April 22, 2025 • 20 mins
Labs and Tom talk a little bit about the upcoming NFL Draft and then get into this week’s questions.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upperman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Draft week is upon us.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Thursday is the first round, second and third round on
Friday night, and then Saturday is rounds four through seven. Labs,
I don't think we're surprised at the absolute magnitude of
the draft now. I mean, this is just the nature
of the beasts. We need to get as much money
as possible, we need to get on TV as much
as possible. But are you still kind of in awe
of it when it rolls around? Just this monstrosity that
(00:33):
it has evolved into.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It is unbelievable. It's the biggest non event maybe you know,
in all of sports. Yes, by non event, I mean
there's no games. You know, there's no right, there's no winners.
You know, nobody wins. I mean there's opinions on who
did well and all that stuff, but I mean there's
you know, there's not a scoreboard where this this team won,
(00:56):
this team lost. And what I've always thought was in
our near future and hopefully I'll be dead before this
actually happens, is I thought that they would go to
you know, there's thirty two picks. I thought that'd go
to like start April first, and one team have one
(01:16):
first round pick every day on television and just go
through it that way. I mean, you'd have a whole
month of this and just imagine, I mean, just the
talking heads would lose their mind.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
The first day, I mean the programming. You could have
like an hour easy on the pick one pick. You know,
you start with predicting who it's going to be and
talking about who you think it's going to be and
all that. Okay, then there's the pick, and then you
analyze that to death, and then maybe the last ten minutes,
then you start predicting who the next team's going to
(01:55):
pick based on who's left. And you could use one
pick a day for an entire month.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
ESPN.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I mean, they'd lose their mind, all those people NFL
Network too, Just oh God, think of the fun that
would be. You'd have to pay attention to it for
a whole month, twenty one days before you know, if
it's based on this year's draft order, twenty one days
until three weeks before it would start. It would be
(02:23):
three weeks old before the Steelers would pick.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I hope if or when I die. Not if I die,
but when I die, this is what heaven will be. Like,
I'll go up there.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
It's just draft.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Coverage for a month straight.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, here Multopper Junior every single morning when I wake
up in the Pearly Gates.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Yeah, see, I might look at that the other way
you went to.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I'm in the wrong place.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yes. Well.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
The thing that's so amazing about the Draft two to
me Labs is obviously it's a big event. Millions of
people went to Detroit last year. Green Bay will draw
the same, will draw the same next year when the
draft comes here, but the TV number.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
That it pops.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
There are Stanley Cup playoff games and NBA Finals games
that will be happening Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and the
NFL Draft will outdraw them, I would say, on every
single round. Maybe on Saturday, if like Lebron's playing an
NBA game, might just barely edge out the seventh round.
But it is going to dominate ratings when other sports
(03:20):
are being played and other sports with stakes are being played.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, as I said, the biggest non event in television history.
It's you know, kudos to Roger Goodell. You know, I
I got to hand it to him, or as Hindesward
would say, you got to take your hat off and
hand it to him because all this creation is and
(03:44):
now it's a traveling road show. Ah, hey, it's and
the whole You know, Roger will come out to start
the draft on Thursday and people will boo him and
he'll be, you know, egging him on booming or you
know that kind of stuff, and all the hugs and everything.
I always think that that's kind of funny too, these
(04:07):
guys hugging Roger Goodell for the last time, probably before
he starts finding them for their socks not being high
enough on their legs, whatever some of those rules are.
But yeah, it's it's it's an event, no argument, and.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
That event kicks off on Thursday night with the first round.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
We cannot wait. But before we get there, we've got
questions that we have to answer.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
And our first one comes from Carlos Rora from Lake Forest, California.
Like every draft, there has been lots of talks about
the quarterbacks. This year sounds a lot like twenty twenty
two when we drafted Kenny Pickett, and that it seems
to me to not be a good.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Draft class for quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
And the first round quarterback rankings and their issues vary
from week to week.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Looking back, what happened to the quarterback who went to.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
The Titans in twenty twenty two, who the talking head
said we were going to draft.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Yeah, that guy was Moleik Willis.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And in twenty twenty two he was a third round
pick eighty sixth overall by Tennessee. And he's been a
he's been a backup, career backup. His first two years
were as a backup with the Titans. Last year he
was a backup in Green Bay. You know, Willis remains
(05:23):
a backup. He's still on his rookie contract. His NFL stats,
He's appeared in eighteen games with five starts. Those starts
generally have been as a result of injuries. He's completed
seventy five of one hundred and twenty that's sixty two
point five percent, nine hundred yards, three touchdowns, three interceptions,
(05:45):
a rating of eighty three point three. Willis, as I said,
still on his rookie contract. He's got one more year there.
He's due to become an unrestricted free agent after this
coming season, so he would be an unrestricted free agent.
March twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know, not a bad career for mister Willis that
is unfolding as a career backup in the NFL, but
nowhere near where his tires were pumped up to being
in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Two, right, I mean, and the way it looks pretty
much that whole draft, there's you know, everybody's tires were
being pumped up, and that's kind of the way it works.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
I mean, you know, the.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Pre draft hype is machine is out of control, and
it doesn't seem that there have been any quarterbacks in
that class who have jumped out as well. This guy
is going to be a long term starter in the league.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Well, the only one being mister irrelevant Rock Party coming
in the very last the draft.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
But even him, you know, the Niners are kind of like,
do we pay him.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
All that money? Right?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
And and let's let's be honest. I mean, if if
you pick a if you're picking a quarterback in the
seventh round, you're taking a flyer on it, and if
he turns out to be great, that's blind luck luck right,
they didn't know they had no idea, because if they did,
they would have used a much higher pick on the guy.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
William H.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Kuckler from Gulfport, Mississippi. Our Steelers currently have seventy eight
players on their roster, not counting Jeremiah Moon, who I
believe does not count on the roster. We also have
six draft choices currently and that would leave us with
six open roster spots. Is this normal for this time
of year? Also, how much draft salary cap money is
needed to sign those picks?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, I counted them up on the roster that's on
Steelers dot com. The Steelers have seventy five players listed
and that includes Jeremiah Moon. Okay, so we're in a
time of the year NFL calendar where roster limits are
ninety players. So, and here's another thing. Draft picks don't
(07:59):
count toward that limit until they sign their contracts, which
usually doesn't happen until you know, mid May at the earliest.
So you know, when you're looking at UH roster spots
available for you know, undrafted rookies or if there's another
way of a free agency or any of that stuff.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I think the Steelers have a lot enough.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Wiggle room uh to get anything done that they want
to get done. And in terms of UH the draft cap,
UH that that those numbers will be given to the
teams after the draft. They can't do it before because
you know, teams could be trading up or back out
of this draft, you know, trading for future picks or whatever.
(08:49):
How however, it works, and it's a slotting system with
rookies now in terms of how they how much they
get paid. So once you know, all the the draft,
all the picking has been done, and the NFL will
look at the each team the number of picks they
had where they were slotted and give them a cap number.
(09:11):
And that's how that works.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Nicholas Pelcher from Purcellville, Virginia. If the Steelers really want
Jackson Dart and he is on the board at number
twenty one overall, then wouldn't it make sense to trade
back to a team picking in the numbers twenty eight
to thirty two range if they give up their second
round pick.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
What do you say, Well, you know, that sounds good.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
That would be a good deal for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
But I just don't think that there's going to be
a team that wants to move up that's picking late
in the first round twenty eighth overall, only moving up
to you know, twenty first overall that's going to give
up its second round pick to do that. I mean,
just just to give you some example, in two thousand
(09:56):
and three, the Steelers were twenty seventh overall. They traded
up to sixteenth overall, and they used that pick to
get Troy Paul Malu. But what it cost them was
a number three and a number five. So yeah, if
you can, if there's a team in the twenty eight
to thirty two range and they want to flip flop
(10:18):
and give you a second round pick to do that,
I'm thinking really hard about it, but I just, you know, again,
it's one of those trades where it seems to me
just talking about it, it would be extremely one sided
in favor of the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Edward boon Trigger from McKee, Kentucky. I cannot remember a
year like this when the Steelers have been the most
talked about team nationally leading up to the draft. All
this arguing is giving me massive anxiety for Thursday night.
Can you help me get recentered?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Please stay off social media. I mean, that's whenever I
need recentering. That's my plan. That's what works for me.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
That's really good advice for all walks of life, not
just you know, Steelers talk sports talk, and I gotta say, Edward,
it's almost every year that the Steelers are pretty nationally
talked about leading up to the draft, especially since they
haven't had a quarterback when Big Ben retired.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Lee Johnson. You with that Lee Johnson from Midland, Virginia.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
How many times have the Steelers moved up in the
first round of the draft?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Okay, just a quick history lesson. You know, the Buddy
Parker era was nineteen fifty seven through sixty four, and
at that time the Steelers traded away future picks often
and in bunches. Okay, So the Steelers hired Chuck Noll
in nineteen sixty nine, and Noel and Dan Rooney both
(11:45):
were big proponents and building rosters through the draft, and
in Knowle's twenty three seasons, he traded away one draft
pick one time. In nineteen seventy three, Steelers sent a
third round pick in the nineteen seventy four draft to
Oakland for veteran defensive tackle Tom Keating. Okay, And then
(12:09):
when the nineteen seventy four draft rolled around, Chuck Nole
find himself found himself sweating out getting John Stalworth with
the number one four pick. Because they didn't have a
number three. You know, they picked Swan first because he
went to UCLA, was more well known. Didn't want to
pick Noel liked Stalworth as a number one pick, a
(12:31):
first round pick, but they didn't want to pick receivers
one and two because the NFL in seventy four was
still pretty much a run first offense, so they went
with Lambert and then three. Nole was gonna wanted to
pick Stalworth, but he didn't have a three, okay, so
they had to sweat it out. It all worked out fine,
(12:51):
but Nol just said, I'm never doing that again, and
they never did. So that's a long way winded way
of getting into the fact that the first time the
Steelers ever traded up in the first round was that
trade I just previously mentioned with Kansas City. In the
two thousand and three NFL Draft, the Steelers moved up
(13:12):
from sixteenth overall from twenty seventh overall and they got
Paul mal Okay. Then from there the Steelers moved up
three times, have moved up three times. Two thousand and six,
they moved up from thirty second to twenty fifth and
picked San Antonio Holmes. In twenty nineteen, they moved up
(13:35):
from twentieth to tenth to select Devin Bush, and in
twenty twenty three they moved up from seventeenth to fourteenth
to pick Broderick Jones.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Brett Billick from Campbell, Ohio. As far as the history
of the trading up in the first round of a draft,
didn't they trade up for Casey Hampton.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
No, that was a trade down. The steel began two
thousand and one draft with the sixteenth overall pick in
the first round, but they traded back with the Jets,
who were picking nineteenth overall. The Steelers then used that
nineteenth pick to choose Casey Hampton, and then for the move,
(14:21):
they also got a number four pick and a number
six pick in that draft.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
He is the number four.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Pick on offensive tackle Matthias de Quente and the sixth
round pick on defensive end Rodney Bailey. The Jets used
the sixteenth overall pick to select wide receiver Santana.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Moss Charles George from Coco, Florida. If Aaron Rodgers signs
before the draft, do the Steelers lose a compensatory pick?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Okay, The only category of players who figure into the
compensatory draft pick formula or unres stricted free agents lost
or unrestricted free agents signed. Okay, players cut by their
previous team and then signed do not count in the
compensatory draft pick formula. Aaron Rodgers was cut by the
(15:15):
Jets on Wednesday, March twelfth, so whatever happens with Aaron Rodgers,
both for the Steelers and for the Jets, does not
figure into the compensatory draft picked formula. Same thing with
Russell Wilson last year as an example. Same thing with
Justin Fields as an example, because he was a trade.
(15:39):
You got to be an unrestricted free agent whose contract
expires and then you're either signed or lost, and then
that figures into the compensatory draft pick formula for the
two teams involved.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Chris Fuller from Milford, Kansas. When players are placed on
injured reserved, are they allowed to travel with the team
and be on the sideline to support the team. I
preach it to kids all the time to be at
the games to support the team, even if they are
injured and can't play.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I was just wondering if the NFL has the same mentality.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
No, I mean, you can't compare youth sports to professional sports.
You know, it's not a it's a business at the
professional level. It's not a raw, raw thing. I mean,
certainly there is camaraderie and that stuff that's involved. I
get that, but it's not the same kind of thing.
And in the NFL there are just a lot of
(16:33):
rules governing this. I mean, you have these sidelines where
you know, there's all kinds of people there. Media certainly
there's not the kind of media coverage at a youth
sports event. National TV crews, the medical personnel, both the
(16:54):
team's medical personnel the NFL's medical personnel.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
You have security issues.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So what the NFL does is you're only allowed to
have so many people in the bench area on each sideline,
and there are NFL spotters or whatever that count them.
So if you have too many, you get fined. So,
I mean, it just it's not a it's not an
(17:21):
apt comparison, I don't think in that respect.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
And even beyond you know, the crowded sideline and getting
fined that way, labs, I mean, I have to imagine
the teams would much prefer injured players just you know,
stay back with the team, doctors, stay back at our
facilities and keep the rehab going.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
We don't really need to write the cheerleader.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Well, and it's a dangerous place down there too, right.
I mean, if you have some sort of ambulatory injury
that restricts your movement and all of a sudden, you know,
the action comes to your side of the field, you know,
getting out of the way can be an issue. And
you know you have a player with an injured knee
who's maybe it's not that major of an injury, and
(18:01):
then he gets rolled up on by a couple of
players and then that knee injury is a lot worse.
So yeah, there's safety issues involved as well. So yeah,
it's not a it's not a it doesn't happen, Let's
put it that way.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Our final question today comes from Randy Duvall from Hampton, Virginia.
The team that signed several players to one and two
year contracts. What happens to the team's contractual commitment to
that player if they do not make the fifty three roster.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You know, all I can tell you is if there's
some sort of guaranteed money attached to those one or
two year contracts, then that that's the commitment. That's the
contractual commitment. You're paying that money. Some of it might
have been already paid in the term of a signing bonus.
Maybe there's some other deferred guaranteed money, you know whatever,
(18:52):
But no, there's no roster guaranteed. There's in the NFL.
There might be you know, guaranteed money put in a contract,
and the amount of that guaranteed money might influence a
team's decision in terms of whether you're kept or not.
But there's no such thing in an NFL contract of
(19:14):
you know, sign this deal, we guarantee you a spot
on this roster. Doesn't work that way.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
The draft starts on Thursday night with the first round,
and there is no better place for wall to wall
coverage than right here on Steelers Nation Radio and Steelers
Audio Network. Starting at seven on Thursday, we got du
Lac Persuda and Matt Williamson kicking things off, and there's
a bunch of people, Rob King, Max Starksdale, Lollie. I
snuck in there somehow. I don't know if they notice
that mistake yet or not, but I'm still going.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
To show up.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Wesley every a lot of people from SNR Labs. I
don't know if he'll be on the air, but he'll
be floating around the facility all weekend. It's a lot
of fun. We can't wait for the NFL Draft and
keep it tuned in right here on Steeers Nation Radio
and the Steelers Audio Network to or in the entirety
of it labs and I will be one.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Just let me just let me just throw this in.
You mentioned the Steelers Nation Radio times. The actual picking
uh on on Thursday, it starts at eight. On Friday
it starts at seven, and then on Saturday it starts
at noon.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
But you better be just throw on Thursday SNR.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
That's all. That's when all the good stuff happens.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
I just wanted you to know when you know, when
you'll see the first hug from from the commission from.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
The Commissioner right, and the booze that the Commissioner will
undoubtedly receive when he steps onto that stage. Yes, we
will be back on Tuesday next week recapping what the
Steelers did in the draft and answering some more of
your questions for Bob Blavarula.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I'm Tom Afferman, and this has been asked that answered
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upperman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Draft week is upon us.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Thursday is the first round, second and third round on
Friday night, and then Saturday is rounds four through seven. Labs,
I don't think we're surprised at the absolute magnitude of
the draft now. I mean, this is just the nature
of the beasts. We need to get as much money
as possible, we need to get on TV as much
as possible. But are you still kind of in awe
of it when it rolls around? Just this monstrosity that
(00:33):
it has evolved into.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It is unbelievable. It's the biggest non event maybe you know,
in all of sports. Yes, by non event, I mean
there's no games. You know, there's no right, there's no winners.
You know, nobody wins. I mean there's opinions on who
did well and all that stuff, but I mean there's
you know, there's not a scoreboard where this this team won,
(00:56):
this team lost. And what I've always thought was in
our near future and hopefully I'll be dead before this
actually happens, is I thought that they would go to
you know, there's thirty two picks. I thought that'd go
to like start April first, and one team have one
(01:16):
first round pick every day on television and just go
through it that way. I mean, you'd have a whole
month of this and just imagine, I mean, just the
talking heads would lose their mind.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
The first day, I mean the programming. You could have
like an hour easy on the pick one pick. You know,
you start with predicting who it's going to be and
talking about who you think it's going to be and
all that. Okay, then there's the pick, and then you
analyze that to death, and then maybe the last ten minutes,
then you start predicting who the next team's going to
(01:55):
pick based on who's left. And you could use one
pick a day for an entire month.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
ESPN.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I mean, they'd lose their mind, all those people NFL
Network too, Just oh God, think of the fun that
would be. You'd have to pay attention to it for
a whole month, twenty one days before you know, if
it's based on this year's draft order, twenty one days
until three weeks before it would start. It would be
(02:23):
three weeks old before the Steelers would pick.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I hope if or when I die. Not if I die,
but when I die, this is what heaven will be. Like,
I'll go up there.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
It's just draft.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Coverage for a month straight.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, here Multopper Junior every single morning when I wake
up in the Pearly Gates.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Yeah, see, I might look at that the other way
you went to.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I'm in the wrong place.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yes. Well.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
The thing that's so amazing about the Draft two to
me Labs is obviously it's a big event. Millions of
people went to Detroit last year. Green Bay will draw
the same, will draw the same next year when the
draft comes here, but the TV number.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
That it pops.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
There are Stanley Cup playoff games and NBA Finals games
that will be happening Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and the
NFL Draft will outdraw them, I would say, on every
single round. Maybe on Saturday, if like Lebron's playing an
NBA game, might just barely edge out the seventh round.
But it is going to dominate ratings when other sports
(03:20):
are being played and other sports with stakes are being played.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, as I said, the biggest non event in television history.
It's you know, kudos to Roger Goodell. You know, I
I got to hand it to him, or as Hindesward
would say, you got to take your hat off and
hand it to him because all this creation is and
(03:44):
now it's a traveling road show. Ah, hey, it's and
the whole You know, Roger will come out to start
the draft on Thursday and people will boo him and
he'll be, you know, egging him on booming or you
know that kind of stuff, and all the hugs and everything.
I always think that that's kind of funny too, these
(04:07):
guys hugging Roger Goodell for the last time, probably before
he starts finding them for their socks not being high
enough on their legs, whatever some of those rules are.
But yeah, it's it's it's an event, no argument, and.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
That event kicks off on Thursday night with the first round.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
We cannot wait. But before we get there, we've got
questions that we have to answer.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
And our first one comes from Carlos Rora from Lake Forest, California.
Like every draft, there has been lots of talks about
the quarterbacks. This year sounds a lot like twenty twenty
two when we drafted Kenny Pickett, and that it seems
to me to not be a good.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Draft class for quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
And the first round quarterback rankings and their issues vary
from week to week.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Looking back, what happened to the quarterback who went to.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
The Titans in twenty twenty two, who the talking head
said we were going to draft.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Yeah, that guy was Moleik Willis.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And in twenty twenty two he was a third round
pick eighty sixth overall by Tennessee. And he's been a
he's been a backup, career backup. His first two years
were as a backup with the Titans. Last year he
was a backup in Green Bay. You know, Willis remains
(05:23):
a backup. He's still on his rookie contract. His NFL stats,
He's appeared in eighteen games with five starts. Those starts
generally have been as a result of injuries. He's completed
seventy five of one hundred and twenty that's sixty two
point five percent, nine hundred yards, three touchdowns, three interceptions,
(05:45):
a rating of eighty three point three. Willis, as I said,
still on his rookie contract. He's got one more year there.
He's due to become an unrestricted free agent after this
coming season, so he would be an unrestricted free agent.
March twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know, not a bad career for mister Willis that
is unfolding as a career backup in the NFL, but
nowhere near where his tires were pumped up to being
in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Two, right, I mean, and the way it looks pretty
much that whole draft, there's you know, everybody's tires were
being pumped up, and that's kind of the way it works.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
I mean, you know, the.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Pre draft hype is machine is out of control, and
it doesn't seem that there have been any quarterbacks in
that class who have jumped out as well. This guy
is going to be a long term starter in the league.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Well, the only one being mister irrelevant Rock Party coming
in the very last the draft.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
But even him, you know, the Niners are kind of like,
do we pay him.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
All that money? Right?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
And and let's let's be honest. I mean, if if
you pick a if you're picking a quarterback in the
seventh round, you're taking a flyer on it, and if
he turns out to be great, that's blind luck luck right,
they didn't know they had no idea, because if they did,
they would have used a much higher pick on the guy.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
William H.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Kuckler from Gulfport, Mississippi. Our Steelers currently have seventy eight
players on their roster, not counting Jeremiah Moon, who I
believe does not count on the roster. We also have
six draft choices currently and that would leave us with
six open roster spots. Is this normal for this time
of year? Also, how much draft salary cap money is
needed to sign those picks?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, I counted them up on the roster that's on
Steelers dot com. The Steelers have seventy five players listed
and that includes Jeremiah Moon. Okay, so we're in a
time of the year NFL calendar where roster limits are
ninety players. So, and here's another thing. Draft picks don't
(07:59):
count toward that limit until they sign their contracts, which
usually doesn't happen until you know, mid May at the earliest.
So you know, when you're looking at UH roster spots
available for you know, undrafted rookies or if there's another
way of a free agency or any of that stuff.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I think the Steelers have a lot enough.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Wiggle room uh to get anything done that they want
to get done. And in terms of UH the draft cap,
UH that that those numbers will be given to the
teams after the draft. They can't do it before because
you know, teams could be trading up or back out
of this draft, you know, trading for future picks or whatever.
(08:49):
How however, it works, and it's a slotting system with
rookies now in terms of how they how much they
get paid. So once you know, all the the draft,
all the picking has been done, and the NFL will
look at the each team the number of picks they
had where they were slotted and give them a cap number.
(09:11):
And that's how that works.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Nicholas Pelcher from Purcellville, Virginia. If the Steelers really want
Jackson Dart and he is on the board at number
twenty one overall, then wouldn't it make sense to trade
back to a team picking in the numbers twenty eight
to thirty two range if they give up their second
round pick.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
What do you say, Well, you know, that sounds good.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
That would be a good deal for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
But I just don't think that there's going to be
a team that wants to move up that's picking late
in the first round twenty eighth overall, only moving up
to you know, twenty first overall that's going to give
up its second round pick to do that. I mean,
just just to give you some example, in two thousand
(09:56):
and three, the Steelers were twenty seventh overall. They traded
up to sixteenth overall, and they used that pick to
get Troy Paul Malu. But what it cost them was
a number three and a number five. So yeah, if
you can, if there's a team in the twenty eight
to thirty two range and they want to flip flop
(10:18):
and give you a second round pick to do that,
I'm thinking really hard about it, but I just, you know, again,
it's one of those trades where it seems to me
just talking about it, it would be extremely one sided
in favor of the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Edward boon Trigger from McKee, Kentucky. I cannot remember a
year like this when the Steelers have been the most
talked about team nationally leading up to the draft. All
this arguing is giving me massive anxiety for Thursday night.
Can you help me get recentered?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Please stay off social media. I mean, that's whenever I
need recentering. That's my plan. That's what works for me.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
That's really good advice for all walks of life, not
just you know, Steelers talk sports talk, and I gotta say, Edward,
it's almost every year that the Steelers are pretty nationally
talked about leading up to the draft, especially since they
haven't had a quarterback when Big Ben retired.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Lee Johnson. You with that Lee Johnson from Midland, Virginia.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
How many times have the Steelers moved up in the
first round of the draft?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Okay, just a quick history lesson. You know, the Buddy
Parker era was nineteen fifty seven through sixty four, and
at that time the Steelers traded away future picks often
and in bunches. Okay, So the Steelers hired Chuck Noll
in nineteen sixty nine, and Noel and Dan Rooney both
(11:45):
were big proponents and building rosters through the draft, and
in Knowle's twenty three seasons, he traded away one draft
pick one time. In nineteen seventy three, Steelers sent a
third round pick in the nineteen seventy four draft to
Oakland for veteran defensive tackle Tom Keating. Okay, And then
(12:09):
when the nineteen seventy four draft rolled around, Chuck Nole
find himself found himself sweating out getting John Stalworth with
the number one four pick. Because they didn't have a
number three. You know, they picked Swan first because he
went to UCLA, was more well known. Didn't want to
pick Noel liked Stalworth as a number one pick, a
(12:31):
first round pick, but they didn't want to pick receivers
one and two because the NFL in seventy four was
still pretty much a run first offense, so they went
with Lambert and then three. Nole was gonna wanted to
pick Stalworth, but he didn't have a three, okay, so
they had to sweat it out. It all worked out fine,
(12:51):
but Nol just said, I'm never doing that again, and
they never did. So that's a long way winded way
of getting into the fact that the first time the
Steelers ever traded up in the first round was that
trade I just previously mentioned with Kansas City. In the
two thousand and three NFL Draft, the Steelers moved up
(13:12):
from sixteenth overall from twenty seventh overall and they got
Paul mal Okay. Then from there the Steelers moved up
three times, have moved up three times. Two thousand and six,
they moved up from thirty second to twenty fifth and
picked San Antonio Holmes. In twenty nineteen, they moved up
(13:35):
from twentieth to tenth to select Devin Bush, and in
twenty twenty three they moved up from seventeenth to fourteenth
to pick Broderick Jones.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Brett Billick from Campbell, Ohio. As far as the history
of the trading up in the first round of a draft,
didn't they trade up for Casey Hampton.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
No, that was a trade down. The steel began two
thousand and one draft with the sixteenth overall pick in
the first round, but they traded back with the Jets,
who were picking nineteenth overall. The Steelers then used that
nineteenth pick to choose Casey Hampton, and then for the move,
(14:21):
they also got a number four pick and a number
six pick in that draft.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
He is the number four.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Pick on offensive tackle Matthias de Quente and the sixth
round pick on defensive end Rodney Bailey. The Jets used
the sixteenth overall pick to select wide receiver Santana.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Moss Charles George from Coco, Florida. If Aaron Rodgers signs
before the draft, do the Steelers lose a compensatory pick?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Okay, The only category of players who figure into the
compensatory draft pick formula or unres stricted free agents lost
or unrestricted free agents signed. Okay, players cut by their
previous team and then signed do not count in the
compensatory draft pick formula. Aaron Rodgers was cut by the
(15:15):
Jets on Wednesday, March twelfth, so whatever happens with Aaron Rodgers,
both for the Steelers and for the Jets, does not
figure into the compensatory draft picked formula. Same thing with
Russell Wilson last year as an example. Same thing with
Justin Fields as an example, because he was a trade.
(15:39):
You got to be an unrestricted free agent whose contract
expires and then you're either signed or lost, and then
that figures into the compensatory draft pick formula for the
two teams involved.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Chris Fuller from Milford, Kansas. When players are placed on
injured reserved, are they allowed to travel with the team
and be on the sideline to support the team. I
preach it to kids all the time to be at
the games to support the team, even if they are
injured and can't play.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I was just wondering if the NFL has the same mentality.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
No, I mean, you can't compare youth sports to professional sports.
You know, it's not a it's a business at the
professional level. It's not a raw, raw thing. I mean,
certainly there is camaraderie and that stuff that's involved. I
get that, but it's not the same kind of thing.
And in the NFL there are just a lot of
(16:33):
rules governing this. I mean, you have these sidelines where
you know, there's all kinds of people there. Media certainly
there's not the kind of media coverage at a youth
sports event. National TV crews, the medical personnel, both the
(16:54):
team's medical personnel the NFL's medical personnel.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
You have security issues.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So what the NFL does is you're only allowed to
have so many people in the bench area on each sideline,
and there are NFL spotters or whatever that count them.
So if you have too many, you get fined. So,
I mean, it just it's not a it's not an
(17:21):
apt comparison, I don't think in that respect.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
And even beyond you know, the crowded sideline and getting
fined that way, labs, I mean, I have to imagine
the teams would much prefer injured players just you know,
stay back with the team, doctors, stay back at our
facilities and keep the rehab going.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
We don't really need to write the cheerleader.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Well, and it's a dangerous place down there too, right.
I mean, if you have some sort of ambulatory injury
that restricts your movement and all of a sudden, you know,
the action comes to your side of the field, you know,
getting out of the way can be an issue. And
you know you have a player with an injured knee
who's maybe it's not that major of an injury, and
(18:01):
then he gets rolled up on by a couple of
players and then that knee injury is a lot worse.
So yeah, there's safety issues involved as well. So yeah,
it's not a it's not a it doesn't happen, Let's
put it that way.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Our final question today comes from Randy Duvall from Hampton, Virginia.
The team that signed several players to one and two
year contracts. What happens to the team's contractual commitment to
that player if they do not make the fifty three roster.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You know, all I can tell you is if there's
some sort of guaranteed money attached to those one or
two year contracts, then that that's the commitment. That's the
contractual commitment. You're paying that money. Some of it might
have been already paid in the term of a signing bonus.
Maybe there's some other deferred guaranteed money, you know whatever,
(18:52):
But no, there's no roster guaranteed. There's in the NFL.
There might be you know, guaranteed money put in a contract,
and the amount of that guaranteed money might influence a
team's decision in terms of whether you're kept or not.
But there's no such thing in an NFL contract of
(19:14):
you know, sign this deal, we guarantee you a spot
on this roster. Doesn't work that way.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
The draft starts on Thursday night with the first round,
and there is no better place for wall to wall
coverage than right here on Steelers Nation Radio and Steelers
Audio Network. Starting at seven on Thursday, we got du
Lac Persuda and Matt Williamson kicking things off, and there's
a bunch of people, Rob King, Max Starksdale, Lollie. I
snuck in there somehow. I don't know if they notice
that mistake yet or not, but I'm still going.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
To show up.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Wesley every a lot of people from SNR Labs. I
don't know if he'll be on the air, but he'll
be floating around the facility all weekend. It's a lot
of fun. We can't wait for the NFL Draft and
keep it tuned in right here on Steeers Nation Radio
and the Steelers Audio Network to or in the entirety
of it labs and I will be one.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Just let me just let me just throw this in.
You mentioned the Steelers Nation Radio times. The actual picking
uh on on Thursday, it starts at eight. On Friday
it starts at seven, and then on Saturday it starts
at noon.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
But you better be just throw on Thursday SNR.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
That's all. That's when all the good stuff happens.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
I just wanted you to know when you know, when
you'll see the first hug from from the commission from.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
The Commissioner right, and the booze that the Commissioner will
undoubtedly receive when he steps onto that stage. Yes, we
will be back on Tuesday next week recapping what the
Steelers did in the draft and answering some more of
your questions for Bob Blavarula.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I'm Tom Afferman, and this has been asked that answered
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.