HR1: Recap

Max and Rob recap their thoughts from last Thursday's game and the preseason as a whole.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hello everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome inside the locker Room with King and Starks, presented
by your neighborhood Forward Store here.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
On the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Before we get too far down the line, I'm Rob
Kink with Max Starks, justin Miller producing in our iHeart
Studios and Max, how was the weekend?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
You know, the weekend was actually pretty pretty good. Uh
got to go home and when I say home, meaning
my hometown of Orlando, Florida, I got to visit my mother,
my aunt and my older brother and seen them in
a minute, and uh, you know it was it was good.
It was good to see them. And uh yeah, I

(00:59):
went back to the old Star off and grounds and
uh and it was just, you know, it was refreshing,
you know, good to get the batteries recharged before we
start on this wonderful NFL season. And of course my
college season starts this weekend as well. So yeah, so
got a lot of stuff. So like it was good
just to lay low and actually be, you know, be
the middle child in the family for a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Now, let me ask you this. Did you drive down
Starks Avenue in Orlando? I just have it starts on
Stark Street, Stark Street.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, okay, I did not go down Stark Street, where
my great grandfather street is. Uh that's in down that's
closer to downtown Orlando. And uh, my mom lives out
a little bit further I guess you say west of
uh of downtown. So I stayed mainly out by her
in Altamont Springs area. So how about yourself? How? How

(01:51):
how about you? How was your weekend? I was good,
but I'm not finishing. What is your what is you?

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Gosh, what's your game? This weekend? So I will be
calling the Robert Moore at WVU game down in Morgantown,
so for week one of college football season. So I'll
be doing the radio broadcast from down there. So looking
forward to it.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
So unfamiliar ground. You'd be flying into Pittsburgh and a rarity.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly, Yeah, the rarity of flying in
the I don't know how I'm gonna do. You know,
I have to run a car there, and I have
to I have to figure out how to get to
Morgantown from Pittsburgh, you know, taking to take it, take it,
you know, two seventy nine and ugh, it's crazy, it's strange.
Have you have you heard of this place before?

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, yeah, and you know what, I've called many games
from Morgantown. So it's uh, it's a fun atmosphere. It'll
be a good time. Wes you little will be very excited.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah, I'll catch them at the morning tailgate.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
But that oh yeah, so Robert Morris will be fun. Uh,
a fun local team to have involved. So so good deal.
My weekend was good. I you know, I don't even
remember it. It was it was here and it was gone.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Actually we went out to Hyde Park, one of our
fine sponsors, by the way.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yes, we went out to Pittsburgh Steakhouse.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yes it was, and my, yes it is and my my, uh,
my wife and I. The thirtieth anniversary celebration continued. Italy
wasn't enough, so we needed to go out to dinner
and we were gonna plan We were planning on going
out earlier in the month, which for our actual anniversary,
but had to postpone it. And so that was our
That was the weekend. And now you know, it's like, man,

(03:29):
we're turning the corner and I can only imagine Max.
And this was the first thing I wanted to ask you,
what it must be like for the Bubble players, you know,
you put your last game, like they say, you put
your last effort on tape on Thursday night. You know
what went through a little bit of a practice. I
think they had a practice or two over the weekend.

(03:50):
And now I'm just assuming you know, if your player,
you know, forty nine through fifty eight on this maybe
even sixty, you're on pins and needles waiting for the
decision that's gonna come at four o'clock tomorrow as to
whether you're gonna be on this fifty three man roster
or not.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Well, yeah, and then we of course, we did have
some decisions that were made earlier, I think after our
show on Friday, where eleven guys were already released from
the team. So you know, as you're looking through it,
you're you're sitting there like, man, okay, this is this.
This is getting really really close and and you know,

(04:32):
is it You know when I kind of look at it,
you know it's it's not the end of the world.
And I think I think for a lot of guys,
I think, especially like you said that forty ninth through
fifty eight, you know, there's going to be that anxiety,
right there's going to be this nervousness. There's gonna be
the self doubt where did I do enough? Was I
good enough? And you know, did I impress or what?

(04:56):
You know, I'm beating myself up about every little small
technical thing that did not do. And I mean, I
just want to say, you know, if you're in that
top sixty and you're making the decision hard, you've done enough.
It comes down to you know, scheme, philosophy and kind

(05:16):
of strategy really that will determine those positions about who
gives the most flexibility, you know, because if you're an
offensive lineman and they're making a decision between whether keeping
nine or keeping eight, you know, but yet they ask
somebody that that could play the L three on kickoff
you know, kick off return and kick off coverage and

(05:38):
also can be you know, in the punt cover and
punt return team. There's no way an offensive lineman can
compete with that, right So I mean, you know, that's
where it's like you did enough that you made them
think about it, you know, and that means that you're
probably going to be one and somewhere else. The one
thing I will say, you know is we played three

(06:00):
teams and they're very different. And I can tell you
on each of those teams we have guys that they
could potentially use, right, And that's and that's where you
have to have the beauty of kind of knowing your
value and understanding that it might not be here this time.

(06:21):
Notice I said that this time. But there is a
place for you in this league, right, And you know
that's where you know, when you're in that top sixty
five guys, there's an opportunity. There are top you know,
I mean you're saying, was sixteen practice squad with fifty three,
so what are we doing sixty nine guys? So that's

(06:44):
sixty nine guys, there's a place for you. And then
when you're you know, you're outside of that, then it's like, okay,
well where's the fit? Has this work? And I think
for some of them that that that's the tougher reality,
that's the tougher truth land to live in. You know,
if that was your only shot you felt like you
had in this league, and you know it's tough. I mean,

(07:05):
you know we saw other guys you know, tow did
detention makers still get released? Shilo Sanders, Right, we played
against Sham and Tampa Bay he got he got released
right out the gate.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
You're talking about this first eleven being gone. That's a
hard reality. Yeah, that's that's the hard reality.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
And basically, yeah, that's basically them saying nope, kind you
know what I mean. And I don't know how to
put it in a nicer way other than just saying,
you know.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
Look, we don't want a cup of tea. Yeah, well, yeah,
you know.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
And I don't think anyone's trying to crush anybody's dreams.
But this is a this is you know, a sign
that maybe you're in the wrong profession.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Perhaps, Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Now that doesn't mean you can't you can't keep working
at it, but it's it's not a good sign if
you were among the first players eliminated, unfortunately for you.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Well, and also maybe maybe you're not you're not ready
yet for this, and maybe now it's time. Hey, maybe
you need to consider the CFL. Right, you need to
get a little bit a little bit more work, right.
I mean, it's not no, no, no, no no, but
it can definitely be. Hey, there's some more things you
need to work on. And if you want it and

(08:22):
you're serious about it, you'll go figure out ways to
get better, or this gives you an opportunity to pivot
and move into another career. But like I said, you know,
there there is the CFL, there's the UFL, which is
now is a long time to wait till spring, but
there's another opportunity there, and guys get bumped up from
there to the NFL. So you know, it might not

(08:43):
be right now, but there's something that's missing in the process,
and you're not ready for this style of game just yet.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
It is a it is a business in which it's
very difficult. I think, you know, probably to be a
late bloomer, to be a guy who and we all
know people like this, people who are much better athletes
at twenty seven than they are at twenty two. We
also know people, you know, going back to you know,

(09:13):
we all knew the guy Max excluding you. You know
that was five to nine, you know one p fifty.
You know, looked hard and physical and was shaving in
the seventh grade and you're thinking, oh my, this guy's
a monster. Man, he's you know, he's where the rest
of us are. Our voices are still squeaky. And then
senior year, that same guy still five nine, one sixty,

(09:35):
you know, hasn't grown an inch. Uh just you know,
there's a variety of different ways guys grow. And you know,
obviously with the with the the rules now in college football,
we're seeing more twenty five year old rookies. I mean
we're seeing twenty five year old rookies who are older
than guys who have Pro Bowls under their belt, who've
been in the league, who are looking for their second contract.

(09:56):
I'm not even exaggerating. There are guys looking getting their
second content track who are younger than rookies right now.
So there is there is some weird stuff going on
with that. But I think you're right. I think to
you know, look, your time is not you're long ways
away now, but you might not be a long ways
away forever.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
I don't know when James Harrison.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Was cut initially, and you know, he was going over
to Europe and doing all kinds of other things to
try to get a look, and eventually.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well he got cut three years in a row. Yeah, right, yeah,
So I mean you're talking about twenty five you know
before he made his first team, right, you know, saying
he went four years, you know, maybe close to twenty
so I can't remember exactly if he was a red
shirt or not, but yeah, I mean, you know, it
took him three tries to finally break into the NFL
and look at him now, right right, So it's so

(10:45):
it's not a no, it's just a not right now.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Right Yep, that's exactly right, and that's the way you
have to look at it. So now having been having
said that, you know, we're now at the point in
which we are looking at the last several guys in
the roster and just you know, I want to take
you back because we weren't able to get your thoughts

(11:10):
on what you saw on Thursday night.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
You know, I think that for me, the one guy.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Who probably solidified himself the most as an NFL player,
either here or somewhere else, was the quarterback Logan Woodside.
I'm sorry, wow, Max skyther Thompson. Yeah, Logan Woodside just
got this weekend. Thank you, skyther Thompson.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Hey, that's what teammates are for, right, thank you, thank you.
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
So skyther Thompson, and look, we saw injuries this this weekend,
and we saw a trade in the NFL at the
quarterback position. It might be that a team will come
in and see Skyther Thompson. Like you said, sometimes you're
auditioning for every team in the league. But Skyler Thompson,
to me, is a guy if everybody that I look

(12:07):
at that was out there, I think to myself, he
would be on my number one guy on offense for sure,
who absolutely solidified a spot for himself either here while
Will Howard's getting healthy or somewhere in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah. No, I think I think that was the beautiful thing.
And you know, it's another thing. He's got the experience too.
You remember, this guy has started games in the NFL.
That's not by accident. He started a playoff game. Yeah,
he started a playoff game. I mean, and we're talking
about you know, Skyler, but we also remember, hey, Mason
Rudolph's done the same exact thing, you know, And I

(12:43):
think that's where, you know, people kind of kind of forget.
I'm like, no, there's some quality, quality players and being
a backup just means that I have to be ready
at a moment's notice. And I think, you know, he
talked about as such and his media availability, about taking
advantage of the opportunities and the comfortability with the offense

(13:04):
and what was so different about this time around, and
you know, playing loose and free, and I thought that
it was really it was really cool to just hear
the confidence, you know, kind of like we heard from
Mason when he came back, was that, you know, I'm
able to go out there and play free. I don't
have to play perfect. I think a lot of guys
get paralyzed with the fact that when you get this opportunity,

(13:27):
I need to be perfect, rob I have to be
Everything has to be right, my right foot, my left foot,
where my hands placed, how my towel is on my uniform.
Everything must be perfect, no creases, right. And in reality,
it's not about being perfect. It's about being able to

(13:49):
be okay with the fact that you will never be perfect,
but to still go out there and give your best effort. Right,
It's the pursuit of you know, Vincilbardi said it best, right,
It's like we're always in pursuit of of excellence and
along the way we'll find well, you know, perfect, we'll
find greatness, yeah, in the pursuit of perfection, but we'll
find greatness along the way, right, you know, And and

(14:10):
that's what it's about it's a journey. You're not going
to be your best, but how do you reb bound
from failure to get the next success? And then you
hope that your successes outweigh your failures in the process.
And I think that's what that's what. It takes time
because you're in this league, you're with all these grown men,
so to speak, as a young guy, and there's a

(14:34):
certain level of not necessarily inadequacy, but uneasiness about there. Right,
these guys have done it. Man, this is the pinnacle
of perfection. We all mess up, and you know, as
long as your errors are a lot less than your makes,
you know you're going to you're going to find a
place and that's going to breed confidence along the way.

(14:55):
And so you know, to hear that from a guy
a seasoned to Skylar Thompson, like you're still in pursuit
of that, Like you don't get that as a young
guy coming in as a rookie or you know, second
year guy. It takes time to build that. And you
heard that from Mason as well the beginning of training camp, right.
The reason why Mason was able to come in and
he was okay with what his role was going to
be coming back to the team. He was in a

(15:16):
better place than he was the first time because he
was drafted here and there was an expectation, you know,
when one guy leaves, I should be the next guy up, right,
But it doesn't happen that way, and so be okay
with what your role is and flourish in it. So
you know, it was great to see that. And like
you said, I mean, Skyler Thompson put on absolute show
during preseason, and and you know, another person's misfortune like

(15:40):
Will Howard right hurting the hand led to the elevation
and he and he answered the call. I mean, it
was reminding me because I because I've been watching the
Dallas Cowboys. I know Steeler fans out there, don't worry
the show. I'm not. Yeah, the documentary on.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
That, I watched episode one last night. It was look, man,
you got hard knocks quarterbacks. I haven't seen yet and
uh and and I'm looking forward to seeing it. And
there's there's a lot of good football TV, you know,
And it was it was I'm through the just.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
The first episode.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
It is if you love football, it's a very interesting show.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, it gives you last dance vibes for all of
my fans out there that remember during COVID when we
had nothing to watch it, you were in your houses.
It gives you the last dance vibes. But it's a
little bit more gritty than than last dance. Like last
dance was a little bit kind of you know, more
ceremonial and celebratory. This was just the real yeah, highly edited.

(16:43):
But this this, this is a little bit this is
a little bit grint. This shows the negative side of it.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
And so by the way, yeah, I gotta, I gotta,
I gotta stop for it for the last dance thing.
So Michael Jordan, you know, Gary Peyton have Gary Payton
on and you know Michael's late in his career and
Gary Payton his nickname was the Glove and they and they,
you know, Gary Payton said they should have put me
on Michael earlier. Right, do you remember the scene?

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, yeah, I remember Gary.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Payton said they should have put me on Michael the
whole time and Michael is very dismissive of Gary Payton, right,
very dismissive.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Ah, the Glove I had, you know.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
And then they cut to a shot of Jordan hitting
a jumper over the top of Peyton early in that game, right,
and so the inference is that that's that the glove.
Come on you back to look at that box score. Man, Yeah,
he was like four of eleven or like five to thirteen,
and at eleven points, the glove did his job.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
So that's what.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
I high the editor anyway, Yeah, I'm sorry, I digress
and I love love Michael Jordan. I just I mean
to watch him play was just a it was a
treat and absolutely yeah, to watch him play regardless, Sorry,
go ahead, please finish.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
So you're watching the Dallas Cowboys, yeah, and you know,
and so there was a there was a thing and
it was about, you know, the Cowboys and you'll get
to this point where Troy Aikman gets injured and Steve
Berlin comes in for him and Burline, you know, is

(18:25):
taking advantage of this opportunity. It was riding like a
five game win streak going into the playoffs, and it
was a decision do you put Troy back in or
do you ride with the hot hand? And they rode
with the hot hand, and it was just it's just
thinking about that, like another misfortune is another person's fortune.
And Steve Berlin took advantage of that opportunity to play

(18:45):
and he did well. And I think of Skylar thoms
I mean, obviously that is in the regular season they're
pushing for a playoff, Berth. You know, this is the
best season that the Cowboys had in like a long
time at that point. So different, but it just gave
you like, hey, this some person, somebody had the opportunity
because of an unfortunate situation and injury and they flourish

(19:07):
because of it. So just simply the same just kind
of apples to apples. Skylar Thompson probably wasn't gonna play
as much, but now you know, but because of the injury,
he got to play in all three preseason games and
he got to have an impactful, you know game. I mean,
think about the three touchdowns he threw in Jacksonville that
would have never happened had Will Howard been healthy, right right, right,

(19:28):
So it's just it's just taking advantage of and the
season finale, like being able to throw to throw another
dart in that game. So it was just it was
just that's what that's what this game is all about.
It's about adversity and it's about the attrition and how
do you handle the adversity, because it will come. It's
not a matter of if, it's a matter of when
when that happens.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Well, And just to circle back, Max to what you're
saying at the beginning before we head to our first
break about you know, hey, you you have to you
have to be able to live with the act that
you've put your best foot forward, you know, And but
that's a hard thing to do, and it's a hard
thing to even understand if you've done.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Your put your best foot forward.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Sky the Thompson may not have put his best foot
forward earlier in his career when he wasn't, as you suggested,
playing freer and easier like he is now. And the
learning process that's still part of that, and the crushing
of your dreams, which reminds me of at that age.
You know, somebody, some coach would say it's not about

(20:34):
the destination, it's about the journey, and as you get
older in life you.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Realize that's true.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
At that age, I'm like, show me the destination, man,
I don't care about the journey. I want the destination.
So there's a lot of there's a lot of emotions
at play, and even you know, the knowledge that you've
put your best foot forward. Some people are probably mature
enough to understand that, and maybe getting cut will be

(21:00):
a little less crushing. Others won't be able to understand
that at that age, and they they'll be crushed if
they're not on the they're not in the.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
Fifty three of the practice squad. It's tough.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
It's a tough it's an it's an emotionally tough day
coming up tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
No, it does. It does, and I don't want to
and you know, for us here, you know, we're very
sensitive to that, and I don't want to make it
seem like, oh, this is like like we're like we're
making light of it. Yeah, but this is the reality.
I'm just making sure that people out there understand. I know,
you know, and of course I know I've been on
that side. But at the same time, it doesn't mean

(21:38):
it's the end. And I think that's what we're trying
to get across and convey is that it's just it's
not right now, and that you know, if you have
any value about you, any marbles about you, you're going
to go and you're going to attack that opportunity with uh,
with everything you got because you know that that if
you believe it, and belief is the strongest part of this, right,

(22:00):
if you have any type of self doubt or you
feel a little low about yourself, then this isn't the
sport for you, because this sport's going to hit you
in the face no matter how great you are. That's
another thing about watching that documentary, like it does give
that gritty truth about it. You know, everybody thought it
was gonna be roses everything when Jimmy Johnson first came

(22:21):
and you know, you and you know when Jerry Jones
initially bought the team back in eighty nine, like no,
I mean a lot of people got fired the moment
that Jerry Jones came into the picture, right, you know,
so you know that's that's kind of what it is.
But it didn't mean that you didn't have value elsewhere.
It just meant that it wasn't right now. And you know,

(22:42):
and they go through like a lot of the hard truths.
But when you're trying to be dynamic, you know, you
have to do things that stand out and success isn't
gonna come immediately. And if you just are earnest about
it and you believe in it, then it's gonna outweigh itself.
And I think for a lot of guys out there,
what I'm saying saying is that if you believe in
your dream, right, you gotta you gotta open every door,

(23:06):
you got, you gotta you got, you gotta look under
every rock, and you gotta find that that extra gear.
If this is what you want to do, This is
just a setback. This is this is not a final
call unless you unless you make it so, and you
know it's gonna be tough to you know, Tuesday four thirty.
But like I said, there's still sixteen practice squad spots

(23:26):
as well, right and there, and there's and there's open
slots on other rosters where somebody else didn't live up
to that ideal and there's a hole there and they
need to fill that hole. And the first thing they're
gonna look, I guarantee the first the first place people
look are the opponents that you played. Like live game
action apples to Apple comparison. Right, this guy went against

(23:50):
the same exact guy that this guy went against in
training camp. And how did they do And this was
a game environment versus a practice environment, how did that
guy handle himself? How did he win and how did
he how did he overcome that adversity? All those things matter,
and that's what they're gonna look at. So you you're
gonna have a great opportunity right out the gate to

(24:12):
make a name for yourself. And then that frenzy flurry
of free agent signings is going to happen immediately right
after that. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
It is gonna be a whirlwind couple of days. Emotions
like a like a tempest swirling through guy's minds and
and hearts and souls, and it's it is. It's something
plus and minuses, you know, feeling good, feeling bad. Talk
a little bit more about that, but I also want
to talk about some guys who stood out, uh in
the in the scrimmage on Thursday. What that ar scrimmage

(24:44):
I beg your pardon preseason game on Thursday. What that
might mean for playing time for certain players? Obviously a
key injury to get to. Lots to get to when
we continue inside the Locker Room with King and Starks,
presented by our neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers
Audio Network, and welcome back inside the Locker Room with

(25:22):
the King and Stark presented by your neighborhood for Ward
Store here on the Steelers Audio Network, and Max, Before
we get to some of the players that stood out,
I do want to ask you this, did you know
before cutdown day early on in your career? Third round choice?
Obviously she had to figure your chances were good. Did

(25:43):
you know did anybody tell you you were going to
make the team at the end of your career when
you didn't make what at the very end, I can't
where were you again at the end of your career?

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Max? Who are you withp I'm not hearing, Max. I
mean that was the second time. The first time was
with the San Diego Chargers.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Okay, so questions, did you know you were going to
make the team? Did you know you were not going
to make the team? Did you have any inkling? Did
anybody give you any indication? Or was it pretty much
up to you to read as we say, read the
tea leaves.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Well, the good thing was back when when I was
a rookie or a young guy in the league, we
had multiple cuts leading down to the fifty three, right,
so you know, surviving the first cut and seeing you know,
guys that had that had been cut the first round
and then the second round we got the final cuts.
You know, I I felt better because I'd survived the

(26:42):
first two cuts, right, but I still didn't know. And
I think that was that was the thing where I
was like, man, I don't know, and nobody saying anything.
You know, the guys that are left, you know, you're
looking around it. Youre just hoping you're one of right,
you want to be counted amongst and you know, you know,
and you know your buddies and guys, you know that
you were around in the locker. Nah, man, you're good,

(27:04):
you're good, but nobody knew and nobody could really tell
you because it wasn't like a scout came up and said, man,
you're good. You know the head coaches say, yeah, don't worry,
you're in the top fifty three. I didn't. I didn't
get that type of reassurance. That's wondering. Yeah, but I
but I felt confident in myself because you know, I

(27:25):
remember the first time we walked in, you know, you know,
into into the dorms, Rooney Hall, and you know, we
we we called him Turk, right, the turk, the Turk
was gonna come and get you. And so you walk
in and the Turk sitting in the lobby area before
you could go to your room. Uh you know, because
there's a stairwell up to the left, and then of

(27:45):
course there's elevators around the corner. If you were taking
an elevator and Turk was sitting there waiting, and you know,
if the Turk was there and he and he was like, hey, hey, hey,
you know, keep your playbook with you. Coach wants to
see you. You knew that that was the kiss of death.
That was a kiss of death when you heard that.
And then for final cuts, you walk in the lobby

(28:07):
of the Steelers facility and he's standing there in the
in the lobby and there's the stairs to go right
up to the second level. Or you walk straight back
to go to the locker room and Turk standing there
and you walk in. You feel good. You got your backpack,
which which which your notebook hitit and it turn says, hey,
coach wants to see you. Don't walk back to the
locker room. Just walk up these stairs here, and you're

(28:29):
just praying. You want to get past him as fast
as possible. Do not make direct eye contact nothing at all. Right,
You're going through that process and it's and it's a
scary feeling. And I just remember on that day walking
into the facility seeing the turk, I got nervous palms
or sweaty. I'm just I am very very nervous, and

(28:51):
and I made it through, and I made it through,
and I was like, you know, and you know, you
get to facility by hour and a half before meetings
are are about to start, and you know, it still
wasn't like comfortable because he could come in the locker
room and grab you still, right, even if you made

(29:11):
it into the locker room, like that wasn't a guarantee
one hundred percent. So you're sitting a lot, You're you're
scared to get dressed because if you get dressed and
you get called and then you have to come back
downstairs and get undressed and put the clothes that you
wore over back in and clear out your locker and leave.
And it was I mean, it's one of those moments
that you know is just pure fear because you don't

(29:35):
know at what point could it happen, And also you
don't know how many have been called in you know,
by the time you know you get up there. But
you just knew if you made it up to the
meeting and that hour and a half, that you that
you were good. And so you know, you're waiting until
one hour and twenty nine minutes and then you're trying

(29:56):
to grab your stuff and get up to that meeting
room as quick as possible to get in there, because
that means you made the cut. And I remember making
that cut, and the amount of relief and anxiety that disappeared,
uh from my body was just it was it was.
It's it's that it's that first real real validation about

(30:19):
you being an NFL player. I mean, you get the
initial when you're either drafted or you're signed and you
make it to training camp. Right, that's the first thing like, Okay,
apparently I'm good enough to compete for an opportunity, but
this is where you really know, yeah, I'm meant for this. Yeah,
I'm meant to be in the NFL. And you know,

(30:40):
other positions. I speak from a unique position as offensive lineman. Right,
you know, the only thing that we have to go
by is really, you know, did that, did that? Did
how much did I mess up? Because offensive line is
unique where we don't have stats, Right, we're you know,
we don't have those tangible stats where you can say, well, man,

(31:01):
I got sacks, I got tackles, I got rushing yards,
I got receiving yards, I have completions, you know, and
you have all of these other tangible stats you can say, okay, yes,
these are measuring sys. As an offensive line, you're only
as good as the the amount of penalties you don't have, right,
you know, the amount of pressures you don't give up,

(31:21):
or sacks that you don't give up. It's one of
those things. It works for a negative basis. You're at zero.
You never really get to go positive, you know. You
just hope that you don't fall too far below the negative,
you know. And so that's what makes it so tough.
And I think more nerve racking for that position than
any other position, because everything else has a measurable, a

(31:43):
tangible stat that they can associate with the player. And
you know, and I made that cut, but and then
and then also you know, to flip it, you know,
when when I kind of knew I was gonna get
cut in San Diego at the last cuts, because then
that last game, you know, I had I had some
situations and I gave I gave up a sack, I

(32:05):
gave up two pressures in that game. I wasn't just comfortable,
and you know, the guy I was working next to,
I had not really worked next to, and so we
were just completely on a different page. And at that time,
it wasn't until that last game that I realized I
was competing for a swing tackle spot and I wasn't
competing for a starting position. And that also kind of
messed with my mind a little bit to think that,

(32:27):
you know that I didn't recognize this, and at this
point in my career, they were playing mind games at
a new organization and I wasn't in the right headspace
to combat that. So I kind of felt in the
San Diego situation that yeah, I was gonna get cut.
And then even then, you know, after that, I went
to Saint Louis, and I knew I was there for

(32:49):
only a short amount of time because I was there
because of an injury, and you know, I knew that
at the end of my turn when I got called up,
I was gonna get called up because the guy's healthy
and they're gonna be continuing moving on because he was
younger than me at that point, and they had invested
high draft pick on him. So I was I knew
I was there as just a body, right, an experienced

(33:10):
body to go in and just just help them keep
their numbers high. And knew that they had somebody that
was intelligent enough to go play that position on short notice.
And then finally when when I when it was finally
my last year with with Arizona, I being a b
A and I both had known in Arizona. You know,
when I went into that meeting, I was like, you know,

(33:33):
I you know, I told him I can't, I can't
mentally do it because I I had had an injury
really bad. It was. It was funny enough, and I
don't think I've told a lot of people this, but
you know, I was already contemplating retirement before Arizona, you know,
gave me an opportunity. And you know, my wife was
pregnant with our with our youngest, Quincy, and I literally

(33:58):
got an opportunity to go to go participate in training
camp on what I considered like a whim because it
wasn't like my agent called me and said, hey, Max,
we got this opportunity. Teams are calling. No. I was
at I was at dinner. Ryan Clark and I were
at dinner in Arizona and and we it was right

(34:18):
before ARC was about to come back to the team,
you know, get ready for training camp, and we were
just having dinner because we trained at the same facility.
And we're at dinner at City Hall steakhouse out in Phoenix,
and Ba and Goodie and everybody was out there. Spence
and all those guys were out at We're out at
the restaurant that we were at, and we saw him,

(34:40):
were like, oh, man, let's go say what's up to
the old coaches, you know, And so we went over
and just said hello to them, and they were having
a coach's dinner at City Hall, and they looked like, damn, Max,
you're you're in pretty good shape. Man. It was like
it was like what's you doing? It's like how was
your way? And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm
still training, you know, because I never know and I understand,
you know, older in your career, you know, if anything,

(35:01):
at least, I'm preparing myself for health, but you know,
I still got to maintain my strength. And so like, man,
are you going anywhere? Are you in any camp? Anybody
signed you I was like, no, like, hey, what do
you will you think about you're already home. I mean,
it doesn't hurt you want to come work out for
us and and uh and possibly join the team. I
was like, yeah, sure, that that's literally how it happened. Rob.
It was like just it wasn't like a purposeful thing.

(35:25):
And so I just remember after that dinner going home
to Tiff and telling her, Hey, you know, I saw
BA saw you know, saw the staff and Goody and
coach Z, coach Larry Zerline and Harold Goodwin, and like, hey,
they wanted me to come. Uh, they wanted me to
come try out for the team. So she's like, okay,
all right, you know, heck, heck, you're here. You don't

(35:46):
have to get on a plane. They're like, yeah, you're right.
So so the next day I drive out because they
were at this point, they weren't they were no longer
training up in flag Staff. They used to go away
to Flagstaff for training camp up at NAU. Well this
this they're now at State Farm Stadium and they're training
over in Glendale, which is about a forty minute drive

(36:07):
from the house. It's like all right, So I got
in the car, drove in and literally it was like
a five minute workout. They wanted to know, do you
still remember the play calls? Do you still remember the names?
Do you still have the movement? And I did. It
was like literally a five minute workout, like all right,
go grab your stuff, move, move, move into move into
the hotel. You know what, we're going to sign you.
So I just remember calling by He's like, hey, they're

(36:28):
going to sign me, so just be prepared. And that's
literally how it happened. But you know, we get to
the Minnesota game. It's a second preseason game. I took
a high ankle spring really bad. It was also the
day my daughter was born, so I'm actually like, you know,
in Minnesota, and I you know, obviously at this point,
like I wish I would have known a little bit

(36:50):
better or else I would have just flown home. I
probably would have saved everything as far as me not
getting injured. But you know, I don't, I don't, I
don't second guess you know, God's will. But you know,
I go into that game, I get a high ankle
sprain and I'm like struggling, and you know, I get
I get carted off the field and this the whole

(37:10):
thing I thought. I thought I tore my a cl
and at that moment, I knew, Man, this is this
is probably I mean, this is probably it like this
is my sign, and you know, I had the opportunity
to play. The next week, We're playing Cincinnati in the
preseason and it's a team that I knew very well.
And I get in that preseason game and I had
this high ankle sprain and I just I can't do

(37:31):
it like the first like the first past protection. I like,
I can't put, I can't brace on my inside leg
because I'm playing right tackle at this moment, so it's
my left leg. Then I had the injury and I
can't brace. And Logan Thomas obviously tight end now, uh
you know with the Washington Commanders, but at the time
he was still a quarterback and he was a rookie,
and I was like, I don't want to get Logan

(37:52):
killed by my by my you know, inability to protect him. Right.
I knew I was the weakest Lincoln At that moment,
I knew, hey, all right, time to call it. You know,
it's time to call it. And just remember that conversation
the next day going into the facility of having that
conversation with BA and like, yeah, yeah, I essentially cut myself.
You know. I went in and was like, hey, maybe

(38:13):
this is this isn't right, and you know, I don't
want to feel like I'm going to hurt the team.
As much as I would love to push this, I can't.
I can't do it. I can't. I can't compete the
way that I know. And when you know that, it's
a very sobering thought to come to that point in
your career where you know, hey, this this is it.

(38:35):
Like I've done it all. I've given a decade, you know,
to the game of football in the NFL, and you know,
I told him, hey, I'm gonna stay healthy. If you
guys have any injuries, I'm here. You know where I'm at.
I will keep training and keep it myself because you know,
obviously I'm doing it for my long term health, but
I'll be available. And that was the healthiest that offensive
line had been in years. They went to the NC

(38:56):
Championship that year. Intact, nobody missed time. It was. It
was great, But that was just kind of my final
sign to know that, you know, necessarily me and the
game's relationship as a player. That phase was now over
in my life.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Yeah, and yes, so we've seen both sides of it.
From Max's perspective, there's gonna be some guys on the
right side of it tomorrow that are gonna be thrilled,
and there're gonna be some guys on the wrong side
of it who are gonna be disappointed. But again, maybe
other opportunities will await them.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
It's gonna be an interesting what twenty four or thirty
hours away more or less from those those cut downs.
So we were gonna talk a little bit about guys
who made a really good case of themselves, certainly for
more playing time. I don't know roster spots are necessarily

(39:49):
in jeopardy. We'll talk about that when we continue. Inside
the Locker Room with King of Starks, presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Now, welcome back intad Locker Room with Stinging.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Starks presentybody your neighborhood Forge Stoor on the Steelers Audio
Network alongside Max Starks on Rob King. Max, I wanted
to ask you about your reactions to Derek Harmon, and
you know, it sounds like there's nothing really concrete other
than he appeared to have avoided a major injury with
the mcl sprain, and that you know he I guess

(40:30):
they're still probably trying to figure out, well, no more
tomorrow again, whether they figure he's a candidate for IR
or whether he is going to avoid IR and hopefully
be ready to go early in the season, maybe missed
the first game. Just one thing to point out procedurally
for fans talking about this a little bit last week,
I thought this was the case. It is in fact

(40:50):
the case that you can only take two guys tomorrow
before you set the fifty three man roster, you could
put two guys on IR, So essentially you can sort
of kick the can down the road on certain decisions.
The Steelers have a number of players who are injured
and could fall into that category. Just off the top

(41:12):
of my head, there's Will Howard, There's Derek Harmon, there's
Corey Trice. Just as three quick examples, you can't use
all three. You can't say, hey, listen, we're gonna we're
gonna decide on these guys later, let's get him on
I R and uh, you can only do that with
two guys, not three. So that procedural bit out of

(41:33):
the way, Max, your thoughts on on Derek Harmon who
who I think, you know, the the first round pedigree,
and I think he did nothing but but fulfill those
expectations in the minds of the Steelers throughout Mini camp
and throughout training camp, in the trope, and throughout his
first two and a half games in the preseason.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Uh yeah, there, and and they're Karma would be a
guy I would I would be hard pressed to see
them try and put him on I R just because
you know you want him readily available whenever he's ready
to go. You want to be able to insert immediately, right.
So I think when we think about his candidacy for that,

(42:20):
I think he would be a lower priority of kind
of the three you mentioned. I'd also throw in a
guy by the name of Dante Kenton. There, yeah, Steelers, No, No,
I know, we got a whole list of guys, but
he would be one I would be interested to see
if they kind of circle circle him as a guy
that they would target. But you know, Derek Harmon did

(42:43):
everything you would want to see out of a rookie.
I mean, this is what where it was like. In
case you had doubts those doubts got dispelled very quickly
in the process. In the evaluation period, You're like, there's
a reason why Carl dunbar out the gate pens him in, right,
and Mike Tomin penciled him in as a starter on

(43:03):
this defensive line. Yeah, and he showed everything you wanted
to see and just let you know the future is bright, uh,
for the depth and the youth of the defensive line.
And I'm not gonna says, you know, Messiah or anything
like that, but this was definitely sent from above, you know,

(43:24):
getting him him fall him falling to us, not us
not getting like anxious and jumping up to get him
because we're scared that somebody else is gonna was gonna
take him, even though there was a very very good
possibility that Cincinnati, given their defensive line issues and needs
up front, it was going to be a problem. Max.

(43:46):
I was anxious.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
I thought they were gonna take him second year in
a row. That I and I'm sure other Steelers fans
watching the draft, uh, were like, I can't holp I
I've got to trade up and get him. The last
year was the second round.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Zach Fraser Sell Sell, Sell, we gotta trade up and
get him.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
We got to hurry up and Omar just calm and
cool and letting it come to him. And you know,
it would have been fascinating, uh to know where they
would have gone if those guys hadn't been available.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
You know what what would have been the next plan?

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Because man, both those picks, I mean, Zach Frazier already
looks like so solid, uh upper tier at that center position,
and Derek Harmon, I mean, they're you know, I think
the thoughts are that you know, they're going to rotate
through and he's going to be the next guy. He
and Keanu Benton are going to be what maybe what

(44:46):
Hayward and two it were for a little while before
two it got hurt. So, uh, the expectations are great,
and I agree, I don't believe he's gonna wind up
on On I R Max. I don't and we'll see,
But I I just think that they want to get
him out there soon as they can.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
Highly doubt right, I mean, this is the highly unlikely
category for Derek Harbor, But you're absolutely right. I mean,
and so that just falling in place ya Black being
available Jackson, So I mean, think about the rookies that
are already having an impact, you know, from this preseason
and what they could possibly contribute into the season. Caleb Johnson, Right.

(45:22):
I mean, we went and we attacked a lot of
needs and we and we got a lot of guys
that we needed to fill out this roster, especially when
you think about some of the key departures that we
had in the off season. So you know, the draft
of free agency, like I said, Omar Khan, Andy Whidell
and company and Sheldon White and everybody were very aggressive,

(45:43):
very active, very you know, as as as I will say,
your uncle and your dad's Steelers, this isn't that team,
right and and we are and Rob, you and I
are well in the unk status. I just want to
make sure in case you were wondering, we are considered
unks now. So you know, our version of what we
knew the Steelers and before that. This is a new

(46:05):
day and age, this is a new NFL has evolved.
You have to be active and you have to turn
over this roster. And I thought they've done a great
job of infusing it this year, especially with the right
type of Steeler style players, whether it was you know,
DK Metcalf, Brandon Eckles, Juan thorn Hill, you know, Jalen Ramsey,

(46:26):
John news Smith, et cetera, et cetera, getting those proper
vets to fill in those a lot of those gaps.
But the drafting of depth, the youth movement to also
create the next generation of Steelers. You know, they accomplished
a lot of those goals and obviously we'll see how
that goes as we go on this journey of this season.

(46:48):
But just instant knee jerk reaction, you know, eyeball tests
for preseasons, preseason, I feel like they've hit, they hit,
They hit the mark on a lot of those guys.
And I know I kind of got a little bit
of mixed reviews and I got generally good. I went
on X Rob you know aka old Twitter, and I

(47:09):
put out a comment, you know, because my teammate Tree Essex,
you know, he hit him and Charlie have have a
have a new show together, and so he put out
he's like, you know when y A Black did his
belly dance, you know, after after he made the sack, y, yeah,
he's making the number seventy eight proud, right, And I
kind of went on the thing and you know, I

(47:29):
was like, I was like, yep, I was like, most
dominant performance you know of the night last night. And
then you know, some people took that the wrong way,
and I get it. You know, when you put a
comment out there, it's open for whatever interpretation. It's like art, right,
except for a lot more a lot more of vitriol.
You get more tactile feedback. And you know, so I said, oh, well,

(47:50):
give him a gold jacket now, okay, he's the next
I'm like, I'm like, dude, yawn like. For what was
offered and the opportunity he was given, he took the
opportunity and he ran with it. Doesn't matter who it was.
I'm not saying he's gonna go up there and he's
gonna beat up every offensive line in the NFL. No,

(48:11):
but for what he did last night, that was the
most dominating, eye popping, jump off the film type of
tape you could put out there. He literally owned the
Carolina Panthers for a series.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Okay, so we're gonna talk about that. We're going to
talk about that performance and what it might mean for
the Steelers. Kind of straddling the line between this last
week and the roster cut downs and getting ready for
the Jets team. I'm looking at that, man, I'm gonna
got three first round picks in that offensive line, a
running quarterback, a good stable of the quarterbacks. I know

(48:45):
I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit, but we'll
talk again a little bit more about some guys who've
been pressed Max thus far in the preseason prior to
the cutdowns tomorrow when we continue inside the locker room
with King and Starks, presented by our neighborhood Ford Store
here on the Steelers Audio Network.