HR1: Roster Review

With the initial 53-man roster announcement, Max and Rob take a deep dive evaluation into the roster.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello, everybody, Welcome inside the locker Room with King and Starks,
presented by your neighborhood Fords Tour on the Steelers Audio Network.
I'm Rob King, joined by Max Starks, justin milber in
our studio, getting you ready for a couple of hours
of Steeler talk on the heels of the announcement of
their initial fifty three man roster. Max, I was glad

(00:35):
to see that word pretty much everywhere on every outlet
saying not just the Steelers, you know, it's the Lions,
it's the Jets, it's everybody's initial fifty three man roster.
So your thoughts on the Steelers initial fifty three man roster.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Man it is? It is definitely.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Uh, it was a little bit of a head scratch.
I mean, we went through this exercise yesterday, you know,
and tried to do this, King or right, I mean
it was I was, I was geared up and then
once against a couple of surprises.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
But I thought we did a pretty good job.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
I thought we did a pretty good job, even though
you know, our fifty three man roster was about sixty guys.
I felt like we were pretty concise and but uh,
but yeah, no, it was it was a little bit
you know, shocking. I mean, I think probably one of
the biggest ones that kind of jumped out to me
was four qbs. Yeah, four QB placeholder was the one

(01:36):
that kind of jumped out at me. Initially, I was like, oh,
four QB's three running backs. You know, there was no surprises.
We we nailed the tight ends. I mean that one
was not tough. Yeah, nail. Waste time clapping ourselves in
the back over that.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
One, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
And then we I mean we nailed the receivers. We knew,
we knew the top five receivers that were going to
be there. So, you know, when I kind of look
at it, I mean I also the offensive line that
one you you were right, I was wrong.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think that's the best way of saying it. Right.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I'm not gonna say, I'm gonna let you say what
did you say again? I did?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Oh gosh, here we go.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, nine, okay for right now. So and I thought
I thought it was interesting that, you know, the three
swing guys as you kind of think about because I
just look at Ryan McCollum as just strictly a center, right.
I know, he can play guard, but the main reason
why you have him here is because he because he
snatched really well. But you know Andrews Pete, Calvin Anderson,

(02:35):
and Spencer Anderson, right, you know, to to Anderson's and
a Pete.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Mm hm, and uh.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
It was uh, it was. It was pretty that that.
So I was like, Okay, I like that. I I
see that. That's a lot of versatility. But I mean,
just that's just knee jerk. I know we're gonna go
completely through it and talk about every position and kind
of the correspond on being cut that was made at

(03:02):
each of them. Surprised about the amount of inside backers
that were kept thus far, five inside backers that was
That was an intriguing number. You know, I think that
kind of stood out to me. There was a lot
of like a lot of things that weren't surprises, you
know when we go through the names of it all.

(03:24):
But then when you look at kind of the position designation,
that's where it kind of kind of threw me off
a little bit, if that makes sense. But but yeah, no,
I'm excited to get into this and and get into that.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
What about you, how what was your reaction when you
looked at it?

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah, I was surprised by some of the moves.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I was.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
I think the first one that jumped out was four quarterbacks.
That one really surprised me. I mentioned yesterday, you know,
the the news yesterday, as we were doing the program
for those that missed us yesterday, there were moves coming
down as we spoke, guys that we thought had legitimate
shots at the roster being cut. Prior to that, the

(04:04):
punter battle had been established. The winner of that, and
that was, of course Cordless Weightment And I don't think
you and I were shocked by that. I would say
maybe I was a little bit on the surprise side
of that, just you know, when you think about Cam
Johnson's resume. But weight minute. Again, we watched practice, we

(04:26):
watched the games. I you know, I thought he outkicked him.
I mean, it was a meritocracy and they just said, hey, look,
Cordless Weightman had a good year for us last year.
Johnston looked unbelievable last camp and then in the preseason
before he got hurt in Game one. But it's let's go.
And I think that's one of the great things about

(04:46):
the Steelers. It is a meritocracy. We think this person's
better so this person's going to make the team. Other
teams say that, they say that, but not every team
does that. Teams might be protecting themselves what we made
trades we got to protect. You know, I'll leave this
guy in the roster to protect you now, you protect
me later. That doesn't happen with the Steelers, and I

(05:08):
think it's a great thing to see, and it's one
of the one of many keys to their success is
if you earned the job, you beat out the other guy.
So that was a mild surprise to me. But but
I shouldn't have been surprised because you know, my eye
test said Corless. And by the way, did you agree
with that? Did you agree that Corless not by a

(05:29):
huge margin, but slightly out kicked Cam Johnson from what
we saw?

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yes, yeah, I agree that Corliss kind of kind of
won that job. And and you know, and like I said,
this was the only one where they actually made it
a true competition, right rep for Rep. Like, however it
came that's how we're going to dish it out, right,
And so you know, for Cam, I mean, you know,

(05:55):
this is one thing where it's like, do you wonder
if the healthier leg went out right right sure, you know,
post post injury, and you know if Cam probably needed
a little bit more to get going. But here's the thing, whoever,
you know, Cam Johnson is getting picked up, So whoever's
gonna pick him up, they're gonna a fantastic player.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's just in that moment.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
You know, hey, listen, like you said, the better leg
one in that and Corliss, the the hangtime and the
distance that he was that he was putting out there.
You know, sometimes sometimes it was you know, it was
it was a short one that had to like sit
there and allow the guys to get on top of it,

(06:42):
or he had to boom it and almost out kick
the coverage.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know, he did it all.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
And also we saw him do it last season yep,
for sixteen you know, for seventeen games. We saw him
come out there perform and do an excellent job. So,
you know, is it unfortunate that you know, you going
in free agency to get Cam Johnston and everything looks
so good a year ago and then he unfortunately gets
injured in the in the season opener in it down

(07:09):
in Atlanta, and you know, in walks the opportunity, I mean,
hence his life, right, you know, opportunity presents itself and
you know you can't you can't control how it's presented
to you. All you can do is answer the call
when it's there. And that's all Corli's did. So, you know,
congratulations to Corli's for winning that. But I mean, but

(07:31):
it was, it was a fantastic Neither one of them
did anything bad.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Like not one shank, not one block punt.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
I mean, both of them did excellent in the preseason,
so is so there's no negative to this. It's only hey,
the stronger the stronger person one, and the Steelers made
the decision of who could help them win now and
who showed those traits in a straight up head to
head one for one battle, yep.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
And the other thing that I think was surprising going
into yesterday for me a little bit was Mark Robinson
because he's been such a steady and solid special teams contributor.
The last we saw of him, he was actually you
know this, Yer played him right. They they played him

(08:17):
at linebacker against Baltimore because he's a thumper type. Well,
I thought that the battle was going to come down
to him and Carson Brunner, and I thought maybe they
would try to get Carson Bruner on the practice squad
and keep Mark Robinson because you know, as we talked
about this yesterday, you know Malik Harrison. So let's just

(08:39):
talk about, you know, the comparison between those two players.
So Malik Harrison comes in, He's got a linebacker pedigree,
and he's played just as many special teams. In fact,
he played a little bit higher percentage for Baltimore last
year on special teams. And so you know, we talk about,
you know, this roster construction, Max, and I think it's

(08:59):
import in a note, and we've tried to do this
several times about the depth. And so you go out
and you signed Aaron Rodgers headlines headlines for months still headlines.
You go out and trade for DK Metcalf headlines, You
make the Minka Fitzpatrick trade, get Jalen Ramsey and John
new Smith headlines, you get you signed Darius Slay another headline. Right,

(09:21):
But we can't forget that some of these other moves,
you know, a Malik Harrison, a Brandon Eccles, you are
you know, I think the decision right now is that
for example, and so Eccles was yesterday, but kind of
just sticking with Mark rob Well, I'll combine the to them.
The feeling is that, okay, those are probably players number

(09:44):
you know, you know, somewhere in the forties on your roster,
right the fourth linebacker, the the fourth cornerback, who in
a in a perfect world, probably won't play much defense
unless somebody gets on a long drive, somebody needs a blow,
somebody rolls an ankle and needs to jog it off
for a couple of plays on the sideline. That's where

(10:05):
that guy's gonna play. But he's also gonna play special
teams for you Well for those X amount of plays.
You know, those guys are I think the team considers
those guys upgrades Echoles and Malik Harrison. And again, so
those guys, yeah, are they gonna play on Are they
gonna be active on game day? Absolutely? Are they gonna

(10:25):
get a ton of defensive snaps? Probably not? But are
they gonna be an upgrade when they're in there? Well,
that's the evaluation that's been made. And so this isn't
just the top ten players on your roster, it's you know,
the guys forty through excluding the you know, the if
you think about the forty six and the three specialists.
Excluding those guys, they're somewhere in the forties and the

(10:47):
Steelers are trying to upgrade those positions, and I think
that when Mark Robinson was was let go to me,
that was an indication that they felt they'd upgraded that
position with other guys because he'd been kind of a
steady guy for.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
No, I mean, and I think that we kind of
talked about this yesterday, right, We kind of considered Milik
Harrison the Mark Robinson two point zero, and this was
kind of what we kind of thought that if it
was going to go, that was going to happen. I mean,
you know, and I think that's where you kind of
see that Brandon Echles. Obviously when you look at the
James Pierre there was a head to head battle for

(11:23):
most of most of training camp about who was going
to be that guy. So so there were these kind
of things and I guess when we dive into it
by position, we'll get into it more depthly. But this
was yeah, this was Yeah, it was still some surprises
and thought, yay, maybe there's some space here, but with
the fourth quarterback that kind of made it tough.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, and I'm okay, we'll get to that one in
a minute, because as I look at you know, yesterday
we started with the defense, and let's start with the offense,
and let's look before we take our first break here,
let's look at the wide receiver position group and kind
of assess what we think. And so it's Metcalf no
brainer again. You know, you surrender a second round pick,

(12:06):
you get a guy who's been to Pro Bowls, you
get a guy that really fits what you're doing in
a number of ways. He is you know, look, I'm
not taking anyway from George Pickens. Super talented guy, super
talented guy. But DK Metcalf is a is an absolute
proven commodity in that epper upper echelon group of wide

(12:28):
receivers and is an extremely willing blocker. Now, I thought
George got a little better at that last year. Remember
a couple of years ago, he was just kind of
standing there and watching I think Jalen Warren got tackled
or somebody, and he was just kind of looked like
he wanted no part of blocking. DK Metcalf's gonna block.
He's gonna go down there and he's gonna give it
his all, and that's gonna help a team that wants
to run the football, and again we have not seen

(12:51):
that in preseason. You know, so people say, well, the
running game didn't look like it got going. Well, I
thought the passing game got going in a number of ways.
You want to have a defense that's able to pass.
When an offense it's that can pass when the defense
is set up to stop the run and run when
the defense is set up to start stop the pass,
you don't. You don't need to bang your head against

(13:12):
the wall. You want to be multiple. Well, DK metcalf
And and John new Smith will get to the tight
ends later they bring that to the table, and then
you know, hopefully Calvin Austin will be healthy. He was
starting to work out prior to that last preseason game,
got back on the field and and hopefully he's going
to be able to go. I think last year he
proved that he's a valuable guy. It's hard for me

(13:33):
not to have John Ohu Smith in this conversation because
I think we're gonna see John who Smith a ton
in the slot for the Steelers. But but you know,
then you also have Roman Wilson. I think the Steelers
are I think they really like him. He really showed
up in mini camp, he showed up in training camp
in Latrobe, he showed up during the preseason games as

(13:55):
a guy who can make plays for you. We've talked
about him at infinitum, a guy that I think was
maybe last year just sort of oh yeah, he's gonna
be our slot guy. To this year, he's completely forgotten
and I think that he's going to be. I think
he could be a real surprise for this team for
some fans who maybe have kind of written him off

(14:16):
just because he got injured. And then you have Scotty
Miller and Ben Skronic. I think we know what those
guys bring. They bring attitude, they bring ability, they bring
sort of a safety blanket. These guys are capable guys.
They've had nice NFL seasons at the receiver position, but
can help you in multiple ways. So that's kind of
my breakdown to the receiver position. I'd like to hear

(14:37):
what you have to say about that group. It's Metcalf again, Metcalf, Wilson,
Austin Miller, and Scronic max at as your wide receiver
group as of right now, this year's fifty three man
roster heading into Week.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
One, No, I think This is a group we kind
of predicted, right, I mean, we talked about it. You know,
what do you do after you're the top three? And
really what do you do after number one? I mean
for this group special teams. All of them have a
capability and a skill set to work in there. You know,

(15:12):
you say, Scotty Miller returns Roman, Wilson returns, Calvin Austen returns,
Ben's Goronic. You know, Scrow dirt right, He's a dirt bag,
you know, and and the politest way possible you can
call it. He's that guy that's just gonna get under
your skin. He's going to do whatever it is. He's gritty,
he's grimy, and that's what you need in that type
of position.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
But all these guys can also catch.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
The football and run routes really well. And in the
quarterback all the quarterbacks trust them. You know, we talk
about Ben Skearonic and Aaron Rodgers kind of going back
and forth with each other, you know, in a good
playful way. That that endears, that creates chemistry with guys,
and the fact that you know Aaron has all of that,

(15:55):
you know, he has that all the way down to
his fifth receiver right now. That's on that group. Bonus,
double pluses. However, you want to set gold star for
the day. You know, That's what I tell my kids
when they do something, going like, hey, go star for
the day. Girls, you know I mean that that that's
what you're getting here. And all of them are you know,
all of them minus Roman are are are tested, vets

(16:18):
and and tried, tested and true as I call it, right,
you know, they they they they've done it, they've been
through the fire, they've been they've been on teams, they've
they've had success, and they bring that they bring that
to that receiving group. So when you talk about experience,
cachet resume, that's what most of this receiver group has

(16:39):
in different ways. And everybody said, well, no, no, they're
not the top pursuit. They're not like Jamar Chas and
t Higgins. No, I'm not saying that. Okay for you,
for you negative Nancy casual fan. You know, what I'm
saying is is that each of these guys has a
specific skill set that's beneficial to the Steelers, that's attracted
to the Steelers right now, and obviously this is the

(17:00):
initial fifty three man roster. I stress initial fifty three
man roster. We don't know what changes are going to
happen from now until we actually get to that Saturday
deadline before the first game of Week one come September sixth,
But for now, I feel comfortable. I know that these

(17:22):
guys are known guys in the NFL, and they bring
something to the table more than just catching the football,
and I think that's what it is. And even for
DK Metcalf, you know he does not play special teams.
He does not need to play special teams. As much
as I would love to see a DK Metcalf knocking
somebody's head off, I've seen it enough when an interception

(17:44):
or something bad happens, so I know he has a capability.
But what DK Metcalf brings to this group above all
else physicality and toughness.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
He brings that.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
I think Ben Scronick does it as well in his
own way because of his special teams prowess. But DK
Metcalf already gives your your offensive wide receivers a different mentality,
a different way that you view them. In prep week
when you're going through the breakdown, right, it's like, oh man,
it's gonna be telling. I mean these are physical dudes.
This dude, you know, he you know, he he he

(18:17):
might he might, he might swing on you, and if
you try and start a fight with him, he might
actually fight back, like okay, let's not let's not start
no mess, Mike. He brings a different caliber when you
look down that list and say, hey, who are we
going at.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
We're not going at that guy. Just just leave.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Number four alone because you don't want that problem. And
I think that's what I kind of look at when
I see this group, so on the front end, on
the back end, however you want to rank it. You know,
when you see DK Metcalf at the top of this list,
you see Ben scar at the bottom, you're like, this
is no cakewalk day.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great point. By the way,
when I was at SO, you know, you go to
the OTA's right and then a lot of the guys
show up mandatory mini camp. Dk Metcalf is one of
those guys that and Aaron Rodgers they were there for
the mandatary mini camp, but I'd kind of forgotten, you know.
So you see the guys in OTA on a Thursday,
and then you come out on a Tuesday and you're
practicing again, and he went in motion and you know,

(19:12):
they got the jerseys pulled up and you know they're
not really so I'm just like, who in me is that?
And I was like, oh god, it's Dk Metcalf, Like wow,
that is a large man coming in motion across the
across the formation. And I love what you brought. You know,
by the way, some people, you know are if they're
what do you call negative nancys.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, yeah, negative nancies yea, yeah, they.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
They can and look, you're right to be concerned about
anything and to explore every avenue of what a team
might or might not do. And you know you worry,
all well, they got some hotheads, you know Dk Metcalf
and and you know Jalen Ramsey. These guys can fly
off the handle, and you know other players that are
coming back from last year. I prefer to think of
it the way you just described it as competitive and

(19:59):
you know, uh, maybe in your little in your face
maybe intimidation that fisty did you say?

Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, yeah, that word in there too.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
I mean, you know, we'll get to Darius Slayton. But
I love the fact that he was here's this veteran
of multiple Pro Bowls, and you know the running backs.
Again we described the scene and that you're up in
camp and a guy breaks into the clear because it's
not a tackling drill, and you know, they want to
finish the run, the running backs, so they're running down
the field and trying to act like hey, I just
broke a forty yard er to get used to it, right,

(20:32):
there's reasons to do that. And man, everybody's going back
to Ottle. Here comes Darius Slay running down the field,
try to knock the ball out. I love that, I mean,
I love but I love the edge that some of
these guys bring. But I think as we evaluate this group,
I think that we probably, you know, guys intrigued this.
Brandon Johnson certainly intrigued me. I think he intrigued you too.

(20:52):
Made some plays on special teams. He has a pedigree.
A couple of years ago, I think he caught seventeen
passes playing for Denver, caught pass last year for this Telers.
But I think if there had been say a fourth
round draft choice at that position, right, a guy that
you were grooming, a young guy who you really liked,
or if one of these guys that you brought in

(21:13):
as undrafted free agents had leaped off the page at you.
This might be a different group. They might have kept six.
I don't think any of these five would have not
made it, but I think they might have kept the sixth.
But they just didn't. They didn't have that extra guy.
And that's the way it goes sometimes, right. I mean,
you'd all like that extra guy. You'd all like that

(21:35):
quote unquote starter and waiting at a certain position. Steelers
don't really have that guy as far as like a
young guy that maybe is raw and you're bringing along
and you gotta find a roster spotform at the receiver position.
They do at other positions, they don't at the receiver position.
This five, it's steady, it's solid. I think there's some

(21:55):
upside with Roman Wilson. I still think Calvin Austin had
some upside. It's got depth, it's got attitude. I I
you know. And that's the group, Max, that's your that's
your five going into the season.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah no, I mean yeah, yeah. Initial.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Once again, we we we we stress the word initial
Steelers Nation. It is called initial, and it's not your initials.
You know, the first letter of your first and last
name this is and sometimes your middle but this is
the initial roster. This is the initial cutdown of guys.

(22:31):
And when we were talking about it yesterday, of the
guys that were left, right, Brandon Johnson is injured. So
I get kind of when you're talking about ready right now.
And obviously we don't know the severity to that injury
to what we just know. He exited the game very
early on Thursday against Carolina, And so you know, a

(22:54):
guy that I felt, you know, would have been that guy.
Maybe you come, you can bring him back on the
practice squad again like he was last year, because I think,
you know, in a pinch, you know, Brandon Downson showed
you a lot of good things. Keishan Williams showed you
a lot of good things as well, right, and maybe
you get those guys back and that type of capacity.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
With the sixteen man practice squad that you get.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
But you know, these were the five best receivers in camp,
you know, So it wasn't like, oh man, I mean,
there were guys who were close who could have competed,
but once again, you still have to be on the
field to compete.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
You know.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
Lance McCutcheon did some nice things, you know, when he
was in there and had had a fantastic touchdown and
some great catches in the game, but he didn't really
show up as consistently in camp, right, you know, the
final impression was definitely that it was a great final impression.
But when we're talking about the consistency throughout camp from

(23:47):
start to finish, game after game coming in, these guys
showed up. These guys did great things, and you knew
who they were, you know, and they have resumes that
you can point to n C and in critical moments
coming in the clutch, right, you know, them actually doing
something to help us win a ballgame when it counted.

(24:10):
So you would have had to do something really insurmountable
to kind of usurp these type of guys right to
kind of leapfrog them in this process. And those guys
did things to keep pace, but I don't think there
was any one of them, you know, for when I'm
saying Keishawn, Lance and Brandon that jumped them up into

(24:32):
the top five, I thought they kind of kept pacing
was close, but they didn't do anything to really jump
above that. So that's why we're kind of where this
list is right now.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
As it stands, completely agree and speaking of initials, that
is MWS the fourth. Yeah, I'm RSK. You're inside the
locker room with King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood
Ford store. Here on the steel There's Audio Network and

(25:01):
welcome back inside the locker room with King and Starks,
presented by our neighborhood sports store here on the Steelers
Audio Network, along with Max Starks. I'm Rob King. Max.
We are going through the Steelers roster and you know,
I have to say, we weren't quite as close as
I was hoping. I thought we were going to be

(25:22):
much closer.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
You mean, you mean to have having thirty one and
twenty three, so we're going to find a magical fifth
uh you know, fifty fourth roster spot.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yeah, yeah, that didn't happen. So let's let's uh, let's
get through a couple of different positions that I don't
think there was a whole lot of intrigue in, but
the tight end position, so pretty much figured this was
going to be Pat Fryarmouth, John new Smith, Darnell Washington,
and Honor Hayward. And before we just sort of say yep,

(26:03):
that that's that's the roster. Let's move on. I think
that's a really good group, Max. I think that is
just the versatility on what these guys can bring as
far as helping you in the passing game and helping
you in the running game. I think this is a

(26:23):
really good quartet of tight ends.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, I agree. I agree.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
I think when you kind of look at you know what,
obviously we know what Pat is, right, I mean, he's me,
you know, right, you know in the stadium, every everybody
knows who Pat Fryarmouth is, you know, and what he brings.
I mean that was that was one of the no
brainer decisions really of this of this tight end group,
and even for John hus Smith, right, I mean it

(26:54):
was at first like, oh, you know, he's just thrown in.
He's lumped in with the with the Jalen Ramsey trade.
When it's like, no, yeah, this this this guy's a
this as a certified you know, certified catcher, right, and
he has experienced in Arthur Smith's offense. Arthur Smith knows
how to use how to use this young man, right,

(27:14):
he knows how to get him involved. And the dude
came in in phenomenal shape, looks great, and looks the part.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
You know Connor Hayward.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
Connor Hayward's kind of been just that utility Swiss Army,
you know, non offensive lineman body. He's kind of been
deployed everywhere, right. You know, he's a fullback, He's an
AH back, He's a tight end on the line, off
the line, move guy, wing guy, you know, slot guy.
I mean, you put him everywhere. I mean, Connor just
he fits in with whatever you need to do. And

(27:45):
he's not your traditional fullback like we had before with
Derek Watt Like. He offers that much more and so
you kind of knew what he was the biggest X factor.
And I think when it's all said and done, when
this season is over, with the guy, we're gonna talk
about this position because he's gonna wow is Darnel.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Washington Mount Washington, Mount Washington.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
I completely agree, and he's going to be that expert.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
He is Hugh Mongous.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
He has the run blocking and past setting ability of
a right tackle, and he has.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
The moves of you know that.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
Cat as catlike as you could be at six foot seven, uh,
because you're not hiding from anybody. So even when you
run a hide route behind the line of scrimmage on
the naked boot.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Uh you still see him.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
I mean it's almost it's like we see the dorsal
fin of a shark, like a shark's hiding right below water.
Like you still see this big fen and you know
what's coming. That's what he is. He's moving through the line.
It's like, oh man, there it goes. It's there. I
want to get close to that, you know. And but
he has that ability he has at at speed to separate,

(29:02):
whereas I think it's very deceptive. And he has a
humongous catch radius. And here's where I'm gonna say his
biggest assets gonna be and I'm gonna call it right now, Kinger,
it is going to be in the red zone. This
guy will be a cheat code this season.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
In the red zone. And guess what Aaron Rodgers loves.
He loves the cheat code in the red zone.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
And listen that that that little that little back line
out route that he likes to run a little back
or you call it back line fate. I call it
a back line out route because he kind of runs
straight and then hits it and bangs it out to
to to the back pylon. Who's stopping that I mean,
and if you if you commit to to him right,
there's somebody else that's gonna be open.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
And in the run game, the guy.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Can collapse down the side of the line and he
can hold the point on the edge if you're trying
to go to the outside.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
So you know, Darnold Washington's gonna be a guy. I
think that's gonna be That was off misused.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
His first couple of years here, you know, in the
first in the Canada transition, and of course a year one,
Arthur Smith trying to figure out what his right role is.
I think we know what his role is now. I
think it's clearly defined. I think Arthur Smith knows. I
think Aaron Rodgers has a lot of ideas for how
to deploy him and utilize him in you know, in
the offense, especially in the passing game. So it's going

(30:22):
to be really fun to watch him. But this group
is you know, I called it build a tight end,
like build a bear, right.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
You know, you can go in.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
There, you pick the you pick the outer layer, then
you pick the stuff in pick if you want a
little heart, a little accessories on it, Like you could
do that to this tight end group because each of
them offer a different skill set. Hey, we want to,
we want to we want to wear on a twenty
one set, but we want to make it look like eleven. Okay, boom,
we can do that, right. We can have a guy
play pure wide receiver down the field. If we go

(30:50):
into a no huddle situation, we could even do thirteen
personnel and make it look like twenty one or eleven
because we have two tight ends who can split out, yes,
or we could accord you them down and we can
and we can run big personnel.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Right, and how do you match up to that as
a defense? Right?

Speaker 3 (31:07):
You're not going to go goal line at the forty
yard line?

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Right.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
I totally agree with everything you're saying. And I think
this is why you know, when people talk about so
you know, I'm going to try to put this in
different terms here. So if you're looking for that seventy
five catch, fifteen yard per reception kind of guy, George
Picklins was on pace to be that guy last year,

(31:33):
that's going to be DK Metcalf. And then you know,
Pat Fryarmuth's consistency has been pretty incredible. Really, you know
when you look at Friarmuth's career in the games. He's
had three games in which he's played sixteen or more games.
Here's his perceptions sixty sixty three, sixty five. That is consistency,

(31:56):
and he brings that to the table, right. John new
Smith had eighty eight catches last year and made a
Pro Bowl. Now, I don't think he's gonna have eighty
eight catches this year. I don't think we'll see. But
he made a Pro Bowl last year. People, you know,
you're talking who's gonna be the next receiver. This guy
made a Pro Bowl as basically, you know, kind of
a slot receiver, Johnny Smith. You got a Pro Bowl

(32:18):
guy back in that Jalen Ramsey trade. I try to
tell people that, and uh, and I just think he's
a little bit overlooked. And we didn't see him in preseason.
And then Darnelt Washington. I went on DV last year
and I said, I thought he could catch thirty balls.
He got nineteen. I think he could catch thirty balls
this year, you know, and the nineteen was still a

(32:40):
big upgrade. But I thought he was one of those
guys that could pitch in. And then when we're talking
about who's gonna catch passes, Roman Wilson. You know, Calvin
Austin had thirty eight thirty six receptions last year. I
think I think Roman Wilson's gonna gonna throw his name
in there. And then you know, we saw out of

(33:00):
the backfield. You saw Jalen Warren get thirty eight, Najee
Harris get thirty six. Well, we haven't got to the
running back group yet, but I think that's gonna be
gain well getting a lot of receptions as well, again
as a as a mass group, and beginning with this
tight end group and the mismatches they can cause. And
we just talked about the wide receiver group and it's hard.

(33:23):
Not it's hard to separate them all because the tight
ends are part of the wide receiver group and the
running backs are part of the wide receiver group when
you're throwing the football. But I think the way you
laid out their versatility max how they can create matchup
headaches for other teams. You want to go small, good,
We'll run it down your throat. You want to go big,
good luck covering some of these guys. I just think

(33:45):
it's I think it's a really good mix at that
tight end position.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
No, it is, it is and I'm a complete agreement.
So I thought this, I thought this was kind of
one of the easy ones. I know, you know, there
was a lot of hope for JJ Goalbreath. There's you know,
we even brought back a Folish, you know, DJ Thomas Jones,
also a kid that we brought in from South Alabama.
You know, we we hope to see something different, to
give some communication, but really at the.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
End of the day, we knew it was just bodies.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
And you know, JJ offered something very similar to what
John news Smith does, what Pat Friar move does. Is
JJ Godbreath better than those guys? No, not yet, But
so you knew what you were coming into very similar
skill set. You know, you look at you know, you
look at what DJ Thomas Jones was going to bring
in into this equation.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
It was Connor Heyward.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
But if I'm picking Connor Hayward or DJ Thomas Jones,
guess what, he's not there yet.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
He's a rookie still. You know, Kevin Folish.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Kind of gave you a little bit more high British,
you know where you know where he was a little
bit more of a blocking guy. But am I picking
Kevin Folish or Darnell Washington. Yeah, Darnel Washington, Right, you
know what I'm saying, It was very easy to do
apples to apples comparisons about who you were getting. There
was there was We already had the upgraded version of
what we brought in, right.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
You know. It was like, you know, you buy the
base model versus the one with all.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
With all the bells and whistles and accessors, like, oh,
I want a sunroof on this one, No, I need
heated seats, right, you know, we already had the one
with heated seats of the sun roof, you know, so
I don't need the I don't need the cloth seat,
you know, basic version of it. Right, I got the
I got the aer rated leather seats. You know, that's
what you were bringing to the table. That's what you
already had. So when you're bringing something to the table,

(35:27):
it needs to be of equal or greater value.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
And John neu Smith was at equal.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
Or greater value proposition bringing into that room to already
go with the two guys that you had, and Darnell
and Pat at the true Titans. And of course you
know Connor's in his own designation, as we saw in
the initial fifty three he's listed as the full back
h back, and he was separate because I was like,
oh my god, weally kept three tight. As I had
to look down one more line, I was like, oh, okay,

(35:52):
all right. The universe, you know, it catches you off
guard at the beginning when you're looking at the roster, right,
because you just go through You're like, oh my gosh,
Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh. And so we knew
what we had there with those guys. But I mean,
and nothing to the fault. Like I said to the
young guys, it's just they weren't there yet. And we
already had the guys who'd been across you know, the

(36:16):
start line. They were already in the race. You know
what I'm saying, like, this is you know, this is
that seventeen mile marathon, and we had guys who have
already ran this marathon before versus the guy who'd done
it the first time. They know how to pace, they
know how they know how to keep their energy level
throughout the season. So we have those guys already, so
it was going to be really tough to kind of

(36:36):
crack that top four.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Yeah, yep. And just quickly I think that the one
thing that really surprised me most as we talk about
the roster construction, and again keep in mind, Waiver claims
all this stuff up till noon today. Then you know,
you start to build your practice squad and that sort
of thing. But you know, if I'm talking about surprises here,

(37:01):
it was the quarterbacks, right, you kept four quarterbacks. Again,
you use one I R spot designated your return on
Corey Trice. There's still one out there that they could
potentially use. But I have to say, I mean there's
teams in the league that are gonna keep two quarterbacks.
I was surprised that they kept four quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Yeah, I was too, And and you know, I think
I think it was it was a strategic play by
the Steelers.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know, they need to hedge their bets.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
Obviously the Will Howard injury, they still don't have to
make that decision yet. But at the same time, a
lot of teams were shedding, were shedding their quarterback weight,
and teams are looking for, you know, that quality backup.
And so this is a way of saying, we're not
gonna give them to you for free, like you're gonna
You're gonna have to come to the table and you're

(37:50):
gonna have to offer us something because we know your
backup quarterback situation is pooh pooh, right. I mean, that's
that's what you saw with Cleveland opening themselves up for
business and sending Kenny Pickett to Las Vegas because they
knew Aidan O'Connell, you know, the injury. They don't have
a backup behind Geno Smith. You need somebody that's competent.
And guess what, you know, the the business of housing

(38:10):
quarterbacks in Cleveland, that's what they kind of that's what
they kind of set themselves up for. And so you
kind of knew that was happening, and you knew this
was going One of them guys was going to be
a trade piece at some point. And we also know
that injuries do happen. I mean, you know, not to
wish anything bad, but going back to Tampa Bay, you know,
and seeing Teddy Bridgewater, remember Teddy Bridgewater in Minnesota, the

(38:33):
injury he took, and then they were scrambling to find
a starting quarterback. You know, now nothing's to that degree,
but you know, a backup is very valuable in today's
league because you know, at some point that back is
going to have to play for you during the season,
and he's going to have to contribute. I mean, just
look at our team the last two years we've made
the playoffs. We had five different starting quarterbacks throughout the

(38:54):
throughout throughout those two seasons. So this isn't something that's
just guaranteed. It's not something that's just there's just a
given at all moments. It's it's a matter of when,
not if. And so for the Steelers, they have nothing
to lose holding on to Skyler Thompson until the very
last moment, or holding on to Skyler Thompson to the

(39:16):
beginning of the season if you're gonna do a short
term ir for Will Howard and then a team having
to trade for him in season, you know, before the
trade the trade dead that is until week eight. So
I mean, so you're talking about there's a lot of
value there, and what Skyler Thompson put on tape in
the preseason, you know, is highly desirable for a lot

(39:37):
of teams. So you know, teams hoping they're not gonna
get the freebie like they did with Cam Johnston, because
that was another one.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
I thought we were heavy in the punt position.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
I thought there could have been a trade opportunity, but
obviously you get down to it, you know, realize everybody's
kind of okay and they're waiting for it because they
know that we have to cut one of them. You're
not gonna keep two punters on your roster, but you
can't keep four quarterbacks on your roster. And so you know, Cam,
it was kind of the freebie the Steelers gave out
there to the rest of the NFL. That's not gonna
happen in this case. So if you want Skylar Thompson,

(40:06):
you know you're gonna have. You're you're gonna have to
pay to get him. It's gonna be some type of conversation.
I mean, we saw can you pick it? Go for
a fifth round pick? So, I mean, you know you're
gonna there's gonna be somebody that's gonna say, you know what,
I don't like the way this is going. I need
to get somebody in here who could really help me.
And uh, not that there are not thirty two backups
in the NFL, I can tell you that much.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Yeah, just uh and just one quick question before we
had to break, because run a little long, any chance
in your opinion that they could use this remaining injury
designation for Will Howard and if they don't like what's
out there as far as a potential trading partner for
one of their other quarterbacks, and just and just you know,
kind of kick it down the canon a little bit,

(40:48):
kick the can down the road a little bit.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Yeah, no, no, no, And I kind of said that.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
I think I was talking so fast you probably missed that,
but I was saying, yes, I was saying, you can
you keep him? You know, if you get all the
way to the end and you're going into week one,
maybe you short term ir Will Howard and keeps Scalar
Thompson on there, and then up until the trade deadline
a week eight, you still have Scalar Thompson there as
a trade piece for a team to come in and
then you can possibly move him after that. But it's

(41:14):
going to cost whoever wants Scholar tooms is gonna cost
them to get him and to do business with the Steelers.
He's not gonna be a guy that's gonna be a
street free agent that somebody can pick up and hopefully
you know, not have to deal with that. No, there's
a tax that's involved.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Thank you. For talking slowly and bringing it home to me.
I'm a little slow only up here. Welcome, Oh, I
appreciate it. Uh stick around. We still have to get
oh my goodness, gracious, we gotta we gotta, we gotta
put it into uh into high gear.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
Here.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
We got a lot of position groups to get to
as the studiers have the initial initial fifty three man roster.
We will continue those breakdowns inside the locker Room with
King and Starks, presented by our neighborhood Ford Store here
on the Steelers Audio Network. Welcome back inside the locker
Room with King Starks, presented by neighborho Ford Store here

(42:00):
on the Steelers Audio Network. We have gone in depth
and probably just a little bit over here. So let
us quickly before we take a break, and before we
get to the offensive line and before we get to
the defense, talk about the running backs for the Steelers.
And once again, I don't think they're any surprise, is
you know we talked earlier about the receiving group and

(42:23):
having a developmental guy and that guy's not really there. Well,
I think it's right now. It is. Jalen Warren appears
to be the guy who is number one in the
depth chart, Kenneth Gainwell appears to be in position max
to be that third down back perhaps for the Steelers. Again,
we'll see other utilized. And Caleb Johnson is that quote
unquote starter in waiting. Is that young guy who you're

(42:46):
hoping to bring along again on paper, looks like a
solid group to me.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
No, I'm gonna completely agree on So I think when
you look at the three running backs they kept, this
is what the core nuclear looks like. It's gonna be.
Jalen Warren your starter right out the gates. Guy who
knows how to get things done. He knows where to be,
how to do it at a very high level. You
also have you know, like you said, Ken Gainwell, he

(43:14):
is a vet, he is a super Bowl champion. He
is a guy who we personally watch. You know had
a front row I had a front row seat at
least I think you guys had. You guys had a
skybox view of it. Watch him personally. Just just dice
us up like Gensu from the backfield as an offensive specialist.

(43:35):
So he's your guy that's going to be third down
scat back, check down swing routes, screen game. He's gonna
be a guy who can also run, run running sub
for you. He's got that do it all utility back mentality.
Caleb Johnson, he's the rook He's the big body, you know.
He he's the guy that doesn't have the gas mileage yet,

(43:57):
but we hope his fuel economy will get up. And
he's the young guy that, you know, you hope to
come and be the next phase and be kind of
that workhorse type of dude.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
You know.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
He he's got the Duramax engine, he's got you know,
the trite, the Triton, you know, five point four leader,
whatever however you want to look at it, he's going
to be the guy that's going to be the work horse.
He's he's got the toe hitch attached to the back
of him. So that's what you're hoping to build for.
And that's what you got a good compliment of of
running backs back there in the backfield. I don't feel
I don't have any uneasiness or uncertainty about anybody in

(44:30):
that group. You know, the biggest things is to be
hey got you know, got to stay healthy, still got
to be physical. But you know, a good crop and
I thought all of them kind of showed well, we know,
we know who Jalen Warren is. You know he he
is one of those guys you know I I you know,
he was the one I first effectually called always falling forward,
you know, and and Wolf called him the ballard buster, right.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
And when you talk.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
About his his his past defense and pass protection, you know,
when it comes down to being an all down all
you know, all three down. So I love the versatility
of this group. I love the experience of this group.
I love the vast array of it because you got
young mixed with old, mixed with with with middle, right,
You've got all of those type of things going in there.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
And I feel good about this group.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
Yep, I could not agree more again on paper, going
through the initial fifty three man roster for the Steelers,
that is our subject today. Once again, the waiver wire
expires right as this show comes to an end, and
so we will keep an eye to see if there's
other moves going on. There's already been a trade made

(45:37):
with Jacksonville picking up a wide receiver. They're really trying
to go all in at the you know, at the
skilled positions to help out their young quarterback. And you know,
new coach we saw him earlier in the preseason. They're
they're really trying to go all in in Jacksonville and
get that offense jump started. So we'll keep an eye
on the waiver wire moves and more when we continue

(45:58):
inside the locker room with Hanging Starks, presented by our
neighborhood Forks store here on the Steelers Audio Network.