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Speaker 1: This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

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Speaker 1: on your home of the Black and Gold s n

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Speaker 1: R Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale

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Speaker 1: Ali here with Matt Williamson and of course, uh we

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Speaker 1: are are always here. Um we do nine different shows

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Speaker 1: a week now. Yeah, we're a little a little bit

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Speaker 1: different format format and I'm sure a lot more of

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Speaker 1: you are downloading the show on via podcast and you're

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Speaker 1: getting three instead of one. Keep doing that, spread the word,

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Speaker 1: leave us reviews all that good stuff too, and it's

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Speaker 1: been fun. Subscribe to the whole network. You get all

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Speaker 1: kinds of shows, you know, you get the Motes and Euler,

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Speaker 1: you get to the weekend show as well, So lots

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Speaker 1: of good stuff on there. And the big news today. Uh,

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Speaker 1: Kevin Colbert spoke to the media, including myself, and uh

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Speaker 1: much of the conversation, as you can imagine, centered on

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Speaker 1: quarterback Ben roethl Stronger, his future with the team, a

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Speaker 1: couple other things before we get into that. Uh, Colbert

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Speaker 1: did say they're unlikely to use the franchise or any

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Speaker 1: of the tags this year, which I don't know that

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Speaker 1: you're gonna see a lot of tags around the league.

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Speaker 1: That's a good question. I haven't thought of that. You know,

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Speaker 1: who's eligible and who would even you consider really, I

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Speaker 1: mean really anybody who's a free agency eligible. But there

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Speaker 1: I mean, it all depends on what the cap again

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Speaker 1: much and we'll talk more about this when we get

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Speaker 1: to the Roethlisberger conversation, but much of it depends on

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Speaker 1: what the cap is going to be. We're a little

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Speaker 1: bit limbo right now because if it comes in it

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Speaker 1: a hundred and eighty million, you may only see one

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Speaker 1: or two franchise or transition tags this year. Like I'm

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Speaker 1: sure Dak Prescott's gonna get tagged, but it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: a really big number no matter what, and it's gonna

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Speaker 1: put the Cowboys over the over the cap number big time,

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Speaker 1: you know. Like I read a blurb today the Bears

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Speaker 1: are strongly considering tagging Allen Robinson and listening to trade talks. Okay,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean that makes sense. You'd hate to

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Speaker 1: see him just walk and get a comp third a

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Speaker 1: year from now if you could trade them for a

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Speaker 1: first to the Ravens or Patriots or whoever. But you

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Speaker 1: better the cat number to do that. And everybody's gonna know.

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Speaker 1: That's the thing. Like somebody asked me, what could the

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Speaker 1: Steelers do that with buddey pre or juju? They could,

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Speaker 1: but everybody knows you have to get rid of the guy.

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Speaker 1: And you're sitting there holding that money. Yeah, it's like

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Speaker 1: you know, loaning somebody else your cash that you can't use,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean you want to be fluid. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So I mean the way if you look at this

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Speaker 1: right now, and this is this is according to spots rack,

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Speaker 1: which is UH estimating the cap coming into a hundred

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Speaker 1: eighty five million dollars. If that happens, If it is

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Speaker 1: a hundred and eighty five million, you're looking at about

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Speaker 1: ten teams that are over the cap right now. You

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Speaker 1: would have another five or six. Is about the worst

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Speaker 1: case scenario. I don't think. I don't know if it's

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Speaker 1: the worst, but I think I think one eighty is

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Speaker 1: the worst. You think that's yeah, I mean that's if

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Speaker 1: they if they had to go and seat If if

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Speaker 1: somebody said, okay, we need a cap right now, we

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Speaker 1: have to go on with I think it would be

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Speaker 1: But after they talk to the the TV people and all that,

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Speaker 1: maybe it'll be higher and higher. Yeah. Uh But the

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Speaker 1: reason that's not going to happen is because then you

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Speaker 1: look in and there are thirteen teams that are within

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Speaker 1: five million or or less or actually over the cap

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Speaker 1: up like these teams. You know you mentioned the Cowboys, Well,

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Speaker 1: the Cowboys have twenty seven million dollars in cap space,

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Speaker 1: which sounds great, that's wonderful on this until you until

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Speaker 1: you put the franchise tag on Dak Prescott and and

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Speaker 1: it's forty million dollars. Now you're thirty million dollars over

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Speaker 1: the co over the capost with one move if you're

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Speaker 1: starting quarterback. You know, I don't think they have a

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Speaker 1: lot of other massive free agents, but that's a massive

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Speaker 1: that's a massive. Same thing with you know the Browns

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Speaker 1: are you know people talking about the Browns, Well, they're

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Speaker 1: gonna they could sign J J. One. They could, they could.

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Speaker 1: They've got twenty nine million dollars in cap space. But

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Speaker 1: if they signed J J. One, he's gonna eat up

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Speaker 1: a big chunk of that or something like that. Probably

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Speaker 1: if it's the if it's market, probably looking at ten

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Speaker 1: million dollars a year, And I would think, you know,

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Speaker 1: in that neighborhood, um, and then what do you do

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Speaker 1: it linebacker, safety, corner, you know what I mean, the

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Speaker 1: other sponsors you have, right, and do you want j

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Speaker 1: J to be a full time player, you might want

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Speaker 1: to get a rotation in that, you know. So No,

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Speaker 1: it's it's certainly difficult. Um you had mentioned that there's

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Speaker 1: how many you are hovering right around zero, uh, hovering

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Speaker 1: right around here. You get the Bills at three point

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Speaker 1: eight million. You've got like Detroit minus one five seven nights.

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Speaker 1: So there are some teams there at that rate, at

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Speaker 1: that number that the Giants are at eight million, The

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Speaker 1: Bears are two point five million over Minnesota's six million overs,

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Speaker 1: and there's there's five or six teams that while they're

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Speaker 1: they're not super either under the number. Over the number,

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Speaker 1: they don't have a lot of they're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: make moves that they're to make moves, right, I mean,

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Speaker 1: like I was sitting thinking about Buffalo, Like there's been

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Speaker 1: a lot of talk that Buffalo would like to add

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Speaker 1: maybe a watt, you know somebody, like that's great, but

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Speaker 1: they're gonna have to cut somebody else. They have like

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Speaker 1: three guys in their front seven that they probably need

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Speaker 1: to cut. I mean, we've gone through this with the

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Speaker 1: Steelers over and over. There's a lot of teams out

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Speaker 1: there that can make moves to free things up, but

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Speaker 1: usually this time a year there's like five or six

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Speaker 1: teams in the black or red or whatever you're not

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Speaker 1: supposed to be in, you know, and now it's like

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Speaker 1: half the league, let alone the ones that are really bad. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so uh yeah, this stuff, I mean, you're not gonna

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Speaker 1: see I don't believe a lot of tags. And you know,

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Speaker 1: even some of the teams that have a lot of

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Speaker 1: cap space, like who are the Jaguars franchise tagging or

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Speaker 1: even the Colts, Yeah, they're not gonna tagg t Y Hilton? Right?

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Speaker 1: Who the Patriots gonna tag? I mean, I guess I

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Speaker 1: guess the Colts could tag Bersett. Yeah, that's a lot

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Speaker 1: of It's a lot of money to pay for a

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Speaker 1: guy that you just benched, right right, right, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's not many candidates for those teams. But if you don't,

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Speaker 1: if he's your only quarterback option, yeah, you know, if

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Speaker 1: you're or you and I guess you could pull it

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Speaker 1: off him at some point if you get your guy,

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Speaker 1: or you know, at least he gives you something like

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Speaker 1: who are the Bengals put the franchise tag on Carl

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Speaker 1: Lawson William Jackson. Yeah, I mean they could, but that

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Speaker 1: that's that's a big number on those guys, right. You know,

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Speaker 1: I've even heard of the Jags talking about franchise and

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Speaker 1: Cam Robinson their left tackle. He's a middle of the

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Speaker 1: road starting left tackle. Your million dollars. I mean they can,

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Speaker 1: they can, right, but it's not good business. It's usually

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Speaker 1: there's five or six obvious candidates. And you're right, besides DAC,

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Speaker 1: I don't see many. Yeah. Uh. Cover talked a little

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Speaker 1: bit about he said there's going to be and he

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Speaker 1: sits on the NFL Combine committee. Uh. He said that

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Speaker 1: the way it looks now, there's going to be a

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Speaker 1: a combine of some type of medical combine where they'll

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Speaker 1: bring back select players who have medical issues and you know,

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Speaker 1: to one centralized area and and do that but not

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Speaker 1: having everybody there. Um, people might not know this, but

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Speaker 1: there's always been a medical combine after the original calm. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you said next week would have been combine week.

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Speaker 1: I believe so. Yeah, that makes me sad. That's always

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Speaker 1: a fun week anyway. Um, but they do bring back

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Speaker 1: people from medical rechecks the month after, six weeks after

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Speaker 1: like a couple of weeks before the draft. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think that's what you're looking at. Imagine something similar. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: a bunch of team doctors will be there. He did

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about, uh, positioning. Um said that, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, the offensive tackle but this is not something

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Speaker 1: that it's something we've been talking about all along. The

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Speaker 1: offensive tackle position is it is twelve thirteen deep. Um. Yeah, right,

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Speaker 1: and that and that the interior position, you know, offensive

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Speaker 1: line position is a little thinner, Um. And I think

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Speaker 1: that that matches up largely with what we've been saying. Yeah, Um,

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Speaker 1: And well for the Steelers, I mean, if there's a

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Speaker 1: dozen decent tackles that you think could be starters and substantial,

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Speaker 1: you know, every down players for you, you've got a

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Speaker 1: chance to get one in the middle of the third. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: your chance you can get too if you want. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you can really rebuild things. Um also said that, you know,

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Speaker 1: guys such as Devin Bush and Bud Dupree have been

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Speaker 1: in the building and have been working out, and looks

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Speaker 1: like they're going to be up and running here at

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Speaker 1: some point this season. So Um moving on to Roethlisberg,

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Speaker 1: I just want to say, I mean, I don't think

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Speaker 1: Bud's going to be a Steeler, but I'd feel bad

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Speaker 1: if an injury prohibited him from signing a better contract.

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Speaker 1: So I'm glad that he's, you know, as marketable as

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Speaker 1: he could possibly be right now. Yeah. Um, As I mentioned,

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Speaker 1: a lot of the conversations centered on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

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Speaker 1: Has he met with the Steelers, you know, as he has,

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Speaker 1: he had that meeting, they haven't had the big sit

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Speaker 1: down yet, but Colbert did say that that Roethlisberger has

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Speaker 1: sat down with himself and Mike Tomlin and um, but

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Speaker 1: they're waiting to see what the salary cap looks like,

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Speaker 1: much like everybody else. Um. And I think again it

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Speaker 1: goes back to, you know, if if everybody thought that

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Speaker 1: that salary cap was going to come into a hundred

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Speaker 1: eighty million dollars, they would have already had their meeting,

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Speaker 1: right if it was pretty set deal that I guess

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Speaker 1: just rephrasing what you just said. Basically, it's the stealing

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Speaker 1: your words. Or if they had a pretty good idea

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Speaker 1: or the variance and a salary cap was between a

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Speaker 1: hundred two, well we can get something done that you know,

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Speaker 1: we can move on to the next step of the puzzle.

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Speaker 1: So I'm but you're looking at a variance here that

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Speaker 1: could be as we're gonna say, right as I bet

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Speaker 1: Mr Rooney and the other owners are saying, well, this

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Speaker 1: could be his two d or it could be as

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Speaker 1: low as one eighty. That's a big number, right right right,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean that's a starting quarterback, you know,

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Speaker 1: when you when you look at it right now, currently

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Speaker 1: the Steelers have in expenditures, uh, they're looking at a

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Speaker 1: hundred and they have a hundred million hudt nine million,

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Speaker 1: and expenditures after the retirements of Vance McDonald impounds you.

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Speaker 1: So if the cap comes into a hundred nine million,

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Speaker 1: they're not in bad shape. You know. If it comes

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Speaker 1: as we've talked about, if it comes into a hundred

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Speaker 1: and eighty million, well now you've got you know, now

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Speaker 1: the Roethlisberger restructure or whatever you wanna call it, extension,

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Speaker 1: whatever they need to do with him, that just gets

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Speaker 1: you to the number. Now you're gonna make other moves

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Speaker 1: that that are going to further so some of the interest,

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Speaker 1: Like the interesting thing I thought that that Colbert said

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Speaker 1: is that he said it's an ongoing process that just

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Speaker 1: doesn't involve him, but involves the players around him. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure he's going to want to see what kind of

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Speaker 1: team we can keep together under our current situation, and

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Speaker 1: hopefully we can make that make the correct adjustments to

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Speaker 1: keep that group together as much as possible. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he's only human. He's like when well, I'm not gonna

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Speaker 1: have Juju. I'm not going at my buddy's vance. I'm

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Speaker 1: notocking at my center. Ramo retired last year. Villenave is

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Speaker 1: not gonna be back like group. Yeah, do I want

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Speaker 1: to come back? Do I want to come back for that?

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Speaker 1: You know? Or you know, if if you know, the

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Speaker 1: cap comes in a little bit higher and they can

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Speaker 1: make you know, maybe they resign, Hi, Matt Filer, maybe

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Speaker 1: they resign, you know, they can make a stronger pitch

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Speaker 1: to keep Juju Smith Schuster or something like that. Well,

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Speaker 1: now maybe he's a little bit more interested or you

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Speaker 1: know the center for you. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna

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Speaker 1: sign this guy. We think he can play. He can

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Speaker 1: really help the line here. Okay, I'm on board, but

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Speaker 1: you know, I think we can win. But you're not

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Speaker 1: gonna bring it Ben, you know, we're looking at probably

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Speaker 1: an eight and eight season this year because we can't

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Speaker 1: our hands are tied because of the cap situation. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna have to grind out games and most scoring type games.

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Speaker 1: And you know, right, I don't know if I'm I

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Speaker 1: don't know if I'm on board for that. Maybe it

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Speaker 1: would be, maybe it wouldn't be. I don't know, But

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Speaker 1: that's all part of the process. And I'm not even

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Speaker 1: suggesting they push them out, but maybe you'd be better

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Speaker 1: installing more Canada stuff and just getting on with the

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Speaker 1: future too. And again, the word rebuild is not their style,

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Speaker 1: but if that's their version where you're not really a

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Speaker 1: big time contender and you're living for tomorrow and then

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Speaker 1: a year from now, you and I are like, what

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Speaker 1: they have all this cap space and the kids they

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Speaker 1: drafted look good, and you know, their quarterback room is

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Speaker 1: eight million in cap space, and they've got they've got

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Speaker 1: the nest built for a you know, for a young quarterback,

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Speaker 1: and that's different and Whatton Minka signed long term and

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Speaker 1: you know, another first round picking the mix, and you're like, okay,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're bouncing back after sort of a down

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Speaker 1: year by their standards, which they still could be a

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Speaker 1: playoff team, but they're not. I mean people thinking it, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're just gonna they they're just gonna go

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Speaker 1: four and twelve where they're gonna go three and third.

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Speaker 1: It's not gonna happen. No, No, I mean, I bet

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Speaker 1: they have a better record than the BEng goals Houston Detroit.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's always reminds me when they traded for Minca,

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Speaker 1: and I remember you say in this like, boy, the

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Speaker 1: whole world thinks that pick is gonna be a top

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Speaker 1: five pick. How can you give that up for Maka?

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Speaker 1: And then we sat here in that segment going, well,

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Speaker 1: they're better than this team, this team and that name

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Speaker 1: like a dozen easily they're bad. Yeah yeah, so, uh

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Speaker 1: you know, I think that's gonna be a big part

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Speaker 1: of this um. Colbert also said it's a cap thing

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Speaker 1: first and foremost, because we we will have to be

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Speaker 1: in compliance with the salary cap once a new league

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Speaker 1: gear starts. That's gonna be March seventeen. What kind of

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Speaker 1: team can we put together or keep together under those

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Speaker 1: cap restrictions. The whole league's in the hold. We know

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Speaker 1: we're up against it. We would have been up against

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Speaker 1: it in a normal year, and we were able to

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Speaker 1: do this, and we were willing to do the things

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Speaker 1: we did in free agency extensions, negotiations, etcetera. That's but

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Speaker 1: it's not unique to us. There's probably two thords of

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Speaker 1: the league faces similar issues. You know how that comes

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Speaker 1: together in the next few weeks, we'll continue to look

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Speaker 1: at it. It is first and foremost financial because we

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Speaker 1: have to be in compliance, and then we'll make guests,

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Speaker 1: and it's to put together the best team or the

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Speaker 1: best team together for our sake and for Ben's sake.

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Speaker 1: What kind of team can he anticipate being around him

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Speaker 1: if we decide that we can move forward together. I

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Speaker 1: think that the league and the Cobirds of the world

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Speaker 1: are very anxious to be able to put their plan

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Speaker 1: in place, and they probably have a couple of contingency

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Speaker 1: plans where the cap guys in every building or saying

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Speaker 1: if it comes in, if it comes into eighty million,

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Speaker 1: here's what we gotta do. If it comes into the

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Speaker 1: hundred seven million, here's what we can do. Guys gonna

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Speaker 1: get out of the equation or he's gonna We're gonna

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Speaker 1: have to restructure. We call this dude up the restructure

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Speaker 1: because usually by this time the Steelers, you know, they

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Speaker 1: haven't played a game, and over a month they would

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Speaker 1: have started resigning some you know, some the banners of

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Speaker 1: the world, you guys on you know, one or two

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Speaker 1: year deals that are that are you know, pretty cheap deals,

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Speaker 1: and they haven't done that. Really, nobody has. Nobody we

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Speaker 1: saw a Stafford golf trade. But there's been all this

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Speaker 1: talk about quarterbacks and we're moving around like crazy. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to You can't trade for Deshaun Watson, let

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Speaker 1: alone darn order Wentz if you don't know, especially at

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Speaker 1: that position. It's not like trading for a backup guard. Uh.

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Speaker 1: The other thing that I thought it was interesting, you know,

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Speaker 1: he Corbert was asked, um, you know how what he

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Speaker 1: thought of Roethlisberger's play in I should say, and he said,

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Speaker 1: you know, going back on Ben's tent twenty, he really

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Speaker 1: did some special things. At the beginning of the year.

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Speaker 1: We talked about watching what he was doing, and he

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Speaker 1: was doing some incredible feats while we were building that

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Speaker 1: eleven and O record. A lot of that was him

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Speaker 1: performing at crucial times during games down the stretch. He

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Speaker 1: didn't play as good, but we didn't play as good

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Speaker 1: around him. We didn't play good as good defense. Uh,

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Speaker 1: we didn't. We talked about the running game failing us

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Speaker 1: in the time of year when a running when a

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Speaker 1: running game is critical. Can he do still do some

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Speaker 1: special things? Absolutely? Did he do that to his expectations.

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Speaker 1: He'd be the first to tell you know, Ben cares

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Speaker 1: about one thing. He cares he Ben cares about one thing. Uh,

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Speaker 1: he cares about winning a super Bowl. When it doesn't happen,

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Speaker 1: he's never going to be satisfied. Hopefully, whatever team we

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Speaker 1: come up with in one we're not talking about a

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Speaker 1: team that's losing a game in the first round of

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Speaker 1: the playoffs. Think that's a really honest assessment and accurate one.

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Speaker 1: You know that people forget how good Ben was during

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Speaker 1: the first ten, eleven, twelve games of the year. He

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Speaker 1: did an awful lot of good things, and you just

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Speaker 1: think at the end, Oh, he's old, he's washed up.

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Speaker 1: That's the thing that like, what have you done for

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Speaker 1: me lately? League? I get that, But you know, he

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Speaker 1: didn't turn the ball over much. I mean he was

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Speaker 1: really really good on third downs, like kind of like

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Speaker 1: Kevin was alluding to the crucial situations and um, those

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Speaker 1: type of things, and didn't that much a running game

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Speaker 1: back then either, obviously. Yeah. So, I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: with Roethlisberger right now, the for a lot of fans,

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Speaker 1: for whatever reason, that the last image of him were

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Speaker 1: that one in five stretch down that down there one

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Speaker 1: in five record down the stretch. People are putting that

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Speaker 1: all on him, which is kind of a shortcut to

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Speaker 1: really an out. Hen't even start one of those games.

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Speaker 1: He didn't snap the ball over his head, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know it was he perfect, absolutely not.

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Speaker 1: But um, to Kevin's point, he didn't play as well

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Speaker 1: down the stretch. And frankly you and I mentioned that,

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Speaker 1: you know before even the season, that older dudes worry

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Speaker 1: me late in the season. But I also love that

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Speaker 1: Kevin said we didn't have a running game at a

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Speaker 1: time of the year when you need it, you know,

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Speaker 1: like people forget about that, especially the analytics folks that

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Speaker 1: will say running games on important as passing game. And

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Speaker 1: I agree with that, But it's different in week sixteen

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Speaker 1: than his week to you know, in terms of needing

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Speaker 1: that to rely on I in the first five games

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Speaker 1: is a season. Last year they averaged a hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirty six point eight rushing yards per game. Okay, in

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Speaker 1: the last twelve game to the which includes the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: they average fifty nine point nine rushing yards per game.

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Speaker 1: That's almost hard to do. It's really hard. I mean

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Speaker 1: less than half, less than half, I mean under sixty

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Speaker 1: yards a game. You're not I mean for three months stretched.

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Speaker 1: Running the football to is not as important as it

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Speaker 1: once was. Agreed, but you still have to be able

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Speaker 1: to do it a little bit. You got defense is

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Speaker 1: begged you to do it. You got to run off

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Speaker 1: for sixty yards a game, right, you're just being too

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Speaker 1: easy to play again, And frankly, it would be different

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Speaker 1: if it was Mahomes Kelsey Hill hardly, you know. Okay,

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Speaker 1: you know no one else has. But if you have

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Speaker 1: Mahomes and those guys you're going to run for you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's a chicken or egg kind of you know,

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Speaker 1: in your quarterback twenty of those yards and you know, right,

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Speaker 1: we talked about that a lot. You know, Edwards Hilaire

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Speaker 1: looks great. He's running into six man boxes. Super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: They're begging him the hand at the hilaria. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's what everybody wants right, So you gotta take me

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Speaker 1: out to take advantage of those and get more than

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Speaker 1: two two yards a clip at those situations, or not

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Speaker 1: take the handoff when they're begging you to do it. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So to me, it's, you know, fixed the running game, yeah,

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Speaker 1: which is easier than fixing a passing game. Absolutely. Um,

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Speaker 1: I think the most prudent move for the Steelers because

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Speaker 1: you're gonna count twenty two million dollars against your cap

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Speaker 1: one way or the other, with or without twenty two

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Speaker 1: point to five million dollars. If you get that number

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Speaker 1: under anywhere around thirty million or under, Okay, you just

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Speaker 1: trimmed eleven million dollars off your salary cap, even if

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Speaker 1: it's only Yeah, is it worth to me? To me,

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Speaker 1: it's worth more, let's say. Okay, So if he's gonna

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Speaker 1: cost me twenty two point to five million dollars, if

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Speaker 1: he's on my roster or not, is it worth the

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Speaker 1: extra six million dollars to have Ben Roethlisberger on my roster?

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Speaker 1: To me? Yeah? I mean, because then the question is

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Speaker 1: those six million isn't gonna buy you Mariota or Winston

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Speaker 1: or Brissett, because you gotta go get somebody else it

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Speaker 1: would be different. I'm gonna trying to be hard on Rudolph.

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Speaker 1: But if it was and it's time to hand the

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Speaker 1: reins over to this guy, well then this is a

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Speaker 1: different story. You know, you get the the old man

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Speaker 1: out of the room, you hand it to the young

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Speaker 1: up and comer. If this was a bread fire Aaron

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Speaker 1: Rodgers situation, that's different. This is not that. But I'm

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Speaker 1: the biggest Mason Rudolph guy that you'll find in town

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Speaker 1: probably probably, And he's not begging to start saying. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he's you know, we just went over on Monday, we

403
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Speaker 1: went over the quarterbacks where he was ranked in the league?

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Speaker 1: Was it? Which we thought was a little low. But

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Speaker 1: it's fair. It's he's a good number two. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: what he is right now? Am I am? I gonna say, hey,

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Speaker 1: let's take this team that just won twelve games this

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Speaker 1: year and handed to hand it to Mason Rudolph, and hey,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be they're they're a ten win team again.

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Speaker 1: And to save six million dollars to keep sting, you know,

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Speaker 1: to me, that's not worth it. That's not worth it. Frankly,

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Speaker 1: I mean probably I could eat these words. But I

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Speaker 1: would love to see what this team would look like

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Speaker 1: with Rudolph for sixteen games. I'm not saying it would

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Speaker 1: be good, bad, or ugly, and I'd say that for

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Speaker 1: twenty quarterbacks around the league, Like if he gave someone

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Speaker 1: the starting job, I mean some of those guys would

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Speaker 1: There would be some high points and there would be

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Speaker 1: some low points, no question there. You get the growing

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Speaker 1: pains of a young quarterback. Here's the problem. Do you

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Speaker 1: want to deal with that? With it with this football team,

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Speaker 1: with a deep with with that defense. Can you afford

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Speaker 1: when you know that Rudolph? Chances are is not your

424
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:24,080
Speaker 1: long term chances are? You know answer, Chances are he

425
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,680
Speaker 1: is who he is right now, and that's probably a good,

426
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,320
Speaker 1: solid backup quarterback. I do get the impression they like him. Wow,

427
00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 1: I pretty much know this for a fact. They like

428
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:34,600
Speaker 1: him a lot more stilation. Well, here's what Here's what

429
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:36,800
Speaker 1: Colbert said about him, because I asked him about Rudolph.

430
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:38,760
Speaker 1: He said, the game he started this year, it was

431
00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:42,320
Speaker 1: probably the best game that he's played for us. Unfortunately

432
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:43,760
Speaker 1: we came up a little bit short, but it was

433
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:45,879
Speaker 1: very encouraging to see Mason play like he did in

434
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,960
Speaker 1: a tough situation. Cleveland was desperate to win. It was

435
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,440
Speaker 1: at their home field, and we came within two points

436
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,320
Speaker 1: of beating him by the right setting a bunch of

437
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,359
Speaker 1: star players. That was very encouraging. Hopefully we get to

438
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,000
Speaker 1: see Mason take some more steps in whatever role he

439
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 1: gets or playing time he gets, being in the preseason

440
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,159
Speaker 1: or regular season or whatever. But it was encouraging to

441
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:11,400
Speaker 1: see him in that Cleveland game. Encouraging, yes, encouraging, Encouraging

442
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:12,840
Speaker 1: enough to make you want to say, hey, we got

443
00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:14,960
Speaker 1: to hand the keys over to this guy. No, No,

444
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: I wonder. I mean, this is really pie and this

445
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,480
Speaker 1: guy thinking, because they're with him every day and we've

446
00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:25,440
Speaker 1: seen so little of him since I think he's super studious.

447
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,679
Speaker 1: I think he takes everything very seriously. He's constantly throwing

448
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 1: on the side. If Mason Rudolph doesn't make it in

449
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,280
Speaker 1: the NFL, it's not because of lack of effort. Oh,

450
00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:37,560
Speaker 1: I don't doubt that either, you know. But where I

451
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,720
Speaker 1: was going with it is I wonder, and again, this

452
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: is really optimist thinking, because we've heard him say in

453
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:46,800
Speaker 1: some things out of the building. We think he's the

454
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 1: starting quarterback in this league, and everyone goes bad. That's

455
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:52,760
Speaker 1: what you're supposed to say he isn't really he's an

456
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,680
Speaker 1: okay backup, or we hate him because he was bad.

457
00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,360
Speaker 1: They didn't say that about Devil and Hodges. But if

458
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,119
Speaker 1: they really believe that, and all of us listening and

459
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:05,680
Speaker 1: me and you should realize they know better than us,

460
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: that's interesting to me. I don't think we're at also

461
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:11,600
Speaker 1: started quarterback in this league, but if they think he is,

462
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:14,919
Speaker 1: that's interesting to me. That's all I'm saying, you know,

463
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:17,320
Speaker 1: is they might want to see a year of them.

464
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying they're gonna push Ben out or

465
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,080
Speaker 1: anything like that, but I'm just saying there's a chance

466
00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:26,000
Speaker 1: that they think he's better than all of us do. Yeah,

467
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,160
Speaker 1: there's there's there's potential for that. But here's the here's

468
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 1: the thing. Mason Rudolph at his best, and I'm talking

469
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:38,200
Speaker 1: about Rudolph at his best, at his peak performance is

470
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,679
Speaker 1: and this is this is as high as it can go.

471
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:46,160
Speaker 1: Is Kirk Cousins right, sixte best quarterback. And that's that's

472
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:48,680
Speaker 1: the ceiling. So are are you ready to say, Okay,

473
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: we're gonna hand things over to a guy who's ceiling

474
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,200
Speaker 1: is the sixteenth best quarterback in the league, and who's

475
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:58,160
Speaker 1: who in reality might actually be you know, if he played,

476
00:23:58,160 --> 00:23:59,760
Speaker 1: if he has to play the whole season and you're

477
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,880
Speaker 1: doing those rankings where you're ranking everybody who starts a game,

478
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 1: he's he's gonna be behind Lamar, He's gonna be Borrow again.

479
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:12,200
Speaker 1: He goes back to it. If Roethlisberger returns, your quarterback

480
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:16,600
Speaker 1: situation is maybe maybe it's not the best situation in

481
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 1: the f C North, but but it's a conversation for

482
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,040
Speaker 1: that second third force. You know, you're in that car,

483
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,600
Speaker 1: You're in that mix. If if it's Rudolph as your

484
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:28,240
Speaker 1: starting quarterback, you're clearly forced last year. I guess my

485
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,400
Speaker 1: point was more of I always talking about Jets game

486
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:33,719
Speaker 1: from two years ago. If he would have played that

487
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 1: and we would have seen him in four preseason games,

488
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 1: all of us myself, and we might be like, I'm

489
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,159
Speaker 1: kind of interested to see and he I thought he

490
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 1: played great in that Cleveland game. You know, he made

491
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,360
Speaker 1: some he made some big time throws in that game. Right,

492
00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:51,359
Speaker 1: If he could have showed us his wears from that

493
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 1: Jets game to the Browns game, perception might be a

494
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,480
Speaker 1: lot different about him. Again, I'm not a believer that

495
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:03,119
Speaker 1: he's the successor, but I'm also he has no value.

496
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 1: He's an NFL quarterback. He's gonna play in this legal yeah,

497
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 1: you know, but I'm not ready to say okay here,

498
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 1: uh you know, we're gonna hand things over to this

499
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:13,800
Speaker 1: just to save six million, Yeah, just to save six

500
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 1: million against six million dollars. Yeah, if roethlisbergers, if the

501
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,679
Speaker 1: cap hit was actually what it is and and you

502
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 1: couldn't lower that, and so it's gonna be forty one

503
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 1: point five million dollars or nothing, Yeah, then you make

504
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,879
Speaker 1: that that it's easy save the forty one five million dollars.

505
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 1: But that's not and keep all your that's not the

506
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 1: reality of the situation. And I think a lot of

507
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,680
Speaker 1: fans think that that is the situation. I think we've

508
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:42,359
Speaker 1: laid that out. But what do you says he is

509
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,239
Speaker 1: the highest cap hit in the league. You just assume, well,

510
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,120
Speaker 1: caught him and we'll say well, and again, that's not

511
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 1: the reason it is the highest cap hit in the league.

512
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,719
Speaker 1: Is not anything that Roethlisberger did. The Steelers did this

513
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,280
Speaker 1: when they when when they went to him last off

514
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: season right around this time and said hey, we need

515
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 1: to restructure your deals. We create some cap space, and

516
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,200
Speaker 1: he did that. He was supposed to count about thirty

517
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,960
Speaker 1: million dollars against their cap. Their original thought thinks he's

518
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 1: gonna be older. We don't want him to count that much.

519
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,640
Speaker 1: But then you know, you fag the cap like every

520
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:17,439
Speaker 1: team does. So you know, I again interesting. What I

521
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 1: think is why I think that this is all happening Again,

522
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,160
Speaker 1: I think the Steelers don't want him to come back,

523
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:25,480
Speaker 1: or they where they had the feeling that he won't

524
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 1: want to come back if the team can't compete to win,

525
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 1: if you lose a lot more than you gain this

526
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,200
Speaker 1: offseason and you knew what you had to start, Yeah,

527
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 1: I mean, if the dire circumstances that everybody is putting

528
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,399
Speaker 1: out there, if all this happens, they don't recige, they

529
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 1: can't reach, they don't have enough money to resign any

530
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: of their free agency, and yeah, why would you bring

531
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger back? The reality is the reality is that it

532
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,160
Speaker 1: probably comes in. You probably get a mix. So you're

533
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,840
Speaker 1: not gonna get Yeah, you're not gonna get Bud Dupree.

534
00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 1: You're probably not gonna get you ju You know that

535
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,760
Speaker 1: May said a tougher decision, like, Okay, do I want

536
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 1: to come back to this. You know a lot of

537
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,120
Speaker 1: guys aren't there, and they don't want to. They don't.

538
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: They ran into a situation in when the cap went

539
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 1: the cap actually went down one other time in NFL,

540
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:19,080
Speaker 1: and then in twelve it only it only went back

541
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: up like two million dollars. It's stagnated two years in

542
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,199
Speaker 1: a row where it was basically the same number that

543
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 1: it was and the Steelers are coming off Super Bowls.

544
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: I gotta pay these games. And so they went to

545
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,879
Speaker 1: to to James Harrison said hey, we need you to

546
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 1: take a pay cut to stick around. And his number

547
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,400
Speaker 1: wasn't huge, but it was big enough that they need.

548
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 1: You know, they thought he was at the end, and

549
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,880
Speaker 1: he was, you know, he was thirty, you know something

550
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: whatever it was at the time, thirty two, And he said,

551
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 1: I'm not taking a pay cut. I've been too important

552
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 1: to this team over the years. And it said, okay,

553
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:55,200
Speaker 1: well then you know we're gonna have to cut you.

554
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 1: And so they cut him and he ends up signing

555
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: with the Bengals for you know, a year. They don't

556
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: want to get into that kind of situation. You can't

557
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:03,919
Speaker 1: do that with Ben Roethlisberger. You don't want to do

558
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: it with Harrison, right, I'm not gonna play chicken with

559
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,680
Speaker 1: the team. Yah, you know, and you end up losing

560
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,280
Speaker 1: that battle, right And and if you make that, if

561
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,560
Speaker 1: you make that kind of demand, you have to be

562
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,280
Speaker 1: prepared to cut the player, and this team will. But

563
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 1: but you don't want to cut Ben Roethlisberger. That's you

564
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: don't and you don't want bad pr com it and

565
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:27,919
Speaker 1: all that too. But he's meant too much to your

566
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 1: franchise over there. He is who he is, He had

567
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,680
Speaker 1: to go. He went through this with Harrison, you don't

568
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 1: want to do it again. I hate to say it, though,

569
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: but most players don't get to dictate their terms and

570
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 1: when they hang it up or when they leave their team.

571
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:43,600
Speaker 1: And Franco went to Seattle and you know, but those

572
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:45,360
Speaker 1: are bad situation. You know that you don't want to

573
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 1: what you want, so you're you're trying to give him

574
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 1: the out here in this situation, like, hey, if this

575
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 1: doesn't work out, you know, we could sit down and

576
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 1: talk about this. If you don't want to come, you know,

577
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 1: this is We're gonna be honest with you. Here's what

578
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: it is there again, they're not going to use the

579
00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 1: the R word. They're never gonna say, hey, we're gonna

580
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 1: be rebuilding. But the reality will be will show us.

581
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 1: I think whether whether Roethlisberger comes back or not will

582
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 1: tell you whether they are quote unquote reability. So here's

583
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 1: a weird situation. Let's say both parties realize we're not

584
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: what we used to be. My guys aren't here. Does

585
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 1: that mean he has to use the R word retirement

586
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 1: or could you say, hey, Indy, why don't you give

587
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: us a third round pick for Ben? I don't think

588
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: he won't play for anybody else either, but he has

589
00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:36,040
Speaker 1: no I think if he's gonna do that, you know,

590
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 1: I got one more year. I'm gonna give it a shot.

591
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:40,959
Speaker 1: Like I mean, no one's ont rady to be a box.

592
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 1: I can't even envision it, but I don't. I don't.

593
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,479
Speaker 1: He's always taken pride in playing for one team. Um,

594
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,160
Speaker 1: he saw what happened with Rivers this year. It's just

595
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,720
Speaker 1: not the same. It's not you know what his face.

596
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: You know his wife's from here? Is she gonna want

597
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:56,640
Speaker 1: to pick up a move to Indianapolis or wherever he

598
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: would go? I don't think so. So then you're living.

599
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:01,080
Speaker 1: Then you're living away from your family and kids for

600
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 1: a year. That's no fun. I just think there's a

601
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 1: chance that he thinks he could still play, but looks

602
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 1: at the situation and says it's not the same. Would

603
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:12,080
Speaker 1: I consider it in a prime spot somewhere else, But

604
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 1: it's not. It's for Rivers. Rivers has never won anything,

605
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 1: whereas Roethlisberger has been to three super like Yeah, and

606
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: it's about you know, Brady wanted to show the page

607
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna I'm gonna show it was me. You know,

608
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 1: I'm I'm the one who who you know, stirred the

609
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 1: pot here. I'm the one who was driving the bus

610
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 1: on this whole thing. It was all about me. I

611
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 1: just think Roethlisberger at this point in the stree, he's

612
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 1: made enough money. He's one. He's one enough that if

613
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not if he's not gonna if he's

614
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 1: not going to get a chance to retire with the Steelers,

615
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:46,960
Speaker 1: with his with the guys that he played with, then

616
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,000
Speaker 1: he's not gonna play anywhere else. Meet with a bunch

617
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: of new dudes in India or whatever. I don't think

618
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 1: I don't think that would happen either. I just wonder,

619
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 1: you know, does he want to go? Yeah, uh, let's

620
00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 1: take a break. He he has Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lally.

621
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 1: We want to thank Jacob Breack for keeping us on

622
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:03,479
Speaker 1: the air here as well, we want to thank you

623
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,480
Speaker 1: for listening to this edition of the Drive on Steelers

624
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 1: Nation Radio