Speaker 1: Welcome to the drive. I'm Dale Lulli. He is Matt Williamson,
Speaker 1: and we are live from Steelers training camp here at
Speaker 1: Saint Vincent College. And Matt, that was an interesting little yeah,
Speaker 1: I like finishing touch there to the drill the Steelers
Speaker 1: going through there. Now, they had had three receivers going
Speaker 1: out in patterns and you saw a lot of crossing
Speaker 1: stuff and right right, some kind of rubs if you're
Speaker 1: on offense, picks, if you're on defense, right, you would
Speaker 1: call that the final rep. They put Kawant Alexander out
Speaker 1: there one on one against Washington, Big Darnell Washington, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Quant Alexander gave him a rough time getting off
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage first of all, and then defended
Speaker 1: the pass down field. Really nice job there.
Speaker 2: So a couple of notes from that is, like you said,
Speaker 2: the majority of the drill was a three on three
Speaker 2: passing drill. But in the middle of the field, right,
Speaker 2: it was a back, it was a tight end, it
Speaker 2: was a slot, it wasn't outside receivers. And they were
Speaker 2: all working, as you mentioned, against man coverage on purpose.
Speaker 2: So the defense was at a huge disadvantage. They knew
Speaker 2: they were getting rubbed and picked and all that stuff
Speaker 2: for middle of the field routes, crossers and things of
Speaker 2: that nature, which is what we've been harping on exactly right, right,
Speaker 2: how many times we told you they need to do
Speaker 2: more of that. They know that, that's why they're doing it,
Speaker 2: you know. And then they finished it with one on
Speaker 2: one stuff, but not outside receivers. And Alan Robinson and
Speaker 2: Deontay aren't dressed or aren't participating today, Not that that matters.
Speaker 2: I think that they were trying to work on what
Speaker 2: they need to work on middle of the field stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Steelers in shells today, so not in full pads,
Speaker 1: working on some eleven and eleven here inside run stuff.
Speaker 1: But again, when you get to this situation and guys
Speaker 1: aren't in pads, it's a little different, right, They're working
Speaker 1: on run fits and no Isaac sam Malo out there today.
Speaker 1: Nate Herbig is in there in place of him. I
Speaker 1: know West Shulder in the previous segments said that Joebi
Speaker 1: wasn't out there. He is out there, Yeah, I saw
Speaker 1: I saw him in seven shots. He's out there now
Speaker 1: again in this one. But Malie Golden out there in
Speaker 1: place of t J. Watt, Joey Porter Junior not practicing today.
Speaker 1: It doesn't look like they're having Patrick Peterson practice either today.
Speaker 2: Hayward and water Citty.
Speaker 1: You get James Pierre getting a shot here with the
Speaker 1: first team defense. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Oh, by the way, Mika Fitzpatrick is out there.
Speaker 2: I know, good stuff. So we had two very physical
Speaker 2: days back to back, a night practice and then followed
Speaker 2: up with sort of a short rest practice where they
Speaker 2: went acted pretty hard. Now you get this one to
Speaker 2: kind of fine tune things, give some guys a break
Speaker 2: and then or true break tomorrow, you know, to a
Speaker 2: whole twenty four hours off taking.
Speaker 1: Care of guys bodies. Yeah, it is a long season.
Speaker 1: I know when you know when when when Craig Wolflee
Speaker 1: or you know, some of the older guys coming back.
Speaker 1: In our day, we did two a day's every day. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You also, for a large portion, for those guys in.
Speaker 2: The seventies only played fourteen games even so, oh, I
Speaker 2: mean those guys also didn't come to camp in the
Speaker 2: same condition that these guys.
Speaker 1: That's the other thing.
Speaker 2: It's a huge part of it, and really the biggest
Speaker 2: part of.
Speaker 1: It is there were no such thing as OTAs.
Speaker 2: That and sports science is way smarter now than that, right,
Speaker 2: you know. I mean there's a reason for this stuff
Speaker 2: that if someone would have been ahead of the curve
Speaker 2: maybe in nineteen seventy five and practice less or smarter,
Speaker 2: maybe they would have had a huge advantage that nobody
Speaker 2: else did. I mean, it's just the sign of the times.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what always gets me, Like, I know, you know,
Speaker 1: I hear complaints from people at the youth level. You know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna start practicing here August first to get ready
Speaker 1: for those youth football games in September. I'm like, more
Speaker 1: football at that, you know, at that age, it's it's
Speaker 1: not about that, It's about doing what you do well.
Speaker 1: You know, football is in the game that you get
Speaker 1: better at necessarily from a lot of practice, but you refine,
Speaker 1: like at this point, that's a nice yeah, nice nice
Speaker 1: comeback there by George Pickens.
Speaker 2: Nice deep ball on the outside.
Speaker 1: Yeah, really pushed that in the ball, Yeah, just drove
Speaker 1: it in there about that's about a twenty yard out.
Speaker 1: And Kenny Pickett drove that in there into double coverage.
Speaker 2: Too, absolutely, And George used his body really well there
Speaker 2: too to kind of present that pocket for him. To
Speaker 2: throw it to but pick it then that show any
Speaker 2: bashfulness whatsoever that was.
Speaker 1: Throwing him open too. It was, it was exactly, And
Speaker 1: that's one of those things like you know, if you're
Speaker 1: a young college quarterback or a young quarterback, you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily see that as it develops, exactly because he threw
Speaker 1: to a spot and Pickings had to come back to
Speaker 1: the football.
Speaker 2: And get it right. Just trust the quarterback to take
Speaker 2: me to where I need to be exactly. And I
Speaker 2: didn't know who to praise more on that one, Picket
Speaker 2: or Pickings, because they both really did a perfect job right,
Speaker 2: which made it an uncoverable route right right, kind of
Speaker 2: like one of those Aaron Rodgers back shoulder fades that
Speaker 2: Jordy Nelson backs. Then you can do what you can
Speaker 2: do about it. You know, nothing you can do. There's
Speaker 2: roads like that because if you try to play it
Speaker 2: to the back shoulder, which is difficult, he's going to
Speaker 2: really over the top and you'll get a pass interference
Speaker 2: call more often not too and you know, so no,
Speaker 2: it's smart and you can really see development from those
Speaker 2: two second year pass catcher and throwers as well. They
Speaker 2: look like they're veterans at this point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Mitch Trubisky in there now with the second unit,
Speaker 1: and I see a lot of that offensive line in there,
Speaker 1: the Raven Clark in there. Uh, you got Kendrick Green
Speaker 1: at center looking to see who the guards are since
Speaker 1: herbig was in with the the first unit. Uh, it
Speaker 1: looks like Spencer Anderson's at guard.
Speaker 2: Didn't guy's been everywhere.
Speaker 1: That might be him at at right guard and let
Speaker 1: me see here, Yeah that is him. So yeah, he's
Speaker 1: played all along that line. Now we've seen him at tackle.
Speaker 1: We've seen him at both tackle positions this week. Now
Speaker 1: today he's at guard. That's really tough to do.
Speaker 2: He's a bit of a story.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean a lot of these seventh round guys get forgotten.
Speaker 2: But he's doing everything and it seems like he's showing
Speaker 2: up more and more on the practice field.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So obviously see something different every day every day.
Speaker 1: Okay, this week, you're gonna work on tackle. This week,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be a no, he's where wherever. He's like
Speaker 1: the you know, the utility guy. Yeah, that's really that's
Speaker 1: really helpful. Again for a seventh round.
Speaker 2: Pick, exactly. I mean I think of a guy like
Speaker 2: Justin Strelzik who started his career that way. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's been a couple in history that just our true
Speaker 2: sixth men that can do anything. When when you come
Speaker 2: off the bench and then sometimes you eventually find a
Speaker 2: home or eventually you're just active on game day filling in,
Speaker 2: and that's really valuable too.
Speaker 1: So you can take you're gonna make a lot of
Speaker 1: money in this league for a long time if you
Speaker 1: can do all five of those.
Speaker 2: Yeah, especially as an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: But he must you're never a starter if you're going
Speaker 1: to be valued for ten plus years. Yep.
Speaker 2: He must be passing all the tests mentally too, knowing
Speaker 2: all these put him out there.
Speaker 1: If he's gonna blow the assignment every time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So he's making a strong push to make that
Speaker 2: final roster.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. That's impressive.
Speaker 2: It is. It's impressive. So what we got going here?
Speaker 2: We got double tights to the left with Hayward and
Speaker 2: I think that's Washington standing up, but I can't quite tell.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard to tell, you know, when he's in
Speaker 1: a crouch, if he's not, if he's standing or crouching.
Speaker 2: He's so tall, he's a giant. Yeah.
Speaker 1: How about sixty eight polling around the edge here. That
Speaker 1: one opened the eyes. More guys just nfl wide open here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, one hundredercent schemed up. It kept seven in
Speaker 2: the block, they kept both those tight ends to block
Speaker 2: in there, and just had a three man combination and
Speaker 2: it popped wide open.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Big William Duncle pulling out from a guard spot to
Speaker 2: protect the backside or the front side, I should say
Speaker 2: on that one, that was interesting. He makes he's making
Speaker 2: a little bit of a name for himself too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh, it's interesting. Uh looking here at the
Speaker 1: defense out there, you've got a lot of the third teamers.
Speaker 1: I see David parrellis out there at one outside linebacker
Speaker 1: spots inside on the noses. I believe that's Fojoko there, Hey,
Speaker 1: it is it is. Yeah, he's got big Jonathan Marshall
Speaker 1: next to him. That's a lot of beef.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of beef. And we got the four
Speaker 2: string quarterback in too. So Yeah, getting a repping the
Speaker 2: bottom of the roster a little bit here, Yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean that's a big theme for today.
Speaker 1: He hasn't got many reps for Tanner Morgan, but he
Speaker 1: has gotten well more than what they were able to
Speaker 1: get for Chrysal lodakon last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good point, good point. So do you think Morgan
Speaker 2: plays much in the preseason.
Speaker 1: Opener, the opener?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're prepping him for something here.
Speaker 2: A lot of these guys are gonna play a lot
Speaker 2: in the opener, and they want to get him mentally ready.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be interesting. I'll be very interested when Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin has his, uh his press conference later this week.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm sure he's not going to give us
Speaker 1: the exact rundown on how the quarterbacks will be used. Sure,
Speaker 1: you know in terms of all the Kenny's going to
Speaker 1: play the first quarter that so and so on and
Speaker 1: so forth. That's a nice throw.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Butler over the middle, Yeah, he's the middle of
Speaker 2: the field option for sure.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, he's a big dude right in there.
Speaker 2: Yea the tight window too.
Speaker 1: But you know, just if he if he has any
Speaker 1: plans you know, to play uh Tanner Morgan.
Speaker 2: And I wonder how much Kenny plays.
Speaker 1: You would think, well, I'm sure he'll play some, but
Speaker 1: you would think he almost You want to play him
Speaker 1: with the starters. You don't want to play him with
Speaker 1: the with the backups.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, for.
Speaker 1: Sure, So do you do you because of that?
Speaker 2: Do you say?
Speaker 1: You know what, Kenny, You're not going to play a
Speaker 1: lot in this first game, if at all.
Speaker 2: I was thinking he might not play hardly at all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm thinking this week he might not play
Speaker 1: at all, then play a half next week. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: the starters only play a series this week on offense
Speaker 1: because they are so young. I mean, there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of veteran guys. Or maybe no, right, maybe you
Speaker 1: don't play Isaac sam Malu.
Speaker 2: Or maybe resting day, well for Robinson's resting the day too.
Speaker 1: So those three guys you don't necessarily need to play.
Speaker 1: But the rest of them, they're all second, third year guys,
Speaker 1: you know, so yeah, why not play?
Speaker 2: My hunch is kind of like you said. I thought
Speaker 2: maybe he wouldn't play the first game, play substantial amount
Speaker 2: the second game, then set him down. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: I think that would make some sense.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, he got a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of playing time last year.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, big old Fajoko ya zipping through there. But
Speaker 2: he guessed the snapcount right and exploded off the ball.
Speaker 2: Yeah that was five yards in the backfield.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now again they don't have pads on here, so
Speaker 1: the blocking is a little but still he got in there.
Speaker 2: He's a big body to be moving that quick though.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like him breaking up dude too.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: He is a fun guy, really understands the history of
Speaker 1: the game, things like that.
Speaker 2: That that.
Speaker 1: You know, there's just so many guys that I just
Speaker 1: feel like he's he's he has studied this game. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and those the history of the Steelers, the history of
Speaker 1: that position in the NFL. Yeah, absolutely, you know, it
Speaker 1: gives you a better sense of yourself in how you
Speaker 1: fit into things.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I bet he's popular in the locker room too, and
Speaker 2: seems like a hard worker and a fun guy to
Speaker 2: be around. And I think he's going to be probably
Speaker 2: an upgrade over the nose play from last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see. I mean, Montrevius Adams has still gotten uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of the first team reps, if
Speaker 1: not all the first team reps at this point. But
Speaker 1: you know, they've got some some nose tackles on this roster.
Speaker 1: How many of them do you keep? You We see
Speaker 1: them using Marshall more at end. Now he's you know,
Speaker 1: he's listed as a nose tackle or defensive tackle. But
Speaker 1: you know he's six three three and ten pounds. He's
Speaker 1: big enough to ride, to ride on the outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he can live inside too. Yeah. Right, so
Speaker 2: he's interesting. I mean, you're probably keeping seven at most
Speaker 2: six for sure, and there's about five of them. They're
Speaker 2: already basically guaranteed the spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, you look at that position. It might
Speaker 1: be one of the deepest on the teams.
Speaker 2: It really is.
Speaker 1: You know, Cam Heyward, Larry Ogan, Joby, you're two starting ends.
Speaker 1: You know, what do they do there with Montrevius Adams,
Speaker 1: Braden Fojoco, Keanu Benton, Jonathan Marshall. We know, we know
Speaker 1: Benton's making the roster and Leal I kind of look
Speaker 1: at their making the roster. Can Isaiah Loudermilk call hold
Speaker 1: on to a spot his arm, Mom Watts pushing him.
Speaker 2: Those two are probably fighting directly.
Speaker 1: For one spot. You got Manny Jones there.
Speaker 2: He has done a couple of good things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they I mean, there's some depth there and
Speaker 1: those guys have If you look at it, you got Hayward, Adams, Ogan,
Speaker 1: Jobi louder Milk, fa Hako, Leal Watts. I mean these
Speaker 1: guys have all played in the league. Yeah, even Marshall's
Speaker 1: gotten some you know, some snaps and Manny Jones. Those guys,
Speaker 1: they don't have a ton of experience, but they've got
Speaker 1: experience at the NFL level. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's two that don't, Benton and Leal,
Speaker 2: and their future looks bright, and they're gonna be on
Speaker 2: this squad and then you're gonna have some veterans backing
Speaker 2: them up or mixing in with them, you know that
Speaker 2: have been around the block and know what takes in
Speaker 2: this league. So I think that's valuable. I like how
Speaker 2: they've constructed that room. Ideally, i'd love to keep seven
Speaker 2: of those guys. You know, it's hard to do, you know,
Speaker 2: because they're not big. They're not they're not out there
Speaker 2: right now on this punt team right now.
Speaker 1: Well, that you with that expanded practice squad and the
Speaker 1: ability to bring two guys up every week, I think
Speaker 1: at a factor, I can only do that so many
Speaker 1: times during the season where you bring a guy up
Speaker 1: off the practice squad, but you do have those two
Speaker 1: additional spots, you know. The one caveat with that though,
Speaker 1: I believe if I've read that rule correctly. If you're
Speaker 1: gonna have your third quarterback be available, you can't use
Speaker 1: both of.
Speaker 2: Those spots, so he takes up one of the two.
Speaker 1: Essentially, Yeah, because they don't want to, you know, they
Speaker 1: don't want to. That would if you if your third quarterback,
Speaker 1: as the emergency quarterback, has to play, that pushes your
Speaker 1: game day roster then to fifty one players because you
Speaker 1: dropped down to fifty forty forty five whatever it is,
Speaker 1: you'd have one extra player because of the quarterback situation.
Speaker 1: So you can't bring up two guys if you're going
Speaker 1: to use the emergency quarterback as they're the third quarterback.
Speaker 2: I would think in a normal regular season game, unless
Speaker 2: Picket or Trubisky was fighting something, I don't think I've
Speaker 2: interested in the third quarterback. Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a lot of disaster that would have
Speaker 2: to happen, and people might ask, Okay, so if that's
Speaker 2: the case, then who is.
Speaker 1: Your emergency quarterback on a game day? If something were
Speaker 1: to happen to the top two guys and you don't
Speaker 1: have that third guy available, it's sex Gentry, that's.
Speaker 2: I bet it's Entry, right, Yeah, because I mean he
Speaker 2: went to Michigan as a quarterback.
Speaker 1: Like he was a top rated one of the top
Speaker 1: rated quarterbacks in the country. Who just happened? Now, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't obviously do a lot of throw.
Speaker 2: Change.
Speaker 4: I did.
Speaker 1: I did a little story about that last year for
Speaker 1: Steelers dot Com. UH and and you know, talk to
Speaker 1: UH to Matt Canada about that, and and you know
Speaker 1: they would they would have a small package fore I
Speaker 1: talked to Actually, I could talk to UH to Sully
Speaker 1: about that as well. You know they've seen him throw.
Speaker 1: He can throw the football.
Speaker 2: And I would think too, if that disaster happened, I mean,
Speaker 2: it obviously decreases your chance of winning the football game massively.
Speaker 2: I mean any third quarterback, let alone UH a tight
Speaker 2: end playing quarterback and emergency quarterback. But I think what
Speaker 2: you do is bring out all the beef, you know,
Speaker 2: six offensive linemen green in the backfield, all the tight
Speaker 2: ends and just hammer them, you know, and then try
Speaker 2: to shorten the game to no end. See how it
Speaker 2: takes you. I mean, you don't want him dropping back,
Speaker 2: you know, throwing out routes downfield, you know, over and over.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah no, but you could do some shorter stuff,
Speaker 1: you know, he could throw some bubble screens and things
Speaker 1: of that nature that I'm sure he's done. Yeah you
Speaker 1: mentioned green there again, and there's something to that.
Speaker 2: Oh, there's something to that. I think that's sticking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not just repping it just to rep it,
Speaker 1: you know, I really think what they what they're trying
Speaker 1: to do. I don't think they want to put too
Speaker 1: much on on Connor Hayward's nice A great punt, I think,
Speaker 1: still traveling.
Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, Preshley Harvim boomed that one. Yeah, beautiful spiral,
Speaker 2: perfect placement.
Speaker 1: But I don't think they want to put too much
Speaker 1: on on Connor Hayward's plate.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of physicality. Yeah, you could. He still
Speaker 2: will do it. I'm sure he's good at it, you know,
Speaker 2: the motion stuff, the lead blocking stuff. But if he's
Speaker 2: gonna play all your teams, he's gonna run a lot
Speaker 2: of routes. Carry the ball five times a year or
Speaker 2: something like that. You might carry it more than that
Speaker 2: and he's not. He might be your third running back. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's I mean, he could do that too on game
Speaker 2: day you're talking about, or even on the roster. Yeah, okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's certainly possible. But that's a lot of wear and
Speaker 2: tear on his body, you know, right, so you don't
Speaker 2: want to you don't want to use him up. And
Speaker 2: Green's obviously a different body type, I mean, a little
Speaker 2: huge human being, a little bit another nice punt, you know.
Speaker 1: The more the more I've watched Hayward in this camp
Speaker 1: and do all these different things, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: Jalen Samuels, a better version Jaylen Samuel.
Speaker 2: That's what they wanted out of Samuels.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's a much better route runner. I
Speaker 2: think better hands better, I don't remember. Samuel might be
Speaker 2: a better runner. He might be a better runner. Samuels,
Speaker 2: I know, tested pretty well from what I remember, but
Speaker 2: I never really saw that translate to the field where
Speaker 2: Hayward to me, moves and plays faster than he tested,
Speaker 2: where Samuels was the opposite. And it's a hard thing.
Speaker 2: I mean, a lot of these guys, oh jack of
Speaker 2: all trades, you can do all these things in the league.
Speaker 2: Most of the time you can't, you know. I always
Speaker 2: talk about that. On defense. So he says, Isaiah Simmons
Speaker 2: is a safety, a linebacker, a slot corner, blah blah.
Speaker 2: Well he might be none, Yeah.
Speaker 1: But what we saw all Yeah, the thing about Hayward
Speaker 1: it really separates him is his ability to get downfield. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he saw that show up a couple of different times
Speaker 1: last year. I don't remember seeing Samuels make those kind
Speaker 1: of catches over the middle, like the.
Speaker 2: Fifteen yards downfield and then after the catch. He's pretty
Speaker 2: good too.
Speaker 1: Because if you remember with Samuels at the I think
Speaker 1: it was at the combine, they had him work out
Speaker 1: with the tight ends. Yes, he had a te next
Speaker 1: to his name, and that's.
Speaker 2: Not what he was now at all.
Speaker 1: Whereas with Hayward, I mean, Samuels had been a running
Speaker 1: back his entire career in college, whereas Heyward did everything
Speaker 1: in college in.
Speaker 2: College, right, Samuels caught a lot of passes. It was
Speaker 2: him and the hem Hines in that backlefield at NC State,
Speaker 2: and they both were really good receivers. They both probably
Speaker 2: have bigger numbers as pass catchers. But it didn't translate
Speaker 2: the league all that well, and you didn't want to
Speaker 2: hand them the football.
Speaker 1: I know everybody'll talk about why he had that one
Speaker 1: game against the Paytriots. Patriots were daring them to run the.
Speaker 2: Foot That's what they wanted you to do was handed
Speaker 2: to him. Belichick was like, please hand it to Jaylen
Speaker 2: Samuels and he did fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, to his credit, he put up a bunch of
Speaker 1: yards and again he did he did the key though.
Speaker 1: All that stuff's great, But maybe Hayward's biggest value is
Speaker 1: to Danny Smith. He's a core, core special teamer, so
Speaker 1: this offensive stuff is wonderful. But I don't remember Samuel's
Speaker 1: ever being that type of guy, you know, being a
Speaker 1: core special team or like a great one. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: just Connor Hayward is dynamic, you know, and that's that's
Speaker 1: one thing that that you know, again, you know, his
Speaker 1: his forty time and all that stuff. You know, it
Speaker 1: wasn't great.
Speaker 2: And I don't remember, but I think he's like a
Speaker 2: four to seven and something like that. High four to
Speaker 2: six is something like that. But he's quick and he
Speaker 2: changes direction well and in a way he uses his
Speaker 2: shortness to his advantage and then he plays with good
Speaker 2: leverage and kind of has a little bit of a
Speaker 2: bowling ball feel to him, both as a route runner
Speaker 2: and after the catch or as a runner. So he
Speaker 2: pulled up his numbers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't remember, seven to two, Yeah, one, six,
Speaker 1: three ten yard split thirty two and a half inch vertical.
Speaker 1: So nothing there is gonna like ooh jomp off.
Speaker 2: What was his weight?
Speaker 1: Uh? They listened to two thirty three five eleven two
Speaker 1: thirty three.
Speaker 2: You think he's about that still, right, I mean that's
Speaker 2: probably about his neighborhood, h right. But certainly an unconventional
Speaker 2: tight end. But he's more than a tight end.
Speaker 1: You know. He doesn't look like a four to seven
Speaker 1: two guy though when he's running.
Speaker 2: Down the field. No, he doesn't, No, he absolutely does not.
Speaker 2: And a lot of the stuff he does are not
Speaker 2: straight line routes, I mean does don't. They're not running
Speaker 2: seltyard routes right right. There's a little juke to him,
Speaker 2: you know, he shoulder fakes things like that. And no,
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan, and I don't think the Kendrick
Speaker 2: Green stuff experiment is a reflection poorly on Hayward.
Speaker 1: I think it's just in addition to Yeah, I just
Speaker 1: think they want, you know, perhaps a bigger body in there.
Speaker 1: And again they've done a lot of that six offensive
Speaker 1: lineman stuff before. This is just a different way to
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: This is more of a Patrick orccard move. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: know then it is the sixth offensive lineman on the
Speaker 2: line of scrimmage. I mean usually almost always when you
Speaker 2: play with that jumbo six line set, it's a tackle,
Speaker 2: you know, because he lines up outside the tackle. You're
Speaker 2: not gonna put a center outside. You know, you're tackled
Speaker 2: for a protection help. I mean that's you're asking him
Speaker 2: to do something he's not good at at all. I'm
Speaker 2: not saying it won't happen ever when greened on the field,
Speaker 2: but he's gonna be moved around like Ric Hard.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah, we're gonna get to break there. Steelers are
Speaker 1: practicing some special team stuff right now here at Saint
Speaker 1: Vincent College. The rain is holding off, which for now
Speaker 1: I appreciate a little dubious. Yeah. He is Matt Williamson.
Speaker 1: I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here
Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN nine seventy. We'll be
Speaker 1: back with more right after this. Welcome back on Dale LOLLI.
Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson, and this is the Drive on
Speaker 1: Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN nine seventy. We are live
Speaker 1: from Steelers training camp practice here on the campus of
Speaker 1: Saint Vincent College. And that was interesting little play there.
Speaker 1: This was some eleven on eleven there, and they had
Speaker 1: Nausey Harris.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: He started in the slot, started in motion like he
Speaker 1: was going to motion into the backfield like we've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of you get pretty used to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, then they put another wrinkle on it, and
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden.
Speaker 1: He just boom turned and and you know, ran back
Speaker 1: out to the to the slot and caught a pass. There.
Speaker 1: Hadn't seen that a whole lot thus.
Speaker 2: Far, especially from Nausey. Yeah, I mean it from some
Speaker 2: of the other guys, but yeah, yeah, I thought the
Speaker 2: exact same thing. I was like, ooh, I haven't seen
Speaker 2: this motion yet from him, and he looks a little
Speaker 2: different doing it. And so not only well these guys
Speaker 2: just everyone's watched football knows. You go from the slot
Speaker 2: or outside and sometimes you kind of jog into the
Speaker 2: you know, the and then you see who follows. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well his was more of an aggressive you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: like pounding.
Speaker 1: The Maybe they could hand it off to him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, snapped the football and then he flipped around and
Speaker 2: changed direction as well, got outside, caught one in the
Speaker 2: flat and you know, picked up a few yards. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but this motion stuff's great. I mean they're doing a
Speaker 2: lot of it, and you got to remember this is
Speaker 2: only ten days in the camp or something like that.
Speaker 2: So some of the stuff that you and I have
Speaker 2: getting accustomed to is what the defenses will get accustomed to.
Speaker 2: And then they'll add a wrinkle on the wrinkle you know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean that looked like a wrinkle. Yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: We now have Broderick Jones at left tackle and Dan
Speaker 1: Moore Junior at right tackle. Well, now they've already switched
Speaker 1: that out, so it was just a yeah, yeah, now
Speaker 1: it's l Raven Clark in there, and we got Trubisky
Speaker 1: into so second the second unit is out there, second
Speaker 1: unit switch.
Speaker 2: Well we're having that nausey, naugy conversation. So it's yeah,
Speaker 2: it's basically what they've done is just wrapped maybe a
Speaker 2: player to Broderick Jones with the Ones and Dan Moore
Speaker 2: Junior on the right side. It's large than Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: largely been Dan Moore on the left at left tackle
Speaker 2: and Chooks a corps for at right tackle with the Ones,
Speaker 2: as you'd expect, right, I mean, that's that's where Jones
Speaker 2: is right now, and his development not that that's bad.
Speaker 2: I heard Wes and Motes were talking about it right
Speaker 2: before we came on. I thought West made a good
Speaker 2: point point two that you know, development isn't linear. You know,
Speaker 2: you're gonna have two steps forward, three steps back, five
Speaker 2: steps forward, one step back, you know, and you've got
Speaker 2: to be able to count on him day after day
Speaker 2: after day, especially in protection and knowing everything he you know,
Speaker 2: has to do. And again we're ten days in the camp.
Speaker 2: You can't do that yet. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 2: Dan Moore is something to say about this. You know,
Speaker 2: he's probably well, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's nothing wrong with with how he's right handling
Speaker 1: things here. So yeah, again, Kendrick Green working is at
Speaker 1: second team center there.
Speaker 2: We'll see if he still was a center of two folks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, see if they do anything with him with the
Speaker 1: third group comes back out, if he goes out there
Speaker 1: and does any full back work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, has he been doing most of that with the ones? No,
Speaker 2: it's been with the three. With the three, Yeah, I
Speaker 2: couldn't remember. Okay, Yeah, just trying to rep it. When
Speaker 2: he starts doing it with the ones, then we'll really yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, this is.
Speaker 1: Something that they're really thinking about here. It's I mean,
Speaker 1: we're only talking about basically six or seven plays lust.
Speaker 2: Sure, but it is noteworthy because it's fun and I
Speaker 2: think it might work out too.
Speaker 1: It is fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is fun.
Speaker 1: Now we're getting to see the the third team unit
Speaker 1: is coming on to the field here, boy.
Speaker 2: Can with another catch there, see where they're basically on
Speaker 2: the hashes. It looks like in the middle of field.
Speaker 1: It looks like Spencer Anderson is going to be the
Speaker 1: left tackle with this group now in this in this.
Speaker 2: Sense, Spencer Anderson's a story man. Yeah, that's crazy mentioned
Speaker 2: this guy.
Speaker 1: That is crazy. Yeah, it's standard Morgan leading the third
Speaker 1: unit here.
Speaker 2: So Mason Rudolph, we've definitely seen him at left guard
Speaker 2: and left tackle today today, just today, in the last
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: We've seen him at right tackle. We've seen him at guard.
Speaker 2: I don't remember center.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if I've seen him. So maybe
Speaker 1: that happened early in camp.
Speaker 2: But as you mentioned the other day, they have a
Speaker 2: lot of center possibilities or maybe they look at it
Speaker 2: like boy ten things would have to happen for you
Speaker 2: to play center, So why bother?
Speaker 1: Yeah, we want to see if he can do these
Speaker 1: things first. And he did a nice job ceiling he
Speaker 1: did there. Yeah, but no, it's a good point, like.
Speaker 2: A lot lot of things would have to happen assuming
Speaker 2: he's not even active on game day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they've got four other guys that can
Speaker 1: play center, right, right.
Speaker 2: Right, you bumped Daniels in before him or whoever you know,
Speaker 2: and so five actually I think.
Speaker 1: Three of them in the starting lineup. And and then
Speaker 1: then you have Herbig on the Herbig as well, right
Speaker 1: and Kendrick Green, So that you go from having a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago no centers, you know, and which
Speaker 1: is why really Kendrick Green ended up starting that.
Speaker 2: Right, He got kind of thrust into action because.
Speaker 1: Everybody as got hurtly. Right. But but then now now
Speaker 1: they've got an abundance of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do the guys that can do it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so why kind of waste Anderson's reps? There you get
Speaker 2: McFarland in motion.
Speaker 1: There he goes over to the slot right left side
Speaker 1: of Tanner Morgan nice jo up stepping up in the
Speaker 1: pocket and he takes off running.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's not a bad athlete either.
Speaker 1: No, no, and another one of those quarterbacks with a
Speaker 1: lot of college starting experience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point. We had that conversation after
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame game that a lot of these
Speaker 2: dudes had played a lot out of college ball. Party
Speaker 2: was one the u c l A kid that Dorian Thompson.
Speaker 2: That's the transitions a little easier. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And to the NFL's credit, and this is a big
Speaker 2: picture conversation, they've done a better job lately of stealing
Speaker 2: college concepts and making that adjustment.
Speaker 1: A little easier.
Speaker 2: Like if you go pull it up like drafthistory dot
Speaker 2: com and pull the quarterbacks. There's an unbelievable stretch there
Speaker 2: of Winston, Marriota, Wentz, et cetera, et cetera, these all
Speaker 2: these early picks that busted, and the NFL wasn't doing
Speaker 2: a good job back then.
Speaker 1: Job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, Jean Butler's gonna be tough to cut too.
Speaker 1: He is, he really is. He went up over thirty there,
Speaker 1: which is Chris Wilcox. He's a six foot two hundred
Speaker 1: and ninety a small cornerback right, and Butler just went
Speaker 1: up over top of him. Not a bad throw either
Speaker 1: by Morgan there. Now, it wasn't to put it where
Speaker 1: you only your guy can go get it.
Speaker 2: Didn't have him go low? Yeah, get the power forward
Speaker 2: and throwing off the rim there for him, and.
Speaker 1: That's about a fifteen yard out down to the to
Speaker 1: his left.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Not you know, necessarily an easy throw for a quarterback.
Speaker 2: That's the stuff that Butler did a ton in college.
Speaker 2: And I really liked him coming out of school. I
Speaker 2: was shocked and he went as late as he did.
Speaker 2: But he's not a burner, you know. But if he's
Speaker 2: going to block and be a middle of the field contributor,
Speaker 2: and he's.
Speaker 1: Want to you know, I want to see what he
Speaker 1: can do on special teams. Yeah, that's a big I
Speaker 1: see him maybe battling Miles Boykin for a roster spot.
Speaker 2: That's gonna be a tough guy to beat out. Yeah,
Speaker 2: especially on teams. Morgan's doing all right here, yeah's dealing.
Speaker 1: Getting it to our our guy there. Number eighty seven.
Speaker 1: Rodney Williams.
Speaker 2: He's another one that's I kind of threw away. I'm like, boy,
Speaker 2: they got four really good tight end Ye, he's got
Speaker 2: no chance. Well, every practice his name comes up. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's how you stick around. He runs pretty well too,
Speaker 2: he does. He's a willing blocker, he runs pretty well.
Speaker 2: I mean that's an interesting that.
Speaker 1: Like if they only had three tight ends right now,
Speaker 1: you'd be looking at that guy.
Speaker 2: Going okay, yeah, maybe right right, what can.
Speaker 1: He bring to the equation here?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean their tight end rooms interesting even without
Speaker 2: him because Firemouth really should never leave the field unless
Speaker 2: he's gassed or whatever. And then you got the two
Speaker 2: giants in Gentry and Washington. One thing, Gentry's caught the
Speaker 2: ball well in this can Yes, yes, he absolutely, yes,
Speaker 2: he's been.
Speaker 1: A target and uh, you know that that's something that
Speaker 1: you always well, he's a blocker and he you know,
Speaker 1: but I've seen him make some some contested catches and
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff in the end zone too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good point shots, like he's gotten better at being big.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, using using the gifts he has.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So like when they drafted Washington, I said it's a
Speaker 2: matter of time until he just displaces Gentry, and maybe
Speaker 2: that's true. But Gentry, like Dan Moore, is not going
Speaker 2: to go away easy, and there's no rule against using
Speaker 2: them both together. That's what I mean. That's bringing in
Speaker 2: a lot of size deposition that I mean you're talking
Speaker 2: about there's a chance that there will be two of
Speaker 2: the better blocking tight ends in the league.
Speaker 1: Well over thirteen feet of tight end there right right about. Oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know, five fifty yeah, five hundred and sixty,
Speaker 1: five hundred and seventy paws right.
Speaker 2: End, yeah, and then length and and.
Speaker 1: Get down the field and catch the football.
Speaker 2: And we go Firemouth next to Washington. Now, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2: That's gonna be a nice rice. Uh usage of these
Speaker 2: tight ends. Keep them all in there, keep them all fresh.
Speaker 2: You kind of like pitched it to that side, the
Speaker 2: strong side. It's a really strong side. And yeah, Harris
Speaker 2: follows as those blockers and get some yard to jer
Speaker 2: Again hard to tell with without the pads.
Speaker 1: On right, that would have been a game.
Speaker 2: I was watching Washington and did a good good job
Speaker 2: taking out of his guy, engulfing them smaller defender.
Speaker 1: And we go right now, we're back in cheeks. The
Speaker 1: core four goes off and they oh, they brought the
Speaker 1: whole second team line in this time. But this time
Speaker 1: they brought the second team line in and more is
Speaker 1: out there and say, I think play right tackle. He's
Speaker 1: at right tackle now. But they did it with the
Speaker 1: second team line this time. Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Just doing a lot of little things. You never know
Speaker 2: when you're gonna need it throughout the course of the season.
Speaker 2: And recall that, remember those times I played right tackle
Speaker 2: in La Trove.
Speaker 1: So let's focus here on more right tackles. What this
Speaker 1: looks like?
Speaker 2: He and and Joe reasonably well, got a little help
Speaker 2: from the right guard, but boom, wide open it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nice shot there. He's more of a classic right
Speaker 1: tackle as it is more in terms of the run blocking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say he's a better run blocker than
Speaker 2: he is, you know, light on his feet, dancing bear
Speaker 2: left tackle type. But they drafted him. I thought he
Speaker 2: was more of a right tackle guard and I still
Speaker 2: think that. But he's the fact that he's playing the
Speaker 2: right right, right, he's a starter until further notice.
Speaker 1: Right right, he's now out of there. He took one
Speaker 1: rep there and now they've they've got the Raven Clark
Speaker 1: back in there. Now.
Speaker 2: I bet he's taken less than twenty reps at right
Speaker 2: tackle probably, but you start repping it just you know,
Speaker 2: get him used to it, and hey, in case of emergency,
Speaker 2: you don't know what's going to happen with that left
Speaker 2: tackle battle.
Speaker 1: And again I go back to you know, his rookie year,
Speaker 1: he played about two days on the right side and
Speaker 1: then you know the plan was to get him work
Speaker 1: on both sides. Well, a little fumble there by Calvin
Speaker 1: Austen and well he's able to get back on it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he's not gonna be happy with that.
Speaker 2: No, no, you can't do that in these type of drills.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I forget what I was saying about that.
Speaker 2: I doubt they're looking this far ahead. But Chukes is
Speaker 2: a free agent after the year. I mean, you could
Speaker 2: just well, Jones is a star at left tackle, but
Speaker 2: we still have more under contract and a good deal.
Speaker 2: Maybe use Chucks's money somewhere else if you think that
Speaker 2: more can be a similar player at right tackle, you know,
Speaker 2: or drafted on the third round after that. You know,
Speaker 2: there's just how the league works.
Speaker 1: It will be crazy for Chucks or Corps, for us
Speaker 1: that he would be going on his third contract and
Speaker 1: be twenty six years old.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which, maybe he's not a super star, but he's
Speaker 2: going to be really attractive if he's on the open market.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of starts for a twenty six year
Speaker 2: old at offensive tackle. Like, he's not going to be cheap.
Speaker 1: No, no, not absolutely wasn't cheap this time, right, right, right,
Speaker 1: there's the Jets sweep action to.
Speaker 2: H Yeah, that one looks pretty legit, like a long
Speaker 2: game that would happen with pads or not.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing about that, that Jets sweep action.
Speaker 1: You may only hand it to that guy once or
Speaker 1: twice a game, but put your repid, rep it and repid,
Speaker 1: and you get the defense sleeping a little bit and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, boom there goes for you know,
Speaker 1: twenty five yards.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And to be frank, I thought they used it
Speaker 2: far too much last year and what was looking like
Speaker 2: a condensed offense where now.
Speaker 1: Or early in the season when they were trying to
Speaker 1: trying to find a running game of.
Speaker 2: Some type, yeah, trying to get yardage anyway they could.
Speaker 2: And now you're actually surprised when they get the ball, right,
Speaker 2: you know. So it's a different feel for the defense.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean, Tyreek Hill runs jet sweep action all
Speaker 1: the time, sure, sure, you know, and nobody complains about that.
Speaker 1: Why are they running Tyreek Hill on jet sweep action again? Right?
Speaker 1: Because he gets the ball like three times a year
Speaker 1: and in that situation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it does other things in the process. You
Speaker 2: freeze that end. Absolutely. He is Matt Williamson. I am
Speaker 2: Dale Lallie.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio
Speaker 1: and ESPN nine to seventy are live ongoing coverage from
Speaker 1: Steelers training camp here at Saint Vincent College. The brain
Speaker 1: continuing to hold off. Here's the Steelers practice and they
Speaker 1: are off tomorrow, so we'll see, hopefully they get this
Speaker 1: one in and then they're they're off. They come back
Speaker 1: Tuesday Wednesday, leave for Tampa on Thursday after their morning
Speaker 1: walk through which is closed to the public, and then
Speaker 1: they're back here again after that game on Friday. They
Speaker 1: don't come back until Sunday to practice again.
Speaker 2: So so you get a little spotty here in the
Speaker 2: next Yeah, I would say correct me if I'm wrong
Speaker 2: for our listeners. But we will be Tuesday Wednesday, will
Speaker 2: have a three hour drive, yes, and then there will
Speaker 2: be a gap there again, then.
Speaker 1: There's a gap and then we're back Sunday. So now,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna take a break now again, He's Matt Williamson,
Speaker 1: I'm Dale Lalli. We'll be back with more right after this,
Speaker 1: which the offensive guys and more the linebacker type in
Speaker 1: the middle.
Speaker 2: It looks like Darnell Washington's one of the only white
Speaker 2: ones in the middle, you know, and he's a huge person.
Speaker 1: I'll be interested to see how any more speed on
Speaker 1: the outside.
Speaker 2: Ye be interested to see how he does in this,
Speaker 2: because if you're not the starting tight end, it's hard
Speaker 2: to dress young game day right, better be able to
Speaker 2: play some teams. I mean, he'd be on field goal protection,
Speaker 2: but that's not hard to find, you know.
Speaker 1: I know they've used Gentry on kickoff. You know, you
Speaker 1: know in the past that last year they used Gentry
Speaker 1: and Hayward were both out there on kick return.
Speaker 2: I should say I would they probably on return.
Speaker 1: But Darnell Washington is fast enough that you just wonder
Speaker 1: if he can do a few more things. Although you know,
Speaker 1: the height doesn't lend it.
Speaker 2: He's actually up right now, Yeah, let's let's watch this.
Speaker 2: I would be more worried about him breaking down in space.
Speaker 2: Yeah all right, not what he's built to do or
Speaker 2: asked to do. Probably never done it before in his life,
Speaker 2: I would imagine, right, Yeah, I'm sure he was highly
Speaker 2: recruited and ended up in Georgia. He probably didn't play
Speaker 2: a lot of teams in high school.
Speaker 1: See how he does here, all right, and they get
Speaker 1: Anthony McFarland as well, which is not an easy m hmm.
Speaker 2: Okay, he had a little bit easier assignment because McFarlane
Speaker 2: went up the middle str right, so he didn't have
Speaker 2: to change direction as much. Kind of went right at Washington.
Speaker 2: So I didn't learn a ton from that one, but.
Speaker 1: We did not. We've got our little chefski there. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I just you know, looking at this Steelers roster and
Speaker 1: and uh, we've seen a little bit of kwant Alexander
Speaker 1: today with the ones. Yeah yeah, yeah out there with
Speaker 1: Cole Holcombe, and that might end up being their best combination.
Speaker 2: I could see it in terms of range, potential, coverage skills.
Speaker 2: I think he's gonna push for a starting job or
Speaker 2: for the second most second level snaps. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That h with that signing. Uh last week, that room
Speaker 1: was shot in the arm a little bit. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: room went from being thin to all of a sudden.
Speaker 1: I look at and go, okay, I guess they get
Speaker 1: some options there, and they've got some guys there. If
Speaker 1: something were to happen, for example, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the things that was a concern for me was Okay,
Speaker 1: what happens if Cole Holcomb gets hurt? Oh right, well,
Speaker 1: now you've now you've got you know, another option there
Speaker 1: that a guy who has done it before and done
Speaker 1: the same things that they're going to ask Cole Hulkan
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point. He's been around the block.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he's worn the green dot or not,
Speaker 2: but he's certainly been on the field in all situations
Speaker 2: I would think, so I'm assuming he has, you know,
Speaker 2: but no, all of a sudden, it's like that room
Speaker 2: was a little frightening. It was a little slower than
Speaker 2: you would have liked. And now there's a lot more
Speaker 2: puzzle pieces that don't look the same, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. And see how that puzzle comes together when
Speaker 2: it's all said and done. Oh, this is that rapid
Speaker 2: fire punt block drill. Yeah, this is it's hard to
Speaker 2: keep up.
Speaker 1: With guys flying in there and just just getting you know,
Speaker 1: the the backup kickers or backup punter. She just holds
Speaker 1: the ball out there and the guys coming he's on
Speaker 1: a knee and smack it out of his hands.
Speaker 2: Right, he's got a huge bag of balls there and
Speaker 2: Presley Harvin just gathers them up, puts them in the
Speaker 2: back of the back to keep the keep the drill going.
Speaker 2: But this thing, they go through a lot of punt
Speaker 2: blockers here from all angles.
Speaker 1: When you start looking at the at this roster, Matt
Speaker 1: is eight linebackers enough hm hmm, four and the four outside,
Speaker 1: four inside.
Speaker 2: It's questionable. It's questionable. I mean, I'm real comfortable with
Speaker 2: those four outside guys. And don't think you need a fifth. Yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe five interior though, five off the ball guys. And again,
Speaker 2: but we just had this conversation.
Speaker 1: Fifth guy better be good on teams, you better, Tanner
Speaker 1: muse is that Nick Kwaikowski Chapel Russell's done some things.
Speaker 2: He has done some things. He screams practice squad to
Speaker 2: me though, yeah he really does.
Speaker 1: Whereas a guy compliment, Yeah, can a guy like you know,
Speaker 1: can Kwaikowski still be a dude on special teams? That's
Speaker 1: kind of what he's cut his teeth on. Yes, over
Speaker 1: the course of his career, as has muss Mus. You've
Speaker 1: got two guys there who've been special teams dudes over
Speaker 1: the course of their career.
Speaker 2: They can play on the defense, but it's not ideal.
Speaker 1: That was the beauty of the kwant Alexander signing is
Speaker 1: you know, prior to that those one of them, I
Speaker 1: believe it was mus was listed second team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's not exactly what you want right right,
Speaker 2: especially with where's Mark Robinson and his development. You'd love
Speaker 2: to keep five of those, But we opened the show
Speaker 2: talking about the D line depth chart. You'd love to
Speaker 2: keep seven of those. Yeah, it's both possible. I bet
Speaker 2: not four outside linebackers. It seems like a done deal though. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it seems like it.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think we've seen a little bit
Speaker 1: of them using Nick Herbig and some coverage tip type
Speaker 1: of situations. You know, I wonder if that gains more
Speaker 1: steam as you know, we get into the later stages
Speaker 1: of training campaign.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, let's see you go line up inside linebacker
Speaker 2: a little bit. I mean, we know you can rush
Speaker 2: the passers. Yeah, yeah, maybe that does happen, and you know,
Speaker 2: let's get the foundation down as an edge dude. I mean,
Speaker 2: it would make it a lot easier to cut that
Speaker 2: fifth inside linebacker if you had some reps of him
Speaker 2: doing it, you know.
Speaker 1: So there is maybe you can keep an extra safety
Speaker 1: as well, or an extra whatever, you know, cornerback or
Speaker 1: whatever it may be.
Speaker 2: Maybe even no lineman. I mean, do you really want
Speaker 2: to cut Spencer Anderson or you know what I mean? Right,
Speaker 2: I mean, those guys aren't as active on game day,
Speaker 2: but it's never a bad thing to have a bunch
Speaker 2: of linemen that can play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and well, I mean that's something you know, the.
Speaker 2: You're probably going to keep four tight ends this year.
Speaker 2: Most years they kept three, right, you.
Speaker 1: Know, but he also always kept a full back.
Speaker 2: Hayward is anything it's the same, yeah, Hayward? Is that so?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an interesting you want to call it interesting
Speaker 1: roster construction this year for the Steelers in terms of, yeah,
Speaker 1: how these pieces all fit together?
Speaker 2: And two notes, And we should never forget that we
Speaker 2: can't predict the future because we may laugh a week
Speaker 2: from now sitting here in the booth, going, we didn't
Speaker 2: know if Herberg would play off the ball linebacker. Now
Speaker 2: he's the best guy, you know, Like this thing's changed drastically,
Speaker 2: and unfortunately people are gonna get hurt, you know, Like
Speaker 2: we're looking at all these options, two or three of
Speaker 2: them aren't going to be available for opening day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've been very fortunate to this point. The only
Speaker 1: serious injury that they've had was to Corey Trice.
Speaker 2: And and that's unfortunately.
Speaker 1: That may have answered high questions, Yeah, in terms of
Speaker 1: the roster construction, because you know, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people looked at Trice as well. He was a
Speaker 1: seventh rounder, but a lot of people had higher grades
Speaker 1: on him, and yeah, and they were just kind of
Speaker 1: discounting James Pierre. Well, James Pierre is making this team now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I thought he was going to.
Speaker 2: All along based on special teams out you know, but
Speaker 2: now you look at that at that cornerback position, you
Speaker 2: got Levi Wallace, you get Patrick Peterson, Joey Porter making it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, James Pierre.
Speaker 2: I think Pierre is making it. I think those are
Speaker 2: your four potential outside and there's okay, who's.
Speaker 1: You know there there's room for maybe another guy there.
Speaker 2: I say that spot, maybe you could find a sixth guy, depending.
Speaker 1: On you know, if it's if it's you know, how
Speaker 1: many Nichols do they keep.
Speaker 2: I think Sullivan has a very good chance to make team. Yeah, Okay,
Speaker 2: so that would be I don't know how good he
Speaker 2: is on team.
Speaker 1: Though, I don't know how good he can.
Speaker 2: Mean, he's listened at five to.
Speaker 1: Eleven, one eighty nine. I don't know how much he's
Speaker 1: played outside in his career.
Speaker 2: Like, if he could do that, I don't see him
Speaker 2: that way. I'm sure he could. Yeah, but you have
Speaker 2: four of the can yeah, you know, so, I think
Speaker 2: Sullivan makes a team. But a sixth corner if it
Speaker 2: would have been Trice, would have been nice, you know,
Speaker 2: is nice? Yeah, rhyme?
Speaker 1: So is that the least deep position on the team.
Speaker 1: I mean, I like their I like the top four
Speaker 1: guys are all yeah NFL dudes, you know, stagger their
Speaker 1: ages and expenses and things like that. And I like
Speaker 1: the fact that you know, they got a guy in
Speaker 1: Sullivan who's played a lot of snaps in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and even a guy like Duke Dawson has played a
Speaker 1: decent number of snaps slot.
Speaker 2: Cornerback Norwood and you get guys like that.
Speaker 1: Some different stuff there, And.
Speaker 2: I think Peterson's role is gonna be different in Black
Speaker 2: and Gold than it is in other stops.
Speaker 1: But in terms of the pure outside guys.
Speaker 2: One war might not be terrible. Yeah, I mean it's like,
Speaker 2: you know, one injury away from need one, like you know,
Speaker 2: who's probably the best of the the other guys there.
Speaker 2: You got Chris Wilcox we talked about earlier there, Luke Barkhu,
Speaker 2: he's done some kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1: You got Maudri Harper, Isaiah Dunn.
Speaker 2: Maybe the thought is, assuming you stay healthy through the
Speaker 2: preseason with those top four outside guys, which why would
Speaker 2: I assume that? But I mean because if you lose one,
Speaker 2: you might have to go shop.
Speaker 1: Now you're real thin. Yeah, But the.
Speaker 2: More I think through it, maybe you keep five corners
Speaker 2: and keep the extra d lineman or extra inside linebacker
Speaker 2: that we were talking about, assuming that the linebacker can
Speaker 2: help on teams. But maybe you load your practice squad
Speaker 2: with corners. Maybe you have yea, I should know this,
Speaker 2: but I don't know usually how many corners they keep
Speaker 2: on their practice squad, But I would.
Speaker 1: Considers a couple, Yeah, a couple, right. You know you're again,
Speaker 1: if you've only got five on your active rosters, we
Speaker 1: need more than at the practice would mind three or four?
Speaker 2: Yea, even on the on there to develop and that
Speaker 2: position is always hard to find too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely so interesting. It's gonna be as we watch
Speaker 1: this roster build. And that's why these these games, these
Speaker 1: upcoming games are so important.
Speaker 2: I say, I'm starting to get excited for the Bucks game,
Speaker 2: just to see the Barkus of the world. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: who do you say, boy, I don't want to get
Speaker 2: rid of that guy.
Speaker 1: Or you know, I mean, there's there's guys there that
Speaker 1: you know. I think we've seen Trenton Thompson outside a
Speaker 1: little bit too. Even though he's listed as a safety,
Speaker 1: he's more of a defensive back. He could play either either.
Speaker 2: Or Those lines get blurry this time in the modern
Speaker 2: day NFL too.
Speaker 1: They really do. We're gonna take another break. He is
Speaker 1: Matt Williams and I am Dale Lot that you're listening
Speaker 1: to the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN
Speaker 1: nine seventy. We are live from Steelers training camp here
Speaker 1: at Saint Vincent College. We'll be back with our number. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll be back with another hour. R Yeah, let's let's
Speaker 1: just say it that way. Anyways, we'll be back with
Speaker 1: more right after.
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