April 15, 2025 • 21 mins
Labs and Tom get right into this week’s batch of questions.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upperman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I still don't know about Aaron Rodgers, what he's gonna do,
if he's gonna play or not, if he'll be a
Steeler or not. And we have a draft just a
couple of weeks away, so things are gonna start happening
here for the Steelers in this phase of the offseason. Labs,
I want to thank you for taking some time off
from doing all of your mock drafts to sit down
with me and do this podcast. I know you're very
busy this time of year.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, you know the busiest thing, the most involved project
I've been working on lately, or your taxes.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Man, I mean, today's the day. I mean, I hope
they get in in time.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
The offer in the state. I mean, it's just it's
just growing leaps and bounds. Yeah, they'll get in ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, I was just going to say, we got the
draft coming up on the horizon, nothing really new to
talk about today, So I think we should just get
right into the questions and start with Lee Collins, who's
writing to us from north of the border, Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
He's got a plan for us labs. This is the
least plan trading back this year to get more draft
capital and then use it to get key cornerstone pieces
(01:22):
at defensive line, cornerback, wide receiver, running back, safety, tackle,
or offensive guard. Then next year, with compensatory draft capital,
you add a higher profile quarterback. Would you agree with
that plan to trade down and fill more needs with
young talent?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
You know, I kind of answer all of these trading
down questions the same way. I mean, yeah, sounds good,
certainly does, but you know it making it happen is
the issue. I mean, it isn't as easy as just
type and you know, trade down to fill more needs
with young talent, because any trade down requires a corresponding
(02:01):
team to trade up. And I just, you know, is
this draft process, and you know, teams start keep figuring
out the best ways to maximize it. I just unless
there's really a certain player that a team needs, it's
(02:22):
hard to find a team that's willing to give up,
you know, a couple of picks for one pick, and
you know, especially at the towards the bottom of the
first round, I mean, I just don't know that you're
going to get much interest in a team looking for
that twenty first overall pick and one that's willing to
(02:44):
give you a bounty of picks in return.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
You kind of really need an enticing player to slip
down the board that the Steelers wouldn't want for that
to happen at twenty one, would you agree?
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah? And I don't know who that might be, because
usually you know what creates the most action in the
first round, or quarterbacks. And you know, if some quarterback
that is projected to be a top of the first
round pick would slide to twenty one to the Steelers
(03:22):
pass on it him whoever that might be. So yeah,
like I said, it sounds good. I just I just
don't know what you're going to be able to get
for the pick, and you know who might be willing
to want to get back up into that spot.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Dale Geller from Cape Corral, Florida. With all the talk
about signing Aaron Rodgers, it got me thinking, I know
it's a small sample size considering he played most of
his career in the NFC, but what is his record
against the other teams in our division?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Okay, as the end of twenty twenty four, the twenty
twenty four season, Aaron Rodgers was three and one against
the Ravens, one and three against the Bengals, three and
zero against your Cleveland Browns. I call him your Cleveland Browns.
I've decided that that you're you're going to take responsibility
(04:18):
for them.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I don't like that, Not gonna lie, but I do
like seeing that record against the Ravens and the Browns
for mister Aaron Rodgers. That's very Steelers esque of him.
We can ignore the Bank, we can ignore the Bengals
one that one in three versus Cincinnati. Okay, Jason Godfrey
from minor E South Carolina, I have always wondered why
people didn't give the original TB twelve Terry Bradshaw more
(04:41):
credit for calling his own plays to win four Super Bowls.
My question is what year slash years did the head
coach or offensive coordinator take over calling plays in the
NFL as we see today.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Okay, Chuck Noll was hired in nineteen sixty nine, which
you know, which also was one year before Bradshaw was
the first overall pick. But back in that era, you know,
NFL teams didn't have offensive coordinators, I mean the position
on the coaching staff didn't exist. Usually was the head
coach handled the putting together of what qualified as a
(05:19):
game plan. You know, an offense might not run ten
different plays during a game. I mean it's not like
it is today. You know. Back then, a defense, even
a defense like the Steelers, it lined up the same
way every snap. You know, it wasn't there weren't packages.
(05:39):
You didn't go to three wide receivers in passing situations.
I mean, none of that. A lot of the i'll
use the word innovations weren't weren't part of the game then.
You know, first and second downs were running downs all
the time pretty much, unless you know you were way
behind in the game and it was late and the
(06:05):
Steelers when when they would throw the ball, you you know,
you had two wide receivers. That was it. I mean,
it wasn't taking out, you know, a tight end and
putting in another wide receiver, or there was no such
thing as a third down back, so any of that stuff. So,
you know, it was it was a lot more simple
(06:27):
in terms of the game plan, the playbook, you know
a lot of that stuff. And and for the Steelers,
you know, Chuck Nole worked with the quarterbacks himself, he
believed in the quarterback calling his own plays. And you
know who knows, you know, Chuck Nole was a messenger
guard for the Browns, for Paul Brown when he was
(06:49):
a player, So maybe he didn't like that and you know,
wanted to get away from, you know, that kind of thing.
You know. So the way it worked back then and
for the Steelers, the week's practices, they were always in
full pads, always hitting, always physical. Noel would drill the
(07:10):
team for the upcoming game to work with the quarterback involved,
you know, whatever plays that Noel thought would work against
that particular opponent. And you know, then he kind of
let him call him himself. Noel did go. He did
(07:34):
very a little bit from this procedure. In nineteen seventy three,
he hired a quarterback coach. There wasn't even a quarterback
coach on Noel's staff. You know, he had one a
quarterback coach one year, nineteen seventy three. His name was
Babe Perelli. That lasted one year and Noel got rid
of him. He didn't like, you know, the fact that
(07:56):
there was another guy in the quarterback's ear besides him
head coach. So and then there was not another quarterback
coach on Nol's staff, you know, until after well, for
the rest of his time with the Steelers. The first
guy to hold the title of offensive coordinator for the Steelers
(08:17):
was Tom Moore. That was nineteen eighty three, and Tom
Moore before that, before being named the offensive coordinator, he
was the receivers coach. So it wasn't even as if
Noel chose his first offensive coordinators who as a guy
(08:38):
who was the quarterback coach, because there wasn't one. Noel
worked with the quarterbacks, and so then from the time,
you know, eighty three was also the year when Bradshaw
his elbow injury kept him out for all except for
that one last regular season game against the Jets, and
(08:58):
from that time over the until Nor retired after the
ninety one season, the Steelers evolved a little bit into
sending in plays from the sideline. They either would you know,
rotate him in with receivers or hand signals. But for
(09:20):
the most part it was called your own plays under
Chuck Noll for sure, and I agree there were other teams,
you know, Dallas did different ways to get the plays in.
Landry called the plays towards the in the early eighties
through the eighties, Bill Walsh called the plays. You know,
(09:41):
for the forty nine ers, Joe Montana didn't call his
own plays, you know. Bradshaw I always thought that that
was a underappreciated thing aspect about his play. You know,
Bradshaw called his own plays in those Super Bowls. And
I remember the you know, Super Bowl fourteen, the one
against the Rams. There was that famous NFL film's clip.
(10:07):
You know, Noel and Bradshaw would talk on the sideline
and one of the things Chuck Knowles is saying to
Bradshaw in the second half of the game was, you know,
when we're in these third down situations, don't try and
just get the first down. The Rams are going to
be looking for that attack down the field. And I'm
paraphrasing you know what he said, but this is what
(10:29):
he meant. And that's why you saw those long passes
to stalwarts. So it was and again it's not like
Nole said, call this play because they're going to be
in this defense. That was up to the quarterback to
see that figure it out, no where to go with
the ball, and so yeah, when the great quarterbacks in
(10:49):
NFL history are always kind of ranked. I always think
Bradshaw gets short shrift because the calling of your own
plays I don't think is factored in it enough to
his credit.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Brian Alexander from Rochester, New York. Being a lifelong fan
of my beloved Steelers, I often read as many articles
as I can pertaining to the team. Sitting here thinking,
I do not recall the Steelers having ever released one
of their draft boards following a draft. Actually, I don't
recall having seen any team do it. Have you ever
(11:24):
seen the Steelers draft boards? Are you ever allowed in
the draft room during the draft? And why do you
think the Steelers never released their draft board even after
a draft? Well, I mean we all know you put
the board together, labs.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I mean, yeah, you know. And what I do is
I just draw the names out.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Of a hat exactly, or even they suggest names, and
you just have the sharpie up in the front of
the class and just.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Write it in. Well after I talk to you, yes,
I want to. I care what you think. But you know,
an NFL team spends well over a million dollars every
year on the scouting process. I mean, and I'm not
even talking about necessarily the salaries, you know, for all
of the people involved, you know, just to travel and
(12:10):
you know, all of that stuff, a lot of the
medical things that they get done, all of that stuff,
and so you know, that's that's proprietary work product that's
going on in terms of putting that board together. I mean,
if this was corporate America, I don't know, if you
were an employee and gave that stuff away or leaked
(12:32):
it or whatever, I don't know, you might be criminally liable,
depending upon you know, the rules of the corporation. So
that's that's how I kind of look at the draft board.
And I remember, you know, this was quite a while ago,
just in a casual conversation with Dan Rooney. I said
(12:53):
something about I've never seen the draft board. He said,
come on, I'll take you in. I said, I'm not
allowed in there. He said, you are a lot in
there if you go in with me. But I you know,
I had no interest in that. I don't want to
I didn't want to see it. I mean, you know,
it's it wasn't something that I thought was necessary to
(13:17):
do my job. And you know, and just in a
kind of twisted way, if any of that information leaked,
I didn't want to be the guy that they thought, well,
he's the one who leaked it. So I could say,
you know, put my hand on a bible or take
a light detective test or whatever and say I've never
been in that room yep, so I don't know what's there.
(13:39):
And that was my preference and kept it that way.
And here's another thing. Whenever you see you know, that's
another reason why that the Steelers really don't allow any
that ESPN cameras in there or what the NFL cameras
in there on draft days like some teams do, and
(14:01):
any photography that that is that happens in that room,
they always make sure to tell the photographer, well, he
knows this because he works there. You blur the background,
you know, kind of like on zoom calls now where
you can do that where you know the person on
the other end of the zoom call can see your
faith through your or your computer or your computer camera,
(14:24):
but you can blur the background so they don't see
what's going on behind you.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Right, I should be working. You have to get into
the zoom.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Meeting, yes, right, and you know you turn down the
sound so they can't hear, you know, the crowds cheering every.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Once in a while the ball get hit by the driver.
What was that?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So but anyway, yeah, that's the teams don't do that.
I I don't think, I don't think you know, they
want that revealed. There there were in putting together for example,
here's another example, the Steelers Hall of Honor Museum, even
(15:06):
looking for we kind of invest this was investigated a
little bit. You know, maybe a report that was written
on Frank o'harris. You know, obviously, you know, you're putting
the museum together in you know, twenty eighteen or whatever
(15:26):
it was, and you know, Frank o. Harris was drafted
in nineteen seventy two. So what was on is the
report that the Steeler Scouting Department generated on him obviously
would have no value in terms of you know, information,
except you know, curiosity. But no, it's it's it's just
(15:49):
as I said, it's something that it's it's kept inside
the organization. The only people who know those read those
are the people in that room who participate in that,
the scouts, the executives and that kind of thing. And yeah,
it's never really really interested me to want to know
(16:12):
any of that stuff. Some of that stuff, you know,
as they say, or as I say, since I'm Italian,
I love Italian sausage, but I don't necessarily care to
know how they make it. And that's kind of the
way I look at that draft room kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Randy Hemaco from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I thought compensatory draft picks
could not be traded.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, that was the rule that compensatory draft picks were
not You could not include those in trades. But that
changed starting with the twenty seventeen NFL Draft. So now
you know any you can trade. You can trade anything
you want. Who knows even the rights to this podcast?
(17:03):
That would get you up in the first round.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, no doubt number one pick. John Murle from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mine is a quick question. As a lifelong Steelers fan,
would it be viable for the team to pursue Ryan Tannehill.
He seems to be a good fit for the team
in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Okay, I imagine John's opinion is based on Ryan Tannehill's
time in Tennessee when Arthur Smith was the Titans offensive coordinator,
and yes, that pairing was very successful. Tannehill was individually
successful as a starting quarterback and the Titans offense was
(17:45):
overall productive. But you know, Ryan Tannehill was out of
football for all of twenty twenty four, so and that
came after he played eleven NFL seasons and one hundred
and fifty five regular season games. You know, I would
think if Ryan Tannehill was being viewed as a viable option,
(18:12):
you know, that's two. Well, the you know, the lead
up to the twenty twenty four the twenty twenty four
off season, leading up to the twenty four regular season,
he was available to whoever whatever and didn't get any
offers or didn't choose to entertain any offers. All through
(18:35):
the season, injuries and all that stuff, you never heard
his name. Then to this point in this offseason, he
has not been talked about. You don't hear about anything
about him working out for anybody or anything. So that
tells me one of two things. Either Ryan Tannehill isn't
interested in playing anymore, or the league as a whole
(18:57):
has decided that he's done. I don't know what it is,
but that's why I don't think pursuing him is realistic
at this point.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Alan Cox from Los Angeles, California has our last question today.
I've been constantly watching the goings on of the Steelers
franchise since I could remember, and I'm going to continue
to be a Steelers fan until I expire no matter what.
Seeing that we're going all out, so to speak, for
this upcoming season and we seem to have done so
(19:31):
poorly on our quarterback decisions, is there a possibility the
front office can decide to just go out on a
limb and signed Colin Kaepernick to a one year contract
because Mason Rudolph alone is just not going to cut it. Man,
before you answer, labs, just waiting for this Colin Kaepernick
thing to die. And I can't believe it's twenty twenty
five and we're still entertaining it.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, you know, you know our rule about this podcast.
You know, as many quarterback questions as Paul possible, and
the more ridiculous, you know, the better. But I think
this one moves to the top of the list. Let
me just say this about Colin Kaepernick, and I'm I
(20:14):
never thought he was that spectacular as a player when
he was in his prime so to speak. But as
of today, Colin Kaepernick has been out of the league
longer than his entire NFL career lasted. I mean he
played six years in the league. He's been out of
the league eight years. So you know when you were
(20:41):
reading that, I looked at the little calendar on top
of my laptop screen. Here it's April fifteenth. I just
wanted to make sure we didn't go back. We weren't
in the way back machine, and it was April first. Again.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
That'll do it for us today on AST and answered
draft starts to ramp up now as next Thursday, we
will have the first round LABS and I will be back.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah, you're gonna have your pick next time we do this, I.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Will I will have my official pick that will for
sure be right, just like mel Kiper always gets his right.
So we'll be back on.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Tuesday, because I know Omar and Mike Tomlin are gonna
they're gonna call me and say, what's tom think.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
They're gonna call you, and they're gonna listen on Tuesday
when we release the Yeah, always right, of course, of course,
so they'll finally get clued in on what they should
do on Thursday when we return next Tuesday, Bob Labriola,
I'm Tom Offerman. Get your questions into LABS. Now, and
you'll maybe hear them answered on a future edition of
Asked and Answered
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upperman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I still don't know about Aaron Rodgers, what he's gonna do,
if he's gonna play or not, if he'll be a
Steeler or not. And we have a draft just a
couple of weeks away, so things are gonna start happening
here for the Steelers in this phase of the offseason. Labs,
I want to thank you for taking some time off
from doing all of your mock drafts to sit down
with me and do this podcast. I know you're very
busy this time of year.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, you know the busiest thing, the most involved project
I've been working on lately, or your taxes.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Man, I mean, today's the day. I mean, I hope
they get in in time.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
The offer in the state. I mean, it's just it's
just growing leaps and bounds. Yeah, they'll get in ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, I was just going to say, we got the
draft coming up on the horizon, nothing really new to
talk about today, So I think we should just get
right into the questions and start with Lee Collins, who's
writing to us from north of the border, Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
He's got a plan for us labs. This is the
least plan trading back this year to get more draft
capital and then use it to get key cornerstone pieces
(01:22):
at defensive line, cornerback, wide receiver, running back, safety, tackle,
or offensive guard. Then next year, with compensatory draft capital,
you add a higher profile quarterback. Would you agree with
that plan to trade down and fill more needs with
young talent?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
You know, I kind of answer all of these trading
down questions the same way. I mean, yeah, sounds good,
certainly does, but you know it making it happen is
the issue. I mean, it isn't as easy as just
type and you know, trade down to fill more needs
with young talent, because any trade down requires a corresponding
(02:01):
team to trade up. And I just, you know, is
this draft process, and you know, teams start keep figuring
out the best ways to maximize it. I just unless
there's really a certain player that a team needs, it's
(02:22):
hard to find a team that's willing to give up,
you know, a couple of picks for one pick, and
you know, especially at the towards the bottom of the
first round, I mean, I just don't know that you're
going to get much interest in a team looking for
that twenty first overall pick and one that's willing to
(02:44):
give you a bounty of picks in return.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
You kind of really need an enticing player to slip
down the board that the Steelers wouldn't want for that
to happen at twenty one, would you agree?
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah? And I don't know who that might be, because
usually you know what creates the most action in the
first round, or quarterbacks. And you know, if some quarterback
that is projected to be a top of the first
round pick would slide to twenty one to the Steelers
(03:22):
pass on it him whoever that might be. So yeah,
like I said, it sounds good. I just I just
don't know what you're going to be able to get
for the pick, and you know who might be willing
to want to get back up into that spot.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Dale Geller from Cape Corral, Florida. With all the talk
about signing Aaron Rodgers, it got me thinking, I know
it's a small sample size considering he played most of
his career in the NFC, but what is his record
against the other teams in our division?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Okay, as the end of twenty twenty four, the twenty
twenty four season, Aaron Rodgers was three and one against
the Ravens, one and three against the Bengals, three and
zero against your Cleveland Browns. I call him your Cleveland Browns.
I've decided that that you're you're going to take responsibility
(04:18):
for them.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I don't like that, Not gonna lie, but I do
like seeing that record against the Ravens and the Browns
for mister Aaron Rodgers. That's very Steelers esque of him.
We can ignore the Bank, we can ignore the Bengals
one that one in three versus Cincinnati. Okay, Jason Godfrey
from minor E South Carolina, I have always wondered why
people didn't give the original TB twelve Terry Bradshaw more
(04:41):
credit for calling his own plays to win four Super Bowls.
My question is what year slash years did the head
coach or offensive coordinator take over calling plays in the
NFL as we see today.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Okay, Chuck Noll was hired in nineteen sixty nine, which
you know, which also was one year before Bradshaw was
the first overall pick. But back in that era, you know,
NFL teams didn't have offensive coordinators, I mean the position
on the coaching staff didn't exist. Usually was the head
coach handled the putting together of what qualified as a
(05:19):
game plan. You know, an offense might not run ten
different plays during a game. I mean it's not like
it is today. You know. Back then, a defense, even
a defense like the Steelers, it lined up the same
way every snap. You know, it wasn't there weren't packages.
(05:39):
You didn't go to three wide receivers in passing situations.
I mean, none of that. A lot of the i'll
use the word innovations weren't weren't part of the game then.
You know, first and second downs were running downs all
the time pretty much, unless you know you were way
behind in the game and it was late and the
(06:05):
Steelers when when they would throw the ball, you you know,
you had two wide receivers. That was it. I mean,
it wasn't taking out, you know, a tight end and
putting in another wide receiver, or there was no such
thing as a third down back, so any of that stuff. So,
you know, it was it was a lot more simple
(06:27):
in terms of the game plan, the playbook, you know
a lot of that stuff. And and for the Steelers,
you know, Chuck Nole worked with the quarterbacks himself, he
believed in the quarterback calling his own plays. And you
know who knows, you know, Chuck Nole was a messenger
guard for the Browns, for Paul Brown when he was
(06:49):
a player, So maybe he didn't like that and you know,
wanted to get away from, you know, that kind of thing.
You know. So the way it worked back then and
for the Steelers, the week's practices, they were always in
full pads, always hitting, always physical. Noel would drill the
(07:10):
team for the upcoming game to work with the quarterback involved,
you know, whatever plays that Noel thought would work against
that particular opponent. And you know, then he kind of
let him call him himself. Noel did go. He did
(07:34):
very a little bit from this procedure. In nineteen seventy three,
he hired a quarterback coach. There wasn't even a quarterback
coach on Noel's staff. You know, he had one a
quarterback coach one year, nineteen seventy three. His name was
Babe Perelli. That lasted one year and Noel got rid
of him. He didn't like, you know, the fact that
(07:56):
there was another guy in the quarterback's ear besides him
head coach. So and then there was not another quarterback
coach on Nol's staff, you know, until after well, for
the rest of his time with the Steelers. The first
guy to hold the title of offensive coordinator for the Steelers
(08:17):
was Tom Moore. That was nineteen eighty three, and Tom
Moore before that, before being named the offensive coordinator, he
was the receivers coach. So it wasn't even as if
Noel chose his first offensive coordinators who as a guy
(08:38):
who was the quarterback coach, because there wasn't one. Noel
worked with the quarterbacks, and so then from the time,
you know, eighty three was also the year when Bradshaw
his elbow injury kept him out for all except for
that one last regular season game against the Jets, and
(08:58):
from that time over the until Nor retired after the
ninety one season, the Steelers evolved a little bit into
sending in plays from the sideline. They either would you know,
rotate him in with receivers or hand signals. But for
(09:20):
the most part it was called your own plays under
Chuck Noll for sure, and I agree there were other teams,
you know, Dallas did different ways to get the plays in.
Landry called the plays towards the in the early eighties
through the eighties, Bill Walsh called the plays. You know,
(09:41):
for the forty nine ers, Joe Montana didn't call his
own plays, you know. Bradshaw I always thought that that
was a underappreciated thing aspect about his play. You know,
Bradshaw called his own plays in those Super Bowls. And
I remember the you know, Super Bowl fourteen, the one
against the Rams. There was that famous NFL film's clip.
(10:07):
You know, Noel and Bradshaw would talk on the sideline
and one of the things Chuck Knowles is saying to
Bradshaw in the second half of the game was, you know,
when we're in these third down situations, don't try and
just get the first down. The Rams are going to
be looking for that attack down the field. And I'm
paraphrasing you know what he said, but this is what
(10:29):
he meant. And that's why you saw those long passes
to stalwarts. So it was and again it's not like
Nole said, call this play because they're going to be
in this defense. That was up to the quarterback to
see that figure it out, no where to go with
the ball, and so yeah, when the great quarterbacks in
(10:49):
NFL history are always kind of ranked. I always think
Bradshaw gets short shrift because the calling of your own
plays I don't think is factored in it enough to
his credit.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Brian Alexander from Rochester, New York. Being a lifelong fan
of my beloved Steelers, I often read as many articles
as I can pertaining to the team. Sitting here thinking,
I do not recall the Steelers having ever released one
of their draft boards following a draft. Actually, I don't
recall having seen any team do it. Have you ever
(11:24):
seen the Steelers draft boards? Are you ever allowed in
the draft room during the draft? And why do you
think the Steelers never released their draft board even after
a draft? Well, I mean we all know you put
the board together, labs.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I mean, yeah, you know. And what I do is
I just draw the names out.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Of a hat exactly, or even they suggest names, and
you just have the sharpie up in the front of
the class and just.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Write it in. Well after I talk to you, yes,
I want to. I care what you think. But you know,
an NFL team spends well over a million dollars every
year on the scouting process. I mean, and I'm not
even talking about necessarily the salaries, you know, for all
of the people involved, you know, just to travel and
(12:10):
you know, all of that stuff, a lot of the
medical things that they get done, all of that stuff,
and so you know, that's that's proprietary work product that's
going on in terms of putting that board together. I mean,
if this was corporate America, I don't know, if you
were an employee and gave that stuff away or leaked
(12:32):
it or whatever, I don't know, you might be criminally liable,
depending upon you know, the rules of the corporation. So
that's that's how I kind of look at the draft board.
And I remember, you know, this was quite a while ago,
just in a casual conversation with Dan Rooney. I said
(12:53):
something about I've never seen the draft board. He said,
come on, I'll take you in. I said, I'm not
allowed in there. He said, you are a lot in
there if you go in with me. But I you know,
I had no interest in that. I don't want to
I didn't want to see it. I mean, you know,
it's it wasn't something that I thought was necessary to
(13:17):
do my job. And you know, and just in a
kind of twisted way, if any of that information leaked,
I didn't want to be the guy that they thought, well,
he's the one who leaked it. So I could say,
you know, put my hand on a bible or take
a light detective test or whatever and say I've never
been in that room yep, so I don't know what's there.
(13:39):
And that was my preference and kept it that way.
And here's another thing. Whenever you see you know, that's
another reason why that the Steelers really don't allow any
that ESPN cameras in there or what the NFL cameras
in there on draft days like some teams do, and
(14:01):
any photography that that is that happens in that room,
they always make sure to tell the photographer, well, he
knows this because he works there. You blur the background,
you know, kind of like on zoom calls now where
you can do that where you know the person on
the other end of the zoom call can see your
faith through your or your computer or your computer camera,
(14:24):
but you can blur the background so they don't see
what's going on behind you.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Right, I should be working. You have to get into
the zoom.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Meeting, yes, right, and you know you turn down the
sound so they can't hear, you know, the crowds cheering every.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Once in a while the ball get hit by the driver.
What was that?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So but anyway, yeah, that's the teams don't do that.
I I don't think, I don't think you know, they
want that revealed. There there were in putting together for example,
here's another example, the Steelers Hall of Honor Museum, even
(15:06):
looking for we kind of invest this was investigated a
little bit. You know, maybe a report that was written
on Frank o'harris. You know, obviously, you know, you're putting
the museum together in you know, twenty eighteen or whatever
(15:26):
it was, and you know, Frank o. Harris was drafted
in nineteen seventy two. So what was on is the
report that the Steeler Scouting Department generated on him obviously
would have no value in terms of you know, information,
except you know, curiosity. But no, it's it's it's just
(15:49):
as I said, it's something that it's it's kept inside
the organization. The only people who know those read those
are the people in that room who participate in that,
the scouts, the executives and that kind of thing. And yeah,
it's never really really interested me to want to know
(16:12):
any of that stuff. Some of that stuff, you know,
as they say, or as I say, since I'm Italian,
I love Italian sausage, but I don't necessarily care to
know how they make it. And that's kind of the
way I look at that draft room kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Randy Hemaco from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I thought compensatory draft picks
could not be traded.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, that was the rule that compensatory draft picks were
not You could not include those in trades. But that
changed starting with the twenty seventeen NFL Draft. So now
you know any you can trade. You can trade anything
you want. Who knows even the rights to this podcast?
(17:03):
That would get you up in the first round.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, no doubt number one pick. John Murle from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mine is a quick question. As a lifelong Steelers fan,
would it be viable for the team to pursue Ryan Tannehill.
He seems to be a good fit for the team
in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Okay, I imagine John's opinion is based on Ryan Tannehill's
time in Tennessee when Arthur Smith was the Titans offensive coordinator,
and yes, that pairing was very successful. Tannehill was individually
successful as a starting quarterback and the Titans offense was
(17:45):
overall productive. But you know, Ryan Tannehill was out of
football for all of twenty twenty four, so and that
came after he played eleven NFL seasons and one hundred
and fifty five regular season games. You know, I would
think if Ryan Tannehill was being viewed as a viable option,
(18:12):
you know, that's two. Well, the you know, the lead
up to the twenty twenty four the twenty twenty four
off season, leading up to the twenty four regular season,
he was available to whoever whatever and didn't get any
offers or didn't choose to entertain any offers. All through
(18:35):
the season, injuries and all that stuff, you never heard
his name. Then to this point in this offseason, he
has not been talked about. You don't hear about anything
about him working out for anybody or anything. So that
tells me one of two things. Either Ryan Tannehill isn't
interested in playing anymore, or the league as a whole
(18:57):
has decided that he's done. I don't know what it is,
but that's why I don't think pursuing him is realistic
at this point.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Alan Cox from Los Angeles, California has our last question today.
I've been constantly watching the goings on of the Steelers
franchise since I could remember, and I'm going to continue
to be a Steelers fan until I expire no matter what.
Seeing that we're going all out, so to speak, for
this upcoming season and we seem to have done so
(19:31):
poorly on our quarterback decisions, is there a possibility the
front office can decide to just go out on a
limb and signed Colin Kaepernick to a one year contract
because Mason Rudolph alone is just not going to cut it. Man,
before you answer, labs, just waiting for this Colin Kaepernick
thing to die. And I can't believe it's twenty twenty
five and we're still entertaining it.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, you know, you know our rule about this podcast.
You know, as many quarterback questions as Paul possible, and
the more ridiculous, you know, the better. But I think
this one moves to the top of the list. Let
me just say this about Colin Kaepernick, and I'm I
(20:14):
never thought he was that spectacular as a player when
he was in his prime so to speak. But as
of today, Colin Kaepernick has been out of the league
longer than his entire NFL career lasted. I mean he
played six years in the league. He's been out of
the league eight years. So you know when you were
(20:41):
reading that, I looked at the little calendar on top
of my laptop screen. Here it's April fifteenth. I just
wanted to make sure we didn't go back. We weren't
in the way back machine, and it was April first. Again.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
That'll do it for us today on AST and answered
draft starts to ramp up now as next Thursday, we
will have the first round LABS and I will be back.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah, you're gonna have your pick next time we do this, I.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Will I will have my official pick that will for
sure be right, just like mel Kiper always gets his right.
So we'll be back on.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Tuesday, because I know Omar and Mike Tomlin are gonna
they're gonna call me and say, what's tom think.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
They're gonna call you, and they're gonna listen on Tuesday
when we release the Yeah, always right, of course, of course,
so they'll finally get clued in on what they should
do on Thursday when we return next Tuesday, Bob Labriola,
I'm Tom Offerman. Get your questions into LABS. Now, and
you'll maybe hear them answered on a future edition of
Asked and Answered
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