August 25, 2025 • 47 mins
The guys continue their conversation into hour two talking all things current state of the team with roster cutdown day looming.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Oh, yeah, you know what that is, Rob, that's our
number two aka the Power Hour, And of course optimists
came by to say what's up. I'm sure he's he's
somewhere on the road and he knows that he has
to make it to uh MetLife Stadium, but he has
a lot of time to wait. I mean, he's got it.
He's got about two weeks so a little under that.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, and I got to I'll be fine to make
it there by Then I got the optimist explanation last
week when the when the horn Mites come back, not
being a uh not being a Power Ranger guy kind
of a little. I think I was at that age.
I was a little too old for the Power Rangers,
and my kids were a little too young, although we
went and saw the movies, so we did.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
We did see those.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So Max, we were talking about why a Black and
I think, if you know, when I was looking at
this game, I identifying a player on offense who I
thought really strengthened his case, really clearly made a case
for himself. The number one guy on my list was
Skyla Thompson. There are others we can get into other guys.
(01:13):
I think for me on defense. It was Ya Black,
not that he was in any danger of missing not
making the roster. I didn't think that was gonna happen
at all. But again, we talk about and have been
talking about degrees of importance for preseason. Yeah, if you're
Ya Black, you're drafted later, you want to show that
you were a good draft choice.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
You want to show that you belong on the team.
That's first and foremost.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Then you want to show, Hey, you should be you know,
dressed every Sunday. You know, you shouldn't be one of
those seven inactives. You should be out. You should be
on the roster, and then you should show. Then you
want to show, hey, listen, I should be part of
this rotation too. I shouldn't just be standing around getting
four snaps a game, waiting for somebody who's you know,
(02:01):
gassed on a long drive or rolled their ankle and
needs to you know, need to just stretch it out
for a couple of plays.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I deserve to play.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And I thought, why a Black made the most clear,
uh sort of delineation between him and others perhaps or
maybe a better way of putting that, it's just simply,
you know, put his best foot forward and said, look,
I should be part of this every game rotation with
what he did on Thursday night against Carolina.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, no, I mean I And it's funny I kind
of made this this comment.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I want to say in the postgame show with what
PURSUEDA and Williamson and I said, it's it's like he
had this spidey sense that his buddy was down and
he need he needed to step in and take over
the role, and and he just he kicked it into
hyper drive. And I think that's exactly what it was.
(02:58):
And that's that's essentially when you're thinking about a team
construction and you're thinking about who were the guys as
Mike Tom I'll always called this the starters in waiting, right,
you know, this is what you come in, you're the
change up. I mean a guy that I remember was
always game ready when it came to something or a situation.
(03:18):
I remember of Chris Hockey, you know, Hockey Bro was
was one of those guys like if anything happened to
Hamp or the team or the opposing team was trying
to do something to take Hamp out of the game,
and Hoki Bro had to get in. There was nothing
Hoky Brow wasn't gonna do. He was tenacious, he was aggressive,
(03:39):
He was a change up. He was different from Casey obviously,
body dimensionally alone, you know, was not was not an
equal right, you know, but what he provided was that
change up. And I think for y Ya Black, that's
what Ya kind of came in and did. He knew
Derek was out, and he knew he had to go and
(04:01):
do something. And he literally showed you that he could
play all three positions in that three four defense. He
did it from a cock nose position. He even did
it from a three to four defensive end position, and
he just crushed and dominated. And that's what you want
to see, right, And the opportunity lind itself right, and
an unfortunate situation happens, you know, like we were talking
(04:24):
about in the first hour, Will Howard Scaler Thompson and
how Skyler Thompson kind of made a name for himself
in this preseason. That's what happened here on the defensive
line aspect. Derrek goes down with the knee. Ya's playing
a little bit earlier than he probably anticipated.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
And what did he do?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
He shined in the moment. He shined in the moment,
and that's one where you're like, this guy's not going
to be denied and the talent is undeniable. And he
took the opportunity and he rose to the occasion. And
that's what you want to see. You want to see
that progress. You want to see that incremental progress on
these mile markers. As we talked about throughout all training camp,
(05:01):
mile marker Kane and the opportunity to presented itself and
he crushed the opportunity. Doesn't matter if it was twos
threes or whoever was in right, the thing was he's
a rookie. Yes, there was an opportunity. He took advantage
of it, and that's what I mean by it was
the most dominant performance of the night. And for ya,
(05:22):
this is the next step of the process to let
you know, hey, I deserve to be in this game.
Yeah I could play, I could play in this league,
and I can get things done. That was that kind
of affirmation that we're all seeking, you know, as players,
when we're in those moments, you're looking for those moments
affirmation and he got exactly that.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
For sure, and I agree one hundred percent with everything
he said. I do think it's It is apropos to
point out that those came against second and third teamers.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
What he did. However, he still did it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
You can go against second and third teams and the
teamers and not do it. He did it, and exactly
you know they've been talking about the other thing is
you know a lot of times you sort of see
what you want to see, and you know that again,
this is what I think. I think scouting going back
to is a guy, a mature twenty two year old
and this is it is there ceiling there? You know,
(06:14):
is he going to grow? Guys grow when they get
into the NFL.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Did you grow the in the NFL? Or are you
the same height when you came out of college.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I was the same height. I might have grown up
incrementally a.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Little bit, but I mean some guys, some guys get bigger,
some guys get stronger. Some guys just haven't reached their
physical maturity. It's why scouting is so important. But the
scouting definitely got stronger.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I definitely got stronger, right, I will say, yeah, if
we're asking that question, yes now height wise, no, weight wise, definitely.
I definitely had some growth moments that I probably were
unanticipated at times. But yes, you know, there there was.
There was a lot of growth in the league over
my time. It just wasn't necessarily the normal measurables.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, height Well, the scouting aspect of it and is interesting.
I mean, the scouting reports on ye Black ever since
they got him. We're more athletic than we thought. Right,
That's that's the one thing that's kind of stuck out,
which is a great thing to hear for a six
six three and forty pounds man. That's you know, hey,
(07:17):
he's he's he's athletic. Is that's a good trait. And
people have to remember that the Steelers only played their
true base, their three down linemen twenty five percent of
the time or thereabouts a year ago. So it's not
like you think, okay, well, you know we got Harman
(07:40):
and we have Benton and we have Cam upfront. That's
our three starters. Okay, twenty five percent of the time.
But most of the time, it's just gonna be seventy
five percent of the time, maybe even more, it's gonna
be those two down linemen. So you're talking about wanting
to be that fourth guy, like that's the most important
(08:02):
guy maybe to be because the top three provided for
health are locks. They're not going anywhere. The top three
are the top three. You're gonna see a lot of
harmon Benton and Hayward again knocking on wood and assuming
that they're all healthy, Now, who's going to be that
fourth guy who's going to be getting a lot of time?
That's that's what you're in a battle for. And then
(08:26):
you know, if they're gonna keep seven, you want to
be the fifth and sixth guys because that seventh guy
is probably not gonna dress on game day. And so
Isaiah Loudermilk running down and making plays on special teams,
Logan Lee showing his versatility as a backup long snapper,
and also you know, showing a strong performance.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
During the games that you noted Max.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
It is gonna be and then you have a qualite
and louder Milk, well I just mentioned louder Milk. Aquale
is another guy who started every game last year for
New England.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
It is going to be fascinating.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And I think ya Black, you know, for me, that
fourth guy, that next guy up, that guy that's absolutely
part of the primary rotation is you know, y A.
Black may have put a one of his large feet
forward in that conversation.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
No, I completely agree. I think you have to. And
at the end of the day, remember this is still
the me phase until you know, until Saturday at two
pm September sixth, that's what you can finally say we right, right,
because transactions can happen during the during that first week,
(09:40):
you know, So it's still a very me S type
of thing before we get to we we're cutting down
the roster to get to more, to to flipping that
me upside down right the m to make it a W.
But we're still we're still firmly in the me phase
of things. Is just making sure that me he is
(10:00):
accountable to being on that fifty three, to make sure
that I don't become one of the guys that's held
in limbo. Right, I'm the guy down the roster that
may or may not make the teaming and still you
know it's still fringe, fringe valuable. And then you know,
(10:20):
am I on a practice squad? Am I am I
an up and down guy all year or a two
way player so to speak. You know, if we're talking
about other sports like basketball and baseball, right, you know,
you know two way guy that goes down to the
miners comes up. You know, g league guys, you know,
you want to make sure that you're firmly in that
top fifty three and that you're not at the end
as a guy that that has that flexibility. You want
(10:42):
to be in that dress. Forty six, that conversation and
again forty seven.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, for sure. And it's all perspective, right. There're gonna
be some people, you know, making a phone call on
Tuesday or Wednesday, and they're gonna be despondent. They're gonna
be calling home. They're gonna be talking to them and dad
and saying, man, I didn't make it. I'm on the
practice squad. And there are others are gonna be calling
mom and dad and they're gonna be like, man, I'm on.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
The practice squad. How cool is this? The Dream's still alive.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You know, it's all a matter of perspective when it
comes to why a Black For me, I think I
think it's about being in that forty six and then
and then playing, you know, and you know, I will
extend the conversation to others who impressed us throughout training
camp and in this last game and throughout the preseason.
(11:35):
But I think why a black is trending toward a
guy who is is going to be part of the
forty six and is making a push to be that
guy to be part of the forty six and making
a push to be a guy who gets regular snaps
for the Steelers. Again, the coaching staff has to make
(11:56):
those decisions. But there's nothing coming into this from Kirk
Fern's coming on and saying, hey, I think this the
you know, student's got to steal with this guy to
what he's done in camp and the reports that we've
heard that he's more athletic than maybe the students thought initially,
and then capping it off with a performance like Thursday. This,
(12:17):
this just seems to be a very much arrow up
sort of player.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I couldn't agree more. I think you're absolutely right. I mean,
he came in and he's done everything you've wanted him
to do, and he's answered the call, no qualms, no questions,
nothing to even bat an eye at. And that's that's all.
That's all you can ask, right, That's all you can
ask out of out of your young guys, is man,
(12:45):
just stand up and be counted, right, I mean, stand
up and say, you know what, this is what I
need to do. This is where I need to be,
and I'm going to be ready to go when my
numbers called. And luckily that number seventy eight, you know,
can't good number that I don't have a don't say
that I don't have a big grin on my face
(13:05):
when I see other players with seventy eight. And this
is another thing I kind of talked about social media,
you know, and I appreciate the supportive man. You know,
one of the greatest seventy eighth to play, I said. Now,
I said in this conversation, I don't mind taking a
back seat and being a number two or even a
three in some people's minds, because the one that made
this number great was a guy by the name of
Dwight mad Dog White, and Dwight White one of the progenitors.
(13:29):
And you know, the original Steel Curtain member that is
the grid is seventy eight. I mean, when you talk
about his career, the ten years he played, the dominance
that he had, I mean, he created, he had the
first safety in the Super Bowl era recorded safety in
the Super Bowl, and you know, he made that number
seventy eight great for Super Bowls. I mean, this was
(13:51):
a dominant human being at that number. So I don't
mind being behind it. I mean, hey, listen, you fall behind,
and you know my consolation is, you know, start in
two Super Bowls, won two Super Bowl rings and played
it at two different positions. Not a bad not a
bad way to be, you know, to take that, to
take the consolation in that moment. But for ya Black,
it's all it always for every former player that's played
(14:13):
a significant time with the team and you know, has
held a number for you know, for a number of years,
and all you you always take a little special notice
of the guy that's where that's donning your number. And
I do it with all my team base. You know,
when I see a seventy four, I always call up
Willie Colom. When I see a seventy nine, always call
up tree Essex right, and we talk about the guys
(14:34):
wearing our numbers, and that's just it's just it's a
pride thing, you know. And and to see him do
what he's done at such a young age and so
early in his career, I mean, you can't help but
but be but be happy and and smile just a
little bit knowing Okay, the number, the numbers protected for now,
you know the number is still in high standing with it,
(14:56):
not to say that it wasn't before, right, James Daniels
wore the number before Ya, and also other guys have
wanted obviously Holly Handro Villanueva, which I mean, you can't
argue with a guy who was who was a multi
pro bowler and starter at left tackle as well. And
you know, you look at it and there's a certain
moments where you're like, okay, yeah, I can. I know
I can exactly for that number right, for my number
(15:20):
to have success. But it's always good when you see
the young guys taking advantage of those opportunities. And for
Ya coming into this and being a guy that you
know has answered that call for right now, you know
the number is safe to carry on. And you know,
I made this comment when I saw him the first
time the first week of training camp. We were at
(15:42):
the salad bar line. I said, I said, you know,
there's always been a seventy eight on the Steelers for
every Super Bowl that they've won, right, And he was
like word, I said, yeah, I said, I said, two guys,
two guys had those numbers for all six of those
that the first guy won. Four of them was like,
his name is Dwight White, and he played on the
defensive line, like you said. The other one was me.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
He's like, oh okay, So, by the way, it's not
your belly, right, just again to get that out there,
not my belly.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I do not have a patented belly rub dance. I'm
sure I was big enough to be able to show
that off. But my jersey actually fit I had. I
made sure I had a little tuck in tuck in
space so it never quite rose up.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I had a firmly My belt was tied tight. Now
these kids, I don't even think they have belts on
their on their pants. That's one of those things that
that's gone the wayside, kind of like the hip pad,
hip and butt pass.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I was gonna add, okay to wear back in the day.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
So before we before we get off, I just real quick,
I want to point out first points scored by the
Steelers in Super Bowl history.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
They did not belong to number twelve. They did not
belong to number thirty two, They did not belong to
number twenty. They belonged to seventy eight when Dwight White
recovered that fumble. I'm sorry when Dwight White had the
act for safety right the official sack. I remember he
was coming out of the hospital. He lost a bunch
of weight.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
There's a great story about how people didn't even think
he was gonna play in the Super Bowl. He literally
got out of his hospital bed, went to the stadium,
got his uniform on, and played. First points scored ever
by a Pittsburgh steiler in the Super Bowl. Number seventy eight.
That was Dwight White. So your number, Max. But I
want to ask you, you know what you see now
(17:27):
like if people and maybe they don't do this anymore.
In pee wee football, when we're playing pee wee football, man,
we had we had thigh pads that were pads. We had,
you know, tailbone pads that were pads. And actually in college,
same thing, especially especially around the hip bone and the
hips and that kind of thing. Did you did you
have actual pads or did you just basically wear a
(17:49):
pair of pants.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
No, I we still have pads and the referees would
come by and check, they'd tap your hip to make
sure you had hip pads. And I had the school
ones that you had to. You had to lace the
belt through them so so they stayed in place, they
didn't slide out. And then later, of course, I got
the actual girdle that you wear underneath your pants that
(18:13):
held the thigh, hip and butt in place. So you
put this whole kind of underpant, so to speak, on
and it had the butt pad and the and the
hip pads in there. And then it wasn't until like
later in my career where it wasn't mandatory anymore in
the league that I did not wear my hip and
tail and it was just the front thigh boards and
(18:33):
the knee pads. But I wore I wore a full
blown pad, and it was a part of my ritual.
How I got ready for the game was I laid
my pads out in a very specific fashion to make
sure that I did them in the same way every
single time. And so I always started left thigh, left knee,
right thigh, right knee when I put him when I
(18:54):
put them into my actual physical pants, because then you
didn't have the the girdle shell so to sp that
you had to put on, you know, you went to
the more traditional girdle or sports tights. However, you want
to classify them where they didn't have the pockets in
them and then actually went into your physical pants. So
my physical game pants held my knee pads and my
(19:15):
my and my thigh knee and thigh pads.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Well, it is kind of amazing to watch, uh, the
evolution of the pads, right.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Uh really now it's like Jesus. I mean it's like
the guys put on bicycle shorts, you know, and the
and the and the pants don't even go below the
knee anymore. Right, that's the other part. I'm like, that
boy's whole kneecap is out, you know, and I'm like, man,
I would have never in the era that we played.
Heck no, there's no way I would expose my knee.
(19:43):
And trust me, as a guy who had four knee surgeries,
I understood how important it was to protect that knee,
you know, so it was like it was just unthought of.
But now, I mean, it's like the guys like slim fit,
like you know, they're they're aerodynamic and smooth, they don't
wear any of that stuff. That just it still kind
of bothers me to that moment. I'm like, man, I
(20:04):
was like, you need to protect your knees. I was like,
so what happens if you have a knee brace on?
So then the knee brace is fully exposed now as
opposed to having at least that illusion of protection around
the knees, you know, And so it does. It does
bother me a little bit. I am a little bit
of the old man on my porch, right, you know,
yelling at the kids going by stay off my lawn.
But but you know what, I happily embrace that because
(20:26):
once again, Rob I said this, we are in unk status.
We're allowed to We're allowed to have these comments. Now
we're allowed to shake our fists. You rue the day
that you don't wear knee pads in front of me? Yeah,
you know, we have that now moment where we can
do that. But it is amazing this game has evolved
and they aren't mandatory as much. I mean, I think
(20:48):
the thighs are still kind of mandatory, but the knees
I definitely know are definitely not mandatory. It looks like
out there by the way guys dress.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
So a short diversion, we're gonna get back talking about
there's roster Steelers players. What Max saw on Thursday who
made a strong case of themselves. All that's still to
coming when we consider in continue inside the locker Room
with King and Starks presented by your neighborhood Fords Store
on the Steelers Audio Network. And welcome back inside the
(21:22):
locker Room with King and Starks presented by your neighborhood
Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network. You know,
guys that are a little bit dinged up, and we're
talking again with Max about you know, cut down day tomorrow.
It's a huge day, huge day in the calendar. Your
look at probably what about ninety five percent of the
(21:45):
team is going to comprise the possibility, of course that
trades will happen either tomorrow or you know, in the
in the coming days or even up to the trade deadline.
You know, the Steelers has not been afraid to make moves,
so you know this isn't necessarily it, but this is
the bulk of the team that is going to be
setting sail on the twenty twenty five season. And we
(22:08):
talked about how you know, you have two spots that
you can designate for injury for guys, which means again
you put him on the IR and they are there
for four weeks as opposed you put him on the IR.
Now they're done for the season, but you get two
special spots. You cut down to fifty three, but you
can take two decisions and maybe sort of push them
(22:30):
down the road a little bit and think about bringing
those guys back in four weeks. And there's a twenty
one day window, I believe it is, so you even
have a little bit more time to designate a guy
for return and bring him back, so you don't have
to make an absolute.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Decision on some guys.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
And we talked about that in terms of Derek Carmon,
and I think we would both be surprised based on
the medical advice, medical prognosis we've heard if Derek Carmon
would wind up on the injured reserve list. But there
are still guys, you know, there are some guys whose
injury statuses are for me a little you know, hazy,
(23:10):
So Calvin Austen of Calvin Anderson, John why Smith, Corey Trice,
Juan Thornhill, Dante Kent, Beanie Bishop. Okay, so I've just
named seven guys. Now, a lot of those guys, assuming
that their health is not a big issue, are in
no risk of heading to IR but there's still a
(23:31):
lot of clarity on the injury front that will be
nice to get in the coming days.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
No, I definitely will you know, Mike Tomlin his appetite
for disclosing anything in advance of the seasons at zero.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah, you don't need to.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, there's no need to. And I think a lot
of people pressing him for it, you know, in the
media is always is always a fun mental exercise to
go back and forth with him about because you know,
he's not giving it to you. No. Long time beat
writers know this, and it's usually a younger guy or
a guy that's like, I guess gott to write something,
(24:06):
you know that that'll just throw it out there and
it's like you're gonna get a two word answer, you know,
or I should say, Mike tomains case a five word
a five word answer like I'm not going to disclose.
And how many different ways he could say that, how
many different you know interpretations he can give you of
the same thing. And I think that was that was
(24:27):
one of the funny things to hear when he had
media availability and they asked him about that on Saturday,
was about it was about Hey, it was interested. I'm
not ready to disclose. It's like, it's like, and I
don't have to just like you know, when he has
to put out that that the uh the depth chart
for the preseason, it's only because you know it's required
(24:49):
by the NFL to do it, will he actually do it?
But when it's not required, do not expect it. And
it's been the same modus operandi since says he says
he has been here on this team, and it's like, yeah,
if you've never read a transcript or been at a
press conference, that's what's funny that they ask those questions
because you know what you're going to get. But it's
(25:10):
like they just have to put him on the record.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
For it, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
And sometimes, uh, you know, having been you know, in
the media for for a you know, a huge part
of my professional career, sometimes you're rolling your eyes. You know,
you want to pull the guy aside and say, hey, listen,
I have to ask you this question, right, Like.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Listen, bro, we only get so much time with him.
Please stop asking questions that we all know the answer
to you.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yes, But but sometimes you say, you know what I mean,
because they're you're you're trying to put yourself in the
mind in the in the mindset of the fan that
you have to ask a question even though you know,
and and it's just to simply get the reaction, even
though you know there is no reaction.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
So there's no glory to be had here.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
No, no, there is no glory to be had here.
So it'll be interesting to see, you know, how some
of these guys shake out injury wise. It doesn't sound
like anything is too serious. You know, Harmon's week to week.
I don't know as anybody else has been categorized as
week to week. I think that you know, you know,
(26:24):
Mike Tomlinks talked about guys who are limited in their participation,
you know, you call Beanie day to day dealing with something,
so uh, you know, there are again a list, including
Harmon of I think eight guys that we just talked
about who are in some way, shape or form dinged up,
(26:46):
with Harmon being the only guy that I've heard at
this point categorized is week to week. So that's not
a bad position to be in at this point of
the season.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
No, it's not. And also there's no urgency. That's the
other thing wrong. There's no urgent. And see with this,
you can let things play out at this particular point
because you've got two weeks and you know, a week
to week designation with two weeks left before you actually
have to commit to you know, quote unquote competitive play.
(27:19):
It's not like you said, it's not the worst thing
in the world, and there's no need to disclose. I
think people are so enamored because there is a list,
and obviously fantasy football seasons upon us. We're in that
time of year, so people and of course gambling purposes.
That's the reason why these lists were created. It wasn't
for competitive transparency. That was not why this list was created.
(27:42):
It was it was for other purposes to help gauge.
So let let let's just keep that in perspective that
we're we're not going to get this all of a sudden,
this you know, this breath of oh my gosh, I
have to do this because it's the right thing to do. No,
it's not. It's not necessarily the right thing to do.
It's just this is what's mandatorily required. And of course,
(28:04):
you know, Bill Belichick was famous. He would just list
everybody on there just to mess everybody up. But you know,
that's that's what you're kind of dealing with with it.
So yeah, and if I'm Mike Tomlin, absolutely not in
my disclaiming disclosing whether a guy is ready to play
or not. Right, Nope, that's not gonna happen. You're not
You're not getting an ounce from me.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
And the good good news yeah, as you mentioned, the
good news about being week to week at this point
is that two weeks two of those week two weeks
will be gone by the time you put your first
game against the Jets, so a little bit of recovery time.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
You wouldn't want to be week to week.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Uh and say week seven, you know, being week to
week now with some time to recover is good. By
the way, I shouldn't have done this, Max, I know it,
I understand it. I shouldn't have done it because we
have so much, so many other things to talk about.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
But I have to admit my mind snuck ahead to
the Jets just to go back to the defense. So
I did it. I couldn't help it, couldn't help myself,
and it was.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And again we're gonna spend way more time on this
in the future. But just talking about you know, as
it pertains to the injury to harmon seems unlikely he'd
be ready for that Jets game. That's again reports that
we've read and that I've read. That's that's all I
can go by. Unlikely that he'd be ready to play
against the Jets. Maybe why a Black steps up and
(29:31):
gets some more playing time. When I look at that
Jets team, that's you know a little bit like say
Philadelphia or Baltimore. I mean, the Steelers don't have Philadelphia
this year. What they do in Baltimore kind of the
games where you'd like to have all your defensive linemen there.
Because this was a sneak peek ahead on the Jets
that I did three first round picks, including your first
(29:54):
round pick this year. On the offensive line, a quarterback
who we own justin fields is a real threat to
run and Bryce Hall Brayalen Allen, Isaiah Davis. I'm not
sure he's gonna be ready for him, but a stable
of running backs that they really like. This is the
kind of game you'd like to be healthy on the
(30:15):
d line. But again, when we're talking about fifth six,
you know, fourth, fifth, sixth defensive lineman and how that
might shake out, it's for games like this. To me,
this this is of course it's for every game, but
this is a game coming up in which there's a
little more imperative to to having health and who's going
(30:36):
to be out.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
There in the top of that rotation.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I don't want to talk about it forever, but I
just want to point out that that as we're as
we're diving into defensive line, and people may be wondering
why we've cited some of the statistics about how the
defensive line fared last year and Cam Hay was on
the field, how they fared when he was not on
the field, you know, So things like that have underscored
the importance of what the Steelers need to do.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
And I think in Game one it's going to be
to the test.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
No, You're absolutely right, it's going to be a challenge,
and that that is why you kind of want to
get your guys in place and get them used to
facing this type of adversity, because, yeah, you're you're gonna
you're gonna see it in season. You're going to experience this,
and you want to be as well combated and well
prepared as you possibly can be for that challenge. And
(31:25):
you know who Justin feels is you had him in
your building for a year, so you know what his
what his deficiencies, you know what his strengths are, and
you know what he offers and brings to the table.
So you want to make sure that you are well aware,
well equipped to handle that guy. And so you know
(31:47):
it's gonna be very imperative that that they take particular
caution and that you prep properly. Possibly, you know a
little bit, maybe too much. But once again, is there
really too much operation for for a game when you
know the season and you have a finite amount of them.
You know, we have seventeen opportunities to jock for position
(32:10):
and to earn the golden ticket, and that golden ticket
always make the Willy Wonka reference for this to get
into the playoff, you want to get into the factory,
right but you but obviously the goal is to make
it all the way through the factory and to not
get entrapped by all these different little challenges and obstacles
that come along the way. You want to see it
to the end and this is but the only way
(32:32):
you do that. You have to navigate the gauntlet that
is seventeen games of physicality on a weekly basis, and
you've got to attack the obstacles, the short week, Thursday
night games. You know, how you recover from a bye
week going into the next game. You know, where's your
preparation at, and all of the different things to get
thrown at you. Holidays, you know, and you're playing in
(32:55):
and around holidays, you know, towards the end of the year,
and not losing sight the injuries, the attrition that happened,
like all of these little things that happened along the way.
And that's why I say mile markers, not milestones for
your progress as a team. And you know you're taking
stock at every quarter of the season, and now it
(33:17):
doesn't come out to a clean quarter anymore. There's seventeen games,
so you know, you got the little dangler that seventeenth
game that is a non conference, non you know, common
opponent that you're going to play as that seventeenth game,
and it matters every week, and so whatever you can
do to get an advantage at least in one of
(33:37):
those seventeen games, you want to take full advantage of.
In the Steelers right now and every other team in
the league has this advantage of getting the best prepared
that they can be to put their best foot forward
come to start the season.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
And to quote Willie Wanka, since you brought him up
so much time, so little to do, stop reverse that
we have so much to talk about in so little time.
Just one more segment remaining inside the locker Room with
King and Stark. We're gonna get to that when we continue.
It's brought to you by your neighborhood Ford Store here
(34:11):
on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Man.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Welcome back inside the locker Room with King of Stark
with enter by.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Your neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network
and Max. While we were in break, some news broke
about Terry McLaurin, who has just signed a three year
thirty I'm sorry, three year, ninety six million doire deal.
No way did Terry want that to be starting with
a thirty unless it was unless we're talking about his
(34:47):
annual take, which is thirty two million dollars a year.
So you know again, look that you know they're hey boy,
the Steelers should go out and get a guy like
Terry McLaurin. Was never gonna happen. He's a two time
Pro bowler, he's a very good player. Made the Pro
Bowl last year in in Jayden daniels first year at
(35:09):
the Helm, He's gonna be thirty on September fifteenth, still
appears to have some productivity ahead of him. And incidentally,
you know when you talk about how you manage your roster, right,
he's gonna get three years and you can go ahead
and pay him that because you're not paying anybody to
the quarterback position right now, right, so you can afford
(35:32):
and teams can usually afford one, you know, highly paid receivers,
much as his stoodents have done with DK Metcalf. But
your thoughts on this Terry McLaurin signing before we get
back to our Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Backs, Well, I mean it was one of the things obviously,
the idea was floated that, oh, the Steelers can go
after yeah, you know, Terry McLaurin, and and he will.
He could be a steel that could be the number
two receiver. And it's like, uh no, guys, I mean,
let's just let's pump our brakes here. You know, you
have the ability because Jayden is on that rookie deal.
(36:06):
So it was one that I felt was was was
going to be a stretch at least to deal with,
you know, trying to figure out and you already had
a top flight receiver that you're paying in Dk Metcalf.
So I know a lot of people were salivating at
the thought of it, and you know, I'm sure fantasy
football players were also like, well, what's gonna happen. What's
(36:27):
gonna happen with Terry McLaurin. It's like that was one
that you know was going to be imminent. I mean,
you know what what Jayden and dam was able to
accomplish was was in part due to the fact that
you had a guy like Terry McLaurin on the outside
that he could throw too. So he wasn't leaving Washington
even though you know, I don't. I know, it's one
of those things that happens. But Rob, you know what,
(36:48):
we gotta do what we got. It's the last segment.
You know what that means? Break time for the bell lap.
That is your lunch warning system. Everybody. It is going
to be noon, very soon, very eminently, in the next
eight minutes. So if you are on the parkway, make
sure you heead and go get something very delicious and
(37:09):
tasty for your lunchtime needs. All right, Okay, we had
to get that out the way. That is our that
is our normal thing that we do at the last segment.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, and so thank you, by the way, and thank
you for pointing that out. Now let me just say
this too in terms of you know this this number
two receiver type I'm gonna be And look there's a
trade deadline that comes up, So I for one am
extremely intrigued by how this is all gonna work at
(37:41):
the receiver position for this teelers. You know you have
Calvin Austin, we know who looks like the number two guy.
But you know you also got Johnny Smith. And I
tried to tell this to people Max a lot. Look,
Jalen Ramsey is incredible to get jail and Ramsey in
that trade. For me, if Fitzpatrick you know, uh, look,
(38:03):
I'm thrilled to have another corner like that. Well if
you know, he's kind of his own man.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
He's mister secondary another You can't even call him a corner.
He is whatever you need him to be in the secondary.
Guess what he can morph into into that.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Guy He can't.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
He's such a great player. But I tell people, don't
forget john new Smith. I mean, I would not be
shocked if John hu Smith winds up and we haven't
seen him obviously, but I would not be shocked if
he winds up as this seither's uh second receivers in
terms of receptions. And then again, much like we've sort
of mentioned with Logan Lee, we can get more into
(38:44):
this tomorrow. You know this group of guys who are
are one plus the rookies, but they didn't play last year.
Troy Faltanu did not play last year. He's your starting
right tackle. Logan Lee did not play last year. I
think he's made a strong, strong case to be on
the roster this year as a six round pick a
year ago. And Roman Wilson might intrigue me as much
(39:09):
as any of them, maybe with the exception of f Altana,
as a guy who can come in and I think
I am really interested to see what sort of impact
a healthy Roman Wilson can have for the Steelers' offense,
particularly these in these first weeks.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
I think the.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Addition of those two guys, maybe some continued usage for
Darnell Washington, sort of lessens the need for that number
two receiver. Right Look, I think this my guess would
be that the Steelers are in the philosophy of if
a guy can help us regardless of position, We're interested.
But I don't know as they're really targeting a wide receiver.
(39:48):
I know it's been reported, and I think they were
targeting one last year, but I'm not sure. I'm not
really sure that they are. I mean, I'm I am
very very intrigued to see what this group of receivers
can do right now, and obviously, if there's room to improve,
you do it. But as far as targeting in this position,
I don't know. Max, I'm I'm interested to see. And
(40:11):
you know, the reason we're having this discussion is based
on McLaurin and the contract we just heard about. And
I know I've kind of left you up against it,
but you know, if you could give me your take
on this wide receiver and receiving group, including a tight ends,
I'd be interested to hear.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
No.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
I think it's something that people are always going to
yearn for more, right, you want more? I need more.
I need names, I need household you know, tangible names.
I need fantasy football number names. You know. I love
the idea of you know, a team just having too
many weapons at their disposal, But you know what one
(40:48):
team does, you can't follow them. And I think you know,
when you look around the league and you look at
what Cincinnati, I would say most notably, right, they just
had two receivers a lot of money offensively after paying
their quarterback. You have T Higgins and you have Jmr Chase, right,
you know, people are are just infatuated with that idea.
(41:11):
Oh there's two mountain receivers on the outside, and everybody
has to have that.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
You don't have to. And because I mean, you know,
you look at Philly, right, it's DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown.
You know, you look at you look at what you know.
Now Dallas seemingly has right with George Pickens and CD Lamb,
and and you wonder what could be if we just
have two top flight receivers. But some teams aren't built,
(41:37):
and not all teams are built the same way. Kansas
City Chiefs name their top two receivers receivers, not not
Travis Kelcey. Right, right, Okay, Zame, you're worthy. You could
throw out there, You could throw ra she Rice, but
that's that's stuck. Gonna scare anybody. But look, that team
made it to the Super Bowl. They represented the AFC
(41:57):
a year ago with no number one true number one
one receiver. So the idea that you have to do
it this certain way and there's is impossible to do
this without two receives. No, we have we have recent
data to show us that you don't need to top
flight receivers to make it to a Super Bowl. Now
you might need it to win the Super Bowl. You know,
(42:18):
you could argue that point of course. I know there's
people on the eastern side of the state that would
that would obviously challenge that and say that Luke we
had with Devuntu Smith and A. J. Brown. I get it,
I get it. But the end of the day, it's
not prerequisite, and I think people kind of get upset
obsessed with that with that fact when it's like, no,
you can do it by committee, just like you could
do it by running back by committee. You know, you
(42:40):
don't need the number one running back and you could
do it with a group of running backs or two
or three. It's many different ways to skin the cat, right,
there's many different ways to get to the league or
get to the Super Triple Old Championship.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Totally agree. And and by the way, yeah, and the
students want to run the football. I mean that, you know,
they want to use the game, They want to use
their tight ends. And I think getting Roman Wilson back
and getting John news Smith in that trade, they're two guys.
They didn't have anybody like those guys last year. They
didn't And so I think the big argument last year,
(43:16):
and I think you could still make that argument now,
but I'm in the wait and see camp. The big
argument last year was, hey, if if you lose Pickens,
then what right, who's who can step up and scare teams?
And the answer kind of was nobody, really, nobody that
you could they could put the team on his back
and say I'll do it, and probably not even a
(43:38):
committee that could get that job done for you. And
again he got injured at the head of that losing
streak that that you know, we all remember at the
end of last year. I think this year, you know,
DK Metcalf, I think is an upgrade over George Pickens.
And then I think the guys, you know, look, you're
you're paying Dk Metcalf in excess to thirty million dollars
(44:00):
year for a reason because he's an elite player.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
And it's like TJ.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Watt there is by definition, just look at their salaries.
By definition, there's going to be a drop off when
they're not there. There's a reason they're getting paid that.
But I think the Steelers are better equipped to handle
a short period of time without a top receiver than
they were a year ago, where that to me was
not Again similar offense, do you need a number two
(44:26):
receiver weekend and week out? No, what you needed in
most four because he's not going to be thrown to
like t Higgins is in Cincinnati. What you needed in
most four was if Pickings got hurt and you didn't
have that, and I think it hurt him. I think
you're better situated this year to withstand a short term
injury to an elite player at the receiver position.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
No, and I completely agree. I think you're absolutely right.
I love once again, depth. That's that key word, right Rob,
that keeps coming up. It's that we are a lot
we have a lot more depth at playmaking ability than
we were a year ago. Right, We were a little
bit starved of that kind of star guy who could
(45:07):
take over a game if you had one missing, and
we weren't. We weren't that a year ago. I mean,
you obviously said that, and I think that's where I
think a lot of people kind of kind of lose
sight of the fact that you have that. Now, like
you said, if a dk Metcalf goes down, you could
make it with you know, just take the tight end room,
(45:28):
Pat Fryar move Darnould Washington, John neu Smith. That's three
guys right there that you know. And then you still
got a Connor Heyward. You know that that that's in
that mix. And then you go, okay, well, after a
number one receiver, what do we have? We have Calvin
Austen who showed himself and and and as a very
confident receiver and returner threat for you. You have Roman
(45:48):
Wilson and what he's done to really come on as
a rookie plus right because he didn't really get any
time a year ago. Just like Tory Fautanu. He's a
rookie plus that has a lot of upside to him
that you can go to. And then of course you
got Kenth Gamewell in the backfield. You have to remember
this guy won to set a run championship and he
tore us up personally. You hear listen, Rob, he tore
us up personally. We watched that game in Philadelphia where
(46:12):
he got checkdowns and screens and destroyed us. So you
still have that guy in the backfield along with a
Jalen Warren and of course what we've seen growth week
after week from Caleb Johnson. That's a trio on the bet.
So you have these options available to you that you
didn't have. You didn't have this type of depth a
year ago. So we're very better and more well situated.
(46:34):
And then we look defensively, there's depth there. If you
could run the football and play good defense, we don't
need to win a game by thirty points. We don't
even need to score forty points. The whole idea of
the game is to score one more point than the opponent.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
That's exactly right, and it's all and you're right. The
defense plays a factor in that as well. Hey, everybody out,
the locker room's now closed. Locker rooms closed.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Sorry, players got a shower. Players got a shower.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Little bonus coverage, Max, We went a little bit old,
but that's okay.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
We like doing that.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
So again, tomorrow's cutdown day. We're gonna get you ready
for that with some of the key positional battles as
we see them. If more news breaks around the NFL,
we'll have that for you as well. Thanks for listening
today Inside the Locker Room with King and Starch, presented
by our neighborhood Ford store here on the Steelers Audio
Net
Oh, yeah, you know what that is, Rob, that's our
number two aka the Power Hour, And of course optimists
came by to say what's up. I'm sure he's he's
somewhere on the road and he knows that he has
to make it to uh MetLife Stadium, but he has
a lot of time to wait. I mean, he's got it.
He's got about two weeks so a little under that.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, and I got to I'll be fine to make
it there by Then I got the optimist explanation last
week when the when the horn Mites come back, not
being a uh not being a Power Ranger guy kind
of a little. I think I was at that age.
I was a little too old for the Power Rangers,
and my kids were a little too young, although we
went and saw the movies, so we did.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
We did see those.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So Max, we were talking about why a Black and
I think, if you know, when I was looking at
this game, I identifying a player on offense who I
thought really strengthened his case, really clearly made a case
for himself. The number one guy on my list was
Skyla Thompson. There are others we can get into other guys.
(01:13):
I think for me on defense. It was Ya Black,
not that he was in any danger of missing not
making the roster. I didn't think that was gonna happen
at all. But again, we talk about and have been
talking about degrees of importance for preseason. Yeah, if you're
Ya Black, you're drafted later, you want to show that
you were a good draft choice.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
You want to show that you belong on the team.
That's first and foremost.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Then you want to show, Hey, you should be you know,
dressed every Sunday. You know, you shouldn't be one of
those seven inactives. You should be out. You should be
on the roster, and then you should show. Then you
want to show, hey, listen, I should be part of
this rotation too. I shouldn't just be standing around getting
four snaps a game, waiting for somebody who's you know,
(02:01):
gassed on a long drive or rolled their ankle and
needs to you know, need to just stretch it out
for a couple of plays.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I deserve to play.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And I thought, why a Black made the most clear,
uh sort of delineation between him and others perhaps or
maybe a better way of putting that, it's just simply,
you know, put his best foot forward and said, look,
I should be part of this every game rotation with
what he did on Thursday night against Carolina.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, no, I mean I And it's funny I kind
of made this this comment.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I want to say in the postgame show with what
PURSUEDA and Williamson and I said, it's it's like he
had this spidey sense that his buddy was down and
he need he needed to step in and take over
the role, and and he just he kicked it into
hyper drive. And I think that's exactly what it was.
(02:58):
And that's that's essentially when you're thinking about a team
construction and you're thinking about who were the guys as
Mike Tom I'll always called this the starters in waiting, right,
you know, this is what you come in, you're the
change up. I mean a guy that I remember was
always game ready when it came to something or a situation.
(03:18):
I remember of Chris Hockey, you know, Hockey Bro was
was one of those guys like if anything happened to
Hamp or the team or the opposing team was trying
to do something to take Hamp out of the game,
and Hoki Bro had to get in. There was nothing
Hoky Brow wasn't gonna do. He was tenacious, he was aggressive,
(03:39):
He was a change up. He was different from Casey obviously,
body dimensionally alone, you know, was not was not an
equal right, you know, but what he provided was that
change up. And I think for y Ya Black, that's
what Ya kind of came in and did. He knew
Derek was out, and he knew he had to go and
(04:01):
do something. And he literally showed you that he could
play all three positions in that three four defense. He
did it from a cock nose position. He even did
it from a three to four defensive end position, and
he just crushed and dominated. And that's what you want
to see, right, And the opportunity lind itself right, and
an unfortunate situation happens, you know, like we were talking
(04:24):
about in the first hour, Will Howard Scaler Thompson and
how Skyler Thompson kind of made a name for himself
in this preseason. That's what happened here on the defensive
line aspect. Derrek goes down with the knee. Ya's playing
a little bit earlier than he probably anticipated.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
And what did he do?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
He shined in the moment. He shined in the moment,
and that's one where you're like, this guy's not going
to be denied and the talent is undeniable. And he
took the opportunity and he rose to the occasion. And
that's what you want to see. You want to see
that progress. You want to see that incremental progress on
these mile markers. As we talked about throughout all training camp,
(05:01):
mile marker Kane and the opportunity to presented itself and
he crushed the opportunity. Doesn't matter if it was twos
threes or whoever was in right, the thing was he's
a rookie. Yes, there was an opportunity. He took advantage
of it, and that's what I mean by it was
the most dominant performance of the night. And for ya,
(05:22):
this is the next step of the process to let
you know, hey, I deserve to be in this game.
Yeah I could play, I could play in this league,
and I can get things done. That was that kind
of affirmation that we're all seeking, you know, as players,
when we're in those moments, you're looking for those moments
affirmation and he got exactly that.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
For sure, and I agree one hundred percent with everything
he said. I do think it's It is apropos to
point out that those came against second and third teamers.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
What he did. However, he still did it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
You can go against second and third teams and the
teamers and not do it. He did it, and exactly
you know they've been talking about the other thing is
you know a lot of times you sort of see
what you want to see, and you know that again,
this is what I think. I think scouting going back
to is a guy, a mature twenty two year old
and this is it is there ceiling there? You know,
(06:14):
is he going to grow? Guys grow when they get
into the NFL.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Did you grow the in the NFL? Or are you
the same height when you came out of college.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I was the same height. I might have grown up
incrementally a.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Little bit, but I mean some guys, some guys get bigger,
some guys get stronger. Some guys just haven't reached their
physical maturity. It's why scouting is so important. But the
scouting definitely got stronger.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I definitely got stronger, right, I will say, yeah, if
we're asking that question, yes now height wise, no, weight wise, definitely.
I definitely had some growth moments that I probably were
unanticipated at times. But yes, you know, there there was.
There was a lot of growth in the league over
my time. It just wasn't necessarily the normal measurables.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, height Well, the scouting aspect of it and is interesting.
I mean, the scouting reports on ye Black ever since
they got him. We're more athletic than we thought. Right,
That's that's the one thing that's kind of stuck out,
which is a great thing to hear for a six
six three and forty pounds man. That's you know, hey,
(07:17):
he's he's he's athletic. Is that's a good trait. And
people have to remember that the Steelers only played their
true base, their three down linemen twenty five percent of
the time or thereabouts a year ago. So it's not
like you think, okay, well, you know we got Harman
(07:40):
and we have Benton and we have Cam upfront. That's
our three starters. Okay, twenty five percent of the time.
But most of the time, it's just gonna be seventy
five percent of the time, maybe even more, it's gonna
be those two down linemen. So you're talking about wanting
to be that fourth guy, like that's the most important
(08:02):
guy maybe to be because the top three provided for
health are locks. They're not going anywhere. The top three
are the top three. You're gonna see a lot of
harmon Benton and Hayward again knocking on wood and assuming
that they're all healthy, Now, who's going to be that
fourth guy who's going to be getting a lot of time?
That's that's what you're in a battle for. And then
(08:26):
you know, if they're gonna keep seven, you want to
be the fifth and sixth guys because that seventh guy
is probably not gonna dress on game day. And so
Isaiah Loudermilk running down and making plays on special teams,
Logan Lee showing his versatility as a backup long snapper,
and also you know, showing a strong performance.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
During the games that you noted Max.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
It is gonna be and then you have a qualite
and louder Milk, well I just mentioned louder Milk. Aquale
is another guy who started every game last year for
New England.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
It is going to be fascinating.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And I think ya Black, you know, for me, that
fourth guy, that next guy up, that guy that's absolutely
part of the primary rotation is you know, y A.
Black may have put a one of his large feet
forward in that conversation.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
No, I completely agree. I think you have to. And
at the end of the day, remember this is still
the me phase until you know, until Saturday at two
pm September sixth, that's what you can finally say we right, right,
because transactions can happen during the during that first week,
(09:40):
you know, So it's still a very me S type
of thing before we get to we we're cutting down
the roster to get to more, to to flipping that
me upside down right the m to make it a W.
But we're still we're still firmly in the me phase
of things. Is just making sure that me he is
(10:00):
accountable to being on that fifty three, to make sure
that I don't become one of the guys that's held
in limbo. Right, I'm the guy down the roster that
may or may not make the teaming and still you
know it's still fringe, fringe valuable. And then you know,
(10:20):
am I on a practice squad? Am I am I
an up and down guy all year or a two
way player so to speak. You know, if we're talking
about other sports like basketball and baseball, right, you know,
you know two way guy that goes down to the
miners comes up. You know, g league guys, you know,
you want to make sure that you're firmly in that
top fifty three and that you're not at the end
as a guy that that has that flexibility. You want
(10:42):
to be in that dress. Forty six, that conversation and
again forty seven.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, for sure. And it's all perspective, right. There're gonna
be some people, you know, making a phone call on
Tuesday or Wednesday, and they're gonna be despondent. They're gonna
be calling home. They're gonna be talking to them and dad
and saying, man, I didn't make it. I'm on the
practice squad. And there are others are gonna be calling
mom and dad and they're gonna be like, man, I'm on.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
The practice squad. How cool is this? The Dream's still alive.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You know, it's all a matter of perspective when it
comes to why a Black For me, I think I
think it's about being in that forty six and then
and then playing, you know, and you know, I will
extend the conversation to others who impressed us throughout training
camp and in this last game and throughout the preseason.
(11:35):
But I think why a black is trending toward a
guy who is is going to be part of the
forty six and is making a push to be that
guy to be part of the forty six and making
a push to be a guy who gets regular snaps
for the Steelers. Again, the coaching staff has to make
(11:56):
those decisions. But there's nothing coming into this from Kirk
Fern's coming on and saying, hey, I think this the
you know, student's got to steal with this guy to
what he's done in camp and the reports that we've
heard that he's more athletic than maybe the students thought initially,
and then capping it off with a performance like Thursday. This,
(12:17):
this just seems to be a very much arrow up
sort of player.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I couldn't agree more. I think you're absolutely right. I mean,
he came in and he's done everything you've wanted him
to do, and he's answered the call, no qualms, no questions,
nothing to even bat an eye at. And that's that's all.
That's all you can ask, right, That's all you can
ask out of out of your young guys, is man,
(12:45):
just stand up and be counted, right, I mean, stand
up and say, you know what, this is what I
need to do. This is where I need to be,
and I'm going to be ready to go when my
numbers called. And luckily that number seventy eight, you know,
can't good number that I don't have a don't say
that I don't have a big grin on my face
(13:05):
when I see other players with seventy eight. And this
is another thing I kind of talked about social media,
you know, and I appreciate the supportive man. You know,
one of the greatest seventy eighth to play, I said. Now,
I said in this conversation, I don't mind taking a
back seat and being a number two or even a
three in some people's minds, because the one that made
this number great was a guy by the name of
Dwight mad Dog White, and Dwight White one of the progenitors.
(13:29):
And you know, the original Steel Curtain member that is
the grid is seventy eight. I mean, when you talk
about his career, the ten years he played, the dominance
that he had, I mean, he created, he had the
first safety in the Super Bowl era recorded safety in
the Super Bowl, and you know, he made that number
seventy eight great for Super Bowls. I mean, this was
(13:51):
a dominant human being at that number. So I don't
mind being behind it. I mean, hey, listen, you fall behind,
and you know my consolation is, you know, start in
two Super Bowls, won two Super Bowl rings and played
it at two different positions. Not a bad not a
bad way to be, you know, to take that, to
take the consolation in that moment. But for ya Black,
it's all it always for every former player that's played
(14:13):
a significant time with the team and you know, has
held a number for you know, for a number of years,
and all you you always take a little special notice
of the guy that's where that's donning your number. And
I do it with all my team base. You know,
when I see a seventy four, I always call up
Willie Colom. When I see a seventy nine, always call
up tree Essex right, and we talk about the guys
(14:34):
wearing our numbers, and that's just it's just it's a
pride thing, you know. And and to see him do
what he's done at such a young age and so
early in his career, I mean, you can't help but
but be but be happy and and smile just a
little bit knowing Okay, the number, the numbers protected for now,
you know the number is still in high standing with it,
(14:56):
not to say that it wasn't before, right, James Daniels
wore the number before Ya, and also other guys have
wanted obviously Holly Handro Villanueva, which I mean, you can't
argue with a guy who was who was a multi
pro bowler and starter at left tackle as well. And
you know, you look at it and there's a certain
moments where you're like, okay, yeah, I can. I know
I can exactly for that number right, for my number
(15:20):
to have success. But it's always good when you see
the young guys taking advantage of those opportunities. And for
Ya coming into this and being a guy that you
know has answered that call for right now, you know
the number is safe to carry on. And you know,
I made this comment when I saw him the first
time the first week of training camp. We were at
(15:42):
the salad bar line. I said, I said, you know,
there's always been a seventy eight on the Steelers for
every Super Bowl that they've won, right, And he was
like word, I said, yeah, I said, I said, two guys,
two guys had those numbers for all six of those
that the first guy won. Four of them was like,
his name is Dwight White, and he played on the
defensive line, like you said. The other one was me.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
He's like, oh okay, So, by the way, it's not
your belly, right, just again to get that out there,
not my belly.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I do not have a patented belly rub dance. I'm
sure I was big enough to be able to show
that off. But my jersey actually fit I had. I
made sure I had a little tuck in tuck in
space so it never quite rose up.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I had a firmly My belt was tied tight. Now
these kids, I don't even think they have belts on
their on their pants. That's one of those things that
that's gone the wayside, kind of like the hip pad,
hip and butt pass.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I was gonna add, okay to wear back in the day.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
So before we before we get off, I just real quick,
I want to point out first points scored by the
Steelers in Super Bowl history.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
They did not belong to number twelve. They did not
belong to number thirty two, They did not belong to
number twenty. They belonged to seventy eight when Dwight White
recovered that fumble. I'm sorry when Dwight White had the
act for safety right the official sack. I remember he
was coming out of the hospital. He lost a bunch
of weight.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
There's a great story about how people didn't even think
he was gonna play in the Super Bowl. He literally
got out of his hospital bed, went to the stadium,
got his uniform on, and played. First points scored ever
by a Pittsburgh steiler in the Super Bowl. Number seventy eight.
That was Dwight White. So your number, Max. But I
want to ask you, you know what you see now
(17:27):
like if people and maybe they don't do this anymore.
In pee wee football, when we're playing pee wee football, man,
we had we had thigh pads that were pads. We had,
you know, tailbone pads that were pads. And actually in college,
same thing, especially especially around the hip bone and the
hips and that kind of thing. Did you did you
have actual pads or did you just basically wear a
(17:49):
pair of pants.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
No, I we still have pads and the referees would
come by and check, they'd tap your hip to make
sure you had hip pads. And I had the school
ones that you had to. You had to lace the
belt through them so so they stayed in place, they
didn't slide out. And then later, of course, I got
the actual girdle that you wear underneath your pants that
(18:13):
held the thigh, hip and butt in place. So you
put this whole kind of underpant, so to speak, on
and it had the butt pad and the and the
hip pads in there. And then it wasn't until like
later in my career where it wasn't mandatory anymore in
the league that I did not wear my hip and
tail and it was just the front thigh boards and
(18:33):
the knee pads. But I wore I wore a full
blown pad, and it was a part of my ritual.
How I got ready for the game was I laid
my pads out in a very specific fashion to make
sure that I did them in the same way every
single time. And so I always started left thigh, left knee,
right thigh, right knee when I put him when I
(18:54):
put them into my actual physical pants, because then you
didn't have the the girdle shell so to sp that
you had to put on, you know, you went to
the more traditional girdle or sports tights. However, you want
to classify them where they didn't have the pockets in
them and then actually went into your physical pants. So
my physical game pants held my knee pads and my
(19:15):
my and my thigh knee and thigh pads.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Well, it is kind of amazing to watch, uh, the
evolution of the pads, right.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Uh really now it's like Jesus. I mean it's like
the guys put on bicycle shorts, you know, and the
and the and the pants don't even go below the
knee anymore. Right, that's the other part. I'm like, that
boy's whole kneecap is out, you know, and I'm like, man,
I would have never in the era that we played.
Heck no, there's no way I would expose my knee.
(19:43):
And trust me, as a guy who had four knee surgeries,
I understood how important it was to protect that knee,
you know, so it was like it was just unthought of.
But now, I mean, it's like the guys like slim fit,
like you know, they're they're aerodynamic and smooth, they don't
wear any of that stuff. That just it still kind
of bothers me to that moment. I'm like, man, I
(20:04):
was like, you need to protect your knees. I was like,
so what happens if you have a knee brace on?
So then the knee brace is fully exposed now as
opposed to having at least that illusion of protection around
the knees, you know, And so it does. It does
bother me a little bit. I am a little bit
of the old man on my porch, right, you know,
yelling at the kids going by stay off my lawn.
But but you know what, I happily embrace that because
(20:26):
once again, Rob I said this, we are in unk status.
We're allowed to We're allowed to have these comments. Now
we're allowed to shake our fists. You rue the day
that you don't wear knee pads in front of me? Yeah,
you know, we have that now moment where we can
do that. But it is amazing this game has evolved
and they aren't mandatory as much. I mean, I think
(20:48):
the thighs are still kind of mandatory, but the knees
I definitely know are definitely not mandatory. It looks like
out there by the way guys dress.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
So a short diversion, we're gonna get back talking about
there's roster Steelers players. What Max saw on Thursday who
made a strong case of themselves. All that's still to
coming when we consider in continue inside the locker Room
with King and Starks presented by your neighborhood Fords Store
on the Steelers Audio Network. And welcome back inside the
(21:22):
locker Room with King and Starks presented by your neighborhood
Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network. You know,
guys that are a little bit dinged up, and we're
talking again with Max about you know, cut down day tomorrow.
It's a huge day, huge day in the calendar. Your
look at probably what about ninety five percent of the
(21:45):
team is going to comprise the possibility, of course that
trades will happen either tomorrow or you know, in the
in the coming days or even up to the trade deadline.
You know, the Steelers has not been afraid to make moves,
so you know this isn't necessarily it, but this is
the bulk of the team that is going to be
setting sail on the twenty twenty five season. And we
(22:08):
talked about how you know, you have two spots that
you can designate for injury for guys, which means again
you put him on the IR and they are there
for four weeks as opposed you put him on the IR.
Now they're done for the season, but you get two
special spots. You cut down to fifty three, but you
can take two decisions and maybe sort of push them
(22:30):
down the road a little bit and think about bringing
those guys back in four weeks. And there's a twenty
one day window, I believe it is, so you even
have a little bit more time to designate a guy
for return and bring him back, so you don't have
to make an absolute.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Decision on some guys.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
And we talked about that in terms of Derek Carmon,
and I think we would both be surprised based on
the medical advice, medical prognosis we've heard if Derek Carmon
would wind up on the injured reserve list. But there
are still guys, you know, there are some guys whose
injury statuses are for me a little you know, hazy,
(23:10):
So Calvin Austen of Calvin Anderson, John why Smith, Corey Trice,
Juan Thornhill, Dante Kent, Beanie Bishop. Okay, so I've just
named seven guys. Now, a lot of those guys, assuming
that their health is not a big issue, are in
no risk of heading to IR but there's still a
(23:31):
lot of clarity on the injury front that will be
nice to get in the coming days.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
No, I definitely will you know, Mike Tomlin his appetite
for disclosing anything in advance of the seasons at zero.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah, you don't need to.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, there's no need to. And I think a lot
of people pressing him for it, you know, in the
media is always is always a fun mental exercise to
go back and forth with him about because you know,
he's not giving it to you. No. Long time beat
writers know this, and it's usually a younger guy or
a guy that's like, I guess gott to write something,
(24:06):
you know that that'll just throw it out there and
it's like you're gonna get a two word answer, you know,
or I should say, Mike tomains case a five word
a five word answer like I'm not going to disclose.
And how many different ways he could say that, how
many different you know interpretations he can give you of
the same thing. And I think that was that was
(24:27):
one of the funny things to hear when he had
media availability and they asked him about that on Saturday,
was about it was about Hey, it was interested. I'm
not ready to disclose. It's like, it's like, and I
don't have to just like you know, when he has
to put out that that the uh the depth chart
for the preseason, it's only because you know it's required
(24:49):
by the NFL to do it, will he actually do it?
But when it's not required, do not expect it. And
it's been the same modus operandi since says he says
he has been here on this team, and it's like, yeah,
if you've never read a transcript or been at a
press conference, that's what's funny that they ask those questions
because you know what you're going to get. But it's
(25:10):
like they just have to put him on the record.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
For it, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
And sometimes, uh, you know, having been you know, in
the media for for a you know, a huge part
of my professional career, sometimes you're rolling your eyes. You know,
you want to pull the guy aside and say, hey, listen,
I have to ask you this question, right, Like.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Listen, bro, we only get so much time with him.
Please stop asking questions that we all know the answer
to you.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yes, But but sometimes you say, you know what I mean,
because they're you're you're trying to put yourself in the
mind in the in the mindset of the fan that
you have to ask a question even though you know,
and and it's just to simply get the reaction, even
though you know there is no reaction.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
So there's no glory to be had here.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
No, no, there is no glory to be had here.
So it'll be interesting to see, you know, how some
of these guys shake out injury wise. It doesn't sound
like anything is too serious. You know, Harmon's week to week.
I don't know as anybody else has been categorized as
week to week. I think that you know, you know,
(26:24):
Mike Tomlinks talked about guys who are limited in their participation,
you know, you call Beanie day to day dealing with something,
so uh, you know, there are again a list, including
Harmon of I think eight guys that we just talked
about who are in some way, shape or form dinged up,
(26:46):
with Harmon being the only guy that I've heard at
this point categorized is week to week. So that's not
a bad position to be in at this point of
the season.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
No, it's not. And also there's no urgency. That's the
other thing wrong. There's no urgent. And see with this,
you can let things play out at this particular point
because you've got two weeks and you know, a week
to week designation with two weeks left before you actually
have to commit to you know, quote unquote competitive play.
(27:19):
It's not like you said, it's not the worst thing
in the world, and there's no need to disclose. I
think people are so enamored because there is a list,
and obviously fantasy football seasons upon us. We're in that
time of year, so people and of course gambling purposes.
That's the reason why these lists were created. It wasn't
for competitive transparency. That was not why this list was created.
(27:42):
It was it was for other purposes to help gauge.
So let let let's just keep that in perspective that
we're we're not going to get this all of a sudden,
this you know, this breath of oh my gosh, I
have to do this because it's the right thing to do. No,
it's not. It's not necessarily the right thing to do.
It's just this is what's mandatorily required. And of course,
(28:04):
you know, Bill Belichick was famous. He would just list
everybody on there just to mess everybody up. But you know,
that's that's what you're kind of dealing with with it.
So yeah, and if I'm Mike Tomlin, absolutely not in
my disclaiming disclosing whether a guy is ready to play
or not. Right, Nope, that's not gonna happen. You're not
You're not getting an ounce from me.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
And the good good news yeah, as you mentioned, the
good news about being week to week at this point
is that two weeks two of those week two weeks
will be gone by the time you put your first
game against the Jets, so a little bit of recovery time.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
You wouldn't want to be week to week.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Uh and say week seven, you know, being week to
week now with some time to recover is good. By
the way, I shouldn't have done this, Max, I know it,
I understand it. I shouldn't have done it because we
have so much, so many other things to talk about.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
But I have to admit my mind snuck ahead to
the Jets just to go back to the defense. So
I did it. I couldn't help it, couldn't help myself,
and it was.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And again we're gonna spend way more time on this
in the future. But just talking about you know, as
it pertains to the injury to harmon seems unlikely he'd
be ready for that Jets game. That's again reports that
we've read and that I've read. That's that's all I
can go by. Unlikely that he'd be ready to play
against the Jets. Maybe why a Black steps up and
(29:31):
gets some more playing time. When I look at that
Jets team, that's you know a little bit like say
Philadelphia or Baltimore. I mean, the Steelers don't have Philadelphia
this year. What they do in Baltimore kind of the
games where you'd like to have all your defensive linemen there.
Because this was a sneak peek ahead on the Jets
that I did three first round picks, including your first
(29:54):
round pick this year. On the offensive line, a quarterback
who we own justin fields is a real threat to
run and Bryce Hall Brayalen Allen, Isaiah Davis. I'm not
sure he's gonna be ready for him, but a stable
of running backs that they really like. This is the
kind of game you'd like to be healthy on the
(30:15):
d line. But again, when we're talking about fifth six,
you know, fourth, fifth, sixth defensive lineman and how that
might shake out, it's for games like this. To me,
this this is of course it's for every game, but
this is a game coming up in which there's a
little more imperative to to having health and who's going
(30:36):
to be out.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
There in the top of that rotation.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I don't want to talk about it forever, but I
just want to point out that that as we're as
we're diving into defensive line, and people may be wondering
why we've cited some of the statistics about how the
defensive line fared last year and Cam Hay was on
the field, how they fared when he was not on
the field, you know, So things like that have underscored
the importance of what the Steelers need to do.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
And I think in Game one it's going to be
to the test.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
No, You're absolutely right, it's going to be a challenge,
and that that is why you kind of want to
get your guys in place and get them used to
facing this type of adversity, because, yeah, you're you're gonna
you're gonna see it in season. You're going to experience this,
and you want to be as well combated and well
prepared as you possibly can be for that challenge. And
(31:25):
you know who Justin feels is you had him in
your building for a year, so you know what his
what his deficiencies, you know what his strengths are, and
you know what he offers and brings to the table.
So you want to make sure that you are well aware,
well equipped to handle that guy. And so you know
(31:47):
it's gonna be very imperative that that they take particular
caution and that you prep properly. Possibly, you know a
little bit, maybe too much. But once again, is there
really too much operation for for a game when you
know the season and you have a finite amount of them.
You know, we have seventeen opportunities to jock for position
(32:10):
and to earn the golden ticket, and that golden ticket
always make the Willy Wonka reference for this to get
into the playoff, you want to get into the factory,
right but you but obviously the goal is to make
it all the way through the factory and to not
get entrapped by all these different little challenges and obstacles
that come along the way. You want to see it
to the end and this is but the only way
(32:32):
you do that. You have to navigate the gauntlet that
is seventeen games of physicality on a weekly basis, and
you've got to attack the obstacles, the short week, Thursday
night games. You know, how you recover from a bye
week going into the next game. You know, where's your
preparation at, and all of the different things to get
thrown at you. Holidays, you know, and you're playing in
(32:55):
and around holidays, you know, towards the end of the year,
and not losing sight the injuries, the attrition that happened,
like all of these little things that happened along the way.
And that's why I say mile markers, not milestones for
your progress as a team. And you know you're taking
stock at every quarter of the season, and now it
(33:17):
doesn't come out to a clean quarter anymore. There's seventeen games,
so you know, you got the little dangler that seventeenth
game that is a non conference, non you know, common
opponent that you're going to play as that seventeenth game,
and it matters every week, and so whatever you can
do to get an advantage at least in one of
(33:37):
those seventeen games, you want to take full advantage of.
In the Steelers right now and every other team in
the league has this advantage of getting the best prepared
that they can be to put their best foot forward
come to start the season.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
And to quote Willie Wanka, since you brought him up
so much time, so little to do, stop reverse that
we have so much to talk about in so little time.
Just one more segment remaining inside the locker Room with
King and Stark. We're gonna get to that when we continue.
It's brought to you by your neighborhood Ford Store here
(34:11):
on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Man.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Welcome back inside the locker Room with King of Stark
with enter by.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Your neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network
and Max. While we were in break, some news broke
about Terry McLaurin, who has just signed a three year
thirty I'm sorry, three year, ninety six million doire deal.
No way did Terry want that to be starting with
a thirty unless it was unless we're talking about his
(34:47):
annual take, which is thirty two million dollars a year.
So you know again, look that you know they're hey boy,
the Steelers should go out and get a guy like
Terry McLaurin. Was never gonna happen. He's a two time
Pro bowler, he's a very good player. Made the Pro
Bowl last year in in Jayden daniels first year at
(35:09):
the Helm, He's gonna be thirty on September fifteenth, still
appears to have some productivity ahead of him. And incidentally,
you know when you talk about how you manage your roster, right,
he's gonna get three years and you can go ahead
and pay him that because you're not paying anybody to
the quarterback position right now, right, so you can afford
(35:32):
and teams can usually afford one, you know, highly paid receivers,
much as his stoodents have done with DK Metcalf. But
your thoughts on this Terry McLaurin signing before we get
back to our Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Backs, Well, I mean it was one of the things obviously,
the idea was floated that, oh, the Steelers can go
after yeah, you know, Terry McLaurin, and and he will.
He could be a steel that could be the number
two receiver. And it's like, uh no, guys, I mean,
let's just let's pump our brakes here. You know, you
have the ability because Jayden is on that rookie deal.
(36:06):
So it was one that I felt was was was
going to be a stretch at least to deal with,
you know, trying to figure out and you already had
a top flight receiver that you're paying in Dk Metcalf.
So I know a lot of people were salivating at
the thought of it, and you know, I'm sure fantasy
football players were also like, well, what's gonna happen. What's
(36:27):
gonna happen with Terry McLaurin. It's like that was one
that you know was going to be imminent. I mean,
you know what what Jayden and dam was able to
accomplish was was in part due to the fact that
you had a guy like Terry McLaurin on the outside
that he could throw too. So he wasn't leaving Washington
even though you know, I don't. I know, it's one
of those things that happens. But Rob, you know what,
(36:48):
we gotta do what we got. It's the last segment.
You know what that means? Break time for the bell lap.
That is your lunch warning system. Everybody. It is going
to be noon, very soon, very eminently, in the next
eight minutes. So if you are on the parkway, make
sure you heead and go get something very delicious and
(37:09):
tasty for your lunchtime needs. All right, Okay, we had
to get that out the way. That is our that
is our normal thing that we do at the last segment.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, and so thank you, by the way, and thank
you for pointing that out. Now let me just say
this too in terms of you know this this number
two receiver type I'm gonna be And look there's a
trade deadline that comes up, So I for one am
extremely intrigued by how this is all gonna work at
(37:41):
the receiver position for this teelers. You know you have
Calvin Austin, we know who looks like the number two guy.
But you know you also got Johnny Smith. And I
tried to tell this to people Max a lot. Look,
Jalen Ramsey is incredible to get jail and Ramsey in
that trade. For me, if Fitzpatrick you know, uh, look,
(38:03):
I'm thrilled to have another corner like that. Well if
you know, he's kind of his own man.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
He's mister secondary another You can't even call him a corner.
He is whatever you need him to be in the secondary.
Guess what he can morph into into that.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Guy He can't.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
He's such a great player. But I tell people, don't
forget john new Smith. I mean, I would not be
shocked if John hu Smith winds up and we haven't
seen him obviously, but I would not be shocked if
he winds up as this seither's uh second receivers in
terms of receptions. And then again, much like we've sort
of mentioned with Logan Lee, we can get more into
(38:44):
this tomorrow. You know this group of guys who are
are one plus the rookies, but they didn't play last year.
Troy Faltanu did not play last year. He's your starting
right tackle. Logan Lee did not play last year. I
think he's made a strong, strong case to be on
the roster this year as a six round pick a
year ago. And Roman Wilson might intrigue me as much
(39:09):
as any of them, maybe with the exception of f Altana,
as a guy who can come in and I think
I am really interested to see what sort of impact
a healthy Roman Wilson can have for the Steelers' offense,
particularly these in these first weeks.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
I think the.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Addition of those two guys, maybe some continued usage for
Darnell Washington, sort of lessens the need for that number
two receiver. Right Look, I think this my guess would
be that the Steelers are in the philosophy of if
a guy can help us regardless of position, We're interested.
But I don't know as they're really targeting a wide receiver.
(39:48):
I know it's been reported, and I think they were
targeting one last year, but I'm not sure. I'm not
really sure that they are. I mean, I'm I am
very very intrigued to see what this group of receivers
can do right now, and obviously, if there's room to improve,
you do it. But as far as targeting in this position,
I don't know. Max, I'm I'm interested to see. And
(40:11):
you know, the reason we're having this discussion is based
on McLaurin and the contract we just heard about. And
I know I've kind of left you up against it,
but you know, if you could give me your take
on this wide receiver and receiving group, including a tight ends,
I'd be interested to hear.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
No.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
I think it's something that people are always going to
yearn for more, right, you want more? I need more.
I need names, I need household you know, tangible names.
I need fantasy football number names. You know. I love
the idea of you know, a team just having too
many weapons at their disposal, But you know what one
(40:48):
team does, you can't follow them. And I think you know,
when you look around the league and you look at
what Cincinnati, I would say most notably, right, they just
had two receivers a lot of money offensively after paying
their quarterback. You have T Higgins and you have Jmr Chase, right,
you know, people are are just infatuated with that idea.
(41:11):
Oh there's two mountain receivers on the outside, and everybody
has to have that.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
You don't have to. And because I mean, you know,
you look at Philly, right, it's DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown.
You know, you look at you look at what you know.
Now Dallas seemingly has right with George Pickens and CD Lamb,
and and you wonder what could be if we just
have two top flight receivers. But some teams aren't built,
(41:37):
and not all teams are built the same way. Kansas
City Chiefs name their top two receivers receivers, not not
Travis Kelcey. Right, right, Okay, Zame, you're worthy. You could
throw out there, You could throw ra she Rice, but
that's that's stuck. Gonna scare anybody. But look, that team
made it to the Super Bowl. They represented the AFC
(41:57):
a year ago with no number one true number one
one receiver. So the idea that you have to do
it this certain way and there's is impossible to do
this without two receives. No, we have we have recent
data to show us that you don't need to top
flight receivers to make it to a Super Bowl. Now
you might need it to win the Super Bowl. You know,
(42:18):
you could argue that point of course. I know there's
people on the eastern side of the state that would
that would obviously challenge that and say that Luke we
had with Devuntu Smith and A. J. Brown. I get it,
I get it. But the end of the day, it's
not prerequisite, and I think people kind of get upset
obsessed with that with that fact when it's like, no,
you can do it by committee, just like you could
do it by running back by committee. You know, you
(42:40):
don't need the number one running back and you could
do it with a group of running backs or two
or three. It's many different ways to skin the cat, right,
there's many different ways to get to the league or
get to the Super Triple Old Championship.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Totally agree. And and by the way, yeah, and the
students want to run the football. I mean that, you know,
they want to use the game, They want to use
their tight ends. And I think getting Roman Wilson back
and getting John news Smith in that trade, they're two guys.
They didn't have anybody like those guys last year. They
didn't And so I think the big argument last year,
(43:16):
and I think you could still make that argument now,
but I'm in the wait and see camp. The big
argument last year was, hey, if if you lose Pickens,
then what right, who's who can step up and scare teams?
And the answer kind of was nobody, really, nobody that
you could they could put the team on his back
and say I'll do it, and probably not even a
(43:38):
committee that could get that job done for you. And
again he got injured at the head of that losing
streak that that you know, we all remember at the
end of last year. I think this year, you know,
DK Metcalf, I think is an upgrade over George Pickens.
And then I think the guys, you know, look, you're
you're paying Dk Metcalf in excess to thirty million dollars
(44:00):
year for a reason because he's an elite player.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
And it's like TJ.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Watt there is by definition, just look at their salaries.
By definition, there's going to be a drop off when
they're not there. There's a reason they're getting paid that.
But I think the Steelers are better equipped to handle
a short period of time without a top receiver than
they were a year ago, where that to me was
not Again similar offense, do you need a number two
(44:26):
receiver weekend and week out? No, what you needed in
most four because he's not going to be thrown to
like t Higgins is in Cincinnati. What you needed in
most four was if Pickings got hurt and you didn't
have that, and I think it hurt him. I think
you're better situated this year to withstand a short term
injury to an elite player at the receiver position.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
No, and I completely agree. I think you're absolutely right.
I love once again, depth. That's that key word, right Rob,
that keeps coming up. It's that we are a lot
we have a lot more depth at playmaking ability than
we were a year ago. Right, We were a little
bit starved of that kind of star guy who could
(45:07):
take over a game if you had one missing, and
we weren't. We weren't that a year ago. I mean,
you obviously said that, and I think that's where I
think a lot of people kind of kind of lose
sight of the fact that you have that. Now, like
you said, if a dk Metcalf goes down, you could
make it with you know, just take the tight end room,
(45:28):
Pat Fryar move Darnould Washington, John neu Smith. That's three
guys right there that you know. And then you still
got a Connor Heyward. You know that that that's in
that mix. And then you go, okay, well, after a
number one receiver, what do we have? We have Calvin
Austen who showed himself and and and as a very
confident receiver and returner threat for you. You have Roman
(45:48):
Wilson and what he's done to really come on as
a rookie plus right because he didn't really get any
time a year ago. Just like Tory Fautanu. He's a
rookie plus that has a lot of upside to him
that you can go to. And then of course you
got Kenth Gamewell in the backfield. You have to remember
this guy won to set a run championship and he
tore us up personally. You hear listen, Rob, he tore
us up personally. We watched that game in Philadelphia where
(46:12):
he got checkdowns and screens and destroyed us. So you
still have that guy in the backfield along with a
Jalen Warren and of course what we've seen growth week
after week from Caleb Johnson. That's a trio on the bet.
So you have these options available to you that you
didn't have. You didn't have this type of depth a
year ago. So we're very better and more well situated.
(46:34):
And then we look defensively, there's depth there. If you
could run the football and play good defense, we don't
need to win a game by thirty points. We don't
even need to score forty points. The whole idea of
the game is to score one more point than the opponent.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
That's exactly right, and it's all and you're right. The
defense plays a factor in that as well. Hey, everybody out,
the locker room's now closed. Locker rooms closed.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Sorry, players got a shower. Players got a shower.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Little bonus coverage, Max, We went a little bit old,
but that's okay.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
We like doing that.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
So again, tomorrow's cutdown day. We're gonna get you ready
for that with some of the key positional battles as
we see them. If more news breaks around the NFL,
we'll have that for you as well. Thanks for listening
today Inside the Locker Room with King and Starch, presented
by our neighborhood Ford store here on the Steelers Audio
Net
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