May 6, 2025 • 21 mins
Labs and Tom talk about Rookie mini camp and then get into this week’s questions
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upperman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The Steelers twenty twenty five draft class has been Steelers
now for about a week in a couple of days now,
but we get our first experience of seeing them in
practice uniforms, shorts and whatnot. We get to see them
on a football field as Pittsburgh Steelers for the first time.
This week. Labs Rookie Mini Camp underway down at the
South Side Facility.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, the players get in Thursday, you know, depending on
their flights, and you know, they do headshots and I
guess you know, they have to get fitted for equipment
like helmets and stuff, and you know that kind of
stuff is Thursday, and then you know it starts Friday.
There's sessions on field sessions Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And
(00:56):
you know, the first thing that you kind of have
to understand about rookie Mini camp is who is eligible
to participate. For example, Roman Wilson is not. You know,
you would think, well, he never played, you know, last
year as a rookie and no, but if you any players,
(01:20):
I think you're allowed three or four guys who are
like veterans who are not signed to have on your roster,
your rookie mini camp roster. But generally speaking, any player
who has ever been to an NFL training camp is
(01:41):
not eligible. This is for drafted players, undrafted rookie signings,
guys who have not signed with any team, tryout guys
because you know, in order to have practice, even if
it's just you know, padless practice, you gotta have twenty
(02:02):
two guys on the field at a time. So you know,
there's thirty five maybe forty, not forty is too many.
Thirty to thirty five players on the rookie mini camp roster.
A lot of them are tryout guys. I mean that
was the Steelers' first exposure to Duck Hodges as an example, right,
(02:22):
And it can be challenging, you know, to find guys
like Danny Smith's job. You got to have a kicker,
a punter, and a long snapper because otherwise you can't
do any special teams. So you know, this year, for example,
the Steelers signed Ben Saul's, the pitt place kicker, as
(02:43):
an undrafted rookie, so they have a placekicker, but you know,
who's the holder, who's the punter, who's the long snapper?
And you have to try and find guys, you know,
who are somewhat proficient because otherwise, you know, it's just
a slapfest out there, and you get enough undone, you
have no ability to evaluate either those particular positions or
(03:07):
the positions that those positions impact. You know, for example,
if your receivers stink, what do you learn about Will Howard? Uh?
You know that kind of thing. So it's sometimes it's
a challenge putting those rosters together. And you know, any
Steelers fans who are hoping, you know, to get maybe
(03:27):
some updated information on Troy Filtanu, No, not happening. So
any of those rookies like Corey Trice. Uh, for an example,
who you know he he injured his knee as a
rookie that didn't you know, appear in any games or anything. Well,
(03:50):
he was not. He could not show up the following
year for rookie Mini camp. So just uh, you know,
warning everybody who how that works. I remember asking Mike
Tomlin about it. This was some years ago. Who's eligible
for rookie Mini Camp? He says, just do what I do?
(04:11):
I said, what's that? He said? Get a roster? Good
down the list of names, when you come to a
name and you go, who the hell is that he's eligible?
He's there, You're going to have him now, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You said that, Like with Douc. You know, this is
a chance to get introduced to some players that actually
end up making the team or you start to have
a relationship with them and practice squad is down the
road for them or whatever. But also when it comes
to like the guys that were drafted labs, like for
Derek Harmon, like this is really important just to get
your feet wet right, just to see what the building's like,
see what a week looks like or a weekend looks like.
(04:46):
Not so much the football stuff that you're doing, but
you mentioned the headshots and getting fitted for helmets and
getting the lay of the land. That's important to do,
I think now before everybody shows up for OTA's and
mini camps and it can get a little overwhelming and
you start shifting more towards the football styles of things.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, and for the coaches and staff, it's also interesting
to get those guys in in the building and you
have a I won't say it's you know, a representative
of what you know, a regular season week might look like,
but you do have them in meeting rooms. You can
(05:23):
you can try and start to figure out, you know,
which guys are the ones who learn, are able to
learn in a classroom, which guys are more apt to
need to be able to physically go through what you
are installing the classroom to get it or have a
good handle on it. So there's you know, it's it
(05:47):
goes both ways. And not only as you mentioned, it's
good for the players to get exposed to some of
this stuff, but it's also good for the coaches to
get exposed to some of these players, and you know
how they're wired a little bit because you know, and
the other thing about this is teams are able to
(06:09):
have rookie mini camps one of two weekends, either the
weekend right after the draft or for the Steelers, do
it this weekend. And the reason the Steelers choose this
weekend is because now the rookies can stay. So now
Derek Harmon as an example, he's here now probably through
the end of mandatory mini camp in mid June sometime,
(06:34):
and that's a good good length of time. You know,
they put these guys up. They're at the facility every
day and they're around, you know, the veterans and stuff.
Can participate in the off season program even though it's
not on field work with footballs until OTAs which is
(06:55):
middle of late May this month, but there are around it.
They're eating in the cafeteria, they're around the veteran players.
I mean, they get a I'm sure a lot of
it is just through osmosis in terms of just being
around guys who have who are been there, done that guys,
(07:17):
and they just so that when you know, the off
season program ends and then you have that break and
then they go to training camp, it's not your first exposure.
You know, back in the day, that's the way it was.
You know, there was no there was a time when
(07:38):
there was not even a mini camp. You know, Lambert
and those guys did not go to mini camp when
they were rookies. So you know, you show up a
training camp and it's wow. You go from college football
to Saint Vincent College in the dorm and the next
thing you know, you're lined up off is a Joe
(07:59):
Green and they're telling you to block them. So you know,
this is a more gradual ramp up to that, and
hopefully you know it ends up being beneficial for both sides,
as I said, the team side and the player side.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Rookie minute Camp gets underway later this week down at
the facility. I'm sure you get a lot of nice
social media posts Instagram, Twitter, You see some pictures of
Jack Sawyer out there, Derek Harmon, Caleb Johnson. It'll be
a lot of fun being online over the weekend. But
let's get to this week's batch of questions. Our first
one comes from Robert King from Tillman, Maryland. Now that
(08:40):
the draft is over, do you think that for now
the quarterback position is more or less stable with the
drafting of Will Howard, he could turn out to be
a diamond in the rough.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, you know that that whole more or less stable?
You know phrase, I don't know about that. This is
what I'll say. Omark Cohn, the general manager, said before
the draft that the Steelers will take four quarterbacks to
training camp. Not that that's any shocking news. They have
(09:11):
always done this. You need for I think, for the
number of practices, all the drills, you need four arms.
So there's gonna be another quarterback signed. Who it's going
to be, I can't tell you at this point. You know,
we all have our hopes and or fears, depending upon
which side of the issue you happen to fall on.
(09:33):
As a fan, I get it, but no, I would
say that there's gonna be there's gonna be more instability
quote unquote, because there's going to be another move coming
at that position.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Joe Asher from Tampa, Florida. Cameron Hayward's well deserved First
Team All Pro honors this year had me wondering, is
he the oldest Steelers player ever to earn this honor?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Okay, in twenty twenty four. For the twenty twenty four season,
Cam Hayward was voted First Team All Pro. He was
a thirty five year old man. Mike Webster was voted
First Team All Pro for his play during the nineteen
eighty seventh season as a thirty five year old. But
(10:20):
and this is you know, in order to break the tie,
Mike Webster was born on March eighteenth. Cam Hayward was
born on May eighth, so Webster is the older by
seven weeks. So no, he's not the oldest. Mike Webster
would be the oldest. Other Steelers to be voted First
(10:40):
Team All Pro in their thirties James Harrison at thirty two,
Joe Green and DERMONTI. Dawson, both of whom were thirty three,
Ernie Stautner at thirty four. Now, Rod Woodson was voted
first team All Pro at thirty seven, but by then
he was playing for Oakland. And let me say this,
those other names I mentioned, that was the last time
(11:05):
those guys were voted first team All Pro. Like Joe
Green didn't make first team All Pro for the first
time as a thirty three year old, just to be clear,
but that was the most, you know, the latest time
in his career for all of those guys.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I know it wasn't with us, but a defensive back
at thirty seven years old getting first team All prout nods.
There's a reason why Rod is considered by many to
be the greatest corner in NFL history.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Athlete too.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I was just going to say at that point he
was a safety.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, but I mean, imagine the work that you have
to do on your body and the way your body,
you know, response to that work. To still be playing
professional football at a high level at that age.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
It's remarkable. Crab Dumnich from Avondale, Pennsylvania, I'd like your
opinion on what makes a franchise quarterback. We've all seen
quarterbacks drafted in the first round. Go bus. Then you
have other quarterbacks like Tom Brady who was drafted in
the sixth round. Be amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know, the label franchise quarterback, in my opinion, is
earned by what the player does once he's in the NFL.
You know, it's not something that you know, you deserve
to carry with you from college into the league. Uh
And you know, I don't. And once once you're in
the league, I don't know that there's any you know,
(12:29):
Mendozo statistical lines. And by that, I mean you know,
if you're over this line, you're a franchise quarterback, and
if you're under it, you're not. I think it's a
situation of you know, you know it when you see
it in terms of who deserves to be called a
franchise quarterback and who does not, because as I said,
(12:50):
there are no statistical benchmarks or list of honors or
you know, two times in the Pro Bowl and you're
a franchise quarterback or whatever that you know, whatever that
might be. And let me say this, I believe that
you know, the term is used to describe more players
than actually deserve to be that. So in other words,
(13:15):
for example, calling and I don't mean I don't want
to list any names because I don't you know, I
don't want to rip anybody like that. But there are
people in the NFL, in my opinion right now, who
are referred to as franchise quarterbacks who are not.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
You don't want to name names, are you sure?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I'm just kidding? Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Everybody can fill in the blanks there. William Dowdell from
Cocoa Beach, Florida A question about the offensive coordinator being
different from the last time Mason Rudolph was a Steelers quarterback.
I have to wonder if Arthur Smith's offense, the terminology
and the facets of it, will be something that Mason
can thrive in. Is an offensive coordinator change capable of
(14:00):
bringing out better play in the quarterback?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I think an offensive quarter an offensive coordinator change is
capable of bringing out better play not only from the quarterback,
from but from every player on that offense, and then
also the unit as a whole. You know, we're gonna
have to see how this all meshes together once preseason
(14:24):
games start. And I don't know what we'll actually know
during the preseason, because you know, usually the veterans don't
play a lot and the coordinator doesn't want to show
a lot, So it's going to be an evolving thing.
But yeah, I would expect that, you know, an offensive
coordinator who is good at his job can bring out
(14:48):
better play in the individuals and the unit as a whole.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Dave Savalane from Silver Spring, Maryland, which of the steelers
twenty twenty five undrafted rookie free agents are getting the
most buzz and which positions on the roster currently offer
the most opportunities for a UDFA to make the team
beside special teams.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Of course, because we've already talked about, rookie mini camp
is going to be held this weekend May ninth through eleventh, Okay,
And as I said, as we talked about, that's the
first chance the team has an opportunity to see those
players and assess them, you know, how they might be
able to learn adapt to the professional football. Now. I
(15:35):
think the Steelers went into the draft having done a
nice job balancing their roster in terms of numbers at
the various positions, So I don't think there was any
glaring need to fill a hole with an undrafted rookie.
Like maybe last year, the case could be made that
the Steelers went into this time of the season needing
(16:01):
a slot cornerback and so Beanie Bishop was a hot
name like at this time last year. I don't really
think that there are any of those kinds of positions
on the roster this year that are wide open. So
you know, I don't don't I don't have any buzz
(16:23):
for you. I'm not saying that within the organization there
aren't some players that they might be excited about. I'm
sure the clickbait people out in the interweb will certainly
be willing to tell you who they are, even though
they have no idea. So you know, my kind of
philosophy and my approach is going to be to be
(16:44):
patient and give it some time to see who might emerge.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Pat Flynn from Oakdale, Pennsylvania. What is the fewest number
of draft picks the Steelers have had in an NFL draft?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That would be twenty two and three. Steelers had five
picks in two thousand and three. There were only seven
rounds in a draft, and the Steelers used well. They
traded up in the first round to get Troy Polamalu,
(17:18):
and as part of that trade, they swapped number one
picks with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Steelers moved up
from twenty seventh to sixteenth. They gave their twenty seventh
pick and a picking a third and a picking a
sixth round to make the deal to get a Hall
of Fame safety, which in that the way that worked out,
(17:42):
was worth it. The rest of the picks that year.
Just to you know, fun fact, Alonso Jackson round two
couldn't play in the league. Ike Taylor fourth round was
the Steelers' best cornerback for a long time and a
lot of winning games and Super Bowls worth it. Brian
(18:07):
Saint Pierre fifth round, third string quarterback for a number
of years. JT Wall seventh round. I don't think he even
made the roster.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Jeff Boyd from Wheeling, West Virginia has our final question
of the day. With the arrival of the new draft picks,
how does the team assign Jersey numbers? Seems like there
are more players per position in a few areas than
available numbers.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay, you know, everybody's got to have a number when
they're on the field because you know, coaches need to
be able to identify who's who, you know, watching film
and video and you know grading what they're seeing. So okay,
everybody on the field has a jersey number. Now the
(18:55):
Steelers have three retired jerseys. There are a bunch of
other numbers that do not get issued. So what often
has to happen is double numbers are issued. And the
way they do that is when they have to issue
double numbers, you give the number one guy on offense
(19:19):
and one guy on defense because when they're practicing, they're
wearing different colors, so then you know who's who. And
I'm talking about the coaches, So you know, like gold
number fifty seven, I just picked the number out of
my head and white number fifty seven. You know, one
is offense, one is defense, and that's how you know. Now,
(19:40):
according to the league, you know assigning numbers. Numbers aren't
permanent for the new players and some of the veterans
as well, until after you know, the rosters cut the
fifty three, so you know, your number could be something
in rookie mini camp and if you make the team
(20:04):
as a rookie, you might be able to change your
jersey number to some other number if it's available. The
only person who has an assigned number today is Derek Carmon,
and that as asks him as the number one pick.
It's not unique to the Steelers. Every team's first round
(20:24):
pick is asked to pick a number, and once you
pick that number as the player, that's your number because
the league wants to start printing and selling those jerseys.
So for example, Travis Hunter, you know, he he picked
his jersey number, I'm sure, and they're selling it. So
(20:48):
that's that's what that's how that works for the number
one pick. Everybody else, you know, it's it. You get
something for now. You can keep it if you want,
or you can change it if you can if you
make the fifty three man roster.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Well, rookie minuteamp will get underway this week, like we said,
so we'll get a chance to see the new rookies
in their new numbers, and then we'll be back again
next week as we work our way through the phases
of the offseason, and maybe we'll get some new quarterback
news as well. But if you want to hear a
question answered on this podcast, get it into Labs now
(21:26):
and maybe you will hear it 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):
The Steelers twenty twenty five draft class has been Steelers
now for about a week in a couple of days now,
but we get our first experience of seeing them in
practice uniforms, shorts and whatnot. We get to see them
on a football field as Pittsburgh Steelers for the first time.
This week. Labs Rookie Mini Camp underway down at the
South Side Facility.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, the players get in Thursday, you know, depending on
their flights, and you know, they do headshots and I
guess you know, they have to get fitted for equipment
like helmets and stuff, and you know that kind of
stuff is Thursday, and then you know it starts Friday.
There's sessions on field sessions Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And
(00:56):
you know, the first thing that you kind of have
to understand about rookie Mini camp is who is eligible
to participate. For example, Roman Wilson is not. You know,
you would think, well, he never played, you know, last
year as a rookie and no, but if you any players,
(01:20):
I think you're allowed three or four guys who are
like veterans who are not signed to have on your roster,
your rookie mini camp roster. But generally speaking, any player
who has ever been to an NFL training camp is
(01:41):
not eligible. This is for drafted players, undrafted rookie signings,
guys who have not signed with any team, tryout guys
because you know, in order to have practice, even if
it's just you know, padless practice, you gotta have twenty
(02:02):
two guys on the field at a time. So you know,
there's thirty five maybe forty, not forty is too many.
Thirty to thirty five players on the rookie mini camp roster.
A lot of them are tryout guys. I mean that
was the Steelers' first exposure to Duck Hodges as an example, right,
(02:22):
And it can be challenging, you know, to find guys
like Danny Smith's job. You got to have a kicker,
a punter, and a long snapper because otherwise you can't
do any special teams. So you know, this year, for example,
the Steelers signed Ben Saul's, the pitt place kicker, as
(02:43):
an undrafted rookie, so they have a placekicker, but you know,
who's the holder, who's the punter, who's the long snapper?
And you have to try and find guys, you know,
who are somewhat proficient because otherwise, you know, it's just
a slapfest out there, and you get enough undone, you
have no ability to evaluate either those particular positions or
(03:07):
the positions that those positions impact. You know, for example,
if your receivers stink, what do you learn about Will Howard? Uh?
You know that kind of thing. So it's sometimes it's
a challenge putting those rosters together. And you know, any
Steelers fans who are hoping, you know, to get maybe
(03:27):
some updated information on Troy Filtanu, No, not happening. So
any of those rookies like Corey Trice. Uh, for an example,
who you know he he injured his knee as a
rookie that didn't you know, appear in any games or anything. Well,
(03:50):
he was not. He could not show up the following
year for rookie Mini camp. So just uh, you know,
warning everybody who how that works. I remember asking Mike
Tomlin about it. This was some years ago. Who's eligible
for rookie Mini Camp? He says, just do what I do?
(04:11):
I said, what's that? He said? Get a roster? Good
down the list of names, when you come to a
name and you go, who the hell is that he's eligible?
He's there, You're going to have him now, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You said that, Like with Douc. You know, this is
a chance to get introduced to some players that actually
end up making the team or you start to have
a relationship with them and practice squad is down the
road for them or whatever. But also when it comes
to like the guys that were drafted labs, like for
Derek Harmon, like this is really important just to get
your feet wet right, just to see what the building's like,
see what a week looks like or a weekend looks like.
(04:46):
Not so much the football stuff that you're doing, but
you mentioned the headshots and getting fitted for helmets and
getting the lay of the land. That's important to do,
I think now before everybody shows up for OTA's and
mini camps and it can get a little overwhelming and
you start shifting more towards the football styles of things.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, and for the coaches and staff, it's also interesting
to get those guys in in the building and you
have a I won't say it's you know, a representative
of what you know, a regular season week might look like,
but you do have them in meeting rooms. You can
(05:23):
you can try and start to figure out, you know,
which guys are the ones who learn, are able to
learn in a classroom, which guys are more apt to
need to be able to physically go through what you
are installing the classroom to get it or have a
good handle on it. So there's you know, it's it
(05:47):
goes both ways. And not only as you mentioned, it's
good for the players to get exposed to some of
this stuff, but it's also good for the coaches to
get exposed to some of these players, and you know
how they're wired a little bit because you know, and
the other thing about this is teams are able to
(06:09):
have rookie mini camps one of two weekends, either the
weekend right after the draft or for the Steelers, do
it this weekend. And the reason the Steelers choose this
weekend is because now the rookies can stay. So now
Derek Harmon as an example, he's here now probably through
the end of mandatory mini camp in mid June sometime,
(06:34):
and that's a good good length of time. You know,
they put these guys up. They're at the facility every
day and they're around, you know, the veterans and stuff.
Can participate in the off season program even though it's
not on field work with footballs until OTAs which is
(06:55):
middle of late May this month, but there are around it.
They're eating in the cafeteria, they're around the veteran players.
I mean, they get a I'm sure a lot of
it is just through osmosis in terms of just being
around guys who have who are been there, done that guys,
(07:17):
and they just so that when you know, the off
season program ends and then you have that break and
then they go to training camp, it's not your first exposure.
You know, back in the day, that's the way it was.
You know, there was no there was a time when
(07:38):
there was not even a mini camp. You know, Lambert
and those guys did not go to mini camp when
they were rookies. So you know, you show up a
training camp and it's wow. You go from college football
to Saint Vincent College in the dorm and the next
thing you know, you're lined up off is a Joe
(07:59):
Green and they're telling you to block them. So you know,
this is a more gradual ramp up to that, and
hopefully you know it ends up being beneficial for both sides,
as I said, the team side and the player side.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Rookie minute Camp gets underway later this week down at
the facility. I'm sure you get a lot of nice
social media posts Instagram, Twitter, You see some pictures of
Jack Sawyer out there, Derek Harmon, Caleb Johnson. It'll be
a lot of fun being online over the weekend. But
let's get to this week's batch of questions. Our first
one comes from Robert King from Tillman, Maryland. Now that
(08:40):
the draft is over, do you think that for now
the quarterback position is more or less stable with the
drafting of Will Howard, he could turn out to be
a diamond in the rough.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, you know that that whole more or less stable?
You know phrase, I don't know about that. This is
what I'll say. Omark Cohn, the general manager, said before
the draft that the Steelers will take four quarterbacks to
training camp. Not that that's any shocking news. They have
(09:11):
always done this. You need for I think, for the
number of practices, all the drills, you need four arms.
So there's gonna be another quarterback signed. Who it's going
to be, I can't tell you at this point. You know,
we all have our hopes and or fears, depending upon
which side of the issue you happen to fall on.
(09:33):
As a fan, I get it, but no, I would
say that there's gonna be there's gonna be more instability
quote unquote, because there's going to be another move coming
at that position.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Joe Asher from Tampa, Florida. Cameron Hayward's well deserved First
Team All Pro honors this year had me wondering, is
he the oldest Steelers player ever to earn this honor?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Okay, in twenty twenty four. For the twenty twenty four season,
Cam Hayward was voted First Team All Pro. He was
a thirty five year old man. Mike Webster was voted
First Team All Pro for his play during the nineteen
eighty seventh season as a thirty five year old. But
(10:20):
and this is you know, in order to break the tie,
Mike Webster was born on March eighteenth. Cam Hayward was
born on May eighth, so Webster is the older by
seven weeks. So no, he's not the oldest. Mike Webster
would be the oldest. Other Steelers to be voted First
(10:40):
Team All Pro in their thirties James Harrison at thirty two,
Joe Green and DERMONTI. Dawson, both of whom were thirty three,
Ernie Stautner at thirty four. Now, Rod Woodson was voted
first team All Pro at thirty seven, but by then
he was playing for Oakland. And let me say this,
those other names I mentioned, that was the last time
(11:05):
those guys were voted first team All Pro. Like Joe
Green didn't make first team All Pro for the first
time as a thirty three year old, just to be clear,
but that was the most, you know, the latest time
in his career for all of those guys.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I know it wasn't with us, but a defensive back
at thirty seven years old getting first team All prout nods.
There's a reason why Rod is considered by many to
be the greatest corner in NFL history.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Athlete too.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I was just going to say at that point he
was a safety.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, but I mean, imagine the work that you have
to do on your body and the way your body,
you know, response to that work. To still be playing
professional football at a high level at that age.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
It's remarkable. Crab Dumnich from Avondale, Pennsylvania, I'd like your
opinion on what makes a franchise quarterback. We've all seen
quarterbacks drafted in the first round. Go bus. Then you
have other quarterbacks like Tom Brady who was drafted in
the sixth round. Be amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know, the label franchise quarterback, in my opinion, is
earned by what the player does once he's in the NFL.
You know, it's not something that you know, you deserve
to carry with you from college into the league. Uh
And you know, I don't. And once once you're in
the league, I don't know that there's any you know,
(12:29):
Mendozo statistical lines. And by that, I mean you know,
if you're over this line, you're a franchise quarterback, and
if you're under it, you're not. I think it's a
situation of you know, you know it when you see
it in terms of who deserves to be called a
franchise quarterback and who does not, because as I said,
(12:50):
there are no statistical benchmarks or list of honors or
you know, two times in the Pro Bowl and you're
a franchise quarterback or whatever that you know, whatever that
might be. And let me say this, I believe that
you know, the term is used to describe more players
than actually deserve to be that. So in other words,
(13:15):
for example, calling and I don't mean I don't want
to list any names because I don't you know, I
don't want to rip anybody like that. But there are
people in the NFL, in my opinion right now, who
are referred to as franchise quarterbacks who are not.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
You don't want to name names, are you sure?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I'm just kidding? Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Everybody can fill in the blanks there. William Dowdell from
Cocoa Beach, Florida A question about the offensive coordinator being
different from the last time Mason Rudolph was a Steelers quarterback.
I have to wonder if Arthur Smith's offense, the terminology
and the facets of it, will be something that Mason
can thrive in. Is an offensive coordinator change capable of
(14:00):
bringing out better play in the quarterback?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I think an offensive quarter an offensive coordinator change is
capable of bringing out better play not only from the quarterback,
from but from every player on that offense, and then
also the unit as a whole. You know, we're gonna
have to see how this all meshes together once preseason
(14:24):
games start. And I don't know what we'll actually know
during the preseason, because you know, usually the veterans don't
play a lot and the coordinator doesn't want to show
a lot, So it's going to be an evolving thing.
But yeah, I would expect that, you know, an offensive
coordinator who is good at his job can bring out
(14:48):
better play in the individuals and the unit as a whole.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Dave Savalane from Silver Spring, Maryland, which of the steelers
twenty twenty five undrafted rookie free agents are getting the
most buzz and which positions on the roster currently offer
the most opportunities for a UDFA to make the team
beside special teams.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Of course, because we've already talked about, rookie mini camp
is going to be held this weekend May ninth through eleventh, Okay,
And as I said, as we talked about, that's the
first chance the team has an opportunity to see those
players and assess them, you know, how they might be
able to learn adapt to the professional football. Now. I
(15:35):
think the Steelers went into the draft having done a
nice job balancing their roster in terms of numbers at
the various positions, So I don't think there was any
glaring need to fill a hole with an undrafted rookie.
Like maybe last year, the case could be made that
the Steelers went into this time of the season needing
(16:01):
a slot cornerback and so Beanie Bishop was a hot
name like at this time last year. I don't really
think that there are any of those kinds of positions
on the roster this year that are wide open. So
you know, I don't don't I don't have any buzz
(16:23):
for you. I'm not saying that within the organization there
aren't some players that they might be excited about. I'm
sure the clickbait people out in the interweb will certainly
be willing to tell you who they are, even though
they have no idea. So you know, my kind of
philosophy and my approach is going to be to be
(16:44):
patient and give it some time to see who might emerge.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Pat Flynn from Oakdale, Pennsylvania. What is the fewest number
of draft picks the Steelers have had in an NFL draft?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That would be twenty two and three. Steelers had five
picks in two thousand and three. There were only seven
rounds in a draft, and the Steelers used well. They
traded up in the first round to get Troy Polamalu,
(17:18):
and as part of that trade, they swapped number one
picks with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Steelers moved up
from twenty seventh to sixteenth. They gave their twenty seventh
pick and a picking a third and a picking a
sixth round to make the deal to get a Hall
of Fame safety, which in that the way that worked out,
(17:42):
was worth it. The rest of the picks that year.
Just to you know, fun fact, Alonso Jackson round two
couldn't play in the league. Ike Taylor fourth round was
the Steelers' best cornerback for a long time and a
lot of winning games and Super Bowls worth it. Brian
(18:07):
Saint Pierre fifth round, third string quarterback for a number
of years. JT Wall seventh round. I don't think he even
made the roster.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Jeff Boyd from Wheeling, West Virginia has our final question
of the day. With the arrival of the new draft picks,
how does the team assign Jersey numbers? Seems like there
are more players per position in a few areas than
available numbers.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay, you know, everybody's got to have a number when
they're on the field because you know, coaches need to
be able to identify who's who, you know, watching film
and video and you know grading what they're seeing. So okay,
everybody on the field has a jersey number. Now the
(18:55):
Steelers have three retired jerseys. There are a bunch of
other numbers that do not get issued. So what often
has to happen is double numbers are issued. And the
way they do that is when they have to issue
double numbers, you give the number one guy on offense
(19:19):
and one guy on defense because when they're practicing, they're
wearing different colors, so then you know who's who. And
I'm talking about the coaches, So you know, like gold
number fifty seven, I just picked the number out of
my head and white number fifty seven. You know, one
is offense, one is defense, and that's how you know. Now,
(19:40):
according to the league, you know assigning numbers. Numbers aren't
permanent for the new players and some of the veterans
as well, until after you know, the rosters cut the
fifty three, so you know, your number could be something
in rookie mini camp and if you make the team
(20:04):
as a rookie, you might be able to change your
jersey number to some other number if it's available. The
only person who has an assigned number today is Derek Carmon,
and that as asks him as the number one pick.
It's not unique to the Steelers. Every team's first round
(20:24):
pick is asked to pick a number, and once you
pick that number as the player, that's your number because
the league wants to start printing and selling those jerseys.
So for example, Travis Hunter, you know, he he picked
his jersey number, I'm sure, and they're selling it. So
(20:48):
that's that's what that's how that works for the number
one pick. Everybody else, you know, it's it. You get
something for now. You can keep it if you want,
or you can change it if you can if you
make the fifty three man roster.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Well, rookie minuteamp will get underway this week, like we said,
so we'll get a chance to see the new rookies
in their new numbers, and then we'll be back again
next week as we work our way through the phases
of the offseason, and maybe we'll get some new quarterback
news as well. But if you want to hear a
question answered on this podcast, get it into Labs now
(21:26):
and maybe you will hear it on a future edition
of asked and answered
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