Speaker 1: At least he's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt
Speaker 1: Williamson on Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Drive on Dale Lolly here with Matt Williamson.
Speaker 1: Mess been a while I've been on the air with
Speaker 1: you in the hours. The Drive has been a while,
Speaker 1: though the Drive, it has been a while. We haven't
Speaker 1: been on the Drive us since last Wednesday. We now
Speaker 1: have a Steelers draft in the books that we had
Speaker 1: to Van Hill and coming in there I did. I
Speaker 1: can't remember which day it was now because they've all
Speaker 1: run together for but I was watched UH a thing
Speaker 1: on the early Van Hale in the early years where
Speaker 1: they went through all the talk to a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys that knew them back when they were in high
Speaker 1: school and stuff. Talked about how they used to go
Speaker 1: in the Anaheim area and play all these UH parties
Speaker 1: um before before this this is like Entree seventy four
Speaker 1: before they had hit it big and they were the
Speaker 1: favorite band for everybody to have with their street part
Speaker 1: and it would usually they get like two or three
Speaker 1: songs in and then the police would show up because
Speaker 1: they were so loud. But that big crowds I'm sure
Speaker 1: Halen on the street corner or whatever. But anyways, Steelers
Speaker 1: and everybody else really getting their draft to complete it
Speaker 1: this year. Um you know, I think you look at
Speaker 1: what they did, uh in the draft. They obviously had
Speaker 1: a plan very much, and the plan was to fix
Speaker 1: the running game. Yeah, the offense, especially the running game.
Speaker 1: I think they really had a plan of of what
Speaker 1: pockets in the draft they were gonna attack, which positions,
Speaker 1: you know, the the overall depth at each position. There
Speaker 1: were certainly some themes of the draft class too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. The course, in the first round,
Speaker 1: the Steelers take na J. Harris, the running back out
Speaker 1: of Alabama, and that's not a huge surprise there. I
Speaker 1: think we ended up both mocking him to the Steelers
Speaker 1: damn anytimes. Uh. Round two they take pet Friarmouth, the
Speaker 1: tight end at a Penn State. I did have a
Speaker 1: mock where I had hit them them taking him in
Speaker 1: the second round, but a lot of the mocks that
Speaker 1: I did he wasn't available in the second and second round. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I could see that. Um So I didn't see that
Speaker 1: one coming. I mean even at the time I said, wow,
Speaker 1: this run the card up for Creed Humphrey and yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to talk about it more, but
Speaker 1: you know, we're just kind of go over an overview here,
Speaker 1: but segment here we can talk about. So here's the
Speaker 1: more I've thought about these two picks. I think they're
Speaker 1: very similar for a lot of reasons. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go in a little rant here and that anyone listened
Speaker 1: to us before thought that, or we thought that there
Speaker 1: were three running backs that can fix the problem. Not
Speaker 1: the Tray Sermon or whoever can't have great careers, but
Speaker 1: three of them. You're real happy with it. It's telling
Speaker 1: that after the steel after the top three backs went,
Speaker 1: another running back wasn't taken until after the Steelers pick
Speaker 1: round three, and it was Sermon the next pick after
Speaker 1: Kendall Green was taken, and after the Steelers picked Harris,
Speaker 1: the next pick was a back. And then quickly after
Speaker 1: Denver trades up or in the second pick of the
Speaker 1: second round, like these guys were covered it around the league.
Speaker 1: Everyone agrees with what was saying on that. I mean,
Speaker 1: the league proved it to us, but I think tight
Speaker 1: ends really similar. It was similar. Yeah, Pitts as its
Speaker 1: own beast. Yeah, I mean he's a top five pick.
Speaker 1: He's he's a unicorn, easy, but the highest tight end
Speaker 1: ever drafted in in NFL history, right right, so you
Speaker 1: I don't even know if he can you count him
Speaker 1: in the conversation, especially from a Steeler perspective, Like so realistically,
Speaker 1: you got the guy who was also got Yeah, you
Speaker 1: kind of a one B at the tight end position.
Speaker 1: But it's similar to Harris. I mean, he was your
Speaker 1: favorite guy that isn't and you knew you weren't gonna
Speaker 1: have you weren't gonna get a chance of pitch. That
Speaker 1: was my point with it. You've got the number one
Speaker 1: running back in the draft. They're never in a position
Speaker 1: to do that, and you got arguably the the top
Speaker 1: tight end not named Kyle Pitts. And to that point,
Speaker 1: I mean, and we talked about this a lot pre draft,
Speaker 1: like the running backs, how many tight ends in this class?
Speaker 1: Pits aside? Would you've been really happy that boy? I
Speaker 1: think we may have fixed this problem. To me, it's
Speaker 1: tremble long and friar Mouth, and that much of the
Speaker 1: friar Mouth than the other two. And I think the
Speaker 1: other two were more third round picks. If they've taken
Speaker 1: one of those guys at fifty five, I think that's
Speaker 1: too early, right, I agree, I think you'd considering that early.
Speaker 1: So if you look at their last couple of drafts,
Speaker 1: they've thrown some mid to late round picks at running
Speaker 1: backs and tight ends and enough enough like they ain't
Speaker 1: getting it done. I mean, you're trying to catch lightning
Speaker 1: in a bottom with from those guys. It hasn't happened. Um,
Speaker 1: so you do you take the outlier again, you get
Speaker 1: the best players at their position. Yeah, exactly as opposed
Speaker 1: to taking the sixth offensive tackle or the you know,
Speaker 1: in this case, it would have been the second rated
Speaker 1: center right where it could have. I mean, Creed Humphrey
Speaker 1: could have been one, but the difference was to me,
Speaker 1: I think Green is still in the same tier. That's
Speaker 1: where I was gonna say, we talked about this or
Speaker 1: five or sixth centers going into this draft, that you
Speaker 1: look and go that guy could step in and play,
Speaker 1: if if not right away early in this season. Right.
Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna talk about both sides of my
Speaker 1: mouth because I hadn't thought about in this light as much,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure the Steelers did. When the second round
Speaker 1: came around, I said, oh, Creed Humphreys an easy pick,
Speaker 1: plug and play starter, and I would rather have Humphrey
Speaker 1: than Green, but not by much. They're all on the
Speaker 1: same tier, and um, Wisconsin Whitewater dude would have been
Speaker 1: on that tier. And you know, I'm sure they looked
Speaker 1: at and said, this is our one shot at a
Speaker 1: tight end. He's a starter to And just to show
Speaker 1: you that there was no real consensus on that, Myers
Speaker 1: from Ohio State went before Creed Humphrey. Yeah, right, did
Speaker 1: he Yeah, he went like a one or two picks
Speaker 1: before Creed Humphrey. So there was five of them or
Speaker 1: so in that name. I mean, just because everybody said, well,
Speaker 1: you know that all the rankings say this. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you also don't have all the information. You know, we
Speaker 1: don't either, you know. So I thought they got two
Speaker 1: starters that, oh, by the way, are extremely quarterback friendly.
Speaker 1: And I'm talking about old Ben, but I'm really talking
Speaker 1: about whoever the new dude is. You know, big catching
Speaker 1: radius is easy throws to those two players. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure I remember the year Cincinnati took Tyler Eifert
Speaker 1: in the first and Jio Bernard in the second. And
Speaker 1: I'm almost positive. That was the year after they took
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. That was and I remember writing articles these
Speaker 1: are Andy Dalton friendly picks. You know, you gotta remember
Speaker 1: who your quarterback is, and this case who it's going
Speaker 1: to be tight ends in receiving backs that also are
Speaker 1: big for their size are really quarterback friendly. Yeah. Um.
Speaker 1: So then they follow up in the third round they
Speaker 1: take Kendrick Green, who was a favorite of this show,
Speaker 1: and yeah, um, you know, we were not that much
Speaker 1: different than Humphrey, to know. I think, in fact, there
Speaker 1: are some things that he does better. Um. I think
Speaker 1: if you're looking for you know, Humphrey is more of
Speaker 1: a technician. Um, if you're looking for somebody who's gonna
Speaker 1: be a road greater, I think Kendrick Green is more that.
Speaker 1: I think he's more explosive off the ball, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: and probably maybe have a higher ceiling to it. Might
Speaker 1: even be more athletic overall. Maybe Humphrey changed direction does
Speaker 1: and is a pretty good pretty good athletes. Yeah Green
Speaker 1: straight line. I mean again, it goes back to the
Speaker 1: old Meryl Hodge conversation with the Bears, and there he
Speaker 1: goes to the Bears and they're asking him how the
Speaker 1: Steelers ran a certain play and he said, well, we
Speaker 1: have the center, you know, gets out here and makes
Speaker 1: this block, and they're like, what, right, Green can do
Speaker 1: those kind of things. Yeah, a little bit more of
Speaker 1: a working projects bress than Humphrey as a protection guy. Um,
Speaker 1: but I think you'll get it. I mean, it's really
Speaker 1: hard workers, super energetic, and center is not really a
Speaker 1: spot where you look at and go, boy, my center
Speaker 1: better be really good in protection. It's more health position
Speaker 1: most of the time anyways. Improve It's not like he's
Speaker 1: bad anyway. Yeah. Um. The other thing about that, Kevin
Speaker 1: Colbert was on with the Belief Stand Savereign today and
Speaker 1: said that the Steelers felt that if Kendrick Green had
Speaker 1: played more than the four career starts that he had
Speaker 1: at center, he would have been drafted higher. That makes
Speaker 1: a ton of sense. Yeah, I'm sure they're in some
Speaker 1: draft rooms are going I'd like him a center, but
Speaker 1: I wish I saw him some more of it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's almost like, you know, he's almost like looking at
Speaker 1: an opt out at the center position, because again, only
Speaker 1: four games there, but he can do it, and you
Speaker 1: know there were times when he did it not knowing
Speaker 1: that he was gonna you know, people prepare all throughout
Speaker 1: the week to play one position and not playing center,
Speaker 1: and now it's always gonna do. Yeah, that's the beauty
Speaker 1: of it is that day you drafted me and say
Speaker 1: you're a center. Get used to it, snap out. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not that much of a conversion, assuming he can
Speaker 1: handle it mentally, which I have no doubts. You can now.
Speaker 1: One guy we hadn't talked a lot about that they
Speaker 1: drafted in the fourth round was Dan Moore. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: he kind of got lost in the shuffle. And this
Speaker 1: year's offensive tackle class a good way of putting it,
Speaker 1: because there were just so many you couldn't you know,
Speaker 1: you couldn't mention them all. No, and we didn't mention
Speaker 1: them often. Um, somethings stand out. A couple of things
Speaker 1: stand out with all these guys when we can go
Speaker 1: back and do you know some themes of the draft.
Speaker 1: But I know he came to A and M as
Speaker 1: a guard and he probably could do that. But I
Speaker 1: think he's a tackle all day. He's got a pure
Speaker 1: tackle body. Yeah, he's a little bit leaner, light green's
Speaker 1: he's good in space. He's a good athlete. I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna see more outside zone than we're used to
Speaker 1: seeing in the run game. Long arms, certainly the frame
Speaker 1: to handle it, but also well a lot of experience
Speaker 1: as well. So a project in terms of getting stronger,
Speaker 1: filling out a little bit. But he's been on the
Speaker 1: block at the high level two in the SEC SEC. Yeah,
Speaker 1: people look at Texas A and M and they don't
Speaker 1: they still don't think SEC that's where they play their games.
Speaker 1: That they're playing Alabama, they're playing Georgia, They're playing all
Speaker 1: those l s U, all those that drushers. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: same thing with Buddy Johnson. He was a guy that
Speaker 1: you know, I started to mention a little bit late
Speaker 1: in the pro uh, in the process of a guy
Speaker 1: one of these inside linebackers to thirty pounds that can run.
Speaker 1: Um is a good form tackler, just needs to get
Speaker 1: better in coverage. Yeah, And I think, as we talked
Speaker 1: about this a week or two ago, just because you're
Speaker 1: time well in the fort he doesn't mean you're good
Speaker 1: in coverage. And he needs work to do in that regard.
Speaker 1: And I don't though he plays quite the speedy times,
Speaker 1: but I think he's certainly a more athletic version of
Speaker 1: Vince Williams. I mean he loves to come downhill and thumb.
Speaker 1: He likes to come downhill. He is really aggressive, um leader, tough,
Speaker 1: all those things. Also has a lot of experience. He
Speaker 1: sets up to be a demon on special teams too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is something that you know, again, you didn't have, um,
Speaker 1: you didn't have another linebacker, not counting Ulisses Gilbert who
Speaker 1: could run in the same neighborhood as Devon Bush. He's
Speaker 1: different than the other guys you have there. I mean
Speaker 1: not that he's all the greatest trades, but he's somewhere
Speaker 1: between Williams and Bush. Yeah, you know on the spectrum. Uh.
Speaker 1: They then trade up in the fifth round um trading. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was kind of surprised, but they traded the fourth
Speaker 1: round pick from next season to move up and get
Speaker 1: Isaiah louder Milk. And you know, I know a lot
Speaker 1: of people looked at dense and well he wasn't he
Speaker 1: wasn't listed on so and so's draft guide or this guy.
Speaker 1: This guy had him as a you know, undrafted free
Speaker 1: agent stuff like that. He's listed at six seven two pounds.
Speaker 1: There weren't a lot of bit bodies types like that
Speaker 1: And I haven't talked about this much, but that's the
Speaker 1: true old school lebou three for defensive end body type guys.
Speaker 1: They almost all get moved to tackle now, right. You know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to find defenders that fit those dimensions. So
Speaker 1: that's a start. I mean, I bet they were working
Speaker 1: off a short list and they didn't have to project
Speaker 1: here because he had played that defense. Yeah, he had
Speaker 1: played that at Wisconsin. They have a good foundation with
Speaker 1: the staff at Wisconsin with Paul christ That to me
Speaker 1: is the key. Yeah. If this was some some school
Speaker 1: that there was just Joe Blow, I'd kind of roll
Speaker 1: my eyes at it. And frankly, I think next year's
Speaker 1: fourth round will be a lot better than this year's
Speaker 1: fifth round. I mean, I'm totally guess. I don't know
Speaker 1: who's the next year's draft, but it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: deeper draft, you know. But because of that was constant connection.
Speaker 1: I bet that's an acept their sleeve, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I bet they knew. So here's the thing. When you
Speaker 1: look at to give up what they did the late
Speaker 1: round guys that they've gotten recently, or even the undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent Henry Mondu when you're taking a defensive lineman
Speaker 1: in round six or seven. He's not six seven, He's
Speaker 1: not he's not a six pounder. He's a six three pounder.
Speaker 1: He's not your ideal prospect at the at the position.
Speaker 1: And I know times have changed, but I even had
Speaker 1: this conversation with Kevin way back when, like back when
Speaker 1: they were Lab three four, you know, and the world's
Speaker 1: changed a lot. You'd be six four and a half
Speaker 1: or four or more. You know, we're not even looking
Speaker 1: at you, you know, for that position with long arms.
Speaker 1: And they got that guy. I mean, is he a
Speaker 1: perfect athlete? No. I went back and watched the fair
Speaker 1: amount last night. He's productive. I mean, he's in on
Speaker 1: a lot of plays. Lower bodies, a little stiff, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, but they'll coach him up and
Speaker 1: you know, um again, if he works into the rotation,
Speaker 1: if he's getting ten snaps a game at some point
Speaker 1: this season, if he could spell Heyward, do it while
Speaker 1: he learns that um. In sixth round, they I think
Speaker 1: they got what I considered their steel of the draft,
Speaker 1: Quincy Rochet being available in the sixth round. The sixth
Speaker 1: round was often where when we were doing our mock drafts.
Speaker 1: It was no man where we would take one of
Speaker 1: those best edge rushers available, but it was never Quincy
Speaker 1: Roche being we were always considered him in the fourth
Speaker 1: or so. Talk about his role for next year, Maybe
Speaker 1: it's optimistic because he has a six round pick. I mean,
Speaker 1: no matter what we say or what you know, I
Speaker 1: think he's should be the third outside lineback. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean I think he'll win that job early and that's
Speaker 1: immense value. Absolutely. I mean I think he gets ten
Speaker 1: to fifteen snaps a game. Yeah, sooner rather than later,
Speaker 1: right right. I mean I don't think there's a lot
Speaker 1: in one plays a lot in special teams, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's a definite role there. And you're talking
Speaker 1: about a six rounder with a defined role. I don't
Speaker 1: know that more louder Milk. The other guys we talk
Speaker 1: about are high quality football players. I know he is.
Speaker 1: I already know that about him is he's really good
Speaker 1: to play. And that's the thing too, is that you
Speaker 1: had to look at here because when you have a
Speaker 1: draft like this where you take Okay Nausea, Harris isn't
Speaker 1: playing any special teams. Pat Friarmouth maybe here or there,
Speaker 1: but not a lot. Maybe he's probably field goal team.
Speaker 1: He might be out there on on your kick, on
Speaker 1: your kick return or something like it is one of
Speaker 1: the up game. Kendrick Green No, No, neither one of
Speaker 1: those guys, Dan Moore, no, Buddy Johnson will play special
Speaker 1: teams maybe as well as they went on a team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think he's gonna be a star there. Louder
Speaker 1: Milk No, um so Roche, yes, I mean you you
Speaker 1: had to get some guys that, you know, especially rookies,
Speaker 1: that can can handle that because they're gonna be core
Speaker 1: special teamers. We saw it with t J. Want the
Speaker 1: year he was drafted in the first round as a linebacker.
Speaker 1: He's a starter and he's playing all the special teams.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it's the first round pick. These guys
Speaker 1: are gonna play. They're gonna play. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: expect Roche to be active on game day, to be
Speaker 1: getting rotational snaps right off the bat, beyond every special team.
Speaker 1: I mean, by the time you count up his his
Speaker 1: defensive snaps and special team snaps, he's over thirty snaps
Speaker 1: a game. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, that's a sixth round pick.
Speaker 1: I mean that's one of that's good value. Probably is
Speaker 1: my favorite big pound for round. Uh. In the seventh round,
Speaker 1: then they take Trey Nor with the cornerback safety out
Speaker 1: of Have you got any more inclination? Oklahoma? What they're
Speaker 1: gonna do with him? I mean, I would think he's
Speaker 1: in the he's in the mix to be the nickel.
Speaker 1: He did a lot of that at Oklahoma. Um, I
Speaker 1: mean I thought he'd probably be a nickel corner. But
Speaker 1: a safety is he a corner? You know? They brought
Speaker 1: in a lot of undrafted guys to that our defensive back,
Speaker 1: so they just they threw a lot at the wall.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what it feels like, is starting with him,
Speaker 1: they may find one there. And the guy that the
Speaker 1: the most interesting one there to me was Mark Gilbert. Uh.
Speaker 1: The kid had a duke. He's only played four games
Speaker 1: the last two years, but in two eighteen, uh, he
Speaker 1: played the full season, had five interceptions. N is big
Speaker 1: and can run. Um. His uncle's Sean Gilbert, So there's
Speaker 1: some there's some bloodlines there. Who of course that also
Speaker 1: ties him in with Tay Lawrell Rivers, all those all
Speaker 1: those I'll equipped guys. Yeah, Uh, there's some there's some
Speaker 1: pedigree there. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't recognize the name
Speaker 1: off the top of my head, but yeah, I didn't
Speaker 1: know that story. And boy, that seems like a Steeler
Speaker 1: move all day long. And he had the injury issues
Speaker 1: the last two years, um and the strange years obviously.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and you also throw Jakier Brown and there
Speaker 1: he was the brand name guy. But I mean defensive,
Speaker 1: we had him in the mix there when you're looking
Speaker 1: at those you know, six seventh round guys, and Shaker
Speaker 1: Brown stood out and they got him anyways, and it
Speaker 1: was undrafted guys. I don't know if they have any
Speaker 1: leg down, you know, against the drafted dude either. I mean,
Speaker 1: throw them all in the mix. See who stands out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the seventh rounder doesn't make it. I mean, there's really
Speaker 1: not much different, right other than if you get to
Speaker 1: pick the guy that you wanted, which leads us to
Speaker 1: the punter in the seventh round, they got the guy
Speaker 1: that they wanted. People said, well, I've gotten the question,
Speaker 1: why did they waste to pick on a punter. Well,
Speaker 1: they've tried. They've tried to sign punters after the draft
Speaker 1: in previous year, and those guys said, no, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: sign with team b here because they're offering me more money,
Speaker 1: or I have a better situation than I'm going to
Speaker 1: where I want to stay in the South, or what
Speaker 1: maybe I got a buddy on the team or whatever
Speaker 1: the reason is. I don't know much about the Potning
Speaker 1: market and the rookies is here. I know nothing about it.
Speaker 1: I know about this guy because the Steelers drafted him.
Speaker 1: But as a rule of thumb, there's two. It's not
Speaker 1: like the center of conversation. There's two or three that
Speaker 1: are one of the best thirty two in the world,
Speaker 1: and people want them as undrafted free agents, and you
Speaker 1: have to compete, and ten teams out there aren't happy
Speaker 1: with their putter or would gladly downsize in terms of
Speaker 1: SA Yeah yeah, yea, yeah, So I think it makes
Speaker 1: perfect sense, especially in the draft that wasn't very deep
Speaker 1: the seventh rounders available. I mean, in the seventh round
Speaker 1: with that last pick, they might have taken Shakura Brown.
Speaker 1: Probably well they got him anyway, they probably they were probably.
Speaker 1: In fact, that was pretty much announced the Shakia Brown signing.
Speaker 1: Was not even sure the draft was over. It was
Speaker 1: like a second was the second it was over. So
Speaker 1: I'm sure when that's seventh. I'm sure they were on
Speaker 1: the phone with him, or at least with his agent
Speaker 1: in the seventh round when they made both of those picks.
Speaker 1: I don't know who his agent is, probably somebody they've
Speaker 1: dealt with a lot, and say, hey, look, if we
Speaker 1: don't draft him here, we'd like to sign him and
Speaker 1: he'll have a real shot to make the team. He's
Speaker 1: got a great shot. Tom we we wanted to draft
Speaker 1: a corner. Didn't work that way. He's we're gonna treat
Speaker 1: him like he's the fourth, fifth round pick, which is
Speaker 1: where you saw him. So they got some real value
Speaker 1: on day two I thought, yeah, or day three I
Speaker 1: should say, um, you know you they took the lineman
Speaker 1: that everybody wanted them. Hey, gotta go get a lineman,
Speaker 1: gotta get lineman. Yeah they got lineman. Yeah. Of course.
Speaker 1: The other undrafted guys Lamont Wade from Clarton, little undersize
Speaker 1: safety five nine eighties, a little light to play wonder
Speaker 1: potentially because he did run a four or four five. Now.
Speaker 1: He wasn't super productive though, but he was. He was
Speaker 1: a five star prospect, remember, but great to bring the
Speaker 1: camps videos At this stage. I did like the the
Speaker 1: offensive or the outside linebackers that they got as well.
Speaker 1: Jamar watch him was a guy that came up on
Speaker 1: our our drafts tons of times. And then Calvin Bundage
Speaker 1: at of Oklahoma State as well. Bundage is more of
Speaker 1: a inside backer. He played outside backer for for Oklahoma State.
Speaker 1: But he's uh six one pounds had seven and a
Speaker 1: half sacks so last year. Yeah, so there's some there's
Speaker 1: some buzz, there's there's some juice. There a lot of
Speaker 1: defensive guys obviously. Yeah. Uh we mentioned Mark Gilbert. Actually
Speaker 1: I said five interceptions in two thousands seventeen. It was
Speaker 1: six in two thousand seventeen. So I think he makes
Speaker 1: his team. The more you think about it, there's a
Speaker 1: good chance. I mean again, bigger guy that can run
Speaker 1: and you know has good hands obviously. Um and you're
Speaker 1: looking at the Rico Bussy um or Bucy. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure much about the two receivers. I've heard, Okay, I
Speaker 1: know much big guy. Saw a lot of people saying, boy,
Speaker 1: I thought he was gonna get picked. Um and as
Speaker 1: Isaiah McCoy is the other one out of Kent State,
Speaker 1: get their Kent Steak guy. He was very productive actually
Speaker 1: in just four games last year because the Max season
Speaker 1: was kind of weird. Uh five catches for four fifty
Speaker 1: five yards and five touchdowns UM in four games. That's yeah, right,
Speaker 1: that's pretty productive. Uh didn't run real well? It is
Speaker 1: it is pro day. I think he was in the
Speaker 1: four sixes. But again he's six to two pounds, so
Speaker 1: a bigger wide receiver. UM that I think it was.
Speaker 1: And I don't know this, but you've talked about it before.
Speaker 1: You know, they signed five guys before the draft, and
Speaker 1: I wonder if they just spent a little more, you
Speaker 1: like how my year with the Browns, I had ten
Speaker 1: tho dollars spent on wide receivers. Like they give you
Speaker 1: a budget and well you can go further for eight
Speaker 1: guys and they yeah, they only needed they only needed,
Speaker 1: They only needed eight. So instead of signing the fifteen,
Speaker 1: twelve and fifteen that they usually doing, so we can
Speaker 1: we can a lot the same amount of money, but
Speaker 1: and you get the receivers. Hey, we had draftable grades
Speaker 1: on you guys. We have an unbelievable history of evaluating receivers.
Speaker 1: We didn't draft anyone. There. We've got two guys who's
Speaker 1: about to free agency. A year from now, it's pretty
Speaker 1: attractive spot for receivers. Yeah. They also got Florida safety
Speaker 1: Donovan Steiner, who is productive is a in the last
Speaker 1: season as well. Um yeah, I mean there were more
Speaker 1: name there's more name value in the undrafted the undrafted
Speaker 1: guys and they typically have because it's a smaller pool
Speaker 1: and they got to hand pick them a little bit more. Um.
Speaker 1: Usually I kind of not brush it off, but don't
Speaker 1: pay a whole lot of attention to who the group is.
Speaker 1: But this is an easier one to de cipher, and
Speaker 1: I think people need to be aware of who they are.
Speaker 1: Shakier Brown's the obvious named yeah you know, yeah for sure,
Speaker 1: but Gilbert's and that guy I'm gonna be keeping an island.
Speaker 1: Yeah right, there's some You'll be writing some stories about
Speaker 1: him too. There's some upside there for sure. Of course,
Speaker 1: today as well, the Steelers declined to pick up the
Speaker 1: fifth year told on that for a second. There's all
Speaker 1: trends I mentioned I think are that stand out with
Speaker 1: this team is first of all, everyone they drafted is
Speaker 1: from a big school, first time in a while that
Speaker 1: they've had a draft from all power conferences. Everybody played
Speaker 1: football last year. The other thing, no one opted out,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean they have more information from big
Speaker 1: schools than ever. Tough and physical, it really stood out
Speaker 1: at just about every position, and a lot of versatility
Speaker 1: to a lot of these guys can do more than
Speaker 1: one thing, play more than one position, well rounded and
Speaker 1: don't need to come off the field. And I think
Speaker 1: that there are more so than some other Steeler drafts.
Speaker 1: I bet there's a lot of rookie snaps next year.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of opportunity for early playing time.
Speaker 1: Obviously the first pick in the last pick to go
Speaker 1: without saying the hunter wins a job, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of chances that this is the highest rookie number
Speaker 1: of snaps that the team gets. It wouldn't surprise me
Speaker 1: at all if Friar Mouve out snaps Hebron this year.
Speaker 1: I can see it just be I mean, you know, Hebron.
Speaker 1: Let's say you got a thousand um and then it
Speaker 1: made more than that this year because of the seventeen games.
Speaker 1: But let's say so, let's say it's offensive snaps. They're
Speaker 1: gonna play something together. But it wouldn't surprise me if
Speaker 1: Farrenmouth ends up with seven hundred snaps and Hebron's at
Speaker 1: five wouldn't either, especially if you mean especially late in
Speaker 1: the season. If he continues to get better and better
Speaker 1: and better. I mean, I don't. I think some people
Speaker 1: look at him as a backup, which I think is wrong.
Speaker 1: I think he's a different not different style, but somewhat
Speaker 1: different style. I mean, I think there'll be a lot
Speaker 1: of snaps when one tight end on the field, and
Speaker 1: it's not always gonna be Bron being that guy, right, agree,
Speaker 1: because Farrenmouth gives you a lot of the same matchup issues, right,
Speaker 1: And he's more physical, and you know he will line up.
Speaker 1: He probably doesn't run quite as well as he run,
Speaker 1: but Hebron doesn't run quite as well as he did
Speaker 1: when he came into the league. That's he's the top
Speaker 1: ten pick in the league for a reason. Oh yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had a great forty and those two so I
Speaker 1: think they'll play a lot together. I think he'll be
Speaker 1: the single tight end quite a bit too. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, moving on to the draft from a
Speaker 1: few years ago, through all Edmonds fifth year option not
Speaker 1: picked up, that would have been six point seven five
Speaker 1: million dollars. It's a lot of money. UM. I looked
Speaker 1: at it as well. I mean that's kind of the
Speaker 1: going rate. Uh if for a starting safety it isn't
Speaker 1: it isn't. Um, it might be more of a you know,
Speaker 1: a high end safety. They're gonna have to be negotiating
Speaker 1: with makeing Itzpatrick here soon as well, with on a
Speaker 1: new deal. Not this year, but you know after next year. Um.
Speaker 1: And you may they may have looked at that and said,
Speaker 1: you know, if we're gonna pay minca Ten twelve million
Speaker 1: dollars a year, which would probably be the going rate
Speaker 1: for making patricks, can you afford them to pay through
Speaker 1: all Edmunds six point seven five? Because that's going to
Speaker 1: be if we if we give him that fifty your option,
Speaker 1: that's the jumping off. That's where the negotiations begin at.
Speaker 1: It really is. Yeah, So you don't give it to
Speaker 1: him and then the agent can't come back and say, well,
Speaker 1: you gave him six point seven five last year, so
Speaker 1: that's what that's where we want to start at. Now
Speaker 1: you can start those negotiations. Hey, how about five that's
Speaker 1: what's gonna say. Like if I were them right now,
Speaker 1: I might go to the agent and say, how about
Speaker 1: two years for nine million right now. I mean if
Speaker 1: I were him, I'd strongly consider it with a decent bonus,
Speaker 1: a chunk of that guaranteed or a majority of a guaranteed,
Speaker 1: give him for two more years, um, and you just
Speaker 1: sell it to him with what I just said. Hey,
Speaker 1: look we gotta pay Manka, we gotta pay t J.
Speaker 1: You're obviously third in that pecking order, and we like
Speaker 1: to a lot in your decent money to your deal.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of job security. You just saw
Speaker 1: Sean Davis, uh, you know wash out as a second
Speaker 1: he started, he started next to you there for a
Speaker 1: year and what happened with him? So you start bouncing
Speaker 1: on the league. You don't know how it's gonna work.
Speaker 1: What's your value on the open market? What's the cap
Speaker 1: gonna look like? You know, yeah, we got some money
Speaker 1: right now? All right? You on ten over two? Okay? Yeah.
Speaker 1: What it doesn't mean to me is that, you know,
Speaker 1: people are automatically jumping on see this was a bad
Speaker 1: pick that he they didn't pick up his option. They
Speaker 1: think he stinks. That's not the case. I think that's
Speaker 1: the case. I mean, if MINCA didn't exist, or if
Speaker 1: they just had Joe average free safety there maybe they
Speaker 1: had picked it up or this story is not done
Speaker 1: yet either. No, this is just is just a chapter
Speaker 1: in the book that you know, we're gonna continue to
Speaker 1: look at here. Um, the whole league had to make
Speaker 1: those decisions. Today was the deadline, it was the third
Speaker 1: so a lot of different guys from that first round
Speaker 1: did or did not get there, their options picked up.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to talk about that, but we'll do
Speaker 1: that in the next segment. Not a lot of surprises,
Speaker 1: but it is interesting how the how the league thinks
Speaker 1: and how that draft class looks. Now, you know, draft
Speaker 1: grades are so stupid, but we could grade that draft now, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they tell you a lot, but that's gonna do it
Speaker 1: for this segment of the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1: So for my partner Matt Williamson, for Jacob right here
Speaker 1: on site keeping us on the air, I'm Dale Lolly.
Speaker 1: We thank you for listening to the Drive on Steelers
Speaker 1: Nation Radio.