HR1: Best of the Wes, Around the Campus

The Drive debates the best running backs in the NFL right now, along with their weekly check-in around college football.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal, Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation. It's the Drive on the Steelers
Audio Network. West Shooler and Matt Williamson with you here
for the next two hours on your twenty four to
seven home of the Black and Gold. As we hit
that Wednesday Day, Matt, Wednesday Day, say that five times fast.
We hit the Wednesday Day where we uh start to
turn the page a little bit, do some more global stuff.

(00:49):
Our weekly pick a Player conversation that has become one
of my new favorite segments. Plenty for us to get
into and to dabble with today, but I wanted to
start with, UH make some pretty cool news for you
cool and that is that former Steelers defensive lineman the
Great L. C. Greenwood has been named one of nine
semi finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class

(01:11):
of twenty twenty six in the Seniors category.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
He was a tenth round pick of the Steelers in
the nineteen sixty nine NFL Draft out of Arkansas, A
M and N thirteen seasons for the Steelers, obviously a
huge part of the Steel Curtain and four Super Bowl Championships,
playing alongside me and Joe, Dwight White and Ernie Holmes,
and you know, I know stats were a little different

(01:40):
than that, exactly right, but he did. Even with that
being said, Matt, he still finished his career with seventy
three and a half sacks, two time first Team All Pro,
six time Pro bowler back when that really meant something.
Member of the Steelers All Time Team NFL nineteen seventies

(02:00):
All Decade Team, was of course part of that inaugural
steel of Steelers Hall of Honor class, that massive one
in twenty seventeen when they unveiled the Hall of Honor, Matt,
pretty cool. I One of the things you and I
have talked about this before, like when you talk to
the Bob Labriolas of the world, Yeah, yeah, yeah, they
will always tell you after me and Joe Green, it's

(02:22):
frank O Harris, right, Like that's one of those that
you ask the people that have been around for the
history of this organization and have really you know, devoted
themselves to it. That's one of the popular questions is
like who's on that Mount Rushmore, right, And they're always
like me and Joe first, Franco second, another thing that
if you ask, you know, people like Labs, who is

(02:45):
the number one most deserving Steeler who's not in the
Hall of Fame that should be okay, always Elsie Greenway.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, it comes up a lot. And you know, I've
had these conversations my uncle, my dad, you know, I mean,
and people kind of taught me football way back when,
or you know, as a fan. And I'm older than
you obviously, so I was alive, you know, when these
things were happening, but barely. I mean, like I've said before,
like the first football game that I remember and really

(03:12):
understanding to some degree what was going on was the
Steelers went over the Rams in the super Bowl, the
fourth Super Bowl, watching every play and.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
I told you mind the Super Bowl thirty against the
Cowboys that the Steelers lost.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
So I understand the lore of l S and you
know how how important he was in that era to
some degree. But like if you ask my dad or
you know, certainly Labs would be the best person to
talk to about it. Yeah, I guess we definitely should
that Elsie was not as as important as anyone on
that team, because I mean there were bigger stars than him.

(03:47):
My goodness, I mean Ham Lambert, I mean, yeah, blunt
to me, there were easy Hall of Famers Green of course,
but he's right there behind that group of no brainer
Hall of famers, you know. So, Frank, this to me
is what exactly what the Veterans Committee is for. Completely agree, yeah,
I mean, that's why it exists.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
To appear in this seniors category. Now, you could have
last appeared in a professional football game in the year
two thousand, so it's twenty five years and it's obviously
been longer for LC and some of these other guys started. Matt,
here's the kind of exciting, encouraging part. Started with one
hundred and eighty two nominees.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Now right right now it's down to nine, right right, I.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Mean, so he has really made it to the you know,
I mean from from nearly two hundred games, from nearly
two hundred names to a single digit list.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
It amazed me if they start with two hundred names, I.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Mean one hundred and eighty two, like right, that's nuts.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Like I think Gary Anderson is on that list.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
I can tell you. I'll tell you here in a minute.
All of the Multiday are so nine people. The Seniors
Blue Ribbon Committee, which funny enough, is a nine person
committee as well. They will meet November twenty fifth, that's
next week, and vote to narrow this down to three.
So it will go from nine to three.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
How things got whittled down for this one.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Neither did I, and that's kind of why I wanted
to talk through it with you here as well, just
as well TV. Those names, as well as the finalist
coach and contributor categories will be unveiled in early December.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Okay, so I think they are even different voters.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
I believe that that's what it sounds like, a separate committee.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I hope. And these are older human beings that do
this vote, I.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Would think, so it shouldn't be a bunch of people
who look like me, right right.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
I mean, yeah, you can read like anybody else and
watch their resumes or go to YouTube or whatever. But
at least to have been around in that era I
think goes a long way.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Here's the other eight names that will be battling with L. C.
Greenwood for Canton immortality. Ken Anderson. We actually talked about
him last week. Yeah, quarterback.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
He was so people don't know. The West Coast offense
started with Ken Anderson when Bill Walsh was the offense
coordinator with the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
And then he and then he goes to the West Coast.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
It's really the Ohio River offense. I mean like it's
and he executed it extremely well before anyone knew who
Montana was.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
It's like we we talked about Chip Kelly a little
bit yesterday. Yeah, people always talked about that crazy style
of spread offense that he kind of created at Oregon.
It actually happened at New Hampshire, you know, when he
was when he was like a D two school doing that.
Organ hired him to.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Come out and he figured it and we're exposed to it.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Like Mike Leach gets a ton of credit for air
raid stuff. It was actually how mummy at b YU,
like you know how all that stuff works.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Yet nobody created other stuff out of thin air too,
you know. But Walsh was extremely, extremely innovative and was
considered the fore runner to become the Bengals head coach.
They've made the wrong choice, got someone else. He goes
the Niners.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
That's a theme for that organization, yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
A little bit. And uh so I think Anderson might
even have a stronger case in LC. I mean, else
has four Rings.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
What really helps Ken Anderson is he was the league
MVP in nineteen eighty one. Elsie has the four rings
the Ultimate Team's success, but Ken Anderson the Ultimate Individual
Award nineteen eighty one MVP finished his career mat with
nearly thirty three thousand passing yards and one hundred and
ninety seven touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
That's the thing is, and people didn't throw the ball.
I mean, like that'd be great for now, you know.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
He was kind of like Marino before Marino.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Right, and it was a lot of short controlled stuff.
Like if you look at like I remember getting like
you're too young for this, but like you get a
nineteen seventy nine passing leader's card and there'd be one
from the AFC and one from the NFC, you know,
and it was Ken Anderson a lot, you know, like
nineteen seventy five, I'm guessing maybe like seventy six ish
to eighty two or eighty three. He was always amongst

(07:50):
the top passing leaders because nobody knew how to understand
the short controlled you know. I don't want to get
too much into football history, nor am I the best
historian for but what Walsh really.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Did the workout here for a minute, Matt. The people
love this stuff.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
And it's this to me is unbelievably innovative. Is he
married Walsh married? The drop your footwork with the exact
timing down to the tenth of the second to the route.
I mean, that's really beauty bang right right right? This
is a three step drop, you know, this is a
five step drop two point six seconds, you know. So

(08:26):
I'm gonna marry my route.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
You're you're gonna throw that thing six inches in front
of Jerry Rice's number.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
Right, and defenses didn't know what to do with it,
you know, right. And frankly, that's a big reason the
zone blitz created because you drop into those quick slants
and things, you know that they're kind of getting away.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
You know, what's the phrase that you've said to me
a few times. That's a classic that necessity is the
mother the mother of invention is necessity. Yeah, yeah, right,
So these quarterbacks and wide receivers are dicing us up
like this, let's come up with the zone blitz.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
And corners are like balls coming out before he's even
coming out of his break. You know, they practiced this
route eight thousand times. Montana to Rice, you know right,
but it was Anderson was ahead of the game on that.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Speaking of Billy Walsh and those Niners teams and those offenses,
Roger Craig also want.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
To help, so he's gonna have some tough swimming here, nominees.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
He was the running back during that Montana Rice era,
first player to total one thousand rushing yards and receiving
in the same season in the NFL. He walked, so
Christian McCaffrey could run exactly three times Super Bowl champion,
eight years in the league, over thirteen hundred yards from scrimmage,
seventy three touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Again ahead of his game, ahead of his time. People remember,
like NFL film stuff, if you watch those Super Bowls
or you know, real high knees, you know, he's got
a real deliberate style. Like so he stood out, you know,
on a really good team. But running backs weren't catching
the ball back much back then. I mean, like think
of the awesome running backs of the seventies. It's like

(10:02):
oj Earl Campbell, Franknco. I mean, they're phenomenal players. But
then with that many catches. That was kind of a
Bill Walsh thing too, was easy throws. The running backs
against linebackers that can't cover anyone back then, you know,
and Craig was Craig also has the rings like Craig
kind of has the innovative Yep, I'm saying this Hall

(10:24):
of Fame case, trying to be as impartial as possible.
Craig has some of the innovative ahead of his time.
Anderson stuff, Andy is Elsie's right, He's got right, right, right.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Those are two very viable can't now remember it goes
from nine to three, so it's not like they're just picking.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
One to be.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, Henry Ellard wide receiver in the eighties and nineties,
Let's see here, eight hundred and fourteen receptions, thirteen hundred
thirteen thy seven hundred yards, sixty five touchdowns. His yardages
are wide receiver still ranks fifteenth in league history, surpassed

(11:00):
one thousand yard receiving seasons seven times in his career,
led the league in receiving in nineteen eighty eight. Solid.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, say, the resume is better than I thought. I
was gonna kind of brush it off, But I mean
there's still be thirteenth in all time receiving yards when
the game has changed, so.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
Drafted that to me is impressed. Fifteenth, but still that's
to be top fifteen. Still when you played in the
eighties and nineties.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
And back then, I mean there would only be and
they played fewer games sixteen at that point, but there
was only I'm guessing five to seven thousand yard receivers
a year. And if he did it that many times,
you know, it's impressive. Yeah, yeah, he would still be fourth.
That we've mentioned so far.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
This is an impressive group.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
It is, yeah, Because I'll be honest, sometimes he's veteran
committee guys. It's like this guy played center and nose
tackle back in nineteen forty eight. Okay, I mean that's
I respect it. But what are we doing here? Which
maybe I'm just getting old if I remember these dudes,
like the entire career both.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
A little bit of both. Uh Matt, I know Halloween
was a couple of weeks ago, But put your hog
nose on because Joe Jacobi is up next. Another good
one thirteen year career, all with the team formally labeled
as the Redskins now called the Commander's three super Bowls
as part of that Hog unit, two time first team
All Pro, four time.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Pro bowler played with Thrush Grim, you know, and Bostic
was the center.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
They were Clariff. Yeah, yeah, well, I guess he was
on that last Super Bowl team. Shlaif was, wasn't he?

Speaker 3 (12:29):
Sli was on Denver late. Well, he played washing.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
He won one with the Hogs and then two with
l One.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
I think he's noticed the older in these guys. This
is like early eighties. Mark May was the other tackle,
and Russ Graham. These guys like Jacoby probably came in
the league in like nineteen eighty or something like that.
Cha powerful, nasty. He'd be outside. I mean, he'd be
at the bottom of this list for me. But he's

(12:55):
still many. You know. I think you said several Pro
Bowls and you know.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Four Pro Bowls, two First Team All Pros. Yeah, for
three Super Bowl rings and a pretty nice.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
Career through it. Like Munyos and Jackie Slater, they're the
tackles that are you got to beat out for Pro
Bowls and All Pros.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
You know, it's impressive.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Let's go to a cornerback here, Eddie Meter.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
I don't know him.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Is that how he pronounces his last name. I believe
it is from the Rams he played in the fifties
and sixties, so that's probably why you and I aren't
incredibly familiar. But two time first Team All Pro, six
time Pro bowler nineteen sixties NFL All Decade Team, finished
his career with forty six interceptions, still a Rams franchise record.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
I don't much the comment on it, but I do
think All Decade Team carries a lot of weight.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
I was just going to say that with LC. Yeah,
that carries a lot of weight.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
But one thing I don't like about the All Decade
Team is if you were drafted nineteen eighty five and
you played the nineteen ninety five you're not making an
All Decade team unless you're like Lawrence Taylor.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, yeah, right, you have five straight years of it
All Pro, right right. Stanley Morgan wide receiver, is also
a finalist. From seventy seven to nineteen ninety postage the
most yards per reception in NFL history among players with
more than five hundred career receptions. Deep Threat Team point
two four time Pro bowler as a New England Patriots,

(14:20):
still the Patriots all time leader in receiving yards. Did
play once? That's impressive? Did play?

Speaker 3 (14:26):
I would have guessed it's seriously.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Or even Edelman or Welker did play his final season
in the NFL with the Colts.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
Okay, he was a deep threat, scary guy, you know.
I mean those those teams weren't great. That was like
Steve Grogan was the quarterback in the eighties and John
Hannah was like their only good player. You know.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Two more here, Matt and one of them, this next
one is a name who It's funny. I feel like
every time we've talked about special teams in these type
of awards, this guy's name comes up. Steve Tasker is
one of the finalists as well too, Special Teams and
wide receiver eighty five to ninety seven seven Pro Bowls.
Of course, special teams feed on for the Bills. Uh

(15:08):
and those Bills teams that went to and lost four
straight Super Bowls in the nineties. Spot contributor at wide
receiver of a best known for kick and punt coverage
on special teams.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
I mean, you can't tell me, I know, you can't
tell me that he was important to the Bills four
super Bowl runs, as LC was to the Steelers four
super Bowl runs. Any of these guys, but this might
be his opportunity because there was a lot of buzz
when he was up for real. You know, what do
you do with Tasker? What do you do with Hester
or these guys? And a guy like Hester, to me,
has a lot more weight than Tasker. I mean he

(15:39):
at least touched them.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Scored touchdown. Yeah, like literally changed games. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
People wouldn't punt to them, They just put.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
They just watch this guy with the bases loaded. Who cares?

Speaker 3 (15:49):
So even if you're the best gunner ever. That's why
I think they should almost have their own wing. You know,
every three years a special teamer goes, and if.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
There's only what one kicker and one punter or one
punter and no kickers in the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
I got a hard time putting two kickers. I know
Jan Stenerud from the seventies.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Oh yeah, and I.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Think Morten Andersen's in.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Okay, yeah, ray guy sounds right. So yeah, if you've
got three kickers in total in I got a hard
time putting in a gunner before.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
No long snapper, I mean, nor should there ever be.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Christian Kotz is gonna have something to say about that.
In a couple of years. Last one Matt otis Taylor
Wide receiver for the Chiefs from sixty five to seventy five.
Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs, Super Bowl
four champion with the Chiefs, two time Pro bowler, two
time All Pro, also won an AFL championship during his

(16:40):
ten year career. Led the AFL in touchdowns in sixty seven,
led the NFL in receiving yards in seventy one, a
little before my time.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
I know the name, and I knew he was a
dynamic player. A lot of AFL stuff in there, as
you mentioned, you know, which I have respect for. But
I bet the AFL was fun because they chucked the
ball around a lot more they they sure did, and
the NFL did at that time. Yeah, I think.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
LC is amongst the top. He's definitely in the top
half of these nine. He might be second or third
in terms of most deserving, just to be hard to
Craig and Anderson are tough to beat when you combine
the MVPs and the Super Bowl ring. But I think
else has got about as good of case as most
or more than those nine.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
I think it'd make my final three.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
I think he would as well.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Yeah, good for him.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
We will know that early December as they will meet
next week to narrow it down from nine to three
and then what will happen is all twenty finalists, so
that includes the Selection Committee's annual fifteen modern era players,
three senior players, one coach, one contributor will be narrowed
down to twenty and then from there they will vote
on the enshrinees for this Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Classies actually sit in the room and they really make
their case, and they spend the whole day and correct correct.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Of course, they will be announced at the NFL Honor
ceremony right before the Super Bowl, and Sam Francisco in
February and shrine in August, and Canton hopefully else, will
will finally get his much overdue credit. And yeah, he
certainly does, certainly does, and that would be pretty cool
for his family if that were to happen. And again,

(18:16):
we'll know at least if he made it as a
finalist here in the next couple of weeks before too
much longer.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Let's definitely talk to Mention at the labs.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
I was gonna say, remind us TV remind us as
well too, to bring this up the labs, because he's
great with this stuff and he'll he'll be able to
really kind of put perspective on not only l C,
but I think else against those other eight names.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yes, I might bring up Can Anderson to him too
as a division guy.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, let's take a break here. When we come back
on the other side, Matt, I got a little Best
of the West to tea up for you. Excited for
this one, Tyler and I spent yeoman's hours putting this together.
I worked harder on this than any homework assignment I
had in high school. I tell you, Best of the West,
top ten running backs in the National Football League right now,
spoiler alert, this was very difficult.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
I say, this is a tough one.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
I think I got extra gray hairs here in the
last couple hours trying to put it together. We'll discuss that.
I'll let Matt critique on the other side when we return.
As we roll along here on a Wednesday, it is
the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
Network, your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to
seven home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Time for a little best of the West Wednesday here,
Matt and full transparency for you. We're gonna talk top
ten running backs in the NFL right now running Back
Power rankings. Okay, just let me be honest with you
for a minute. Here's how this all went down. I
was in here this afternoon working on our weekly beefy
around Campus package. Yeah we'll get to that before too
much longer as well. But I get that done. I

(19:58):
get that all finished, print it all off, made up
for you and for TV. I actually took one to
our buddy tom op from End today as well too,
because he had been kind of conversing with me about it.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
I'll be doing a Wednesday night show with him any minute.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
The old Tommy had some homework, you know, to get
ready for for this weekend because his Pitt Panthers, of
course they are going to go down to Atlanta and
take on Georgia Tech Hayes King, who's been a part
of this conversation. So I finish up the around Campus
packet and we've probably I don't know, forty five minutes
until showtime. I'm putting together a rough outline for the show,
like we always do. Nothing crazy because we did a

(20:30):
little free form jazz, but usually like to have at
least Okay, we're talking to this guest at this time.
We know we got a couple of topics here to
hit on specifically, and I go, oh, I didn't put
together a Best of the West last night. It's usually
something I do on a Tuesday night. My wife and
I got into a little Netflix session last night and
I forgot so I go TV. I got to come
up with the Best of the West here. I don't
know what to do. I'm like, what should we do?

(20:53):
I was like, all right, we didn't that's also true.
And I was like, but you know what, I was like,
what about best running backs in the NFL right now?
Because we've done wide receivers, we've done quarterbacks throughout the.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Year, biting off a big project there, more than you think, man, And.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
I was like, yeah, let's do I think I think
TV was the one who was like, how about top
ten running backs? And I was like, yeah, let's do it.
That'll be fun, that'll be easy. It was not easy.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
No, it's not easy at all.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
I went over this list thirty times. Like I said,
I thought, I put more thought into this than any
homework assignment I had in high school. I scratched names
off and changed names around on my list. A bunch
of times I really like number one on my list.
Spoiler alert, Jonathan Taylor. After that, it gets very difficult.

(21:37):
But here's what I got for you.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
I'm not even sure he's one.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
Here's what put him over the top. He's averaging six
yards per carry. That's a half yard more than anybody else.
He has nearly two hundred yards more rushing than the
second place guy in the NFL right now, James Cook.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
He has had his BOS pay attention.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
He average, which is one hundred and fourteen yards per
game on the ground. Nobody else in the league averages
more than ninety six. He also has fifteen touchdowns if
you take away Josh Jacobs, only Javonte Williams even has
eight on the ground, So.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
I know the touchdown stuff is remarkable.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
I felt like I had to play actually catching.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
The ball a lot more this year too, than he
ever has.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Because that's a good point.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, I he was kind of one dimensional runner only
early in his career.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
There was probably five names here that I considered for
number one, But when you look at just the pure
it's hard, I think hard not to have Jonathan Taylor
number one.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
I'm not going to fight John, but the other name
that I would really struggle to write it is right
there as Jon Jean Robinson and a lot of it's
just the eyeball test. I mean, he's a top five
ish receiving back, number.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Two after Christian McCaffrey in terms of reception production.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
I bet, I mean just in yards per route run.
They're the only two. It's above Warren by the way,
and just his highlights though, and his ability to move,
and you know, his talent, and he's private his career,
not that Taylor isn't. Those are the two out of
considered for one.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
So let's start. I know, typically we were, we can
get one down, let's cause I think it is kind
of better way for this. I put Jamiir Gibbs too
in Bijeon three. Okay, but that was very difficult. I
thought about that a lot. Bjeon has more just and
you know, production in terms of yardage this season, but
Jamir Gibbs five point two yards per carry.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
He's a rare mover.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
He's a rare mover. I feel like the last couple
of weeks he's played so well, even while the lines
have struggled, He's been kind of like the lone bright Spot,
which I think maybe gave a little, but I will
also admit he's in a much better situation than Beijeon
is well.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Bejeon situations really crumbling, and he's been.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Those to me were the three names that were clearly
the top three, Like, if you wanted to give them
to me in any order, I wouldn't have a fuss
about it. But I went Jonathan Taylor, Jamiir Gibbs, Bjeon
and Robinson, And I think those are like the three
absolute elite Tier one guys.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
The thing, I mean, we're splitting hairs here because those
guys are all awesome. Gibbs, this isn't as big as
physical as the other He's not, you know, like definitely
not third and one, you know, or close out a game,
you know.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Like Jerome in the fourth quarter exactly.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
He's just more electric maybe than either and open field
and receiver and you know, all those things, not that
those guys are lacking. I would go Bijeon, Taylor, Gibbs. Okay,
I don't hate it, but Taylor's having the best year.
He's having the best year.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah. Number four. And then then then again I said
to TV, I think this might have been The hardest
part was deciding four, five, six, because I had three
names in this next tier. But I went back and
forth on how do you value this? How do you
value that? But what it came down to at the
end of the day was I said this to TV
as we were kind of discussing and argument it back

(24:57):
and forth. Who would I want for a game this weekend?

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, I know who I'm picking here.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
I put James Cook at four.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
Ooh, I would take McCaffrey.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
I put McCaffrey at five. Okay, So and you know
it's funny, you'll see this. I originally had McCaffrey at four,
and I switched him all the list. Yeah. So the
only thing that that kind of held me back is
mccaf I don't love McCaffrey's three point seven yards per.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
They don't run the ball very well. But he's he's
not a great Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
He's top ten and receiving yards in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
Man had to say the receiving stuff, and he's.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Thirteenth and rushing. Yes, So, I mean he is by
far the most productive when you combine Bejon's close, but
he is number one when you can when you combine
the receiving threat out of the backfield as well too.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
The reason I pick him Craft, I just said as
well to Dan, the reason I'd pick him too is
what's the Niners record seven to three? Something like that?

Speaker 2 (25:46):
He would it be without him? Right?

Speaker 3 (25:48):
He was the whole offense for a lot of the year.
I mean, when Kittle was out and no one at
receiver and no party. Cook had has a better surrounding,
better rod line, the Allen fact. But you could argue
Cook is having the second best season amongst all running backs.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, I'm nearly a thousand yards already, five
point three yards per carry, seven touchdowns, He's averaging ninety
seven yards per game. It's impressive.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah, just sign a new contract. And that was like
a bargain already.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Impressive, so I had Again, I went back and forth.
I scribbled him around on my list, but I put
James Cook four, McCaffrey five, and then pretty clearly before
we get to the next tier, which is difficult, I
have a chain at number six.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
Okay, I have no problem with that. He produces every week.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
I mean, third in the league in rushing yards right now, ye,
second best yards per carry in the league behind Jonathan Taylor.
He catches like eight balls again, and he's productive out
of the back.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
And say, the receiving stuff is really important to me here.
For some reason, they used to think he was a
goal line back. Yeah, and the Alli Gordon thing has
helped everybody. You brought him up yesterday. I don't know
if he's on your list or not. I'm best. I'm
guessing he is, and he'd be a really tough guy
to rank, but I think i'd put Barkley there.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
That's the one that TV and I had the most
difficulty with.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Because, I mean, a year ago he's won and he's like.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
One maybe an NFL history right the season.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
He had last I don't think he got worse.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
I don't either, but he's averaging just three point h
guards per car. He's fourteenth in the league and rushing
averaging just sixty six yards per game.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
Sakuon Barkley, like the holes he ran through last year
were obscene, too ridiculous. Right, Like his yards before contact,
I think he I think he had a thousand yards
even before he was touched over the course of the year.
So this is the did you put in next to you? Say?

Speaker 2 (27:49):
I had him at eleventh. I had my first honorable
mention because I tried. This is again, this is the
power rankings, the Kansas City Chiefs conversation. Are you giving
him the past credit and for the doubt? Are you
just talking about this year?

Speaker 3 (28:02):
See, I'm talking about now because like, I don't know
if Derreck Henry would make my ten.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
He was number nine for Okay, you know it's not
very high, but Matt he is sixth in the NFL
and rushing over eight hundred yards four point nine per carry,
seven touchdowns for Derrick Henry.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
What's funny is I don't know the stats all that well.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
I didn't until I sat down. Yeah, right, right now,
that sounds like Jonathan Ted has got to be number one,
you just look at it on paper.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
But Squon still passes the eyeball testing he does maybe
jumping over people backwards.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
I'm probably arguing against my own logic because if I
were doing this list of like who do I want
on my team to win a game on Sunday, That's
what I mean, he'd be six or seven. He might
even be three or four or five.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
Right Like if you threw Saquon on, the Steelers would
be pretty happy. About it, like, yeah, yeah, yes, I would, right,
all right, well let's keep rolling on the list.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
Number seven and it was six.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
McCaffrey was six.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Oh, okay Caffrey five.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
Having am onnths year.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Number seven, another guy who's having a monster year. Fourth
in the league in rushing right now, five yards per Carrie.
I went with Rico Dowdell at number seven.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
Okay, Matt.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
The only guys in this conversation that have not fumbled
the ball yet this season Jonathan Taylor, Jamior Gibbs, Sakwon Barkley,
and Rico Dowdell.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
See that's where I'll fight you like having an awesome year.
He had a couple of huge games. He's just not
better at the game in the Saquon bark He's not
you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
But he's been better this year.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
Oh yeah, he's had a better season.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
And that's again that's why it's that's why this is
a difficult I know. And like I said, this was
the hardest by far that I've done this year.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
And again I'm not giving away lifetime Achievment awards. If
I were to build this list, it was best of
the Williamsons. I mean, I would it's how good they
are at the game right now, not necessarily who's having
the best year, because he's definitely the top ten for
having the best year.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Oh yeah, he's fourth in the league rushing right now.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
But like if he was a Steeler, I think him
and warrener fifty to fifty split. If Saquan's a Steeler
to seventy thirty split, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yes, eight. Javonte Williams another one to evaluate because he's
got a great quarterback and two great wide receivers. But
he's fifth in the league and rushing, he's on that
short list of guys averaging five yards per carry or
more eight touchdowns this year already out of the backfield,

(30:34):
and he's if you kind of look at a lot
of the people in front of him, he's got twenty carries,
less than Cook and Tailor and and some of these
guys because a lot, because they throw a lot. And
so he's another one, like he's the opposite of Bijon
r You know, like what if you put him in
the Falcons offense and Bejeon and the Cowboys offense? What
would that look like?

Speaker 3 (30:53):
No question?

Speaker 2 (30:54):
But when you're top five and rushing when you're on
the short list of guys that are over five yards
per carry, when you've got eight touchdown already too, I
got him. I got Javonte Williams at number eight.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
I understand it. He's Nause's class and so there was
a lot of back and forth. Should the Steelers have
just waited a little bit taking a guy like him?
Atm was in that class too, but he wasn't the
big Steeler back, you know. And Dyle and I when
we'd all our draft prep, was like, Nause, You'd be fine,
but I might rather wait until the early second for Javonte.

(31:26):
And before his latest injury, which was a really, really
bad one, like two years ago, I thought he was
one of the best young backs in the league and
one of the hardest to tackle. I mean, he's a
tackle breaker by trade. Going back to North Carolina, this
is the first year I thought he might be done.
You know, this is the first year where I'm like, okay,
and now I remember that guy. Yeah he's looking like yeah,

(31:49):
like the medical rebound is in effect and Dallas is
I mean, that's a really underrated pick up they got
for like league minimum.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, yeah, they do a pretty good job at the
running back evaluations there in Dallas. I'll give him credit
for that number nine.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
Though, too. I mean they let him walk actually, but
he was good for the Cowboys. But Carolina got him
at a discount.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Yes, yes he did. There's another thing. TV and I
were kicking around putting together this list. Nine Derek Henry
ten Kyron Williams.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Okay, Karen Williams is the type of guy that just
if he was a Steeler, everybody would love him. Every
coaching staff going back to Notre Dame loves them. Team
captain sticks his face in the fan over and over.
You know, great in protection. He's not the biggest, he's
not the fastest.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
Produces top ten top ten in the league in rushing
yards right now and has the fewest amount of carries
of anybody in the top ten.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
That doesn't shock me.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Knows for the end zone as well to six touchdowns,
already averaging over seventy five rushing yards per game. Like
I said, it's tough. And then my honorable mentions, I
had Saquon next, and I had Breisee Hall.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
I'd say.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
I also put a if he wasn't on, I R
JK Dobbins would probably be in this on this list.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
He just always heard. Yeah, I'd love to see what
a freeze Hall was with the Cowboys, yeah right, or
the Chiefs or something. I mean, he'd be lighting it up.
There's some other names. Like it's a little early, but
I think Judkins is super impressive. He was considered okay,
I mean he has nothing around him.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Travesy was considered.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
In a real good year jenty. I still think is
going to be a great player, but he's a little disappointing.
But it's mostly his surroundings killing him. I'm a big
Kenneth Walker fan, but he splits too much time. I'm
just I'm just spitballing off the top of my head,
just throwing out names. If anyone else that's worth talking about.

(33:44):
Kind of drying up here pretty quick though. Josh Jacobs,
So he was he was one. He was one that
we kind of kicked around.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
He's interesting because his yards per carry is way low,
just three three point eight, but he's got the eleven touchdowns.
He's good in those red zone right right, goal to
go situations, and he was.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
Really really good last year. Like I can't feel like, oh,
he just all of a sudden forgot how to play. Yeah. Yeah,
it's kind of him and Henry are all similar.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
If you're if you're if you're doing this kind of
Madden style rankings where they really give you a lot
of credit for what you've done in your Yeah, those guys,
I mean, Saquon and Jacobs would be top five.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yeah, maybe in that neighborhood. And Henry too, Henry. Henry's
in ability to catch wall his problem.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
It is. But I when I when I started looking
at the numbers, because I told you I hadn't done
a ton of that.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, and he's six in the league in rushing, like
averaging four point nine yards per carry, seven touchdowns. I
didn't think that he was producing like like that. He's
he's still over eighty yards a game average on the ground.
He gives you nothing out of the backfield.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
I know. I mean, there's just a lot of plays
that he's on the sideline when they're clearly throwing, which
is why I give like McCaffrey maybe a little more
boost or you know, saque on good list.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
I think Matt, if we did this exercise again three
hundred and sixty five days from now, the two Ohio
State rookies quin Shawn Jenkins and Travon Henderson. We'll be
in the mix. Maryon Hampton could be in Mary Hampton
could be in.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
The mix of the young guys.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
He'd better be good.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Lord your boy love it Notre Dame might be on
the list a.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Right, Jeremiah Love how you doing. He looked pretty good
in an NFL stadium this past weekend. We'll be talking
about him plenty when we when we do our NFL
Draft prep. That's it for Best of the West. A
couple tweets and news worthy items that I want to
hit on here with Matt to close down the first
hour of the show, hour number two, around campus, our
buddy Chris Hallick some of Matt's stats. Plenty more to

(35:44):
get to as we roll along here on the Drive
on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network, your tunes.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goalsers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Down the home stretch here of the first hour of
the program, and Matt, you tweeted out something that is
a little startling. Nuts, Yeah, a little jarring. It is nuts.
The Cleveland Browns since they were reborn as the Cleveland
Browns in nineteen ninety nine, will have their forty second

(36:38):
different starting quarterback since the franchise turn of the NFL.
Shador Sanders will get his first start this weekend. Officially official,
you can stamp it, you can bookmarkt And that squealing
noise you hear in the background is everyone from ESPN
and Fox Sports and all the national TV shows giddy
with excitement that the content God's just dropped this on

(37:00):
their lap.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
So he got in the game last week he didn't start.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Indeed, this will be his first start, second appearance, first
start in the National Football League. These are the quarterbacks
that's also important to note that have started a game
for the Browns to long list like not just gotten
in right, right right, started a game right yeah, forty
one other names and.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
The guys, the two dudes at the top, it's not
that many.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Tim Couch and Baker Mayfield tied at the top for
fifty nine.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
Yeah. So again, I spent a year with the Browns.
I was with the Jeff Garcia era, or we'll get
to him at some point. But I will say a
lot of the people that organization and a lot of
people around the league at that time, really thought Tim
Couch could have been awesome, but just went to like
the worst expansion team ever. And it's like Carr's older brother.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
You know, right, Yes, it was just like David Carr.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
David Carr, like I said, note when he went.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
To Houston so like sacked forty times a year, Like yeah,
no chance.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
I mean, like that's their first pick as an expansion draft.
But it's like this dumped them in the worst nest
of all time, you know.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
And this is a total aside, but I always laugh
in every sport, but especially physical contact sports, football chief
most amongst them. I think hockey is in this conversation too.
When people are like, we'll just throw them out there.
We just throw them out there. You can shatter somebody's
confidence young and their their body and their confidence, and.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
People in the organization like, oh yeah, we ruined him. Yeah,
they flat to.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
It's a little different than like, let's put this nineteen
year old basketball player out there and maybe he gets
you know, dunked on and misses a few shots.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah yeah yeah. Or this left field or this picture
you know.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Just gets struck out or makes.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
An air or something back to hit a cardball.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yeah, there's no miners in the NFL either, like it
just you can absolutely ruin guys too early. So fifty
nine for both of those guys, Matt which is not
a very high high numbers as yeah, like so I'm
trying to find the what's what's the number here? Let's see,

(39:08):
it's lower than I thought. Mason Rudolph has started eighteen
games in his NFL career. I thought that was gonna
be higher because I was going to like use that
as a as a point, but that was lower than
I thought it was going to be.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
What I remember, those two are pretty high, clearly the
top two.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Clearly the top two. Then Derek Anderson, Colt McCoy, Brandon Whedon.
That's the list though, of guys that have started twenty
or more games, so a little bit more than one season.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Yeah, yeah, even there's only.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
One, two, three, four, five that have started twenty or
more games.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
It's crazy, crazy.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Charlie Frye, then Deshaun Watson.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Only I was with Akron with Charlie and then we
drafted him when I was with the Browns the next year,
and I vouched for him, like big time is a
first character leadership, all that stuff, which I had no
problem with it all. He's awesome dude. But I was
part of the reason that he got in that.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Mix, him and Deshaun Watson at eighteen. Who would have
thought Deshaun Watson and they traded all that for him
and everything would have only started nineteen games for the
Cleveland Browns.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
And that's the biggest mistake of all of them. But
there's a lot of mistakes on this list.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
TV and I were laughing because it's become a sexy
radio topic in the last couple of days of is
the George Pickens trade the worst trade of all time?
It's not even in the same stratosphere as Watson trade.
It's not even close. Brian Hoyer, Deshaun Kyser, Kelly Hoult,
Brady Quinn, Trent dil For, Josh McCown, Jacoby Brissett, Jeff Garcia.

(40:35):
Those are all the ones with double digit starts. Wow, Okay,
so Flacco was close. He had nine. Cody Kessler, Doug Peterson,
Super Bowl champion, head coach of Philadelphia Eagles, Doug p On,
that's hilarious. I forgot that he started a handful of
games for the Browns. Jason Campbell Johnny Menzel, Seneca Wallace,

(40:57):
Jamis Winston, Dylan Gabriel has six, DTR has five, Robert
Griffin the Third has five. Jake Dell Home, Luke McCown,
Tyrod Taylor, Ken Dorsey, p J. Walker, Austin Davis, ty Detmer, Case, Keenum,
Kevin Hogan, Bailey, Zappi, Spurgeon, win Who the heck is that?
Jeff Driscoll, Thad Lewis, Nick Mullins, Connorshaw, Bruce grab Kowski

(41:21):
in Sunday Afternoon, Sanders.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
Crazy, isn't I mean? What in that unbelievably long list wild?

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah, and that's not since the seventies, since the Right nine,
that's basically the twenty first century.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
Yeah, right, I mean that's wild. Like the Steelers list
would have a Duck in there here and there, or
I mean there's a guy that even the Packers, you know,
during the Rogers year and not doing the far year
because he never missed ever. But I'm thinking about like
the most stable organizations. Okay, your guy gets hurts and.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Ni's Justin Field's in there for the Steelers, yeah or
Ducks or whatever it was.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
Yeah, or you know, Rogers misses a day and the
backup that no one's really heard about ends up on
the list like once every three years or something, you know,
But like a lot many of those names were, oh,
we got our guy, you know, that's our answer. You know,
a lot of them were big investments, including like Brandon Whedon,
you know, I mean, first a lot of first round

(42:19):
picks on that list.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Manzel, the Deshaun Watson one is obviously a black mark
for different reasons. But I think the biggest one is
Baker Mayfield. I mean, you just.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
Yeah, because he's good.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Now, you just mess that up.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
I mean, he's the only one on the list that's good.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Now, that's the worst trade in NFL history. That's one
of the worst trades in sports history. That's worse than
like the Red Sox letting Babe Ruth go to the
Yankees from mag of Peanuts and a leather glove map.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
He's amazing, You're that bad at that position for that.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
Long, inane and again, and just when you've invested a
lot of capital there as well.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
And there's probably more to come.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
We got a couple tweets from people today. I'm sure
you saw Brandon Cooks released by the same Oh yeah,
if we'd have any before we we got like two
minutes here until we got to go to break. Just
wanted to make sure to get that in at some
point today. Any interest in Brandon cooks for the Steelers.
A couple of people tweaks.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
I'm sure they released them to kind of do him
a favor, you know, like the Titans do with Lockett,
you know, like maybe you can latch onto a winner.
We didn't play some young dudes. Probably not, but i'd
have to watch him specifically more. I have not done that.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
If you didn't already kind of throw a similar type
of m VS into the fold.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
And also on the small side, you know, MVS is
at least bigger. Maybe it's a pretty desperate move though,
I mean he's going to latch on somewhere like Lockett did,
you know with the Raiders.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
I wouldn't be against it, but I would be banging
down the door for it.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
No, right, Like, I don't think it changes your outcome,
you know, or get you any more wins or losses
or you know, it's.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Not moving the Vegas the Vegas needle on division. Odds Now,
if all of a sudden it's me knocking on wood,
you had an injury happen at wide receiver a different conversation,
but for where you're at right now with a similar
type of you know, career arc although to be fair,
I think Brandon cooks Is probably had a better career,

(44:20):
but he's you know, you have him vs in the fold.
You just added a song. I know it's a completely
different position on another side of the ball, but like
you don't want to do just a constant carousel practice
squad thing. You did just added, Yes, you did just
add a sante Samuel Junior, you know, like every you
know driving every do you see they added John Reese
plumbly backed back? Is that your Caleb Williams Scout team guy, right?

Speaker 3 (44:44):
I hadn't thought of that, But that's you can run.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Around and it has that athleticism trade for sure. Hour
in the books, another hour ago. When we return on
the other side, we will lead off our number two
with our buddy Chris Hallick. We'll talk to him about
all this practice squ odd stuff, all the latest moving
and shaking, what he thinks about Aaron Rodgers' status for Sunday,
all of that and more with Chris. When we returned
to kick off our number two was Shuler Matt Williamson

(45:10):
Halfway Home on the Drive Steelers Nation Radio on the
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