's footwork better than any of us, and he
Speaker 2: could do that with any player in the league. He's
Speaker 2: not a Steeler specialist either, so he's very aware of
Speaker 2: what they did. Now. I also know when Brandon does
Speaker 2: his rankings, especially not during the season when you're looking
Speaker 2: at this time, continuity is very very important, you know,
Speaker 2: and you talk to o Lime, and continuity is extremely important.
Speaker 3: A tounch of Wolf would just kind of five fingers
Speaker 3: on a fist, yeah.
Speaker 2: And they would just kind of grunt at each other,
Speaker 2: and nonverbal communication and those Puncy di Castro Ramone lines
Speaker 2: had very little change. And history shows continuity on the
Speaker 2: O line really really pays off. So I promise you
Speaker 2: if Brandon was sitting here, he would say, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: ding the Steelers O line because the two guys I
Speaker 2: liked best are flopping sides and the other ones are
Speaker 2: new or sort of uncertain. I mean, really, to be
Speaker 2: fair to the Steelers, if we take the black and
Speaker 2: gold glasses off the only sure thing of what you
Speaker 2: know to be true is Zach. Now, I'm very fond
Speaker 2: of the other guys as well.
Speaker 3: And we think they'll be fine moving to the left side, yes,
Speaker 3: but we still haven't seen.
Speaker 2: It in a haunt A chore was like my favorite
Speaker 2: prospect as I forget that part too. Now. I've also
Speaker 2: heard Brandon say for He's been on many podcasts, but
Speaker 2: you know, people asking him who do you think the
Speaker 2: next great offensive tackles in the league are? And faltonu
Speaker 2: without fail always is at the tip of his tongue.
Speaker 2: You know, he talks about Mims and Cincinnati. He talks
Speaker 2: about a couple of these guys that don't have the
Speaker 2: recognition yet, but always Falton him and then the other
Speaker 2: thing he values, which rightfully so in today's NFL, he'll
Speaker 2: put more weight on pass blocking than run blocking. And
Speaker 2: he tries to write these as agnostic as possible in
Speaker 2: terms of if you're helped a lot by the scheme.
Speaker 2: I don't want to give you extra bonus points for that, sure,
Speaker 2: but I have heard him and this is rightfully so.
Speaker 2: Because Rogers recognition and time to throw is so low,
Speaker 2: is recognition so high, and his time to throw is
Speaker 2: so low. Pass blocking for the Steelers was easier than
Speaker 2: pass blocking for the Ravens. I mean, it just is
Speaker 2: you know, holds out again, extending the play right right,
Speaker 2: right right, or for cam Ward it's learning, you know,
Speaker 2: I mean a young guy, let alone an athlete type.
Speaker 2: You know, let's take a look at up. But he's
Speaker 2: very fond the Steelers O line overall. Yeah, and he
Speaker 2: loved the Haunta chore.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm hoping that will rapidly ascend his power rankings.
Speaker 3: Here is this as this rolls along, Matt, he has
Speaker 3: four offensive lines in Tier one listed as elite, the
Speaker 3: first the Denver Broncos, and that one's not surprising. I mean,
Speaker 3: but or like you were saying the Lions of a
Speaker 3: couple of years ago, the Eagles still check in at
Speaker 3: number two. Real strong, real strong there, certainly, I mean,
Speaker 3: Lane Johnson still might be the best at what he does.
Speaker 3: Jordan my lat is outstanding. But we're gonna see there's
Speaker 3: a lot of questions there about some injury and health
Speaker 3: status of those guys. And they lose Jeff Stoutlin, who
Speaker 3: was widely regarded as one of the best positional coaches
Speaker 3: in the NFL.
Speaker 2: This is a cool thing that that he Brandon does too,
Speaker 2: is he lists the O line coach and offered references too,
Speaker 2: because he kind of knows these guys. He goes to
Speaker 2: O line masterminds. He's he spends a lot of time
Speaker 2: with these dudes. And what's cool about you know thorn
Speaker 2: On It is his sub stack too. Two weeks ago
Speaker 2: he had Laramie Tunsel on his sub stack and they
Speaker 2: sat there and watched the game or the tape, and
Speaker 2: you can watch that video of the two of them
Speaker 2: just breaking down work. And I mean, like people know
Speaker 2: who he is. You know, that's pretty sweet. It's pretty sweet.
Speaker 3: Number three is the Bucks.
Speaker 2: You know a lot they were really banged up last year.
Speaker 3: A lot of chaos in Tampa right now, but that
Speaker 3: offensive line man Christian Wurfs is outstanding. Graham Barton is outstanding. Uh,
Speaker 3: Tampa Bay. If like you said, last year they had
Speaker 3: a ton they had just we talked about that yesterday.
Speaker 3: They had bad injury luck on the offense, on the
Speaker 3: offensive line. But checking in number three here assuming health
Speaker 3: heading into the season.
Speaker 2: One more Eagles notes I meant to say too, is
Speaker 2: I've I've heard Brandon several times say I think Lane
Speaker 2: johnsons the best right tackle ever.
Speaker 3: He and might be.
Speaker 2: He might be right now, he's still extremely good now.
Speaker 3: My former co host Arthur Mots would be biting our
Speaker 3: heads off if he heard us say that, because he'd
Speaker 3: be like, oh what the two ped suspensions don't mean
Speaker 3: anything to you. But that was also a while ago.
Speaker 3: That was a long time ago. He can't be ignored then,
Speaker 3: can't be can't be ignored, and it will be part
Speaker 3: of his legacy. But he's also going to uh to
Speaker 3: moon walk into the Hall of Fame as a first
Speaker 3: ballot guy.
Speaker 2: If you just watch his tape and anything else aside,
Speaker 2: it's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 3: I told you there was that video a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks ago of him, of Dion Dawkins, and of Will
Speaker 3: Campbell all working out together. Now, Will Campbell looked like
Speaker 3: an ant compared to Lane Johnson. But even Deon Dawkins,
Speaker 3: who is one of the better left tackles in the NFL,
Speaker 3: he looked like Lane Johnson looked like he played a
Speaker 3: different sport that even Dion Dawkins.
Speaker 2: Dawkins is kind of a rounder, softer bild too. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Johnson's like the big, big tight end.
Speaker 3: Looks like Harry's you know what I mean. It looks
Speaker 3: like a Greek statue chiseled out of marble. Number four
Speaker 3: is the Buffalo Bills and Dion Dawkins. Matt, You've talked
Speaker 3: about this before, not you know, the best offensive line
Speaker 3: in the league, but consistently really good and probably probably
Speaker 3: underrated by the average football And I.
Speaker 2: Don't know if everybody knows this, but Pat Meyer, who
Speaker 2: I was fond of here I thought I did a
Speaker 2: good work, is taking over for a pretty well established,
Speaker 2: yes now retired OH line coach in Buffalo.
Speaker 3: Thorn says former Steelers offensive line coach Pat Meyer, who
Speaker 3: previously worked with the Bears and the Bills, takes over.
Speaker 3: There should be more carryover than with most coaching changes,
Speaker 3: but losing Chromer, who was their last offensive line coach, right,
Speaker 3: losing Chromer's developmental track record still creates some projection uncertainty.
Speaker 3: But even with those variables, the tackle duo and tiers
Speaker 3: stability in depth keep Buffalo in the league's top tier.
Speaker 3: Number five, Matt into tier two is the Chargers, who
Speaker 3: you know, speaking of offensive line health, they had terrible
Speaker 3: look in that regard last year. Just getting Joe Walton,
Speaker 3: Rashaun Slater back and healthy alone makes them one of
Speaker 3: the better units in the life.
Speaker 2: I think they upgraded at center. I don't know if
Speaker 2: the guard position got noticeably better, but it's so so.
Speaker 2: But the tackles are the best pair in the league.
Speaker 2: I would say, maybe Philly.
Speaker 3: The Colts at six. Does that surprise you that they're
Speaker 3: that high. I think they're really good, but six maybe
Speaker 3: surprised me a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know he has great respect for Quentin Nelson
Speaker 2: fixed hear. They've had a little bit of change though,
Speaker 2: like at right tackle, and it's a it's a quality unit.
Speaker 3: Seven is the Saints.
Speaker 2: I think that's a real up and coming kind of
Speaker 2: like the Steelers. They've invested a lot of high picks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Calvin Banks junior is is I think going to
Speaker 3: be really good here heading into his second year. So
Speaker 3: that's it for Tier two. It's just the Chargers, the Colts,
Speaker 3: and the Saints. Five.
Speaker 2: The Saints Steelers are very comparable.
Speaker 3: I do too. Yeah, and again I'm I'm wasn't looking
Speaker 3: at this list expecting the Steelers to be in the
Speaker 3: top five or anything, but I would have thought they
Speaker 3: would have been closer to tennish than twenties I would do,
Speaker 3: but hey, it's one one man's opinion, and he certainly
Speaker 3: knows more than I do. Tier three. The Chiefs at
Speaker 3: number eight. That's an interesting one because it just feels
Speaker 3: like they've had so much change on that offense.
Speaker 2: I have the guy that's really intriguing that could be
Speaker 2: one of the next great tackles too, is Josh Simmons,
Speaker 2: the first round pick from a year ago. Played it
Speaker 2: only like two hundred ninety pounds, but like rare movement skills,
Speaker 2: dancing bear, dancing bear, but also was drafted late in
Speaker 2: the first round because of some concerns, and then he
Speaker 2: had some concerns last year too. So put it all together,
Speaker 2: young man.
Speaker 3: You know, Cowboys at number nine, Matt still a lot
Speaker 3: of uh, you know, interior power in that Cowboys on
Speaker 3: that Cowboys offensive line. Despite Mike McCarthy being gone for
Speaker 3: a couple of years, they still have some Mike McCarthy tendencies.
Speaker 2: With tech group they do guard pairing is very very good.
Speaker 3: And then the Bears round out the top ten. Uh
Speaker 3: checking in there. That's gonna be interesting one because I
Speaker 3: was gonna say they're another one. I mean, Joe Thuney
Speaker 3: is incredibly he won the protector this one Protector of
Speaker 3: the year. Darnell right, we both stid rightfully so rave
Speaker 3: about him. But they still have some questions there, particularly
Speaker 3: in the center of that group.
Speaker 2: Yeah again two changes. Dolmon retires on them out of nowhere.
Speaker 3: Was like, whoa you know, Yeah, that'll get you, that'll
Speaker 3: get you. Let's break here when we come back. I
Speaker 3: want to, I just want to. I want to take
Speaker 3: a look where the other teams in the division. Yeah,
Speaker 3: in particularly on this list, and maybe some of those
Speaker 3: at the bottom who are maybe a little bit stronger
Speaker 3: than you traditionally have at the bottom of these types
Speaker 3: of list. Will close out our number two with more
Speaker 3: offensive line conversation when we return West Shuler Matt Williamson
Speaker 3: live from Saint Vincent College. It's our all, part, part
Speaker 3: of me, all part of our ongoing training camp coverage
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Speaker 3: Having some offensive line conversation here in our number two,
Speaker 3: taking a look at Brandon Thorne's offensive line rankings. He
Speaker 3: has the Steelers nineteenth out of thirty two teams in
Speaker 3: the NFL in Tier three, so you can kind of, yeah,
Speaker 3: look at the numbers and think was that below average?
Speaker 3: But he's got them in tier three of five, so
Speaker 3: right about right about middle of the road.
Speaker 2: And to his credit, which I think we all agree with.
Speaker 2: I think he basically said the arrows pointing out yes, yeah, yes.
Speaker 3: So Matt, let's take a look at the some of
Speaker 3: the other three units across the AFC North and how
Speaker 3: they compare.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't trade Steelers for any of them.
Speaker 3: By the way, I wouldn't either, you know, I don't
Speaker 3: think I wouldn't right now, and I suddenly certainly wouldn't
Speaker 3: for the next five years.
Speaker 2: Agree.
Speaker 3: But I will say though, the Bengals, and it's better
Speaker 3: than you think. And what they have at their bookends
Speaker 3: in particular, is better than you think. And he actually
Speaker 3: has them a couple spots ahead of the Steelers at
Speaker 3: sixteenth overall, kind of right in the middle. Orlando Brown
Speaker 3: junior on the left side, Mims on the right side,
Speaker 3: Matt I think one of the best young tackles. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he could be special in the game. Cincinnati just a
Speaker 3: couple spots ahead of Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they finished the season very strong as a
Speaker 2: running team. They have invested in the interior a little bit.
Speaker 2: They drafted two interior guys in the mid rounds this
Speaker 2: year or too, to reinforce it. Orlando Brown's not my favorite,
Speaker 2: but I've always thought he's overpaid and overrated. But that
Speaker 2: doesn't means bad, sure, you know. And they're also a
Speaker 2: cumongous at tackle. I just think that there's a misconception
Speaker 2: that people just remember Burrow getting his head beat in
Speaker 2: time and time again and no running game. Well, those
Speaker 2: times have changed that this line's gotten better.
Speaker 3: It was very number of them. He had them sixteenth overall. Ye,
Speaker 3: kind of right in the middle, and as you mentioned,
Speaker 3: they were very good down the stretch. Yeah, last year.
Speaker 3: And Dylan Fairchild, if he can take a step.
Speaker 2: Forward, yeah, he's promising.
Speaker 3: You know, the two former Georgia Bulldogs and Mems and
Speaker 3: Fairchild on that on that offensive line, they certainly could
Speaker 3: be one with the ear pointed up as well. Rams
Speaker 3: checking at seventeen, Jets check in at eighteen, and then
Speaker 3: I mentioned the Steelers at nineteen, Matt. The Ravens are
Speaker 3: at twenty one, So not much separating Cincinnati and Pittsburgh
Speaker 3: and Baltimore. But I tell you what, there's a lot
Speaker 3: of questions there for the Ravens, particularly at center. But
Speaker 3: at the same time, man if a guy that we
Speaker 3: spent a lot of this offseason talking about, if one
Speaker 3: Venga Yowana out of Penn State can hop on the
Speaker 3: moving train as a rookie, that would go a long
Speaker 3: way for Baltimore.
Speaker 2: I expect him to quickly be their best offensive lineman.
Speaker 2: Like Rose and Garden at right tackles fine Stanley's gradually
Speaker 2: recovered from a gruesome ankle injury. I don't know if
Speaker 2: people know the story, but it's pretty rough. Like it
Speaker 2: was Steelers week, like three or four years ago, and
Speaker 2: they signed him in season to a huge contract, goes
Speaker 2: in the Steelers game and destroys his ankle like three
Speaker 2: days after signing. That's right now, and it took him.
Speaker 2: He's never quite been the same. He was like tap
Speaker 2: with the tarp of the market left tackle in that contract,
Speaker 2: and you feel bad for the team in particular, but
Speaker 2: the player too, because he's not the player he was.
Speaker 2: But he got the money at least out of it,
Speaker 2: and now he's starting to get back to being above average.
Speaker 2: But there was talk at that point like he might
Speaker 2: be one of the next great ones and never quite
Speaker 2: got to that point. So I do think Yuanna could
Speaker 2: go past him as their best guy. Center got a
Speaker 2: little better this week, or with Ethan Posk. I assume
Speaker 2: that they've had that in the works for a while.
Speaker 2: He was a brown. Recently he's okay, you know, he's okay.
Speaker 2: I mean it was better than it was. The drop
Speaker 2: off to linder Bomb from Linderbaum is still pretty massive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Brandon says, the new interior of the offensive
Speaker 3: line keeps their projection volatile. Makes sense, makes sense. And
Speaker 3: even as high as you and I both were on
Speaker 3: on Venga, still a rookie guard, Still a rookie guard.
Speaker 3: Who's got to prove it. So they the Ravens checking
Speaker 3: at twenty one. That's the end of his Tier three.
Speaker 2: And this is Simpson's second stint with them as well. Okay,
Speaker 2: Simpson was quite good with the Ravens, and as the
Speaker 2: Ravens often do, they let him walk, got a camp
Speaker 2: pick in return. He went to the Jets, was decent.
Speaker 2: He's a big and heavy footed mauler type, and then
Speaker 2: they brought him back. They were familiar with him, you know,
Speaker 2: but I don't think he's great.
Speaker 3: Some stability there, but still some volatility, definitely, definitely with
Speaker 3: some young guys and some that I.
Speaker 2: Don't love their depth either.
Speaker 3: Yeah, big big change at center there in Baltimore, certainly
Speaker 3: with Tyler Linderbaulm heading out to Las Vegas into Tier four,
Speaker 3: which is below average. Profiles. Man, the Patriots are down
Speaker 3: here at twenty four, which I continue to think you
Speaker 3: talk about kind of that glass ceiling for teams. Yeah,
Speaker 3: or the Patriots might be the commanders from a year ago.
Speaker 3: To make it to not go and pick in the
Speaker 3: in the top five or anything like that, but to
Speaker 3: take a noticeable step back.
Speaker 2: They could the lines better than it was a year ago.
Speaker 2: They did use a first round pick on a tackle,
Speaker 2: and they brought they need Vera Tucker to stay healthy
Speaker 2: because then Wilson, who was a rookie center at Georgia
Speaker 2: played guard last year, now goes to center. So conceivably
Speaker 2: they're better in several locations and you can bring along
Speaker 2: the rookie of the Utah kid.
Speaker 3: Slowly, they got Isanu that they drafted, then they got
Speaker 3: Lomu sorry, the other Utah tackle. Ye uh, and then
Speaker 3: Matt We're still waiting for the Browns. They are in
Speaker 3: Tier five, bottom tier profile thirty first overall.
Speaker 2: Well, he hates change, and they're all new and the
Speaker 2: starters and a new O line coach good, so there's
Speaker 2: some talent there. And again I was blown away that
Speaker 2: they were able to put the good old line on paper,
Speaker 2: considering where they were this offseason. They had like five
Speaker 2: of their top six guys were all hating free agency,
Speaker 2: and one of which retired in Potonio and the other
Speaker 2: guys were older Posik and you know, some of these
Speaker 2: other guys. But at least on paper, it looks okay.
Speaker 2: But the chances of continuity early on is real slim.
Speaker 2: And some of the guys they invested into they overpaid on,
Speaker 2: you know. And you're hoping for Jenkins to get back
Speaker 2: to where he was like two years ago. But it
Speaker 2: could be not a disaster. And I thought it was
Speaker 2: gould be a disaster.
Speaker 3: If they're thirty first in the league, it might be
Speaker 3: a disaster. But yeah, there's I think there's some some
Speaker 3: vertical mobility there.
Speaker 2: That's kind of why I said the bottom the very
Speaker 2: top teams aren't quite as good as usual. The very
Speaker 2: bottom teams aren't as disastrous as usual. He is Tennessee at.
Speaker 3: Thirty two though, right he has Tennessee at thirty two.
Speaker 2: Yep, you kind of feel for them because he used
Speaker 2: a first round pick on Scronsky, who's one of the
Speaker 2: best guards in the league for nobody would ever know about,
Speaker 2: and then Latham and he's been and then he paid
Speaker 2: Dan more big money to kind of firm that up.
Speaker 2: He has not lived up to it. I mean that
Speaker 2: has not been a good deal. And then the other
Speaker 2: two spots are huge holes too, so they at least
Speaker 2: I feel bad for teams when they invest and they
Speaker 2: don't get anything out of there.
Speaker 3: Invest right, you know what I mean? Yeah, No, it
Speaker 3: might be another long year for camp Ward there certainly,
Speaker 3: but yeah, maybe some the addition to Brian Dable and
Speaker 3: some other things that they can do to ease that
Speaker 3: that struggle. Does look like the Browns are going to
Speaker 3: start Spencer Fanu on the left side left tackle. I
Speaker 3: think I gots the right decision to start him there
Speaker 3: and then if it's if he's not the guy, you
Speaker 3: could still move him around.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he was one of those many dudes in
Speaker 2: this draft, like Procter from Alabama and different styles that
Speaker 2: they're on the tackle ranks. You know, Dan's you know,
Speaker 2: beast or whatever, but might be better at guard. We'll see.
Speaker 2: He's not the prototypical left tackle, but he moves really
Speaker 2: really well. And I think they're they're O line h
Speaker 2: scheme is going to be based more on movement than power.
Speaker 2: But they have a couple of pieces. Their puzzle is
Speaker 2: a weird build because they drafted three linemen and two
Speaker 2: others in addition to Faunu the Brewer kid out of Florida.
Speaker 2: He's okay and he's a tackle, only I don't love him.
Speaker 2: And then an interior dude's the center. So they have
Speaker 2: a lot of pieces. And Howard, who they got from Texans.
Speaker 2: He could be a guard, he could be a tackle.
Speaker 2: So I'm not sure how their jigsaw puzzle ultimately goes together.
Speaker 2: They might not have a left tackle, but Fawn, who's
Speaker 2: gonna sinker swim there?
Speaker 3: Sinker swim there. If he sinks, there's still a lot
Speaker 3: of other ways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he could still be very successful. Yeah, we liked
Speaker 2: him a lot coming out.
Speaker 3: Oh, I was a big fan of his since I
Speaker 3: unfortunately watched him and his Utah utes run for about
Speaker 3: seven thousand yards against the Mountaineers back in September. Matt
Speaker 3: the Jags at number thirty on this list. Sean Surrett
Speaker 3: their offensive line coach because another former name I forgot
Speaker 3: that he was that he was down there.
Speaker 2: Now, there's a lot of optimism around Jacksonville, and I
Speaker 2: totally get that, and they played really strong down the
Speaker 2: stretch and the offense is quite good. But this group
Speaker 2: should be at the bottom. And I rarely see them
Speaker 2: at the bottom of these type of ranks. I very
Speaker 2: much agree with with Thorn on this one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're gonna need a lot from the rookie Emmanuel
Speaker 3: Pregnant if they want to be Yeah, they want to
Speaker 3: be very viable. That'll be interesting because I think you
Speaker 3: and I have we spent some time this offseason talking
Speaker 3: about as Trevor Lawrence turned a corner to this point,
Speaker 3: I think there's a good chance he has, but you
Speaker 3: better be able to protect him and get him upright
Speaker 3: and keep him healthy.
Speaker 2: They haven't put a lot of investment in the line
Speaker 2: in the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: Same church, different pew here, Matt another one that I
Speaker 3: wanted to run by you. He's got the Houston Texans
Speaker 3: at twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Another one that are almost like wholesale changes every year.
Speaker 3: And it almost seems like it's every year that they've
Speaker 3: been trying for so long, even before CJ. Stroud was there,
Speaker 3: to find the right group on the offensive line. Twenty seventh.
Speaker 3: The Texans check in here. They did add Braden Smith
Speaker 3: at right tackle.
Speaker 2: They have a lot of names like they're a lot
Speaker 2: of teller ye guard. They remind me a little bit
Speaker 2: of the Browns, Like, I'm not exactly sure how the
Speaker 2: puzzle will go together, and they're teaching the first round
Speaker 2: guard to be a center who has got a little
Speaker 2: bit of a background from Georgia Tech.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Rutledge, Rutledge.
Speaker 2: They also don't have a lot of star power either.
Speaker 2: You know, Tunsil's gone, but again he's always gonna penalized
Speaker 2: teams that have a lot of new.
Speaker 3: Stars, which makes sense. Yeah, it's such a It's probably
Speaker 3: the most continuity position group in the NFL. It's just
Speaker 3: wild though. Like again it's you know, c J. Stroud.
Speaker 3: If you want some stability there, if you want him
Speaker 3: to really feel like he's turned the corner and established
Speaker 3: that's that cand be a technically, that could be. That
Speaker 3: could be a tough ask at times, Matt with uh.
Speaker 2: With But maybe they find the answer to I mean,
Speaker 2: they they have not been patient with their alignment at all,
Speaker 2: but maybe they just realize the error in their ways
Speaker 2: and they're quick to move on from them, and maybe
Speaker 2: they figured it out. But I don't see any pro
Speaker 2: bowlers in that group either.
Speaker 3: I certainly certainly do not. So that's uh, that's Brandon
Speaker 3: Thorne's twenty twenty six offensive line rankings Steelers checking in
Speaker 3: at nineteen number two uh in the in the in
Speaker 3: the AFC North. However, though, so that'll be the.
Speaker 2: Three were all pretty clustered together.
Speaker 3: Though they they were, they were very very very close
Speaker 3: to one another. I was also looking, you know, on
Speaker 3: his UH, on his sub stack. He has his UH,
Speaker 3: he has his posit individual top tens for every position. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he has Zach Fraser listed as the third best center
Speaker 3: in the NFL, ahead of created one. He has Eric
Speaker 3: McCoy of the Saints at two.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: I thought Zach Fraser at three, Cam Jurgens four, Linderbaumb five,
Speaker 3: Graham Barton six, Brewer seven, which is a little bit
Speaker 3: lower than I. Yeah, I mean, just off the year
Speaker 3: that he had last year, he was unbelievable. He's got
Speaker 3: Creed Humphreys tier one, and then he has uh McCoy, Fraser, Jurgons, Linderbaumb,
Speaker 3: Barton as tier two. Okay, here's what he said that
Speaker 3: you know, I got to read this before. Yeah, here's
Speaker 3: what he says about Zach Fraser. Fraser put on a
Speaker 3: show as a rookie last season, with elite level play
Speaker 3: and a feel for angles and leverage. Far Bond his years,
Speaker 3: although it was his second.
Speaker 2: Year, not his These might be a look through the date.
Speaker 2: These might be a year old, because that's probably why
Speaker 2: Brewer is so low, because I have not seen anything recent.
Speaker 3: You're I clicked, I clicked on the wrong year. That's
Speaker 3: on me. So wow. So he had Zach at number
Speaker 3: three after his rookie season. Yeah, baby, we'll find uh,
Speaker 3: we'll find the updated ones there and see what we got.
Speaker 3: But it's I'm telling you, Matt, it's it's we know
Speaker 3: in Pittsburgh, like we love the offensive line play, I
Speaker 3: think more than most places. We love we love centers,
Speaker 3: certainly more than than most places. You and I had
Speaker 3: some fun conversation with Jerry Doulac last night actually about
Speaker 3: Steelers that aren't in the Hall of Fame that he
Speaker 3: thinks has the best chance to get in the Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame a little bit. Obviously not including Ben Roethlisberger
Speaker 3: because we all know he's going, But Pouncey was the one.
Speaker 3: He said, you know, more than Hines or Hampton or
Speaker 3: James Harrison. He really thinks Pouncey is the other one
Speaker 3: that has that has a chance.
Speaker 2: And congrats to Jerry. He's now in charge of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we said to him, will you.
Speaker 2: Better get did it for years? Dale did it for
Speaker 2: a year?
Speaker 3: Dale did it for for Paul Mollow.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think that probably that one probably wasn't too difficult.
Speaker 2: I don't think I should bust out a little bit.
Speaker 2: I'm like, you can get Fan in in the first drive.
Speaker 2: Yeah it took him two years.
Speaker 3: Oh well, it's him for two years. Yeah, but it
Speaker 3: took Fan like six years to get into the Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame, which was just ridiculous. But I also get
Speaker 3: it the offensive lineman orangs, sexy names that they want
Speaker 3: headlining classes. And I also like a tounch of Wolf
Speaker 3: used to talk about this. They're like, there's Steeler fatigue
Speaker 3: and Canton like they're tired of inducting these which I
Speaker 3: think some of it might be a little homerism from
Speaker 3: our guys, but I do think there's a lot of
Speaker 3: there's probably some truth to it too. It's probably I.
Speaker 2: Think that happened more like when the seventies Steelers were
Speaker 2: coming up. Yes, I mean it's not like they were
Speaker 2: putting putting out three names a year, you know. I
Speaker 2: mean for that stretch, it got a little old. That
Speaker 2: might hurt like Elsie and teams. You know, Donny Schell.
Speaker 3: I think Donny Sell had to wait a long time.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: We were hoping Elsie was going to get in last year,
Speaker 3: but that ended up not being the case. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it won't be too long till till one. Benjamin Todd
Speaker 3: roethlisbergers I think so.
Speaker 2: And uh, and then the Hall of Fame game is
Speaker 2: in our future, which is the extra week of camp and.
Speaker 3: Go into an extra preseason game.
Speaker 2: I went through that a couple of years ago. It
Speaker 2: was not wonderful. Now it was a bit much.
Speaker 3: It was a little bit much. Who knows, though, Maybe
Speaker 3: we'll be down to two preseason games by then and
Speaker 3: then it'll just be a third like we're used to now.
Speaker 2: Some radio shows from this like Outsided Gym and there
Speaker 2: was like three tables there. I'm like, I'm not sure
Speaker 2: we're doing here. It wasn't like we're sitting there with
Speaker 2: Hall of Famers or Troy or anybody.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly right. Well, we'll see how we'll see how
Speaker 3: that all plays out. But yes, there will be a massive,
Speaker 3: massive black and gold contingent out in Canton before too
Speaker 3: much longer. Whenever Ben Roethlisberger inevitably gets his gold jacket.
Speaker 3: That is two hours in the books, bonus hour when
Speaker 3: we return will kick it off.
Speaker 2: As Aslave just signed a four year extension a couple
Speaker 2: of minutes ago. Yeah, there's so many extensions.
Speaker 3: Lately, it really is there. Yeah, four year extension worth
Speaker 3: up to one hundred and thirty two million dollars with
Speaker 3: ninety million guarantees.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: I would like to see the collective contracts right now
Speaker 3: for former Ohio State wide receivers. Yeah, it has to be.
Speaker 3: It has to be just insane, especially with what JSN
Speaker 3: just signed this offseason.
Speaker 2: Garrett Wilson must be next because him and the Lobby
Speaker 2: were drafted first round the same year.
Speaker 3: Yep, as I tell you what it's like. You used
Speaker 3: to always talk about with running backs at the you
Speaker 3: back in the day, like you go to Ohio State
Speaker 3: is a wide receiver and you end up just starting
Speaker 3: at some point in your career.
Speaker 2: You'll be fine.
Speaker 3: You will be just fine.
Speaker 2: I mean, no one knew Tate was barely a year ago,
Speaker 2: let alone two years ago, and he was a six
Speaker 2: pick in the draft.
Speaker 3: Mecha Buca was almost an afterthought on some of those
Speaker 3: Ohio state teams and yeah, you're right, Tate, same way,
Speaker 3: and it was he was a top ten pick.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: And they've got some more guys, certainly Jeremiah Smith and
Speaker 3: Chris Henry Junior coming down the pipeline here before too
Speaker 3: much longer. That'll do it for our normal two hours,
Speaker 3: but the bonus hour kicks off when we come back.
Speaker 3: We will get to the tweets to start the five
Speaker 3: o'clock hour, like we like to do out here at camp.
Speaker 3: I think we'll also have some Steelers head and down
Speaker 3: for some walkthroughs as the fields are picking up a
Speaker 3: little bit in front of us, and some of the
Speaker 3: equipment guys and the coaching staff heading down here. So
Speaker 3: plenty more to get to on our final hour of
Speaker 3: the show. Get those tweets in if you want to
Speaker 3: get involved. Was Shouler Matt Williams, and it's the Drive
Speaker 3: Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network