February 18, 2025 • 19 mins
Labs and Tom talk about the franchise and transition tag period of the offseason getting underway, then get to the questions
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We experienced our first Sunday, our first weekend in a
long long time, months of time without NFL football, So
that must mean it is officially the offseason, Labs, and
our first step of the offseason kind of kicked off
today as starting today, teams can designate their franchise or
transition tag players and that lasts all the way up
(00:31):
until Tuesday, March fourth.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, that's, you know, step one along the way. You
call it the NFL offseason. I call it the silly season.
It's sometimes you really don't know which it is or
which name applies better, you know. But the the tags,
(00:57):
you know, the only thing that you know, I think
it's a little bit interesting about the tags is there
might you will see players who are tagged. You can
essentially take them off the list in terms of, you know,
potential free agents that you might be able to do
(01:19):
some business with. You know. One of the rumors is
that the Bengals are going to tag t Higgins again.
So if that happens, I mean, you know, you can
just pretty much any Steelers fans hoping that you know,
T Higgins might be added as the top of the
(01:41):
depth chart kind of veteran excuse me, veteran receiver during
this offseason. I think he could pretty much you know,
that's out the window if he gets tagged.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, no doubt about it. And that's the big, you know,
first kind of domino that we saw fall yesterday to
the report that the Bengals are planning on doing that.
It's got to be kind of a mixed bag if
you're a player like T Higgins, right, because back to
back years with over twenty million dollars of guaranteed money,
all of it down to the last penny. But at
the same time, you still haven't gotten that security, right,
that long, long term for a contract in your NFL career.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, I mean, and well, and the thing about it is,
you get tagged twice back to back, it's you know,
one hundred and twenty percent at least of you know,
the number increases to a pretty you know, I would
call it, you know, silly money kind of level. I
(02:36):
don't know. If it were me, uh and I got tagged,
I would show up the next day with two pens
because when I was signing it. I wouldn't want it
running out of ink because as soon as you sign
that fully guaranteed money yep. So you know, yeah, you
(03:01):
don't have long term security. But in the NFL, contracts
aren't guaranteed. So you know a lot of times the
figures that we see that come out after a guy
signed something are inflated in terms of you know, what
he ends up actually making. But the franchise tag, as
soon as you sign that tender, it is guaranteed money
(03:23):
to you. So there's that.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Let's get to this week's batch of questions on Askton answered,
and we start with Larry Hall from Austin, Texas Keeping
a quarterback related of course, Larry, thank you. Although it's
very unlikely the team would be able to bring back
both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, but if they both
saw it as a legitimate opportunity to revive their careers,
Russell A Lah, Kurt Warner and Justin Allah Baker Mayfield,
(03:52):
would you be in favor of bringing each of them
back on a two year deal?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You know. During his media available ability back in January,
Art Ruoney the second said that in his view, both
Russell Wilson and justin Field see themselves as NFL starting quarterbacks,
So bringing them both back, I don't think it's a
good idea and it's not going to happen because if
(04:20):
they're on the same team, both can't be starters. And
I just don't think that, you know, that's a good recipe.
You don't want because one of them is going to
be unhappy, So you know, why even go there.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Nathan Cooper from Hanover, Pennsylvania. I know that Art Rudy
the second said that signing quarterback would be a priority
of this offseason, but when should we see that signing.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well, my opinion, the best case scenario for the team
would be to have identified and signed the better of
the Russell Wilson justin Field's options before free agency begins
on Wednesday, March twelfth, because if you do that and
you have that settled, it seems to me to set
(05:09):
up the rest of the offseason in terms of vallocating
cap space and draft capital towards dealing beyond with the
other roster issues that are going to need to be addressed.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Lee Johnson from Midland, Virginia. When is Ben eligible for
the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Speaking of Ben, Roethlisberger.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Of course, yes, Ben Roethlisberger will be eligible to be
elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's part
of the Class of twenty twenty seven. So that would
be that announcement would come, you know, February twenty twenty seven,
on the Thursday before the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That year, a couple or more years ago for Big Ben.
Mark Thompson from Huntington, West Virginia. Please tell me if
this is true, saw on Facebook that Ward was finally
inducted into the Pro Football Halla. Please tell me this
is not a dream.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Well, it's not true. I don't know if it's a
dreamer or a nightmare based on that, but Hinesward was
not elected as part of the Class of twenty twenty five.
Now there are fifteen Modern era finalists that go into
the final round, so to speak. And the receivers who
(06:26):
are among that Modern era finalists list where Tory Holt,
Steve Smith Senior, and Reggie Wayne. The Hall of Fame
Class of twenty twenty five was announced on Thursday before
the Super Bowl where my Eagles spanked your Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
My Chiefs, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And that class included cornerback Eric Allen defensive end Jared
Allen Tight and Antonio Gates and wide receiver Sterling Sharp.
He was elected as the Seniors candidate. So none of
the wide receivers who were among the modern era finalists
were elected, and then they go back into the pool
(07:10):
for next year. And that's the kind of thing, you know,
it seems as if the voters have established, you know,
a pecking order in terms of who they see, as
you know, on deck kind of candidates for lack of
a better analogy, and when none of the finalists get in,
(07:34):
it kind of clogs everything up for guys to you know,
move up. Because Heines Ward is an example, was not
a modern era finalist. So the fact that none of
these receivers are getting in doesn't seem to me to
be a good sign for Hines because you know, it's
kind of clogged up. And then you know, you're getting
(07:54):
more people added who become eligible, uh. And then what
we're going to get into some of that here with
the next question.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Jeff Weller from Columbus, Ohio, how is Sterling Sharp getting
inducted into the Hall of Fame and not heinz Ward
Ward has over four hundred more catches than Sterling Sharp,
plus there are wards other attributes as a player, blocking, etc.
Tired of the Steelers fatigue among the voters? Are there
any other receivers with that many catches not in the
(08:23):
Hall of Fame?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Okay, As I explained in the previous answer, Sterling Sharp
was elected as the Senior's candidate, so that he was
in a totally different category. He did not take a
spot from heinz Ward or any of the other receivers
who did not make it. Now, Jeff LEGWAALDOVSPN dot com
(08:50):
I thought had a nice little synopsis of Sterling Sharp's career,
and leg Wald wrote that Sharp's career was cut short
by a congenital neck condition, but only Jerry Rice caught
more passes and had more touchdown receptions in the seventh
season span that Sharp played. So you know, during his era,
(09:15):
Sterling Sharp was a dominant player, and you know, as
I said, his career was cut short by a congenital
neck condition. He went in as a Senior's candidate. Now,
as for the other questions about other receivers with as
many catches not in the Hall of Fame, hinz Ward
(09:38):
retired with a thousand catches for twelve thousand eighty three yards. Okay,
the players with more than a thousand catches not in
the Pro Football Hall of Fame right now are Larry
Fitzgerald and Jason Witten, And those are two guys who
will become first year eligible's next year. Other guys with
more catches than Ward or An, Kwon Bold, Reggie Wayne,
(10:01):
Steve Smith. Then players with more than twelve thousand eighty
three yards receiving yards again are Fitzgerald and Witten, plus
Steve Smith, Senior, Reggie Wayne and Klon Bolden, Tory Holt,
Irving Friar, Brandon Marshall, and Jimmy Smith. So as you see,
(10:22):
there is something of a log jam being created or
a logjam that exists among wide receivers. And I you know, voters,
I think are looking at that position and in light
of some of the rules changes that have been instituted
by the NFL, some of the way the game is
(10:44):
officiated now, the protections that are put in for quarterbacks
throwing the ball and receivers you know, going over the
middle and trying to catch the ball. And so I
think statistics in the minds of the voters, you know,
there aren't those benchmarks where you know, it used to
(11:05):
be a thousand catches. If you're a receiver, you're in
the Hall of Fame, like in baseball they would say
three hundred wins. As a pitcher, you're in the Hall
of Fame. Well, when they're changing the rules and you
know that kind of stuff, I think that makes those
numbers more fluid. And you know, I don't know, I
(11:28):
don't know what the answer is, but it doesn't look like,
you know, hinz Ward is going to be a elected
to the Hall of Fame in the near future, just
because of the way these things are progressing. And as
I said, more guys are becoming eligible and it just
(11:51):
clogs up the waiting lists, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, you have to imagine that Larry Fitzgerald's going to
be a first ballot Hall of Famer. They catches that
you mentioned, he's the second leading receiver all time, behind
only Jerry Rice as far as yards are concerned. And
then most importantly Labs he went to pit So I mean,
that's the that's the Trifecta're right there, He's got to
get in first ballot.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Okay, next time you're gonna go that route, let me
know And I'll hum hail to pit in the background.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
All right, sounds good. Fred Meyers from Oh Wow, how
about this Morgantown, West Virginia. Sorry about that, Fred, Why
is the NFL draft only limited to seven rounds? Where
in the past there Where in the past there were
several more rounds.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Okay. The shortening of the NFL Draft has been done
three times since the nineteen seventy NFL AFL merger. And
you know, that's one of the things that does not
happen unless there are negotiations between the owners and the
players to make that happen. I mean, it's not something
(12:56):
that can be unilaterally imposed. You know, Roger Goodell just says, Okay,
now from now on, the draft is, you know, seven rounds,
or we're going to expand it to ten rounds or
whatever it is that has to be negotiated and improved.
So at the start of the merger or at the
(13:17):
time of the merger, the NFL draft was seventeen rounds,
stayed that way until nineteen seventy seven. It was dropped
to twelve rounds. Then in nineteen ninety three, and that
was when the NFL was in the final stages of
going to their business with their current business model of
free agency tied to a salary cap. The draft was
(13:40):
dropped to eight rounds in nineteen ninety three and then
to seven rounds in nineteen ninety four, which is where
it has stayed now. During negotiations to reduce the draft,
generally it's the players Union that was in favor of
shortening it or reducing it because souse, the thinking is
(14:01):
that fewer draft picks might translate into better job security
for veteran players, which then translates into higher wages. You know,
it's not as easy to find or think you found
some cheap young labor in a draft and then have
(14:21):
that individual either take a veteran's roster spot, or, in
the case of free agency, a team might think, well,
I'm not signing a just picking a position out of here,
out of the sky, just for the sake of this conversation.
I'm not going to sign a veteran wide receiver. I
(14:42):
can get one in the draft. So if the draft
is shorter and there are more players entering the league
through the draft, and there are excuse me, less players
entering the league through the draft and less fewer players,
that a team is able to have under their control
(15:04):
at a rather cheap number because rookie contracts how they are.
The thinking by the players Union is maybe that will
translate into, you know, teams spending more money on some veterans.
So that's why it's done or why it has been done.
You know, we could argue about whether it's been effective
(15:25):
or not.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And our final question today comes from Ken Walmsley from Bidwell, Ohio.
Do you think the Steelers will draft a wide receiver
with their first round pick?
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Okay, during the offseason. I believe wide receiver is an
area that Steelers need to address. And when I say
address it, I'm not talking about some depth piece. I
mean they need to address it in a way that
adds some top of the depth chart type talent at
the position. Okay, but my opinion is the line is
(16:00):
very much another area that needs the same kind of attention.
So then the question becomes, how do you approach these
two areas of need as the team And what we
see historically during the NFL draft is beyond the quarterback position,
a premium is placed on big guys. Hall of Fame
(16:23):
general manager George Young. He's the guy who built the Giants,
teams used to call that the planet theory because he
said there are only so many men on the planet
who have the skills and the size to make them
difference makers on either side of an NFL line of scrimmage.
(16:44):
You know, I believe that the Steelers are every bit
in need of defensive line help as they are in
need of wide receiver help, maybe even more so. And
they've got to add some top of the depth chart
kind of players at defensive line. They got to find
(17:06):
the next Cam Hayward to replace Cam, or they need
somebody like Steffan to it, who is a good compliment,
because you gotta have defensive linemen who can give you
something in the pass rush and also give you something
(17:27):
in run defense without trying to shuttle guys in and out,
because as soon as you put your run stopping package
on the field, the offense will throw the ball. If
you put your lighter weighted pass rushing group on the field,
they'll line up and run the ball down your throat.
(17:48):
So it's not a case anymore like when Casey Hampton played,
when teams ran the ball on first and second down
and threw on third. Now that's not the case anymore.
Team will throw whenever, how often, it doesn't matter. Throw
in fifty passes in the game. Used to beat taboo,
(18:08):
but there's nothing thought of that anymore. Fifty whatever you need,
they'll throw out of their own end zone. They'll throw
on first and goal at the other team's one yard line.
There are no rules anymore with what teams do in
terms of running. Our offenses do in terms of running
or passing, either game situations or whatever. So I just
(18:36):
think the Steelers really need to address that. And I
just also believe that coming into the league every year
via the draft, there are more wide receivers who are
potential quality players than there are defensive linemen or the
kind of defensive lineman I just described.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
That'll do for us today on Asktin Answer. Thanks as
always for a participating If you want to have your
question answered on a future edition, get it into Labs
now and just maybe you will have Labs answer it
for Bob Labrielle. I'm Tom Opreman. I know it's looking
like a long way until football comes back, but you're
another week closer, I promise, and we'll be back again
next week with aston answered
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We experienced our first Sunday, our first weekend in a
long long time, months of time without NFL football, So
that must mean it is officially the offseason, Labs, and
our first step of the offseason kind of kicked off
today as starting today, teams can designate their franchise or
transition tag players and that lasts all the way up
(00:31):
until Tuesday, March fourth.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, that's, you know, step one along the way. You
call it the NFL offseason. I call it the silly season.
It's sometimes you really don't know which it is or
which name applies better, you know. But the the tags,
(00:57):
you know, the only thing that you know, I think
it's a little bit interesting about the tags is there
might you will see players who are tagged. You can
essentially take them off the list in terms of, you know,
potential free agents that you might be able to do
(01:19):
some business with. You know. One of the rumors is
that the Bengals are going to tag t Higgins again.
So if that happens, I mean, you know, you can
just pretty much any Steelers fans hoping that you know,
T Higgins might be added as the top of the
(01:41):
depth chart kind of veteran excuse me, veteran receiver during
this offseason. I think he could pretty much you know,
that's out the window if he gets tagged.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, no doubt about it. And that's the big, you know,
first kind of domino that we saw fall yesterday to
the report that the Bengals are planning on doing that.
It's got to be kind of a mixed bag if
you're a player like T Higgins, right, because back to
back years with over twenty million dollars of guaranteed money,
all of it down to the last penny. But at
the same time, you still haven't gotten that security, right,
that long, long term for a contract in your NFL career.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, I mean, and well, and the thing about it is,
you get tagged twice back to back, it's you know,
one hundred and twenty percent at least of you know,
the number increases to a pretty you know, I would
call it, you know, silly money kind of level. I
(02:36):
don't know. If it were me, uh and I got tagged,
I would show up the next day with two pens
because when I was signing it. I wouldn't want it
running out of ink because as soon as you sign
that fully guaranteed money yep. So you know, yeah, you
(03:01):
don't have long term security. But in the NFL, contracts
aren't guaranteed. So you know a lot of times the
figures that we see that come out after a guy
signed something are inflated in terms of you know, what
he ends up actually making. But the franchise tag, as
soon as you sign that tender, it is guaranteed money
(03:23):
to you. So there's that.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Let's get to this week's batch of questions on Askton answered,
and we start with Larry Hall from Austin, Texas Keeping
a quarterback related of course, Larry, thank you. Although it's
very unlikely the team would be able to bring back
both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, but if they both
saw it as a legitimate opportunity to revive their careers,
Russell A Lah, Kurt Warner and Justin Allah Baker Mayfield,
(03:52):
would you be in favor of bringing each of them
back on a two year deal?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You know. During his media available ability back in January,
Art Ruoney the second said that in his view, both
Russell Wilson and justin Field see themselves as NFL starting quarterbacks,
So bringing them both back, I don't think it's a
good idea and it's not going to happen because if
(04:20):
they're on the same team, both can't be starters. And
I just don't think that, you know, that's a good recipe.
You don't want because one of them is going to
be unhappy, So you know, why even go there.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Nathan Cooper from Hanover, Pennsylvania. I know that Art Rudy
the second said that signing quarterback would be a priority
of this offseason, but when should we see that signing.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well, my opinion, the best case scenario for the team
would be to have identified and signed the better of
the Russell Wilson justin Field's options before free agency begins
on Wednesday, March twelfth, because if you do that and
you have that settled, it seems to me to set
(05:09):
up the rest of the offseason in terms of vallocating
cap space and draft capital towards dealing beyond with the
other roster issues that are going to need to be addressed.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Lee Johnson from Midland, Virginia. When is Ben eligible for
the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Speaking of Ben, Roethlisberger.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Of course, yes, Ben Roethlisberger will be eligible to be
elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's part
of the Class of twenty twenty seven. So that would
be that announcement would come, you know, February twenty twenty seven,
on the Thursday before the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That year, a couple or more years ago for Big Ben.
Mark Thompson from Huntington, West Virginia. Please tell me if
this is true, saw on Facebook that Ward was finally
inducted into the Pro Football Halla. Please tell me this
is not a dream.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Well, it's not true. I don't know if it's a
dreamer or a nightmare based on that, but Hinesward was
not elected as part of the Class of twenty twenty five.
Now there are fifteen Modern era finalists that go into
the final round, so to speak. And the receivers who
(06:26):
are among that Modern era finalists list where Tory Holt,
Steve Smith Senior, and Reggie Wayne. The Hall of Fame
Class of twenty twenty five was announced on Thursday before
the Super Bowl where my Eagles spanked your Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
My Chiefs, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And that class included cornerback Eric Allen defensive end Jared
Allen Tight and Antonio Gates and wide receiver Sterling Sharp.
He was elected as the Seniors candidate. So none of
the wide receivers who were among the modern era finalists
were elected, and then they go back into the pool
(07:10):
for next year. And that's the kind of thing, you know,
it seems as if the voters have established, you know,
a pecking order in terms of who they see, as
you know, on deck kind of candidates for lack of
a better analogy, and when none of the finalists get in,
(07:34):
it kind of clogs everything up for guys to you know,
move up. Because Heines Ward is an example, was not
a modern era finalist. So the fact that none of
these receivers are getting in doesn't seem to me to
be a good sign for Hines because you know, it's
kind of clogged up. And then you know, you're getting
(07:54):
more people added who become eligible, uh. And then what
we're going to get into some of that here with
the next question.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Jeff Weller from Columbus, Ohio, how is Sterling Sharp getting
inducted into the Hall of Fame and not heinz Ward
Ward has over four hundred more catches than Sterling Sharp,
plus there are wards other attributes as a player, blocking, etc.
Tired of the Steelers fatigue among the voters? Are there
any other receivers with that many catches not in the
(08:23):
Hall of Fame?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Okay, As I explained in the previous answer, Sterling Sharp
was elected as the Senior's candidate, so that he was
in a totally different category. He did not take a
spot from heinz Ward or any of the other receivers
who did not make it. Now, Jeff LEGWAALDOVSPN dot com
(08:50):
I thought had a nice little synopsis of Sterling Sharp's career,
and leg Wald wrote that Sharp's career was cut short
by a congenital neck condition, but only Jerry Rice caught
more passes and had more touchdown receptions in the seventh
season span that Sharp played. So you know, during his era,
(09:15):
Sterling Sharp was a dominant player, and you know, as
I said, his career was cut short by a congenital
neck condition. He went in as a Senior's candidate. Now,
as for the other questions about other receivers with as
many catches not in the Hall of Fame, hinz Ward
(09:38):
retired with a thousand catches for twelve thousand eighty three yards. Okay,
the players with more than a thousand catches not in
the Pro Football Hall of Fame right now are Larry
Fitzgerald and Jason Witten, And those are two guys who
will become first year eligible's next year. Other guys with
more catches than Ward or An, Kwon Bold, Reggie Wayne,
(10:01):
Steve Smith. Then players with more than twelve thousand eighty
three yards receiving yards again are Fitzgerald and Witten, plus
Steve Smith, Senior, Reggie Wayne and Klon Bolden, Tory Holt,
Irving Friar, Brandon Marshall, and Jimmy Smith. So as you see,
(10:22):
there is something of a log jam being created or
a logjam that exists among wide receivers. And I you know, voters,
I think are looking at that position and in light
of some of the rules changes that have been instituted
by the NFL, some of the way the game is
(10:44):
officiated now, the protections that are put in for quarterbacks
throwing the ball and receivers you know, going over the
middle and trying to catch the ball. And so I
think statistics in the minds of the voters, you know,
there aren't those benchmarks where you know, it used to
(11:05):
be a thousand catches. If you're a receiver, you're in
the Hall of Fame, like in baseball they would say
three hundred wins. As a pitcher, you're in the Hall
of Fame. Well, when they're changing the rules and you
know that kind of stuff, I think that makes those
numbers more fluid. And you know, I don't know, I
(11:28):
don't know what the answer is, but it doesn't look like,
you know, hinz Ward is going to be a elected
to the Hall of Fame in the near future, just
because of the way these things are progressing. And as
I said, more guys are becoming eligible and it just
(11:51):
clogs up the waiting lists, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, you have to imagine that Larry Fitzgerald's going to
be a first ballot Hall of Famer. They catches that
you mentioned, he's the second leading receiver all time, behind
only Jerry Rice as far as yards are concerned. And
then most importantly Labs he went to pit So I mean,
that's the that's the Trifecta're right there, He's got to
get in first ballot.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Okay, next time you're gonna go that route, let me
know And I'll hum hail to pit in the background.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
All right, sounds good. Fred Meyers from Oh Wow, how
about this Morgantown, West Virginia. Sorry about that, Fred, Why
is the NFL draft only limited to seven rounds? Where
in the past there Where in the past there were
several more rounds.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Okay. The shortening of the NFL Draft has been done
three times since the nineteen seventy NFL AFL merger. And
you know, that's one of the things that does not
happen unless there are negotiations between the owners and the
players to make that happen. I mean, it's not something
(12:56):
that can be unilaterally imposed. You know, Roger Goodell just says, Okay,
now from now on, the draft is, you know, seven rounds,
or we're going to expand it to ten rounds or
whatever it is that has to be negotiated and improved.
So at the start of the merger or at the
(13:17):
time of the merger, the NFL draft was seventeen rounds,
stayed that way until nineteen seventy seven. It was dropped
to twelve rounds. Then in nineteen ninety three, and that
was when the NFL was in the final stages of
going to their business with their current business model of
free agency tied to a salary cap. The draft was
(13:40):
dropped to eight rounds in nineteen ninety three and then
to seven rounds in nineteen ninety four, which is where
it has stayed now. During negotiations to reduce the draft,
generally it's the players Union that was in favor of
shortening it or reducing it because souse, the thinking is
(14:01):
that fewer draft picks might translate into better job security
for veteran players, which then translates into higher wages. You know,
it's not as easy to find or think you found
some cheap young labor in a draft and then have
(14:21):
that individual either take a veteran's roster spot, or, in
the case of free agency, a team might think, well,
I'm not signing a just picking a position out of here,
out of the sky, just for the sake of this conversation.
I'm not going to sign a veteran wide receiver. I
(14:42):
can get one in the draft. So if the draft
is shorter and there are more players entering the league
through the draft, and there are excuse me, less players
entering the league through the draft and less fewer players,
that a team is able to have under their control
(15:04):
at a rather cheap number because rookie contracts how they are.
The thinking by the players Union is maybe that will
translate into, you know, teams spending more money on some veterans.
So that's why it's done or why it has been done.
You know, we could argue about whether it's been effective
(15:25):
or not.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And our final question today comes from Ken Walmsley from Bidwell, Ohio.
Do you think the Steelers will draft a wide receiver
with their first round pick?
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Okay, during the offseason. I believe wide receiver is an
area that Steelers need to address. And when I say
address it, I'm not talking about some depth piece. I
mean they need to address it in a way that
adds some top of the depth chart type talent at
the position. Okay, but my opinion is the line is
(16:00):
very much another area that needs the same kind of attention.
So then the question becomes, how do you approach these
two areas of need as the team And what we
see historically during the NFL draft is beyond the quarterback position,
a premium is placed on big guys. Hall of Fame
(16:23):
general manager George Young. He's the guy who built the Giants,
teams used to call that the planet theory because he
said there are only so many men on the planet
who have the skills and the size to make them
difference makers on either side of an NFL line of scrimmage.
(16:44):
You know, I believe that the Steelers are every bit
in need of defensive line help as they are in
need of wide receiver help, maybe even more so. And
they've got to add some top of the depth chart
kind of players at defensive line. They got to find
(17:06):
the next Cam Hayward to replace Cam, or they need
somebody like Steffan to it, who is a good compliment,
because you gotta have defensive linemen who can give you
something in the pass rush and also give you something
(17:27):
in run defense without trying to shuttle guys in and out,
because as soon as you put your run stopping package
on the field, the offense will throw the ball. If
you put your lighter weighted pass rushing group on the field,
they'll line up and run the ball down your throat.
(17:48):
So it's not a case anymore like when Casey Hampton played,
when teams ran the ball on first and second down
and threw on third. Now that's not the case anymore.
Team will throw whenever, how often, it doesn't matter. Throw
in fifty passes in the game. Used to beat taboo,
(18:08):
but there's nothing thought of that anymore. Fifty whatever you need,
they'll throw out of their own end zone. They'll throw
on first and goal at the other team's one yard line.
There are no rules anymore with what teams do in
terms of running. Our offenses do in terms of running
or passing, either game situations or whatever. So I just
(18:36):
think the Steelers really need to address that. And I
just also believe that coming into the league every year
via the draft, there are more wide receivers who are
potential quality players than there are defensive linemen or the
kind of defensive lineman I just described.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
That'll do for us today on Asktin Answer. Thanks as
always for a participating If you want to have your
question answered on a future edition, get it into Labs
now and just maybe you will have Labs answer it
for Bob Labrielle. I'm Tom Opreman. I know it's looking
like a long way until football comes back, but you're
another week closer, I promise, and we'll be back again
next week with aston answered
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