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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly here with Matt Williams.

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Speaker 1: We are live here in Phoenix, Arizona, the built Moore

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Speaker 1: in Arizona. Here, the Arizona builtmore, I should say, for

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Speaker 1: the league meetings here. Mike Tomlin spoke to the media

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Speaker 1: for the first time this offseason yesterday, also addressed the

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Speaker 1: media today at the coaches breakfast here this morning, I say,

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Speaker 1: this morning, it is nine am here here in Phoenix,

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Speaker 1: whatever time it is where wherever you're listening, and we

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Speaker 1: have listeners all over the country. We're not used to

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Speaker 1: dealing with this West Coast time thing. But noon back home,

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Speaker 1: and that's why we are our noon to three here

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Speaker 1: live on SNR Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, this week here from

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Speaker 1: the owners meetings, and lots of stuff to dig into.

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Speaker 1: Matt about what Mike Tomlin spoke about. We'll get to

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Speaker 1: some audio of that here coming up a little bit later.

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Speaker 1: But this morning, UM, you know, I specifically asked, uh

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Speaker 1: asked Mike Tomlin, you know what what's going on at

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Speaker 1: the safety position. We know Terrell Edmonds signed uh last

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Speaker 1: week with the Philadelphia Eagles. UH. There are reports out

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Speaker 1: there that the Monte Kyzy Hash has resigned with the Steelers.

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Speaker 1: Um So obviously you know you have makea Fitzpatrick as well.

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Speaker 1: But you know I asked him, you know, what's what's

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Speaker 1: the plan there? And he said, look, we still got

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Speaker 1: free agency. Uh, we still get the draft. We're going

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Speaker 1: to add somebody else to that room. Um. You know

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Speaker 1: he was asked about Kazy you know, can he play

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Speaker 1: can he play strong? And he says, look, you know

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Speaker 1: the free strong thing is a little over Yeah. Right.

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Speaker 1: It just you know, depends on which how you want

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Speaker 1: to do things. So, you know, I then followed that

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Speaker 1: up with what could there be a possibility of Patrick

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Speaker 1: Peterson doing some of those things as well? Because he

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Speaker 1: did some of that last year in Minnesota. Uh you

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Speaker 1: know he played in the box, he played deep safety. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Uh and obviously smart enough to do that. And he said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they've already talked about that. Um so a lot of

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Speaker 1: things unpeeled there. I guess we'll start with Peterson. Is

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Speaker 1: when they made the signing, I didn't foresee that happening.

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Speaker 1: I thought he was gonna be an outside corner. That's

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Speaker 1: where he spent most of his life because he's been

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Speaker 1: so good at it. You know. I mean he or

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Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame type of guy doing that outside

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Speaker 1: the numbers. He's followed top receivers. But we've seen this

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Speaker 1: through history. I mean these great corners with size, intelligence, experience,

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Speaker 1: Rod Woods, the Woods, yeah, right, both Woodson's plenty of them,

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Speaker 1: can start to do new things, you know. And at

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Speaker 1: his size and his experience and intelligence, I think it

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Speaker 1: makes all the sense in the world. Ball skills, ball skills,

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Speaker 1: right right. I mean he can be near the line

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Speaker 1: of scrimmage. He's well over two hundred pounds. I don't

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Speaker 1: have a problem him, you know, matching up with Mark

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Speaker 1: Andrews or Najoku or someone like that. But he can

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Speaker 1: also go outside. And I also think that gives them

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Speaker 1: nice flexibility in the draft. I mean they're going to

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Speaker 1: draft a corner, yeah, I mean I think that's a

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Speaker 1: foregone conclusion. But if it's an outside guy, if it's

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Speaker 1: Joey Porter Jr. Or whoever, that doesn't mean they're fighting

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Speaker 1: for the same spot, you know, So that in itself

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Speaker 1: I think is really interesting. And then the safety conversation,

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Speaker 1: I think is one we need to have too, because

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Speaker 1: I look at Caz as a high quality football player

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Speaker 1: that's kind of a mini me of Minca, you know.

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Speaker 1: I mean he can do a lot of the Minka stuff.

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Speaker 1: Minka's special and he's better at it than anyone. But

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Speaker 1: the interchangeability I think makes those guys harder to play against.

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Speaker 1: Where Edmonds was a fine player, and basically through my

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Speaker 1: whole career there's been a strong and a free here

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Speaker 1: where a lot of teams just want similar dudes that

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Speaker 1: can rock and roll or a perfect one. So I've

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Speaker 1: been wondering, you know, during the safety transition, and they

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Speaker 1: were a little slow to bring back Edmonds last year.

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Speaker 1: You know, would they rather have two interchangeable guys or

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Speaker 1: do you want a strong plus two strong interchangeable guys?

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Speaker 1: You know, I think ideally you want two guys that

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Speaker 1: can take the football away. And you know, typically those

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Speaker 1: are you more your free free safeties just strongs, don't

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Speaker 1: you know? They get their back to the quarterback a

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Speaker 1: lot there in coverage. But Minca is certainly capable of

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Speaker 1: doing that. Casey is capable of doing that, as is

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Speaker 1: Peter's and as is Peterson. Uh. You know, the shortcomings

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Speaker 1: of that was that you didn't want Terrell Edmonds in

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Speaker 1: a deep post, right you could put him back there

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Speaker 1: on occasion, but you didn't want him back there consistently,

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Speaker 1: right right, I mean even and too high. It's not

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Speaker 1: his best, you know. And we've cited this a lot,

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Speaker 1: I mean, along with like a Darwin James over Edmond's

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Speaker 1: time here. He's aligned a lot more than people realize.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he's been a slot, he's been in the box,

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Speaker 1: he's been too high, he's been single high, et cetera,

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Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. They've asked a lot out of

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Speaker 1: that valuable football player he was. And I don't know

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Speaker 1: that he was a master of any you know, but

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Speaker 1: I mean he was better and better and a high

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Speaker 1: quality football players mentioned. So there's been a lot of

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Speaker 1: talk of boyda Steelers linebackers aren't good enough in coverage.

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Speaker 1: Well I don't believe that to be true, with Cole

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Speaker 1: Hulk in particular. Yeah, So, I don't know where that

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Speaker 1: narrative has come from. We talked about it a little

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Speaker 1: bit last week, like you don't have to be the

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Speaker 1: best guy in the league at it, you just have

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Speaker 1: to be better than what was there last year. Well

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Speaker 1: that's the upgrade. I mean them to be the best

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Speaker 1: guy in the league. But I mean that's on realistic Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but I do think see that's what brings me back

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Speaker 1: to the strong situation is if you had a Edmonds

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Speaker 1: clone or a two hundred and fifteen pounds six two

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Speaker 1: strong safety body type, maybe you take Roberts off the

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Speaker 1: field and he plays pseudo linebacker next to Roberts. So

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Speaker 1: one thing I've noticed in a big way with this

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Speaker 1: offseason is even the gentry signing we'll trouble, We'll talk

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Speaker 1: to you and talk about down the road sets them

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Speaker 1: up where well, they can either take an in line

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Speaker 1: tight end or a move tight end, or they could

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Speaker 1: take a free or a strong right right exactly like

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Speaker 1: you're not going to handle it. It's not we you know,

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Speaker 1: your deck's a lot bigger. It's not there's five guys

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Speaker 1: we're after. Well, now there's fifteen to fit the bill

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Speaker 1: that we'd all be happy with. And I think that's

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Speaker 1: how they've set themselves up. Well, it's always how they

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Speaker 1: set themselves up that you know. Again, if the Steelers

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Speaker 1: had to line up and play a game tomorrow, right

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Speaker 1: they would be able to fill the starting eleven spots

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Speaker 1: on both sides of the football right now, as we

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Speaker 1: sit here, like, I'm not predicting this, but after their moves,

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Speaker 1: they could be done. On offense, they could not draft

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Speaker 1: an off offensive player and be able to line up

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Speaker 1: and play with a better lineup than they had last year. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: on offense, you know what I mean. So, I mean

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Speaker 1: they will add to it. But if they didn't, Wow,

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Speaker 1: this defensive player just falls into lap over time and

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Speaker 1: time again, they'd still be better on offense personnel wise

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Speaker 1: than they were last year. Yeah. And the you know,

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Speaker 1: with with such a young group on that side of

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Speaker 1: the football, as I always like to say, guys are

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Speaker 1: allowed to get better and so you know you're going

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Speaker 1: to continue to see that improvement. Uh, you know from

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Speaker 1: year one to year two to year three. Um. You

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Speaker 1: know that was some other stuff that Mike Tomlin was

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Speaker 1: asked about. It is, you know, the the acquisitions on

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Speaker 1: the offensive line for example, right, um, you know again

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Speaker 1: again filling those spots so that you don't go into

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Speaker 1: the draft saying oh, you know, everybody say, well Steelers

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Speaker 1: need to draft offensive lineman. Well you don't have to

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Speaker 1: do right now, right absolutely, I mean it's l Raven

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Speaker 1: Clark's not the greatest edition in the world. But his

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Speaker 1: third tackles go around the league. I'm fine with that,

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Speaker 1: you know. I mean, in frank, I think they're better

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Speaker 1: at the third tackle spot than they were a year ago.

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Speaker 1: You know, Oh yeah, because I mean he's been a

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Speaker 1: guy that started on both sides of the line. He

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Speaker 1: started the guard, so he's got there's there's again position

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Speaker 1: flexibility right on your bench, right, which is which is critical. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, so I think that they've handled this, uh,

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Speaker 1: this very well. It's I think it's very much a

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Speaker 1: continuation of what they've always done. And so it's an

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Speaker 1: organizational thing. It's not an Omar Khan thing. If it's

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Speaker 1: not a Kevin Colber thing, it's an organizational plan that

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Speaker 1: they have every year. Hey, we want to go into

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Speaker 1: the draft with the board completely open. That was a

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Speaker 1: little different last year. Everything was open except but you

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Speaker 1: had Mitch Rubisky there. You did so, you know, if

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Speaker 1: you didn't get a quarterback last year, if somebody had

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Speaker 1: taken Kenny Pickett ahead of the Steelers pick, yeah, they

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Speaker 1: didn't have to take it. They didn't have to. I

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Speaker 1: mean that doesn't mean they would have pivoted the Willis

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Speaker 1: or Ritter or something like that. Right away. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I doubt that it would have been the case. And

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Speaker 1: you're right. Last year was a little different, and there

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Speaker 1: has been a couple of years that are a little

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Speaker 1: little different where after the Bush trade or the Minka trade,

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Speaker 1: they didn't have the dual picks, and this year is

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Speaker 1: a little different because they got the extra one. You know, like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you can really set yourself up for we don't really

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Speaker 1: need a receiver, but this guy's there. Yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: it's just too good to pass up. It's the beauty.

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Speaker 1: That's the beauty of doing things that way. You know,

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Speaker 1: when people talk about drafting the best player available, oftentimes,

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Speaker 1: when you when you have set yourself up positionally through

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Speaker 1: through free agency here or however you've you've set your roster,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to do something like there were years

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Speaker 1: like people if several years in a row Steelers have

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Speaker 1: to draft a cornerback, what didn't things didn't set up

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Speaker 1: in the in the draft where you were picking at

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Speaker 1: all the top corners were gone, so you know, they

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Speaker 1: just ignored the position. Let they ignore it. They just

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Speaker 1: wasn't available to them. Yeah, they're not gonna read yeah right, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know they get killed over the Devon Bush. They

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Speaker 1: traded up to get Devon Bush. While they could have

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Speaker 1: worked out, it didn't work out. But they had filled

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Speaker 1: that position previously, and they had done it that year

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Speaker 1: as well, if you remember, they signed Mark Bear in

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Speaker 1: that year as well. But they they had looked at

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Speaker 1: Devin Bush as a guy who was worth trading up for,

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Speaker 1: so they so they did it. They didn't have to

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Speaker 1: do that, right, I mean to take it even deeper,

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Speaker 1: and we kind of just talked about this a little bit,

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Speaker 1: but like, tight ends aren't tight ends anymore. Safeties aren't

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Speaker 1: sit safeties anymore. Slots aren't slots, Corners aren't corners. I mean,

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Speaker 1: there's an outside corner, there's a slot corner, there's a free,

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Speaker 1: there's a strong, there's you know, different types of tight ends.

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Speaker 1: So not only have they you know, not pigeonholed themselves

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Speaker 1: or they have to take a tight end, they have

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Speaker 1: to take a tackle. I really don't think they have

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Speaker 1: to take a certain type of either either, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, Like it's like the Lelle situation last year.

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Speaker 1: Have to take in those or what is Leo when

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Speaker 1: you take him? Well, well, you don't know, we don't

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Speaker 1: know yet we just think he's a good football player.

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Speaker 1: Get him in here. And if we're really getting that

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Speaker 1: vibe with the old line, Yeah, we're just gonna keep

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Speaker 1: bringing in linemen we like. And we got a lot

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Speaker 1: of time between now and opening day to figure out

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Speaker 1: our top five and where they're all gonna land. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's true with a lot of positions

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Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, it really is said. You know, this

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Speaker 1: next month here is going to be fascinating. Uh. Pro

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Speaker 1: days still ticking away here. We'll get into some other

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Speaker 1: ones here early April. We'll see some of these guys

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Speaker 1: who haven't had an opportunity to work out. Devin Weatherspoon

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Speaker 1: comes to mind as a guy who hasn't done anything

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Speaker 1: yet at the Illinois Pro Day or the Combine, but

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Speaker 1: he's got something scheduled here at you know, first couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks of April. Um, you know, see a lot

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Speaker 1: of that stuff coming through. Yeah, there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: moving parts here to this whole thing. And uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin was asked about that. You know, he says,

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Speaker 1: I just love the whole process. I mean you can tell, yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is his This is like Christmas shopping, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's uh, and he mentioned, you know, I like to

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Speaker 1: even though it's becoming not as in vogue in the league.

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Speaker 1: I want to be at the Combine. I want to

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Speaker 1: be at the Senior Bowl. I want to be at

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Speaker 1: Pro days because there's things you can gather there that

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Speaker 1: you can't on tape. And then he followed it up

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Speaker 1: by saying, tape is still your resume. You know, we

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Speaker 1: still believe in tape. You know, scouting I'm paraphrasing. More

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Speaker 1: than anything, that's the most important thing, but being hands

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Speaker 1: on and being on the field. And I don't know,

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Speaker 1: head coach, it does more at the Senior Bowl than

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Speaker 1: than coach or travels the more pro days, you know.

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Speaker 1: And I think there's a lot to get from that.

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Speaker 1: I think there is two and I think you you know,

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Speaker 1: you heard some of that when when Patrick Peterson had

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Speaker 1: his uh, his press conference. Now he was a little

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Speaker 1: different story because his cousin had played for this Brian

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Speaker 1: McFadden had played for the Steelers. But he talked about

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Speaker 1: you know how cool it was, you know, the Tomlin

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Speaker 1: was there at his pro day and and you remember

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Speaker 1: these things. Yeah, so guys, when they hit free agency again,

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Speaker 1: you're not gonna get a chance to draft everybody, No,

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Speaker 1: of course, Um, but you know he was there in

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Speaker 1: twenty ten when Joe Hayden had his pro day. You know,

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Speaker 1: they drafted Marquis Palency that year, but he was there. Attention. Hey,

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Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin's here, Like, I want to play for that dude.

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Speaker 1: Like Hayden went went fifth or six overall and Steelers

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Speaker 1: somewhere in that, right, you weren't going to get him.

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Speaker 1: Like I've been asked this, you know, like so the

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Speaker 1: will Steelers pay any attention to the rookie quarterbacks? This here?

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Speaker 1: I'm like, they know they're not taking any of the

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Speaker 1: top five, but they're gonna get scouting reports on all

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Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, you're gonna play against that day against them.

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Speaker 1: You might sign them like Trubisky five years from now

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Speaker 1: or whatever too. I mean, your your report on these

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Speaker 1: guys is always growing and it starts now. So by

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Speaker 1: no means are they going to ignore it. Well, they

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Speaker 1: maybe more so at that position, especially that position, then

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Speaker 1: some others. Uh, you know, particularly I did the thing

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Speaker 1: in my five for Farriday a couple of weeks ago

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Speaker 1: about that twenty eighteen quarterback draft class or five of

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Speaker 1: them drafted in the in the in the first round,

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Speaker 1: in four in the top ten, which was a record

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Speaker 1: at that time. Yeah. So if you but if you

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Speaker 1: look at it, the only one of those guys who

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Speaker 1: right now as we sit here, which is going to

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Speaker 1: bring me to another point here in a session, is

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Speaker 1: Josh Allen. He's the rest of them are all somewhere else, somewhere.

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Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield's on his fourth team, right Yeah, like a year.

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Speaker 1: Sam Darnold's on his third team. Josh Rosen's played on

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Speaker 1: six different teams. You know, it's it's you know, I

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Speaker 1: mean there's two success stories out of the five. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and one of them's careers in limbo right now, obviously

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Speaker 1: in Baltimore, but he was obviously a success story. Allen

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Speaker 1: has been a star. I mean, it's it's crazy. You

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Speaker 1: look at this class and the chances of four or

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Speaker 1: five starters coming out of this class is slim and nuns. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: some of these guys are not going to be with

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Speaker 1: the teams at draftown right right, And this is this

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Speaker 1: is what history tells us of these quarterbacks in this

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Speaker 1: year's draft class. And there's probably gonna be at least

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Speaker 1: four in the first round. I bet there's five in

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Speaker 1: the top five, in the top fifty attendant hooker. History

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Speaker 1: tells us that at least three of those guys probably

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Speaker 1: end up somewhere else in the next four or five years, right, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: if not sooner. Yeah, and look at the Darnolds of

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Speaker 1: the world and all these guys that are changing teams.

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Speaker 1: Rosenmated out of one year and yeah, right there is

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Speaker 1: the first fa overall year later, you know. So, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's ever changing. You know, is Trey Lanza hit who knows?

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Speaker 1: You know, he's been only three years already, We don't know. Right,

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of that going on, So you need

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Speaker 1: to be on top all these quarterbacks. They could be

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Speaker 1: on your team, you could be you're definitely gonna play

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Speaker 1: against them. We mentioned the Lamar Jackson there, and there

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Speaker 1: are reports today that he has requested a trade from

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Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens, which is a step further than where

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Speaker 1: So we just got done with the coach's breakfast here.

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Speaker 1: Pulling back to the curtain. So what they do is

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Speaker 1: they line up all the So the AFC got done,

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Speaker 1: they were first, so they put all the coaches in.

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Speaker 1: There's four tables set up in four rows, so they

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Speaker 1: break him down by division and Tomlin's table. Mike Tomlin's

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Speaker 1: table was in the back of the room, so I

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Speaker 1: was sitting there, but I was looking around to see

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Speaker 1: which tables had the most people around them. The one

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Speaker 1: that was right across from us was the Jets. There

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Speaker 1: were about one hundred people gathered around that table. And

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Speaker 1: then the other table down I'm looking down and I

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Speaker 1: see down down the way. The other table that was

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Speaker 1: had a big crowd around it was the Baltimore Ravens

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Speaker 1: and John Harbaugh. Because those are two teams right now

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Speaker 1: quite frankly don't have quarterbacks. They don't have quarterbacks, don't

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Speaker 1: have a quarterback under contract. And I haven't given the

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Speaker 1: Lamar thing a whole lot of thought this next step

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Speaker 1: of it. But if he truly is requesting a trade

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Speaker 1: not going to be a Raven, that doesn't leave him

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Speaker 1: a lot of options for a starting quarterback this year.

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Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, who's available? Yeah, I mean free agent. See,

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Speaker 1: I mean we're only, like, you know, twelve days into

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Speaker 1: free agency. But the quarterback market in terms of starters

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Speaker 1: outside of Carson Wentz, is there somebody that you want

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Speaker 1: to go get at this point, and I don't know that.

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Speaker 1: I want to go get Carson Wentz right right, one

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Speaker 1: hundred percent. And obviously they could work a deal where

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Speaker 1: a quarterback comes back in the trade, but it's not

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Speaker 1: going to be nearly Lamars once again that yeah, that

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Speaker 1: limits is that Desit Ritter or someone like the Sam

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Speaker 1: Howe or somebody like that. I mean, that's still a

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Speaker 1: question mark. Maybe they can get the fourth pick overall

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Speaker 1: off the Colts. Maybe I think they're gonna be in

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Speaker 1: limbos here. I still think if if if I were

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Speaker 1: running a team right now, and I know everybody's talking

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Speaker 1: about this, well there hasn't been much movement on the

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Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson front, I would wait until after the draft.

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Speaker 1: He's not going to sign that that franchise tag deal.

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Speaker 1: No before this. I'm waiting until the draft is completed.

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Speaker 1: If I don't get a quarterback in the draft, or

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Speaker 1: if if I don't like the guys who are there,

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Speaker 1: or I just I'm gonna tell if I'm let's mentioned

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Speaker 1: the fourth overall pick the Indianapolis Colts. So I'm the Colts.

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Speaker 1: I just take the best player available, right, Like, say

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Speaker 1: you love Stroud and you love you know Bryce Young,

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Speaker 1: but they're gone. But they're gone. Yeah, you're not gonna

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Speaker 1: get You're not gonna get one of the top two guys,

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Speaker 1: right right, So why not then just wait until after

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Speaker 1: the draft draft your best player of all. Let's say

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Speaker 1: draft Willie Anderson, yeah, or trade down or yeah, whatever,

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Speaker 1: do whatever, and then you signed Lamar after the draft.

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Speaker 1: You won't You're still gonna give up two first round

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Speaker 1: picks for Lamar, but you're not giving up the fourth

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Speaker 1: round pick this year. You're giving up seventeen next year

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Speaker 1: because Lamar makes Yeah, Lamar makes you a better team

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Speaker 1: than you were this past season, and you're giving up whatever. Again,

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Speaker 1: you're a better football team. Yeah, And with all respect

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Speaker 1: of the Jags, they're probably favored to win the South

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Speaker 1: if you had Lamar and Willie Anderson to that team

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Speaker 1: or certainly in the mix, you know, And I think

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Speaker 1: that is feasible. And then you're giving up a pick

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Speaker 1: in the twenties and then hopefully the next year it's

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Speaker 1: thirty two. But I mean not. We were talking about

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Speaker 1: this at our breakfast this morning. We had breakfast. You know,

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Speaker 1: DeForrest Bucker is, you know, said he I might not

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Speaker 1: want to be here for a rebuild. Well, if they

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Speaker 1: go sign Lamar, don't trade me. Now, hey, this looks

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Speaker 1: a little different. Now, let's how about we come back. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: because run it back and now the Odell wants to

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Speaker 1: sign with you or whoever sudden, all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: You're you're a destination team. Movie done. Because that's what

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Speaker 1: having the quarterback does for your roster. That's what having

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Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett in place does for the Steelers. Yeah. You know, hey,

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Speaker 1: Patrick Peterson and talked about it at his press conference,

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Speaker 1: you know when they signed him. Hey, this is a

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Speaker 1: team that I think is on the rise, that you know,

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Speaker 1: they've got the pieces are in place, the offensive league.

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Speaker 1: Got a nice young quarterback there who's shown that he

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Speaker 1: can do some things. Yeah, and and so yeah, I

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Speaker 1: want I wanted to come here. Yeah, and that makes

387
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Speaker 1: perfect sense. And then you can build around that guy.

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Speaker 1: As everyone knows, I mean, having a quarter a quality

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Speaker 1: quarterback on the rookie deal is one of the best

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Speaker 1: cheat codes in the league at the moment. And I

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Speaker 1: expect pick a big step forward this year. Yeah, absolutely, so, uh,

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Speaker 1: It's it's all very interesting. And then the machination into

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Speaker 1: this whole thing, um, you know, just sitting there that

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Speaker 1: I texted this to you yesterday, that this you know,

395
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Speaker 1: some some NFL futures have started to be you know,

396
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Speaker 1: get released here. Yeah, the over under wind totals. We

397
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Speaker 1: talked about the power rankings last week. I mean, I

398
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Speaker 1: don't know how you power rank the Jets or the

399
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Speaker 1: or the Ravens right now and have a quarterback right

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Speaker 1: at least the Packers have a fallback plan. So what

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Speaker 1: I find really interesting around the league is there's three

402
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Speaker 1: teams that have done nothing in free agency. Yeah, it's

403
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Speaker 1: the Ravens, It's the Colts and the Packers. Well, they're

404
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Speaker 1: the team's being discussed with the two star former MVP quarterbacks.

405
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Speaker 1: And then there's the Jets, who's also vastly being discussed,

406
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Speaker 1: and no one's one more than them, you know, like

407
00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:49,480
Speaker 1: they've taken vastly different approaches. But in a way, if

408
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Speaker 1: the Colts really are been targeting Lamar this whole time,

409
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Speaker 1: they're probably saving their money. And meanwhile, the Green Bay

410
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Speaker 1: and Baltimore have Rogers and Lamar under contract, so they

411
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Speaker 1: can't go get the left tackle or whatever, you know,

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Speaker 1: So it's been hard on those teams. Yeah, they haven't

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Speaker 1: done anything it's it's you know, that franchise tag is

414
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Speaker 1: a blessing and a curse. Yeah. Anyways, and there's some

415
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Speaker 1: money tied up again. You know, having gone through the

416
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Speaker 1: Levon Bell situation and seeing how that played out, nobody

417
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Speaker 1: ever thought that there was a chance that Levyon Bell

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Speaker 1: wouldn't sign his franchise tag, right, and it's a lot

419
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Speaker 1: of money did and that's what he did. A different approach. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: I mean, like the Ravens, if they do make a

421
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Speaker 1: Lamar deal, it's almost like, boy, we just inherited forty

422
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Speaker 1: million dollars though, I mean, they could make the Hopkins

423
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,119
Speaker 1: trade or something like that all of a sudden, But

424
00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:38,720
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, there's no where do I spend it?

425
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,000
Speaker 1: What's your quarterback? Yeah right, here's your quarterback? And where

426
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,719
Speaker 1: do I spend this newfound money? There's nothing to buy? Yeah,

427
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:45,879
Speaker 1: it's it's uh, you know, did you save it for

428
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,639
Speaker 1: next year? Are you? I mean, without Lamar, are they rebuilding?

429
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,200
Speaker 1: I would think yeah. I mean I think even with Lamar,

430
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,600
Speaker 1: they're reassessing how they play offense. I mean they went

431
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,360
Speaker 1: out and got a pro style coordinator. I mean they're

432
00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: gonna throw the ball more but they're not adding receivers still, right,

433
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:03,840
Speaker 1: I mean you would think they would have picked up

434
00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,199
Speaker 1: a wide out by now. Yeah. The interesting thing I

435
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,320
Speaker 1: thought that, you know, this was Mike Tomlin's quote of

436
00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:10,760
Speaker 1: the morning. I thought he said that, uh, let me

437
00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,320
Speaker 1: let me call this. As he was asked about how

438
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 1: is winning your division? Do you look at the other

439
00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,879
Speaker 1: teams in your division first and what they're doing in

440
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,640
Speaker 1: the offseason? And is that how you build your team?

441
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,760
Speaker 1: He says, well, Uh, if you want to dominate anything,

442
00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:27,679
Speaker 1: you have to you have to go. You've got to

443
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,400
Speaker 1: start in your own neighborhood. In our neighborhood's the AFC North. Sure,

444
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:33,240
Speaker 1: so you have to be you have to at least

445
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,479
Speaker 1: pay attention to what's going on with those teams. I just,

446
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,560
Speaker 1: you know, wonder what the private conversations are right now

447
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,720
Speaker 1: in the Steelers front office about what's going on with

448
00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,960
Speaker 1: with I was sitting right next to him, but I

449
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,120
Speaker 1: did over here him say something along the lines of, hey,

450
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:47,719
Speaker 1: I've got no insight on the mart you know. I mean,

451
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:50,119
Speaker 1: that's what he's going to say publicly, but yeah, and

452
00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: that's what he's gonna pay attention have to. But I

453
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,960
Speaker 1: mean you're the coaching staff. The advanced scouts are looking

454
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,080
Speaker 1: at the division right now, going oh yeah, I'm I

455
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:00,879
Speaker 1: don't know. I can't really dig into my work with

456
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: Baltimore might as well. Focused don't know what are they

457
00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:05,600
Speaker 1: going to be. I don't know why waste my time

458
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,639
Speaker 1: pretending like Lamar is gonna be there or whatever. You know, yeah, yeah,

459
00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,440
Speaker 1: It's just fascinating how this whole thing continues to play

460
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 1: out here. I don't think it's going to be settled

461
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,040
Speaker 1: anytime soon. I don't either. I mean maybe today, if that,

462
00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,360
Speaker 1: if he is forcing a trade sooner, maybe that gets

463
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,320
Speaker 1: the wheel spinning a little more. I don't know. It's

464
00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:26,600
Speaker 1: just it's hard to find matches for him, it really is.

465
00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:29,639
Speaker 1: And then you got to play a specific way with him. Um,

466
00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,200
Speaker 1: you know, you're basically I don't think any team would

467
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:37,520
Speaker 1: be as far the way the Ravens played with him,

468
00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:39,600
Speaker 1: because I think that actually handcuffed him to some degree.

469
00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:41,720
Speaker 1: I agree, but you better have a very distinct plan

470
00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:45,160
Speaker 1: in place. Absolutely, absolutely, Hey, we're gonna take a break.

471
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,840
Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lally. You're listening

472
00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,560
Speaker 1: to our live coverage here on Steelers Nation Radio. From

473
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,840
Speaker 1: the Arizona Biltmore. We're here for the league meetings again.

474
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:58,240
Speaker 1: We're gonna be here from twelve to three Eastern. For

475
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,280
Speaker 1: our time, it's nine to twelve, so the next basically

476
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,760
Speaker 1: a little over a little over two hours remaining here

477
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:05,399
Speaker 1: in the show, but we're gonna take a break. We'll

478
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:09,560
Speaker 1: be back with more right after this. Welcome back. I

479
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,119
Speaker 1: am Dale Lelli. He is Matt Williams. When we are

480
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,119
Speaker 1: live here at the NFL meetings here in at the

481
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:19,479
Speaker 1: Biltmore Hotel in Arizona, in a Phoenix, Arizona resident here,

482
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:24,080
Speaker 1: it joins us stars, how you doing good to see

483
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:28,080
Speaker 1: at another event. This has to be great for you

484
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,720
Speaker 1: because every other time that we see you at Steeler

485
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,280
Speaker 1: games or at the Combine or anything like that, you're

486
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,919
Speaker 1: flying to come to us. We all came to you

487
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 1: this week and I appreciate it. Thank you, guys. Please

488
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,199
Speaker 1: enjoy the sunshine while we're here. You went to Weinberger,

489
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 1: so you already hit one gym already in the city.

490
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,680
Speaker 1: The place was tremendous. Yeah, so we're good. We're okay.

491
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:53,200
Speaker 1: This is fine. It is a home game show. So Max.

492
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 1: Since we last talked, uh, the Steelers have made a

493
00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:01,159
Speaker 1: bunch of moves. Um free agency has has been pretty

494
00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 1: interesting for this team for the second year in a row,

495
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,600
Speaker 1: once again building on that offensive line. Three new guys

496
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,680
Speaker 1: coming in the Raven Clark presently, and that's all three

497
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 1: with Eagles backgrounds, Isaac Samalu and then Nate Herbig. What

498
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:17,879
Speaker 1: are the Steelers getting here with these guys. Well, I

499
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,960
Speaker 1: think one of the things you're getting, you're getting a

500
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:22,920
Speaker 1: quality depth, first of all, which is something that we

501
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,440
Speaker 1: were fortunate and blessed not to have major injuries last

502
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:28,760
Speaker 1: year that we had to actually test that depth. But

503
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:32,360
Speaker 1: now you're getting some certified guys who've actually played football

504
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,480
Speaker 1: who understand this. And you know, with Isaac Suamalo especially,

505
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 1: I mean, you're getting a starter that just literally came

506
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 1: off a Super Bowl season, So a guy that has

507
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,760
Speaker 1: a lot of explosiveness, experience and fits that mold of

508
00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:46,680
Speaker 1: a guard, right. I mean, when you look at him,

509
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,160
Speaker 1: you don't question what he does for a living, right, Yeah,

510
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,159
Speaker 1: I mean, and so but I think also, you know,

511
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,400
Speaker 1: with Nate Herbert, you're you're getting some guys on the outside.

512
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,440
Speaker 1: I mean, you get guys who have outside flexibility. I

513
00:23:57,480 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 1: think when you're looking at l Raven. You're looking at Nate.

514
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 1: You know, Isaac is strictly in the interior, and you

515
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:04,080
Speaker 1: could all you could say that they're all interior type

516
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 1: of guys outside of the Raven. But that's what we

517
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:08,159
Speaker 1: need it, right, because that was a one area. If

518
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,200
Speaker 1: you're looking at up gring the offensive line, you've got

519
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:11,880
Speaker 1: to be able to create that push and the run

520
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,879
Speaker 1: game starts in that interior offensive line and then displacing

521
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 1: human beings to be able to create those running lengths.

522
00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:21,399
Speaker 1: So obviously, to me, physicality winning at the point of

523
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,159
Speaker 1: attack is stressed with this offensive line. These moves are

524
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 1: screaming that these aren't little human beings. These aren't movement

525
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:28,960
Speaker 1: based players. I mean, they're tough guys. There are people

526
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,119
Speaker 1: movers as you mentioned. So now you've got four quality

527
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,880
Speaker 1: guards you can trust. Mason Cole a good year at center,

528
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,359
Speaker 1: but some of those guys could emergency move to center.

529
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 1: You have your swing tackle. So to me, if you're

530
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,600
Speaker 1: shopping in the draft, it's a tackle, you know. I mean,

531
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:47,040
Speaker 1: do you have a preference of right or left? I mean,

532
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 1: would you be hesitant to move chokes back to left

533
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,560
Speaker 1: if you drafted a right only or if you drafted

534
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: a Dawad Jones from Ohio State, he could read shirt

535
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,239
Speaker 1: a year and learn left. And I think the right

536
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,120
Speaker 1: left thing is overblown. In the league, you did both, Yeah,

537
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:04,159
Speaker 1: I did both, and I was brought in as a

538
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,400
Speaker 1: right tackle, and then after three years, boom they were like, hey,

539
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 1: you can put him over the left. And I'm like,

540
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 1: all right, cool. I mean I did this in college.

541
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 1: So you know, I think when we kind of get

542
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:15,959
Speaker 1: to that exclusivity now, I know I could go on

543
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,119
Speaker 1: my soapbox and talk about kids being exclusively trained at

544
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 1: specific positions from the age of eight. But offensive, let's

545
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 1: face it, this is the land of lost toys, right,

546
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 1: It's the ill fitting parts that on a football team, Like, hey,

547
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:28,919
Speaker 1: just go play offensive line and then you kind of

548
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:31,680
Speaker 1: develop into that position. But I think if you're looking

549
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:33,320
Speaker 1: at right and left, I think if you can get

550
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 1: a guy who's smart enough, he might only have played right.

551
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:38,919
Speaker 1: If he's smart enough, you can you can you can

552
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,919
Speaker 1: cross over. But all offensive linemen were smart. Once again,

553
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 1: there are levels. There are levels now base average, high

554
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: qus up here where the rest of the teams kind

555
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 1: of it still is actually not quantifiable, but real quick

556
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 1: a guy like Jones. I mean, he's only a right

557
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,760
Speaker 1: everybody says. But if you draft him at thirty two,

558
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: hypothetically you don't need him to even play Week one.

559
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 1: He could come in as your sixth offensive lineman. He

560
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 1: could spend a year learning left technique, you know, right.

561
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 1: That's why I think that's a great spot for any

562
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:15,199
Speaker 1: rookie to learn. Yeah, so I think, yeah, and I

563
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:17,040
Speaker 1: think that's where the miss it's like, oh he can

564
00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 1: only it's because he's only been presented with right, right, right,

565
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: that's what you kind of say. That's because that was

566
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,160
Speaker 1: the side. Yeah, right, Yeah, he can go play left

567
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,160
Speaker 1: if you need him to guess what, you switch the feet.

568
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 1: You understand that, Okay, I need to flip things around mentally,

569
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:31,719
Speaker 1: get used to it, like you said, red shirt or

570
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,240
Speaker 1: get a couple of games, because I didn't. I didn't

571
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,479
Speaker 1: start out dressing when I first came to the Sealers No. Four, Like,

572
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 1: I sat out for the first six games because I

573
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:41,359
Speaker 1: was like, I gotta be the swing guy even though

574
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: I played right tackle. If Marv my first game I

575
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 1: went in was a Patriots game, and oh four, because

576
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 1: Marvell is like I'm done, I was like okay, but

577
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 1: that probably served you. Well, you're not starting week one

578
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,040
Speaker 1: or media, you get that six week stretched to kind

579
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:57,520
Speaker 1: of get your feet wet, Yeah, get my feet weight,

580
00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 1: understand the program. And then my first game that I

581
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,800
Speaker 1: played significant time was not even at the tackles. It

582
00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,560
Speaker 1: was at left guard. It was week sixteen or week seventeen,

583
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 1: sixteenth game of the season in Buffalo. We'd already sealed

584
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:12,479
Speaker 1: up the number one. I remember that game. Yeah, and

585
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 1: and Alan, Alan and Jeff come out and they're like,

586
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 1: we're not playing go ahead, Rook Like, oh well, Chucky, no, Chuck,

587
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,159
Speaker 1: he's going in the center. Well, where's the guard guard dressed?

588
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 1: So I went and played left guard for my first

589
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:27,480
Speaker 1: time in my first game of my career. Is a

590
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:34,680
Speaker 1: left guard going up against Pat Williams and Sam Adams. Yeah, yeah, guys,

591
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:36,639
Speaker 1: you know, I mean they're three seventy apiece. Will He

592
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: went from about what a buck fifty that day exactly

593
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,760
Speaker 1: outside toss zone because if we weren't running up the middle.

594
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: And I'm sure this was true in your day, but

595
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,880
Speaker 1: certainly growing up, right tackles dealt with the power players.

596
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,000
Speaker 1: You know, left tackles had dealt with the speed rushers.

597
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 1: That's not even close to being true anymore. T J. Watt,

598
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 1: De Bosha brothers, they all come from. I mean, yeah,

599
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 1: I think the big, heavy guy on the right is

600
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:00,600
Speaker 1: a misnomer in a big way. Now it is you

601
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,359
Speaker 1: have to be just as athletic on the right side

602
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: now as you do left, and sometimes even more because,

603
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,400
Speaker 1: like you said, the premier pass rusher, he's not staying stagnant.

604
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,360
Speaker 1: He's not just coming from the blind side. Now. If

605
00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 1: he is a right a right end left side, he

606
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,760
Speaker 1: can also walk over the other side. Depending on the scheme.

607
00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:18,960
Speaker 1: They're going to try and find the biggest mismatch, so

608
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:21,639
Speaker 1: you can get guys lining up at the guard position.

609
00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 1: So you have to be just athletic as an offensive

610
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,600
Speaker 1: lineman and versatile at all the positions outside the center,

611
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:30,440
Speaker 1: because center is a different skill setting of itself, but

612
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,960
Speaker 1: the other four positions you have to be fluid and flexible.

613
00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:37,120
Speaker 1: So he just mentioned the pass rushers moving around like that.

614
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 1: If a guy did that and all of a sudden

615
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 1: you look up and Miles Garrett's lining up consistently across

616
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:46,960
Speaker 1: from you, you ticked off about that. Yeah, you take

617
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 1: that personal like they think they think I'm the week

618
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: I was the fresh fish on the catch of the

619
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,120
Speaker 1: Day report. No, no, So now it makes me what

620
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,400
Speaker 1: I'm like. Okay, so you identified me as a weakness.

621
00:28:58,400 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 1: You put your best guy over me, and he's coming

622
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 1: over me every play. All right, I gotta show now

623
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: that my weakness is a strength. And I think it

624
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,040
Speaker 1: also helps those guys that understand, Hey, you got to

625
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 1: study everybody across the last I think that's the other things.

626
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:12,600
Speaker 1: I'm just a right tackle, so I'm only going to

627
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: look at right tackle film. It's like, no, you need

628
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 1: to look at the left tackle film. You need to

629
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 1: look at that flex guy that comes in on third down.

630
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:19,200
Speaker 1: You need to understand all four of those guys because

631
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: guess what a twist happens Now you get that d

632
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: tackle right. So, and I think that's the other part

633
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 1: that coaches have to really get up to speed with

634
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 1: players and them understanding because you know, when you go

635
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,840
Speaker 1: to college, they hand you the notebook with everything every week,

636
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,960
Speaker 1: and they do they have this other company doing scouting

637
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:36,719
Speaker 1: reports for you that they send into you. Now you

638
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 1: have to do it yourself. The pros they don't do that,

639
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 1: like the pros will give you the notes and the tips.

640
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 1: But you have to use your own knowledge and you

641
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 1: have to understand I need to know everything, not just

642
00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 1: that one spot, right, and the Eagles epitomized this last

643
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: year and had great success. You're not only getting four dudes.

644
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: I mean you might get eight or ten that you

645
00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:56,920
Speaker 1: have to block on that specific day. I mean you

646
00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 1: might get hard Grave, you might get reddick. You mean

647
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,080
Speaker 1: you could they be any different? You know? Right right exactly?

648
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 1: Let you get yeah, yeah, I mean everybody's gonna try

649
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: to bring hockey waves a lineman and they're fresher than

650
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 1: you are. Yeah, they want lineships and that's the other

651
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:13,719
Speaker 1: thing for offensive, like we have to I know, they

652
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:15,880
Speaker 1: look at us and you look at the body dimensions like, dude,

653
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:17,560
Speaker 1: this due's actually it's like but we have to be

654
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 1: in a special condition because there's no you're not right, Hey,

655
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 1: guess what guys only do first a second down? I'm

656
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 1: not a third down scalist, third down pass rush offense specialist. No,

657
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,040
Speaker 1: I've only seen that once. Yeah, and that was that

658
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 1: was the one year with the Steelers when when they

659
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 1: ended up having to kick a fanic out to Matthias. Yeah,

660
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 1: with the tackle. So if it was a run play,

661
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: Alan was inside. If it was a pass play, Alan

662
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:46,239
Speaker 1: was going out the tackle, you might get away with that,

663
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 1: but otherwise that's a bit of a tell. Yeah, but

664
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean so, so that's where you have

665
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: to be able to combat that. And I think that's

666
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:55,880
Speaker 1: what also kind of stunts when we're talking about the

667
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 1: evolution of an offensive lineman, right, and how that position

668
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 1: hasn't grown as much as the other positions. Right. I mean,

669
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,600
Speaker 1: pass rushers get bigger, strong, or faster every year. Linebackers

670
00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,600
Speaker 1: get cat like quickness, they get sidelined to sideline, and

671
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,040
Speaker 1: dB guys you know, are just that much faster. But

672
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:13,520
Speaker 1: offensive line has been one because you have to be

673
00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 1: so convertible to all conditions, right that there's not as

674
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 1: much like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna see the next

675
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,800
Speaker 1: Tony Piselli and then that guy ends up you were

676
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: coming to the league. And then when you do have

677
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: a lane Johnson or you do have a tyrant Smith

678
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: in his right, when you get those guys, you're like,

679
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 1: I gotta keep that guy, you know, Joe Thomas. But

680
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:35,160
Speaker 1: those guys aren't walking through the door every day, So

681
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 1: you have to have a guy that's all conditions purposeful.

682
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: And now you look at like a guy Orlando Brown

683
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 1: who just and will now be in our division. But

684
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,440
Speaker 1: he was uncommon type right. Oh, he's only going to

685
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: be a right tackle and he gets pushed out to left. Oh,

686
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:49,200
Speaker 1: he's not a great left tack. Well, the dude just

687
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 1: signed a huge deal to be a left. But he

688
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 1: started out his right and shown that I can convert. Oh,

689
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 1: his feet aren't quick enough, That's okay. He's got long,

690
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: gargantuan arms. Right, so it's like extra, why do you

691
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,560
Speaker 1: need the feed? So it's just it's tough, And I

692
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 1: think that's where you haven't developed that because we're not

693
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 1: shifting out like a defensive line. We don't have special person.

694
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:12,360
Speaker 1: We have to be ready for everything. And that's why

695
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: it's more important when you get a guy who is athletic.

696
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 1: I think flexibility is really the biggest thing. How good

697
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 1: does this guy bend? And then also that brain uptop?

698
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 1: How can you disseminate information on the fly? Those are

699
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,440
Speaker 1: the two biggest critical things to building a good offensive line.

700
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 1: It's not how many times you can bench press, because

701
00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 1: you get arms like this and you're like, uh, okay,

702
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:33,920
Speaker 1: I'm only gonna get twenty five times. Yeah, I'm not

703
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:38,480
Speaker 1: gonna I'm not gonna set thee I'm not even getting

704
00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 1: in the thirties. But but that's what it is. So

705
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,240
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it's so tough, and that's why

706
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 1: you never understand how unlikely those guys are gonna be.

707
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:49,600
Speaker 1: But it's great to see that we have that depth

708
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:51,760
Speaker 1: here and that you have a Chooks, you have a Dan,

709
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 1: now you have le Raven who can kind of move

710
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 1: around and help you out in some situations. Like you said,

711
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:57,560
Speaker 1: also teach a guy at the tight end position. You're

712
00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 1: gonna draft one and day two, Um, find that guy

713
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 1: who can possibly be a plug and play guy that

714
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: could play across the line. Well, let me ask you this, Max.

715
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,880
Speaker 1: So if you are, say Kevin Dotson in the last

716
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 1: couple of weeks here, and you see all of a

717
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 1: sudden the Steelers adding a bunch of players at your

718
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 1: position or even I mean for that minute matter, James Daniels,

719
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,960
Speaker 1: how are you approaching that as a professional pissed off?

720
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,160
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, that's essentially what it comes out,

721
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,520
Speaker 1: because I mean, look at look at when I came in, right,

722
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:27,840
Speaker 1: I was a third rounder and oh four, and I

723
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,520
Speaker 1: was like, okay, I'm behind Oliver Ross and Marvel Smith.

724
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,520
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, maybe I can be for the right tech.

725
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,640
Speaker 1: Then they draft Trey Essex follow your same round third

726
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:39,480
Speaker 1: round as well. Oh and then by the way, the

727
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:41,480
Speaker 1: year after that, oh, we're gonna take Willie Cologne in

728
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,560
Speaker 1: the fourth. Okay, in the year that we're gonna take

729
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,920
Speaker 1: Tony Hills, we're gonna bring in Jonathan Scott. I mean,

730
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: so every year, Mike Adams, you just get used to

731
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 1: that competition here, and I'm like, okay, that's the new mark.

732
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,640
Speaker 1: I have to come in and I have to be

733
00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 1: better than these guys to make sure I keep my position.

734
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 1: Every year was a competition, and that was one of

735
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:02,360
Speaker 1: the things that I thrived in that. And I actually

736
00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:04,239
Speaker 1: wanted to help those guys. Said I'm like, shoot, if

737
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 1: I go down, I need this guy ready to go.

738
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,399
Speaker 1: I can't treat him like he's the enemy. But at

739
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 1: the same time, I also know that that's the rabbit.

740
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 1: I had to stay in front of that rabbit right there,

741
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,359
Speaker 1: because he's the one that's try that's trying to get

742
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,120
Speaker 1: in front of me. I need to keep pace, so

743
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:19,080
Speaker 1: I mean it helps as a motivator, so hopefully that's

744
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,280
Speaker 1: the same thing for Kevin. It comes as a motivator,

745
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: and it's not one of those things where he kind

746
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,400
Speaker 1: of negatively internalizes, like man, didn't want to get rid

747
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:27,960
Speaker 1: of me. It's like, no, they're pushing you for competition

748
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,759
Speaker 1: because you didn't have any last year. Yeah, like Kendrick Green,

749
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,880
Speaker 1: there was no threat of Kendrick Green starting in place

750
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:37,440
Speaker 1: of Kevin Dotson. I mean he dressed completely in street

751
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 1: clothes for the entire pure So now you need that

752
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,920
Speaker 1: guy who can push Kevin, or Kevin becomes the guy

753
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 1: who's pushing Kevin becomes a guy who's bushy. Yeah, pressure right,

754
00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:50,320
Speaker 1: Diamonds right, become the pusher or the pushy. Yes. I

755
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 1: always looked at it this way. I mean, I've never

756
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:54,719
Speaker 1: been in your shoes or a player's shoes. But if

757
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:57,560
Speaker 1: that player doesn't take it personally that I used the

758
00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:59,680
Speaker 1: first round pick on his position, or that I took

759
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,399
Speaker 1: my Garrett from right and left the line up against him,

760
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,360
Speaker 1: he's probably not mentally tough enough for this league. Yeah,

761
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,640
Speaker 1: you know, Yeah, it's one thing to be unbothered, but

762
00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:13,839
Speaker 1: there's another thing to just be completely aloof Right, it's

763
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:18,040
Speaker 1: just another good I'll just I'll just I'll just wear

764
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:23,919
Speaker 1: a sweatsuit this week. If you're gonna be in the street, Yeah,

765
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:25,080
Speaker 1: I mean, do you want to play or do you

766
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,200
Speaker 1: not want to play? You know? And so I think

767
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: it again, it raises the level of water for everybody.

768
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 1: Everybody better up their game if they want to get

769
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 1: on the field. And I think when you look at

770
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 1: what they've done with that offensive line is they've added

771
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,120
Speaker 1: a lot of competition there. Yeah, add a lot of competition,

772
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,080
Speaker 1: a lot of quality depth that Hey, if you don't

773
00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 1: end up the starter boom, you're gonna be in the

774
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,040
Speaker 1: starter in waiting position. It's not gonna happen like it

775
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 1: did last year where they play the snaps. No, that's

776
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 1: just not realistic. That is absolutely an aberration and it's

777
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,799
Speaker 1: something that you appreciate right for that year, but we

778
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 1: all know that that has a cumulative effect in years

779
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 1: to come that there is going to come to something

780
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:05,920
Speaker 1: that's going to come to head and you want to

781
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:08,719
Speaker 1: make sure you're prepared for it. Because you remember a

782
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,520
Speaker 1: couple of years ago San Francisco, Right, they go to

783
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 1: New York with a full team, they leave with the

784
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:17,440
Speaker 1: ting guys on ir and you don't want to be

785
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 1: in that situation where you're scrambling. You want to have

786
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,279
Speaker 1: guys who are quality in place. And I think that's

787
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,320
Speaker 1: what you did. You added not only potential capable starters,

788
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 1: but guys who could be quality death guys who could

789
00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:29,160
Speaker 1: be prepared at a moment's notice. So if you ask

790
00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: any offensive lineman, continuity is unbelievably important. You've said this.

791
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,000
Speaker 1: Wolf says this. Every lineman I've ever come across playing

792
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,239
Speaker 1: with this guy next to me, Wolf always talks about

793
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,239
Speaker 1: we just grunted, and everybody knew what they're talking about.

794
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 1: I mean, and I think there's a lot of that

795
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 1: to be said. And I think the short answer to

796
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 1: the question about the answer is no. But because those

797
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 1: five played together snaps, they created a lot of that,

798
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 1: and you're going to rock that boat a little bit.

799
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:54,279
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a long time between now an opening day.

800
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 1: But is there any concern with that? I don't think

801
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,160
Speaker 1: there's a concern. Like I said, if the guys also

802
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,160
Speaker 1: had the state coming into this, Like if that five

803
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:04,319
Speaker 1: comes in and they look like they have not missed

804
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:06,720
Speaker 1: a beat since the last snap of the last game,

805
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 1: it's not gonna be a question. But if there isn't

806
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: certain somebody comes in a little overweight to OTAs, somebody

807
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 1: is a little delayed, or they had some type of

808
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,399
Speaker 1: workout injury and that guy's not available, springs an ankle

809
00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,040
Speaker 1: in mini camp or whatever. It's like. Now, this is

810
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,360
Speaker 1: the fire drill, so you got to kind of disrupt

811
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,440
Speaker 1: that a little bit because you also got to ease

812
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 1: these other guys in. You don't want them just coming

813
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,000
Speaker 1: in and learning. If a guy's back, you got to

814
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:30,640
Speaker 1: put a guy up and see if he can do

815
00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,840
Speaker 1: it in the moment. So it's a constant just turnover

816
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:35,960
Speaker 1: of attrition, and then you're gonna mix lineups up in

817
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:39,120
Speaker 1: OTAs anyways, just to see what the competition and the

818
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:40,919
Speaker 1: fit looks like. I want to see how this double

819
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:44,319
Speaker 1: team looks with Isaac and Dan versus Kevin and Dan,

820
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:46,439
Speaker 1: or I want to see how this looks like. Okay,

821
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:49,239
Speaker 1: let's throw a little Raven in next to James Daniels

822
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: just to see if if it's gonna look good, because

823
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 1: you want to just get a full long look to know, hey,

824
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:55,360
Speaker 1: we don't have to go in the draft and go

825
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:56,919
Speaker 1: get somebody or we don't have to go late free

826
00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 1: agency one of the guys and get a street free

827
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: agent before training camp because we don't like the way

828
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 1: it looks. I don't want to get a training camp

829
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:04,560
Speaker 1: and be like this is a nightmare and I could

830
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:07,280
Speaker 1: have done it, or I'm one injury away from disaster. Yeah,

831
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 1: the key is having a bunch of as Mike Tomlin

832
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,319
Speaker 1: likes to call them, NFL dudes, guys who have been

833
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:14,719
Speaker 1: there and done that. And uh, you I mean, if

834
00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:17,680
Speaker 1: you've got if you've got nine capable alignment on your roster,

835
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:22,319
Speaker 1: most you're better off than than the teams out there. Yes,

836
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:25,360
Speaker 1: m that's just the reality of the situation in today's NFL.

837
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 1: And uh, you know you're gonna need that depth. You

838
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:33,319
Speaker 1: just are and well And to quote and to quote

839
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:35,200
Speaker 1: Tarrell Austin right when he when he talked about this

840
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:37,680
Speaker 1: last year, it's like I need three, I need three

841
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:40,320
Speaker 1: starters at quarterback to get two. Yeah, you need seven

842
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 1: capable offensive linement to get five. It's really the same

843
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,359
Speaker 1: thing that they did last year at cornerback when they

844
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,840
Speaker 1: went out and signed you know, I mean, you you

845
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,600
Speaker 1: had more guys than you had spots. But again, created

846
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:52,200
Speaker 1: that competition. You needed all of them in that you know,

847
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:54,360
Speaker 1: the first six games of the year, it was a

848
00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:56,719
Speaker 1: you know mix and match of who was available that

849
00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 1: that given week. Well and did you remember at one

850
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:03,000
Speaker 1: point only Tarril episode, Yeah right, everybody was literally branding

851
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 1: all that depth that they had. Yeah, all the depth

852
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,640
Speaker 1: they had in the defensive backfield was like, WHOA what

853
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,719
Speaker 1: happened there? You got none of them? Five guys go down.

854
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 1: And I can promise if you go week ten of

855
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three season, there'll be ten to twelve

856
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:20,719
Speaker 1: teams that have three four offensive lineman I mean under five,

857
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:23,640
Speaker 1: there's no question, and the Steelers are less likely to

858
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:25,959
Speaker 1: be one of those. Now, yeah, exactly. With this depth,

859
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:29,160
Speaker 1: you you've solidified that opportunity to make sure that you

860
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,440
Speaker 1: are a fully bolstered group. Well, we're gonna take another break.

861
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,360
Speaker 1: We Our guest has been Max Starks, a former Steelers

862
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,319
Speaker 1: offensive lineman, and of course uh he is part of

863
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,759
Speaker 1: the pre the game day broadcast and appreciate that you

864
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 1: can also hear him on Steelers Nation Radio with Wolf

865
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,000
Speaker 1: and Starks. During the season. You guys will be kicking.

866
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:49,719
Speaker 1: That won't be too much longer. Now you'd be kicking

867
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 1: it off. Is the off season seems to get smaller

868
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:55,920
Speaker 1: and small. Yeah, to combine yesterday and the draft will

869
00:39:55,920 --> 00:40:00,520
Speaker 1: me tomorrow. But he is Matt Willia Jason. I am

870
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,720
Speaker 1: Dale Lally. You're listening to us live from the NFL

871
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,279
Speaker 1: Owners meetings here in Phoenix, Arizona. We'll be back with

872
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:15,360
Speaker 1: more on Steelers Nation Radio right after this. Welcome back.

873
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 1: I am Dale Lally. He is Matt Williamson, and this

874
00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:22,240
Speaker 1: is Steelers Nation Radio. We're live from the NFL meetings

875
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 1: here in Phoenix, Arizona with the lovely Builtmore Hotel. We

876
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,560
Speaker 1: come here every other year for the right the other meeting,

877
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,960
Speaker 1: So they do meetings here in Phoenix, uh, every other year,

878
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:36,520
Speaker 1: and then they go to somewhere in Florida somewhere east

879
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:38,759
Speaker 1: is how I just explained to me, Right, typical East

880
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:41,200
Speaker 1: Coast and East coast, right, but this is the West coast. Yeah,

881
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:44,399
Speaker 1: this is the West coast spot. I think. Yeah, they've

882
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 1: got a nice set up here. It's it's you know,

883
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 1: everything's pretty uh it's easy to get to all in all,

884
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:52,080
Speaker 1: and yeah, right, it's a beautiful time this place. You know,

885
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:58,000
Speaker 1: the Biltmore here can hold everything and and uh historic

886
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:02,799
Speaker 1: hotel and golf everything at the NFL wants you know. Sure, Sure,

887
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,280
Speaker 1: it's been quite an event so far. I'm eye opening

888
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,240
Speaker 1: to me and I've enjoyed the heck out of it. Yeah,

889
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 1: Matt's maiden voyage here exactly exactly taking this all in. Uh.

890
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,400
Speaker 1: So again, we had the AFC breakfast this morning, but

891
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 1: had the NFC breakfast as well, where all the coaches

892
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,239
Speaker 1: kind of you know they set again set them up

893
00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:25,359
Speaker 1: in tables and and uh, you know, people pepper them

894
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:28,239
Speaker 1: with questions. And of course we had Mike Tomlin uh

895
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,040
Speaker 1: yesterday for the local media a chance to sit down

896
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:33,279
Speaker 1: with him and have an extensive talk, the first time

897
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 1: he had spoken uh this entire offseason. So there was

898
00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:38,600
Speaker 1: a lot of questions obviously about free agency and things

899
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,160
Speaker 1: of that nature. Um, but he was asked, as I

900
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 1: mentioned before, about Patrick Peterson, and I said, you know, look,

901
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:46,200
Speaker 1: look that was you know, he's a guy that we

902
00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:50,240
Speaker 1: identified that we wanted to bring in, uh just because

903
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:54,279
Speaker 1: of his not just his physical ability, but what he

904
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:58,120
Speaker 1: brings you to your room and your team above the neck. Yeah. Yeah,

905
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:00,759
Speaker 1: I do think there was I heard some blowback, why

906
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:03,640
Speaker 1: would you sign someone that age at that position. Well,

907
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 1: first of all, he's playing very well still, and you know,

908
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:09,400
Speaker 1: I and as soon as that happened, you know, Sutton

909
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:12,640
Speaker 1: goes to the Lions, and the Steelers react by getting Peterson. Okay,

910
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 1: I mean I immediately thought that's a very different style.

911
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:17,799
Speaker 1: But he talked about this in the first segment. I

912
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,240
Speaker 1: think they might ask him to do more Sutton things,

913
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:22,279
Speaker 1: and I think at the stage of his career, it's

914
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:24,759
Speaker 1: a good move for the player as well. Yeah, And

915
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:27,200
Speaker 1: I my first thought the second I read the blurb

916
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:31,239
Speaker 1: steelerside Peterson is Wow, what an ideal mentor for the

917
00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:33,960
Speaker 1: draft pick that's coming. Yeah, which I think is coming

918
00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:36,759
Speaker 1: for you know, because like the first ten years of

919
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 1: his career, eight or nine and in the East anyways,

920
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,279
Speaker 1: he just shutdown, lockdown cornerback. Oh yeah, he's a Hall

921
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:44,279
Speaker 1: of Famer. Put him on the island, you know, you

922
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,680
Speaker 1: got that guy, Yeah, exactly, And he can do more

923
00:42:46,719 --> 00:42:50,799
Speaker 1: than that. And if you study the player, all those

924
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:54,279
Speaker 1: LSU defensive backs that came after him, and there's a long,

925
00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:57,239
Speaker 1: long le the Honey Badger, Stingley blah blah blah blah,

926
00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,520
Speaker 1: way down the line, he's the guy they look up

927
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 1: to you, like a lot of defensive backs look up

928
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:04,240
Speaker 1: to Dion Will. The LSU guys look up to Peterson.

929
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,080
Speaker 1: I mean he's kind of like the big brother, you know,

930
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:08,920
Speaker 1: the the uncle that's been around the block, Pat Pete.

931
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:10,840
Speaker 1: You know, they all they all love him. So I

932
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:14,000
Speaker 1: think he'll be a fan favorite around here. He is older.

933
00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:16,880
Speaker 1: I mean, could he decline absolutely? I mean not everyone

934
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:18,520
Speaker 1: can play forever, but I mean I think it's a

935
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,960
Speaker 1: good thing. Is for a guy like that um who

936
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:24,879
Speaker 1: ran a four three eight forty his combine at two

937
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 1: hundred pounds, two hundred plus pounds, he was two eighteen

938
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:31,880
Speaker 1: Yes combine right, big right, big corner. I mean those guys,

939
00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:35,560
Speaker 1: those those premier athletes like that, they're going to decline

940
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 1: a little. He already had more gradually then your average.

941
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:41,960
Speaker 1: You know, hey, I was a four or five corner

942
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:44,359
Speaker 1: coming out. Now I'm a four to six five guy.

943
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 1: Well there's a big difference there. You know. If Patrick

944
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:50,040
Speaker 1: Peterson is still a four five guy, he's still better

945
00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:52,759
Speaker 1: than most because he's better above the neck than ever. Yeah,

946
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:55,280
Speaker 1: you're right, and he probably doesn't pivot and change directions

947
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:57,120
Speaker 1: as well as he did. If you threw him in

948
00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,400
Speaker 1: the combine this year. It wouldn't be pretty, I mean,

949
00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:02,440
Speaker 1: because it's not it's what twelve years removed or whatever.

950
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,719
Speaker 1: I mean, but he on the field makes up for

951
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:08,480
Speaker 1: it in a big, big way. And again I loved here.

952
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 1: And you know some of the stuff you guys have

953
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,680
Speaker 1: been talking about of maybe plays some slot, maybe he

954
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,359
Speaker 1: moves closer to the ball, you know, Jalen Ramsey's doing

955
00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:18,480
Speaker 1: that stuff a lot. You know, so it makes sense

956
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:21,759
Speaker 1: because of his size and football intelligence. Mean, he had

957
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 1: fifteen pass defenses and five interceptions last year. Now got

958
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:27,319
Speaker 1: his hands on the ball a lot. On a bad

959
00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 1: past say, it's one of the worst past defenses in

960
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:31,320
Speaker 1: the league. I made a couple of pass rushers, but

961
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:33,799
Speaker 1: their past defense in general was poor and he wasn't

962
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,080
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why right, But they did different

963
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,799
Speaker 1: things with him, and so you wonder, like he talked

964
00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:41,560
Speaker 1: about this press conference, you know, it was more zone

965
00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 1: type and we've talked about this as well. I think

966
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:46,040
Speaker 1: it was only seventeen percent of his snap were manned

967
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:50,640
Speaker 1: last year. So does this signal a change in what

968
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:53,879
Speaker 1: the Steelers are doing? Or well, did you know, did

969
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:55,879
Speaker 1: they sent you a really good article to Warren Sharp

970
00:44:56,040 --> 00:44:59,239
Speaker 1: rote for Fox Sports. I think it was just last

971
00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:02,600
Speaker 1: week and he was looking at massive trends across the

972
00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:06,319
Speaker 1: league and at a rapid pace over the last three,

973
00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:09,200
Speaker 1: four or five years. The league as a whole is

974
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:13,880
Speaker 1: going to much less blitz, much higher two high safeties,

975
00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:16,880
Speaker 1: much more zone. So you're getting four passon for that

976
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:20,040
Speaker 1: is because so many running quarterbacks are coming into the league. Well,

977
00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:23,880
Speaker 1: and analytics have told you you can't give up the

978
00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:25,960
Speaker 1: the ad R bomb, you know, so we're gonna if

979
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,799
Speaker 1: you can nickel and dime us to death, so be it,

980
00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:34,000
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, And so in that regard, I

981
00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 1: think that every team is playing more zone rushing four

982
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:41,040
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, blitzberg isn't going to be a

983
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:43,840
Speaker 1: thing where you and ask Peterson to run with Jamar

984
00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:45,960
Speaker 1: Chase for sixty snaps a team, you know what I mean,

985
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:47,799
Speaker 1: They're just not going to no teams asking them to

986
00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:50,560
Speaker 1: do that. Lester Hayes and Mike Hanes in the day,

987
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:52,680
Speaker 1: it's about their pressing people, mel Blunt, you know, like,

988
00:45:52,719 --> 00:45:54,960
Speaker 1: that's not what the league is now anywhere, and it

989
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:56,840
Speaker 1: hasn't been. I mean, that's you know what you know,

990
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:00,800
Speaker 1: when people talked about the Steelers play Tom Brady and

991
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:03,359
Speaker 1: they can't just go out there and play zone against Brady. Well,

992
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:05,520
Speaker 1: you're playing some man against Brady, but hey, they were

993
00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 1: doing what they're what their corners could do at that time.

994
00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:10,520
Speaker 1: But b you can't just go out and play man

995
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,480
Speaker 1: against those guys either. You can't just do one thing

996
00:46:13,719 --> 00:46:16,600
Speaker 1: you think gron can get off man cover, you know

997
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:19,920
Speaker 1: what I mean. And the Steelers, the numbers I've seen,

998
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:23,799
Speaker 1: are a higher percentage man team than most. They were

999
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:26,520
Speaker 1: seventh or eighth in the league, but it's still less

1000
00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 1: than I mean, league averages drop so much that it's

1001
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:31,759
Speaker 1: still not a high like the highest the highest percentage

1002
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:35,719
Speaker 1: team is yeah, right right, And a lot of it's situational,

1003
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:37,839
Speaker 1: like we're not going to back off on the six

1004
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:40,240
Speaker 1: yard line. Yeah, I mean, if we're in the tight quarters,

1005
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:42,279
Speaker 1: we're not just gonna play a soft zone. If it's

1006
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:44,960
Speaker 1: if it's third and fourteen, we're playing zone, like right

1007
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:48,080
Speaker 1: right right, tackle the catch. And so I think that's

1008
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:50,440
Speaker 1: been a little overblown. Steelers are a big man team

1009
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:53,799
Speaker 1: and Peterson's veteran zone now, okay, I mean there's some

1010
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:56,080
Speaker 1: truth to that. Then if if it doesn't work, out.

1011
00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:58,720
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a reason why, or he loses two steps.

1012
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:01,520
Speaker 1: But I think it's a very good calculated risk when

1013
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:03,400
Speaker 1: you really look at the percentage of these things that

1014
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:07,000
Speaker 1: are I t I honestly think, and this comes from

1015
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:10,919
Speaker 1: based off of what Mike Tomlin said today, it would

1016
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:14,080
Speaker 1: not surprise me to see Patrick Peterson as your dime

1017
00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:16,680
Speaker 1: linebacker or a die dimelin like he's in the mid

1018
00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:18,040
Speaker 1: Just put him in the middle of field, let him

1019
00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:21,399
Speaker 1: keep his eyes on the quarterback. That's the rams doing Ramsey, right,

1020
00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:23,480
Speaker 1: I mean they're both one's a lot older than the other,

1021
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:27,239
Speaker 1: but Ramsey's up in age now two. It's easy to

1022
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:29,640
Speaker 1: avoid Ramsey if he's on the outside all the time,

1023
00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:32,120
Speaker 1: don't look right, I got three quarters of the field

1024
00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,839
Speaker 1: to work with, and you know, instead of dealing with him,

1025
00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:37,560
Speaker 1: so they play Ramsey as a star position, which is

1026
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:40,640
Speaker 1: a big nickel type, you know, you know, roaming around.

1027
00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:43,880
Speaker 1: Not that he's freelancing, but I think Peterson could easily

1028
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:45,160
Speaker 1: do that. I mean, I think he can come up

1029
00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:47,440
Speaker 1: and tackle Nick Chubb, you know the line of scrimmage,

1030
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:50,120
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, I think that's the beauty of that signing.

1031
00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:52,960
Speaker 1: And so well, we will see how that plays out here.

1032
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:56,319
Speaker 1: But certainly Mike Tomlin has had those conversations already with

1033
00:47:56,360 --> 00:47:59,160
Speaker 1: Patrick Peterson, So I know people will worry who's the slot. Well,

1034
00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:02,520
Speaker 1: right now I think it Kzy Minka and Peterson. Yeah,

1035
00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:04,279
Speaker 1: you know, and Malet's still on the team, and m

1036
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:06,120
Speaker 1: Let's still there as well. It's just a different version

1037
00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:08,919
Speaker 1: of this lit Yeah. Absolutely, we're gonna take another break

1038
00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:11,160
Speaker 1: here at the top of the hour. He is Matt Williamson.

1039
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:13,279
Speaker 1: I am Dale Lally. You're listening to the drive here

1040
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:15,920
Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. We will be back with our

1041
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:20,400
Speaker 1: two Alive from the NFL meetings here in Phoenix right

1042
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:20,799
Speaker 1: after this