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Speaker 1: Life and adventure and it's waiting. Hi. This is Merril

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Speaker 1: Hodge at S ANDT Bank. They know life's for the living.

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Speaker 1: That's why S and T Bank offers solutions to help

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Speaker 1: you get the most out of it, whether you're investing

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Speaker 1: in your home, planning for the future, are just making

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Speaker 1: the most of every day. St D Bank is here

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Speaker 1: to help learn how sand bank can help you live

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Speaker 1: the life you want at st bank dot com. Member

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Speaker 1: f D I C. S and D Bank was ranked

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Speaker 1: number one in customer satisfaction with retail banking and Pennsylvania

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Speaker 1: by j D Power for JD Power two Award Information

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Speaker 1: visit JD power dot com. Slash Awards is The Drive

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Speaker 1: with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your Home of

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Speaker 1: the Black and Gold SNR Steelers Nation Radio. Right. Welcome

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Speaker 1: back to the Drive. I'm Dale Ally here with Matt

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Speaker 1: Williamson and we're pleased to be joined now with by

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Speaker 1: Bob Labriola, the esteemed editor of Steelers Digestive Steelers dot Com.

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Speaker 1: And Bob, I'm sure, as we are, are you were

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Speaker 1: quite ready for this draft process to be completed. I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm well, let me say this, I am anxious for

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Speaker 1: it to get started. There we go. You know, I

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Speaker 1: don't I'm not a big uh one who pays attention

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Speaker 1: to mock drafts. Um, you know it's guessing. It's uh,

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Speaker 1: you know really and and I've had enough of all

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Speaker 1: the speculation and um Mike Thomas dinner habits being made news. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know those kinds of things. Um, I will say this,

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Speaker 1: though it's never gonna happen, but I wouldn't mind uh

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Speaker 1: going out to dinner with Kevin and Mike Kevin Colvin

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Speaker 1: and Mike Tomlin on the one of those pro day

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Speaker 1: circuits one time. Just um, yeah, well and enjoy the

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Speaker 1: social interactions. You know, Um, they're fine. Oh I I

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Speaker 1: have no doubt. Yeah. You know Tomlin at the owners

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Speaker 1: meetings we're talking, and he said he he oftentimes in

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Speaker 1: those kind of situations just kind of sits back and

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Speaker 1: let's Kevin lead the way, whether it be you know,

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Speaker 1: when they're sitting down with the guy, uh in a

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Speaker 1: in an informal setting, or even in the informal settings

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Speaker 1: like that, and he'll let Kevin take the lead and

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Speaker 1: ask questions. He said he's more of a people watcher.

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Speaker 1: He wants to get a read on the person, um,

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Speaker 1: and just kind of get a feel for that feel

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Speaker 1: for that person, how he interacts with people. Is he

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Speaker 1: being honest, is he not being honest? It's he kind

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Speaker 1: of figures up. Yeah, he feels like he's an amateur

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Speaker 1: psychologist to a certain degree. Yeah. And I'm sure that

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Speaker 1: on the on those occasions when maybe the player's family

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Speaker 1: is there, his parents, or how does he train his mother?

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Speaker 1: You know that that kind of stuff. Yeah, and one

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Speaker 1: seeing how that interaction goes, whether the level of respect

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Speaker 1: that the and has for his mom, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: those kind of things I think could be very revealing

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Speaker 1: in terms of, you know, the kind of individual, uh,

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Speaker 1: that player might be. And yeah, I'm sure you know,

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Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin is really good at that. And you know,

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Speaker 1: but he's also you know, he's he would impress me

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Speaker 1: as someone. Um, he could play head games a little

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Speaker 1: bit on purpose for his purpose, you know, drop a

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Speaker 1: needle in maybe, um or you know, just those kinds

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Speaker 1: of things too that um, you know, I'm sure that

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Speaker 1: I would find him using and interesting. I mean, obviously

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Speaker 1: the levels different. But when I was in recruiting it

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Speaker 1: pitch those official visit weekends, it went a long way

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Speaker 1: if the kid was too cool for school and wouldn't

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Speaker 1: give his mom a hug before he goes out for

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Speaker 1: the night. You know, I mean that kind of stuff matters.

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Speaker 1: And I know these guys are older and we're talking professional,

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Speaker 1: but as much time as you can spend with them,

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Speaker 1: breaking brand or whatever, it goes a real long way. Yeah, Bob,

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Speaker 1: I know why one thing that the Steelers have done

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Speaker 1: over the years in this this maybe even predates the

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Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert, Eric going back to to to

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Speaker 1: the Bill Cowar era. They like the draft guys, or

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Speaker 1: at least have over the years, who are underclasping younger prospects.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that still matters? Now there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of old guys in this draft. There's a lot of

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Speaker 1: older players in this draft. Well, you know, I think

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Speaker 1: that um drafting. Let let me approach this from the

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Speaker 1: other side and go with what Matt interjected. There was

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Speaker 1: a lot of older guys in this draft, and I

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Speaker 1: think that what you have to be careful of when

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Speaker 1: evaluating the older players is, UM, you have to take

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Speaker 1: that into consider h because I really believe in college,

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Speaker 1: for example, the difference between a twenty four year old

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Speaker 1: and a twenty year old is huge, um, physically, in

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Speaker 1: terms of development, mentally and emotionally, you know, life experience,

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Speaker 1: all those different kinds of things and so um. You know,

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Speaker 1: if someone you know, and especially in these COVID times,

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Speaker 1: the guys have played or been in college. Maybe they've

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Speaker 1: not played, but they've been with their college program for

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Speaker 1: maybe six years and so um, that's a long time.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's there's a lot of NFL careers that

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Speaker 1: aren't that long. So uh. You know again, I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: necessarily say that you don't want to draft a player

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Speaker 1: in that situation. I just think that in the evaluation

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Speaker 1: of that individual, you have to take that into consideration

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Speaker 1: that this is a guy and if it's a stable

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Speaker 1: college program, you know, you can look at it as

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Speaker 1: this is a guy who's been in the same system

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Speaker 1: for six years. Um. And again in the NFL. Uh,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of pros who, um, maybe complete their

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Speaker 1: entire career not being in the same offensive or deep

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Speaker 1: sense of system for six of the years of their careers.

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Speaker 1: So you know, again I'm repeating myself here, but I

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Speaker 1: just think it's something that should be considered, needs to

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Speaker 1: be considered agree. And I mean to me, like when

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Speaker 1: Jamaar Chase and Penny Soul or dominant as nineteen year

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Speaker 1: olds in the SEC or whatever it's, it really is

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Speaker 1: stunning to me. I mean, if it takes you six

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Speaker 1: years and you've only gotten the point where you're a

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Speaker 1: decent starter, well the ceiling probably isn't super high. You know,

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Speaker 1: you probably have already gotten close to maxing out. Um labs.

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Speaker 1: I woulda switch gears a little bit. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: think everyone looks at these teams and they go, these

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Speaker 1: are their draft needs. Well, I kind of look at

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Speaker 1: it like needs versus once. I mean, everybody has once.

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Speaker 1: There's things that they could use. The only need for

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Speaker 1: me is a receiver. Do you agree with that or

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Speaker 1: do you think there's more needs? Um, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I would say, especially in in the wake of last

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Speaker 1: season defensive line, is they need okay? Um and uh,

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Speaker 1: because you cannot, I don't believe continue to try and

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Speaker 1: dance through the rain drops without getting wet at a

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Speaker 1: at a position like that where you have a situation

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Speaker 1: where um, your guys are either um, you know, in

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Speaker 1: their thirties and I'm not saying they can't play anymore

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Speaker 1: but in their thirties, which means you know, definitely in

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Speaker 1: the second half, maybe the even the fourth quarter of

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Speaker 1: their NFL careers. UM. And the fact that the physical

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Speaker 1: toll on the defensive lineman over the course of a

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Speaker 1: seventeen game, eighteen week NFL season is significant, and you know,

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Speaker 1: you've gotta have enough good ones. Um or I just

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Speaker 1: think your entire defense can be exploited. UM. You know,

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Speaker 1: I know I've talked with you guys about this, but

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Speaker 1: you know, the Steelers finished last of the NFL and

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Speaker 1: run defense last year. That is that is a you know,

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Speaker 1: numerical fact. Uh. Now, trying to assign a reason slash

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Speaker 1: blame for that, I don't think it's as easy as

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Speaker 1: looking at, you know, the numbers and determining that they

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Speaker 1: were the worst run defense in the league. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: so much of it is interconnected, and you know, dealing

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Speaker 1: with either young and or experienced defensive lineman or guys

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Speaker 1: who um were thought to be we're penciled in to

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Speaker 1: be you know, backups, developmental guys, and those guys over

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Speaker 1: the course of the season, because of injuries and absences

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Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff, were left playing significant numbers

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Speaker 1: of snaps. I think that that impacts other areas of

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Speaker 1: your defense, and you know, in in some instances, maybe

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Speaker 1: impacting your ability to know what you have you know

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Speaker 1: at some of those interrelated positions, you know, um, linebacker,

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Speaker 1: right inside linebacker, specifically about run defense. So, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think that the defensive line, for me, and especially

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Speaker 1: top of the depth chart, capable defensive lineman not a

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Speaker 1: fifth round pick, right, No, yeah, yeah yeah, not a

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Speaker 1: fifth rount pick. Um, And I think you've got to

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Speaker 1: look at that. I look at that me personally as

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Speaker 1: I need. Yeah, I can't disagree with that. I just

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Speaker 1: don't know that it's something that they're gonna necessarily be

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Speaker 1: able to fill in this right, Matt and I talked

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Speaker 1: about this yesterday. Um, I think if you look at

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Speaker 1: if there's a week, if there's a weak area in

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Speaker 1: this draft, it might be on the defensive line, like

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Speaker 1: true defensive Steelers three four type defensive lineman. Yeah, you

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Speaker 1: guys would know that better than me. Um, But again,

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Speaker 1: I don't know how much true three four uh this

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Speaker 1: team plays anymore. And so UM you know I do

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Speaker 1: believe that, well, to me, it's it's very possible, UM,

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Speaker 1: to address that position in the first round. If you

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Speaker 1: just put out of your mind, I'm not picking a quarterback,

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Speaker 1: you know. To me, that's that's that's what I do.

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Speaker 1: That's what I do, and life and adventure and it's waiting. Hi.

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Speaker 1: This is Merril Hodge at SMT Bank. They know life's

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Speaker 1: for the living. That's why S and T Bank offers

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Speaker 1: solutions to help you get the most out of it,

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Speaker 1: whether you're investing in your home, planning for the future,

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Speaker 1: are just making the most of every day. STD bank

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Speaker 1: is here to help learn how SMT Bank can help

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Speaker 1: you live the life you want at st bank dot com.

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Speaker 1: Member f D I C S and D Bank was

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Speaker 1: ranked number one in customer satisfaction with retail banking and

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Speaker 1: Pennsylvania by j D Power. For JD Power Information, visit

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Speaker 1: JD power dot com Slash Awards. I think Bob frowze

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Speaker 1: up on us here a little bit, but now I

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Speaker 1: understand what he's saying there. Yeah, I think that that

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Speaker 1: um you know makes that possible. And as I said,

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Speaker 1: I've said on different mediums that you know, signing Mitch

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Speaker 1: Trabinski to me really takes the um sting out of

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Speaker 1: you know, wanting to use that first pick on a quarterback,

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Speaker 1: and so if it's my choice, which it is not, um,

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Speaker 1: that's the way I would approach it. And because um

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Speaker 1: there's no one you can no quarterbacks you could draft

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Speaker 1: who are gonna do anything to help that thirty second

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Speaker 1: ranked run defense. No, that's true unless they're gonna put

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Speaker 1: thirty five points on the board every game, and that

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Speaker 1: that kind of take teams out of their running game.

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Speaker 1: I think they're doing that with a rookie quarterback, and

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Speaker 1: probably not, probably not, but yeah, I get it, And

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm I see both sides of this thing,

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Speaker 1: because you know, if you draft a quarterback in the

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Speaker 1: first round. Matt and I've done dozens of mock drafts now,

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Speaker 1: and when we've taken a quarterback in the first round,

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Speaker 1: we usually come up short somewhere, and something we would

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Speaker 1: have wanted our final draft we don't like as much.

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Speaker 1: We don't like it as nearly as much as we

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Speaker 1: do if we don't take a quarterback and we get

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Speaker 1: to fill you know, we just get to take guys. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, here's the thing with the quarterbacks. And I

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Speaker 1: don't know, I'm not I don't spend near the amount

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Speaker 1: of time that you guys do on um, you know,

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Speaker 1: trying to break down these college players and certainly nowhere

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Speaker 1: near the amount of time but the Steelers have done.

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Speaker 1: But my question is, is, you know, the utilization of

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Speaker 1: a first ROUNP is that because there's a real, real,

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Speaker 1: genuine feeling slash opinion that this player is gonna be

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Speaker 1: or has the potential to be a real franchise quarterback

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. Or is this player just the best

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Speaker 1: of that are available in this particular class that that's

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Speaker 1: to me can be too totally different. There's no doubt

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Speaker 1: they are. Yeah, I see. I think I think there's

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Speaker 1: one guy who fits that second criteria, that the first

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Speaker 1: criteria you've mentioned who could be a true star in

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Speaker 1: the league, and I think it's Malik Willis. The rest

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Speaker 1: of them, they they've all got words that that I

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Speaker 1: don't know that are going to help them. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if they can overcome them to become a star

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. Okay, I mean, um, so again, um

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Speaker 1: you know, I I'm I'm living in my fears round quarterback.

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Speaker 1: I am. I just you know, because you look at

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Speaker 1: at least such a Bobby's breaking up on us here again, yeah,

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Speaker 1: the Banker Mayfield Group. Yeah. How many of those guys

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Speaker 1: are turned out to be legitimate franchise quarterbacks? Well two

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Speaker 1: of them. Two of them were franchise quarterbacks and three

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Speaker 1: of them were not, And there were five taken in

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Speaker 1: the first round. Um, but that's the that's the risk

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Speaker 1: you play, you take at that position. And as great

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Speaker 1: as Willis could be, can he be Lamar or Josh Allen? Great?

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's pretty elite company. It's a long way

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Speaker 1: away from that. I'll tell you what. Just I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: just throw this in. This is another personal opinion. Mom, Lamar,

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Speaker 1: you can have him. I see what you're saying. But

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Speaker 1: he won the MVP two year weeks ago or two

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Speaker 1: years ago. I mean, if the Steelers draft a quarterback

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Speaker 1: at twenty and he's an m v P in the

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Speaker 1: next five years, that's a win. Or did he you know? Uh?

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Speaker 1: How many how many of those voters really know? Um,

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Speaker 1: what it takes for a quarterback to be a championship

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Speaker 1: caliber player in the league versus while he's entertaining the

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Speaker 1: heck out of me. I mean, I've been reading, you know,

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Speaker 1: people writing about who the Steelers should pick, uh pick

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Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett. What a great story. That would be a

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Speaker 1: great story. It would be. I mean, they didn't draft

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Speaker 1: James Conner for his story and they went draft him

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Speaker 1: to handle to him the football. Yeah, so that's what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying about. UM. You know, Lamar Jackson, he had

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Speaker 1: a great year, a great year, but you know how

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Speaker 1: much of it was, Um, the league just had not

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Speaker 1: seen anything like him before. It was totally incapable, um

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Speaker 1: or slow to adjust to him. And what has he

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Speaker 1: been since then? Yeah, I think we're kind of Uh,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to I don't have bias is the

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Speaker 1: right word for that. But but we've certainly seen the

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Speaker 1: Steelers defend Lamar Jackson better than anybody else. So we've

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Speaker 1: we've not seen the best of Lamar Jackson in person

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Speaker 1: because when he plays the Steelers, they seem to handle

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Speaker 1: him pretty well. Uh, Bob changing gears a little bit here. Uh.

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Speaker 1: I started the questions on on Monday with Mike tompin

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Speaker 1: In and Kevin Colbert regarding Kevin's last draft. Here we're

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Speaker 1: going into the final days of the Kevin Colbert tenure. Um,

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Speaker 1: how would you sum up what he's done in his

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Speaker 1: twenty two years Uh, you know, I think Kevin Colbert

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Speaker 1: has done a really really good job. UM And I

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Speaker 1: think that UM one. And one of the ways that

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Speaker 1: I view the job that he has done is that,

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Speaker 1: you know, working for the Steelers is different. It is um.

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Speaker 1: The Pittsburgh Steelers are not an organization where the GM

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Speaker 1: walks in and strolls down to the owner's office and says,

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Speaker 1: I just fired the coach. I was fired a new coach.

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Speaker 1: I just spent you know, a half a billion dollars

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Speaker 1: on an extension for a quarterback or you know, whatever

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Speaker 1: it might be. That kind of autonomous authority does not

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Speaker 1: exist in that job description with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And so,

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Speaker 1: you know, Kevin has shown from the very beginning an

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Speaker 1: ability to work with work well with others, you know,

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Speaker 1: as they say about kids, works in plays well with others.

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Speaker 1: Um and and Kevin does that very well. And that's

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Speaker 1: a up and I think he has shown that he

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Speaker 1: has done it very well with two very different personalities

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Speaker 1: as the head coaches as well. Bill Coward all fan coach,

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Speaker 1: won a Super Bowl. Mike Tomlin won a Super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: But their their personalities are different, you know, and being

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Speaker 1: able to adjust himself to them, uh and and continue

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Speaker 1: to be productive in his job. I don't think that

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Speaker 1: that should be overlooked. And I know fans are not

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Speaker 1: really necessarily enamored with this whole haven't had a losing

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Speaker 1: season since two thousand and three. Um, you know uh

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Speaker 1: that I remember Dan Rooney once saying in the meeting,

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Speaker 1: we're in the football build, We're in the football business,

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Speaker 1: and the business of football is winning games. And so

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Speaker 1: I also don't think that I should be um given

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Speaker 1: short shrift. You know, we're discounted. So I will I

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Speaker 1: will remember Kevin Colbert professionally, very fondly. Um. He's an

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Speaker 1: inclusive guy. Uh. He was professional always uh never big

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Speaker 1: time people. Uh. He never walked around in a kind word,

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Speaker 1: just in as I said, work again playing with others.

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Speaker 1: He made everyone feel like part of the team. And

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Speaker 1: I think that when you were in a position of

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Speaker 1: power and you were able to do that, you're the

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Speaker 1: people who work with you slash under You are much

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Speaker 1: more willing to come to you with an idea or

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Speaker 1: a suggestion. And maybe you don't like them all maybe

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Speaker 1: uh the ideas aren't all good, but that's the way

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Speaker 1: I think that you know, success is generated you hire

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Speaker 1: good people under you, and then you create an atmosphere

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Speaker 1: where they feel comfortable trying to contribute. And you know, um,

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Speaker 1: I just consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able

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Speaker 1: to work with Kevin Colbert since two thousand in the

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Speaker 1: capacity with which you know, I've worked with someone in

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Speaker 1: his position. Yeah, that's well stated, Bob. I. I I really

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Speaker 1: think the people who talk about well, the you know,

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Speaker 1: the non losing seasons and all that stuff probably aren't

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Speaker 1: old enough to remember the seasons or the eighties because

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Speaker 1: there was a lot of losing that went on. You

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Speaker 1: know that those were those were you know that that

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Speaker 1: that decade of the eighties was not a great time

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Speaker 1: to be a Steelers fan. And I understand that he

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Speaker 1: had Roethlisberger for a lot of that strategy as a

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Speaker 1: tremendous Hall of Fame player, but compared with thirty one

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Speaker 1: other teams, the Steelers were playing with fewer cards in

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Speaker 1: their deck to sustain excellence in terms of draft pick

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Speaker 1: and free agency money. I mean, he did more less

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Speaker 1: than anyone I can imagine. Yeah, and and uh, you

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Speaker 1: know again that whole you know, having a you know,

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Speaker 1: Hall of Fame quarterback and how many championships did you win?

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Speaker 1: My favorite example or counter to that argument is how

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Speaker 1: many Don Shula is the winning is coach in NFL history.

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Speaker 1: How many championships did he win with Johnny and Nitas

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Speaker 1: and Dan Marino combined? Yeah? Yeah, zero, right, right, It's

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Speaker 1: not easy. Aaron Rodgers has one ring, Drew Brees has

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Speaker 1: one ring, right, Sean Wayton and and Mike Holmgren and

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Speaker 1: you know all those other you know so bread um

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Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean it's it's it's not it's it's

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Speaker 1: not fantasy football. It's it's just not and um so,

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Speaker 1: uh yeah, I I have the world I can put

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Speaker 1: into words the amount of respect for Kevin Colbert and

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Speaker 1: the job he has done with the Steelers. Yeah, to

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Speaker 1: your your point about you know, working with Bill Kauer

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Speaker 1: and working with Mike Tomlin, Uh, they are, while both

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Speaker 1: being highly successful coaches, two completely different personalities and and

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Speaker 1: and I thought that that was you know, I talked

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Speaker 1: to Bill Kauer about it last week. I wrote about

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Speaker 1: it today on d K Pittsburgh sports dot Com. The

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Speaker 1: you know, the the lack of ego and Kevin Colbert

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Speaker 1: to be able to do that job and take a

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Speaker 1: take a back seat to those guys, even though you

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Speaker 1: you know it's not easy. Not everybody can do that.

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Speaker 1: We've seen some other general managers out there who are

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Speaker 1: more than happy to beat the drama about what they've done.

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Speaker 1: And he just doesn't do that. You know, you see

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Speaker 1: other guys around it, like they get their own radio shows.

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Speaker 1: You hear from him after every game. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: that's just not who he is and still remains sorry,

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Speaker 1: and he's still demand's respect and authority, and it's not

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Speaker 1: like he's laying down to people either. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: a set yeah. And you know and again first with

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Speaker 1: Dan Rooney and now with r Rooney the second. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, you go into that office, which whichever man

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Speaker 1: was in it, um, you walk out of there with

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Speaker 1: a no yeah, and deal with it. Uh you know what,

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Speaker 1: come up with either an alternative plan or you know,

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Speaker 1: whatever it is, because you know that's that's the thing

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Speaker 1: to uh, some ownership in the NFL. As I mentioned,

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Speaker 1: Mike give Cart blaunched to the general manager in terms

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Speaker 1: of a lot of theball decisions. But you know that's

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Speaker 1: not the way it works in Pittsburgh, and it's not

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Speaker 1: the way it's gonna work in Pittsburgh, and whoever succeeds

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Speaker 1: Kevin Colberg has to be someone I understand that it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be. It's gonna be a brutal lesson. Yeah, because

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Speaker 1: us um as I said, that's the way, that's the

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Speaker 1: way it is here and working for the Steelers is different. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: no doubt about that, Bob. I know we we gotta

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Speaker 1: let you run here, but we appreciate you stopping by.

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Speaker 1: Be happy to see you all this weekend hanging out

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Speaker 1: down at the South Side. I'm sure you're very excited

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Speaker 1: about that as well, but I know we're excited to

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Speaker 1: get back in the building for the first time. As

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Speaker 1: I said, I'm looking forward to this process beginning and

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Speaker 1: and then seeing how it turns out. Okay, he is

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Speaker 1: Bob Labriola, editor of Steelers Digested, Steelers dot Com. I'm

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Speaker 1: Dale Alli here with Matt Williamson. You're listening to the

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Speaker 1: drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be back with

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Speaker 1: more right after this. Thanks Bob, All right, outstanding, Lass. Thanks.

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Speaker 1: I gotta get to my other meeting, all right. See

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Speaker 1: this thing Matt is telling me it's gonna end here

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Speaker 1: in nine minutes and four seconds. I have no idea.

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Speaker 1: Why well, let's sign out and do it again. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I have to you send me a new linker. We

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Speaker 1: used to say, I think I have to send you

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Speaker 1: a new link Yeah, all right, all right. That's good

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