July 2, 2025 • 40 mins
Matt and Dale go over the Steelers' roster leading into training camp
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lollly. He is
the Matt Williamson and we've had a couple of days now, yeah,
to kind of digest this whole train. It took place
on Monday. Make a Fitzpatrick going to the Miami Dolphins.
In return, the Steelers get Jalen Ramsey Johnny Smith, and
(00:40):
it just makes a whole lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
The more and more you unpeel that, it makes a
ton of sense. It really does for so many levels.
I don't know if Ramsey is a better player than
or Maker is a better player than Ramsey, but Ramsey's
skill sets harder to find. I think they're going to
change their schemes a lot, and they've they've pieced together
(01:02):
corner for too long, you know what I mean. And
it's such an important position, and I think that they
like their safety. They may add a safety, but I
think they're happy with the other two guys.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
You know, Here's the thing I dug out so last
year to slot receivers, Receivers aligned in the slot. The
Steelers allowed one hundred and thirty nine receptions, which.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Isn't bad, which isn't crazy. I mean it's an easier
throw for quarterback. You know slots, you know you want
your receiver and fantasy to line up in the slot.
They get a lot of free, you know, layup targets.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
But it went for two thousand and three yards and
ten touchdowns. Yeah, and that adds up the fourteen point
four yards per catch they allowed.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Was the last that has to be terrible.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Last. That's not slot receiver, right.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
That's not Welker getting four yards.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And as you said, right, easy throws, easy throws, but hi,
you know return for Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So I think there's a couple layers here. First off,
one thing I did, and I'm sure you've looked at
this too, is I really went and I looked at
Smith and Ramsey's alignment. Yeah, and we'll talk more about
Smith than but Ramsey with Miami was still mostly an
outside corner, but has an extensive history of playing a slot.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And he's about thirteen career snash Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Dead on. I mean he was even recruited as a safety.
He's played some nickel linebacker stuff, especially with the Rams.
The Rams called it a star position, which the reason
they called a star is there's five points of a star.
Fifth guy's a nickel, so they call a star whatever.
So he was basically a nickel for them. To your point,
(02:46):
he's better than Beanie Bishop and Beanie by bye a lot,
by a thousand. You know, one of them is the
best slot guy in the league and the other one's
a borderline roster player. That's a good story. That made
some big plays, But I think there's even more layers
to it that we didn't talk about Monday. With those
slot numbers, it really adds up as well. Is we
know this pass rush, even though they didn't have a
(03:07):
ton of sacks, is lethal and is scary and maybe
even better now than it was last year. So the
teams that had the success were get the ball out quick,
easy throws, not drive at deep out routes and comebacks
outside the numbers and stuff like that too. So even
if Menca and Ramsey are equal players, the beauty of
(03:28):
having Menca so deep is on longer developing plays where
I would rather change my strengths closer to the line
of scrimmage coverage wise, because if the guy's back there
tapping the ball for two point eight two point nine seconds,
he's gonna get hit. Yeah, you know what I mean.
And so it was kind of imbalanced before, as all
(03:50):
defenses are. You know.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, that rdage total that they allowed the slot receivers
two thousand and three yards. Mind you, they only gave
up a little over thirty eight hundred yeah passing area,
so more than half the artists total or to allow
it was the slot receivers. Yeah, can't happen.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It can't happen. And again it nullifies your pass rush.
And their tackling is pretty good too. It's not like boy,
they hits. I mean just watching the tape and people
probably remember games. It's not like man Bishop couldn't gain
one on the ground or you know, comes into an
eighty or play. No, that was an area of weakness,
you know. And it's a little bit on linebackers too.
I always look at you know, it's not just slot corners,
(04:35):
but strong safeties and linebackers too, or you know, crossers
and in breakers and near the line of scrimmage stuff.
But massively upgrading its slot I think has a huge
ripple effect. It makes all the sense in the world.
And I'm not saying Steelers are behind the times, but
you're definitely seeing more teams invest real things in slots. Yeah,
(04:55):
you know. I mean it was an easy position to
really cut corners at. And even like Hilton left, which
seems like a million years ago, we're not giving a
slot that much money. He's little.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
He Cam Sutton and Sutton right exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And a lot of the logic for not paying slots are, well,
they got to tackle running backs. They're not going to
be long for this world. They're one hundred and eighty
pounds trying to tackle Derrick Henry. I don't think they're
gonna last. But now people are like, just give me
bigger guys, give me Brian Branch, give me Ramsey. You
know that can do all these things. Yeah, he's also
a good blitzer.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So what I think is going to happen because a
lot of people have asked this, you're not paying Ramsey
just to be the slot.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
No, not at all.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So I think Ramsey importer aligne on the outside when
they're in the base.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
I was going to bring that up too, and I've
leaned the same way. I don't think Ramsey ever comes
off field no. Yeah, he's too good, he's too versatile,
he's too talented, he's expensive, you know. I mean, like,
you don't invest in him to be thirty snap guy.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
The other thing that does is everyone who is concerned
about Darius Slay's age. Now he becomes the Cam Heyward. Yeah. Yeah,
for when we need him sat.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, and of course injury. It's an awesome backup. We
were texting back and forth, and strangely enough, I was
asked today on my podcast, is that the best corner
trio in the league. I think the answer is probably yes.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I think it's yes.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah. I came up with like six teams that are
comparable or at least in the conversation, including the Ravens.
But I'm like, I don't know I trade any of
them for that group for this year. Yeah, and it's
also great insurance if Sleigh does fall off in his thirties.
But if you ask less of Sleigh on early downs,
it's less tackling, less, you know, less running, less running,
less everything wear and tear. It all makes sense, you know.
(06:49):
And I was a little shocked back to we were
just talking about that his Miami snaps were as heavy
outside as they were. Their corners are terrible. But by
the way, they're the worst corner room.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
They have the worst.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, you talk about the best warner back of the room,
theirs is the worst. They're kind of like Ardie Burns.
But anyways, I just think I've been thinking about this
more and more since we got together, that when it's
two corners with one of them and they're both just
typical outside guys, Ramsey's definitely gonna be one of them. Yeah, definitely.
And I can't imagine Porters not the other, which is
no knock at all on Sleigh. No, I may welcome it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I think he's the best number three in the league.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, and maybe even play more nickel than ever. Yeah,
you know, because you get your best football players out there.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah. Now you got Peyton Wilson and Queen inside, and
you got your you know, your edge rushers.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Fore man front.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know, it's formidable.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
It's formidable, no question about it. And again, i'd rather
be if my let's say, the top fifteen guys on
defense that are gonna play meaningful snaps harm and her
big Sleigh if he's the third corners guys that might
not be technically starters. If my free safety is my
weakest guy, and it's uh Thornhill or Thornhill's my weakest guy. Okay,
(08:04):
I mean that's better than Bishop being my weakest guy,
or you know Roberts in coverage. Roberts a good player,
but he's one dimension, you know what I mean, like
some of the guys you played with. If you go
fifteen deep on defense and my fifteenth best players Thornhill, okay,
you know, or safety to be named later, right, Yeah,
I think it's well off the line of scrimmage with
that pass rush. That's why I'm going that, Not that
(08:25):
thorn Hill's bad or good. It's just if I can
have my week at the If I'm game planning for
the Steelers, I'm going who in coverage I want to attack?
All right, let's challenge Thornhill.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Good luck?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, you better hold the ball on time, you know
what I mean. You're gonna your quarterbacks not gonna love
it all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Right Looking at Johnny Smith and people say, well, what
does this mean for Pat Friarmouth? Nothing my much. They
played thirteen personnel fifteen percent of the time. Like, yeah,
they played twelve personnel of the time. Yeah, so forty
(09:02):
percent of the time you had multiple, multiple tight ends
on the field.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Right, which is right at the top of the league.
When you combine the two, you know, at thirteen it
is the top of the league. Twelve is not one,
but it's like six highest percentage just to put it
in contact.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So that doesn't change, No, and you can even go
up with that.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Well, they might be sure they will. Yeah, I'm sure
they will. I'm not sure what if they're most used
alignment will be twelve or thirteen, but maybe, I mean
it might be more multiple. It wouldn't shock me. A
fifty percent of their snaps they have multiple tight ends, yeh,
which is still a big jump because they're three of
your best players again, right right.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And Aaron Rodgers over the course of his career has
shown he likes to throw to the tight end.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, some of his tight end history stuff is really
interesting because I think he even mentioned Darnell Washington. Yeah,
the same vein as Marcedes Lewis. Yeah, massive human being.
But he's also had the Jermichael Finleys of the world,
who were who on forty pounds that could really run
that looked like John new You know what I mean
that we're going to be on the field together with
(10:05):
the big guy the little guy. And I've been harping
on this on other outlets too, why any three tight ends.
I wish he almost didn't have a te next to
his name because he has as many snaps outside as
a pure wide out let alone slot as he has
inline you know, I mean his inline stuff, especially with
the Dolphins last year, he had like one hundred snaps
(10:27):
or something as a true inline Mark Brunner old school
type end.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Right, do it, But that's they're not looking for that.
Lu Color replaced him with right Darren Waller.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Right right, right, exactly. That's not what they want at all.
He's a big slot. Yeah, he almost should have wr
next to his name. And he's a lot different than
Rome and Calvin, right, you know, I mean, And it's
not a competition, it's just a different body type for
the slot. And Austin's fine outside. He might even better outside. Right. Yeah,
that's some don't think people don't think of.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
So you got those two speak guys on the outside,
Now you got John new Smith in the slot. You
can solve farm Ruther Washington on the field. It's it.
What's a defense in an interesting contract?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
It does, it does, And Roman Wilson was a good
blocker at Michigan. Okay, I bet Johnny Smith's a better blocker, yeah,
you know, And I bet he's one of the best.
If we just call him a slot receiver, he's gonna
be one of the best slot receiver blockers in the league. Yeah,
we call him an in line tight end. He's the
worst in line tight end blocker.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
You're one of But oh yeah, I don't know, he's worse.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
He's not the worst, but he's not. That's not what
he does, right, They're all right, He's not going to
uproot Miles Garrett in the run game and run behind
him on fourth and one. You know. But as a
detached guy, and you mentioned this even Monday, his lateral stuff,
for like the zone blocking stuff is good in the
blocking game because he's such a good athlete and he's ring,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So I think they've they become very dangerous on that side.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
The versatility is an obvious theme with both these guys.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
The twenty twenty three Falcons had Kyle Pitts and Johnny
Smith combine for one hundred and three catches twelve hundred
and forty nine yards and six touchdowns.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
And Pitt's had hardly any that year, right, was that
the year he had.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Hard he had fifty three catches.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I was like a touchdowns that his rookie year when
he didn't have any.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, he's your rookie yer. Okay, they both had three.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But here's the thing. That was with Desmond Ritter oh
and Taylor Heineke throwing the ball right.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Right right brutal. I mean that was probably that was
the worst quarterback room in the league that year. Yeah,
you know, I remember joking about it, you know, like
that offseason Steelers or higher Arthur Smith. Then he looks
back at his old team like, you guys just signed
Kirk Cousins. Yeah, and then you draft or draft Pennix.
I could use that, you know, I was making the
(12:46):
joke too, Steelers go get fields. And then he looks
back like, you guys just got DJ Moore and Dunsa
and all these things. I could use those two.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
You know the other part of that equation. Drake London
led them with sixty nine catches that year.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
The next I'm sorry, no other wide receiver on that
team had more than eighteen.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Wow, that's not ideal to me, but it's still the
way Smith's done things he likes.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
But if you looked at those receivers, they were craps.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
They didn't have mooney.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
They are crass.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
The keys and guys like that, they were bordered.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
There was nobody that deserved right, right, right, more than
eighteen catches.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And London's better now than then. They would have killed
for Calvin Austin. Oh yeah, yeah, one hundred. I mean
it was Van Jefferson. Are worst type guys, Yeah, I
mean that's in some of the I mean, the number
two receiver is not on the top of Smith's wish list,
but some of the best offenses were when Corey Davis
was with AJ Brown, you know. But I think there's
(13:50):
one of a lot of options. Yeah, I mean both
sides of the ball, and this trade really screams at absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Let's get to a break. He is the Matt Williamson,
Dale Lollie. They're listening to the Drive. You're on the
Steelers Audio Network. We'll be back with more right after this.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Least.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
He is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lollie. He is the
Matt Williamson and I'm Matt. Matt Miller on ESPN has
put together the early mock draft. Yeah, ok for next year.
Let's go ahead and take a look at this. Now.
They're basing the draft order on their Football Power Index.
(14:46):
Yeah yeah, Okay, and this thing came out June thirtieth.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Okay, so Rogers at lease was on board.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Rogers on board. Trade hadn't happened, but the trade hadn't happen.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So yeah, so I'm Steelers probably picking a little earlier
than PEP might think.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I wonder how the trade affected.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I don't know. It had to boost them a little,
I would think, so, I mean, I don't know if
it's enough to I think their their Vegas win total
I think is eight and a half. I don't know
if it's enough to get you to nine and a half.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Probably not.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
That's a big jump.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
But the money coming in on that.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I'm sure that the odds don't pay as well. Now, yeah,
you know, on the over anyways, so super relevant as
the quarterbacks, and I'm not going to claim to be
on top of these guys, and as we always say,
next year's quarterback class is going to be better. Very
subject to change, but I have done more summer scouting
(15:38):
of the quarterbacks than I usually do. I very much
believe a sealer first round picks would be a quarterback too.
And I like what I'm seeing. YT say that from
where we sit here at the beginning of July, there's
some talent. Yeah, I'm pretty excited. There'll be multiple options.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
So he is Cleveland taking k klub Nick from Clemson, okay, quarterback?
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I assume he thinks arch isn't coming out. I don't
know yet, Yeah, I mean, I don't know if he's
in this mock or not, But yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Think right now, I haven't light club Nick more than
arch Manning. I haven't seen Arch Manning two games right
right right.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
The Archie or the Manning passing camp is going on
as we speak, actually, and it's been a month breaking news.
But omar CON's there, I mean, like, I mean, it's
these things are starting out. Why right, of course you
should be there.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Right at two, the Giants take Francis Mayou got the
offensive tackle from Miami.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And it also looks like a decent tackle class from
what I've seen. Yeah, and I would assume Dart's going
to be there if they picked two. Do you think
Darts are starter? Who knows? I mean I could, I
could see both sides.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I think he is. They took him in a freight.
They're not going to just bolt on him for one year.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
The thing is it might be a different coach, different GM.
If there's a stud there, If Arch goes one in club,
Nick is sitting there. If you turn your back on him,
I don't know you're a pick for them though.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Three the Titans take T J. Parker from Clemson.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
He's the d lineman. Yeah, Okay, Clemson's defense is gonna
be mentioned. They're loaded. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Also, I don't going back to the Giants. They're not
going to be picking two.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Why do you say that?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I think the defense is solid.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I think defense is quite good.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
The offense has some pieces. I don't think they're going
to be that high.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
The only reason I fight you is their schedule is
unusually hard.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I can't you know.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
I mean, there's not I don't think they're favored in
any game except for one. But I think they're a
much better team than people think.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, I mean they're better than the Titans.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Say we want about Wilson Winston and even Dart. They're
better than Tommy Cutlets. Yeah, I mean it's and they
got neighbors, and they got some playmakers, and they have
a defense.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, so the Titans go defense because they're not gonna
be interested in the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I could only if it's maybe they would take a
stud receiver for for ward. Yeah, and I'm not even
sure who that is in this draft, that there is
a stud stay.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I've heard it's not a great I don't think
it's a step class. At four, the Jets take Anthony Hill,
junior linebacker out of Texas.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Mosley just retired. It's not hard to find needs for them.
They're picking the top five, though. I bet quarterback is
high on the wish list. Yeah, you know, yeah, the
fields is really a one year deal.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I could much more see them picking second than the Giants.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I could see the Giants being a better football team
for sure. I like their strengths better.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Like the Jets to pick second. Over the last few years,
you're gonna win like three games.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
You're really bad. Yeah, I mean, like We've had this
conversation count times. But those that are listening, and I
think they're fewer than ever lately, especially after these last
couple of moves. The Rogers moved this Steeler trade, they
made her fewer listeners. No, always more listeners, spread the word,
but I think fewer people are in the trade. Watt trade,
(19:16):
Cam Tank get the first pick in the draft. You
know how bad you have to be to get the
first pick in the draft.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
You know, sel I won my two games.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Two games, three games, maybe four. That's hard to do.
And this organization, when's the last time his organization has
done it? Chuck Nole was like the rookie head coach,
is the last time they've been that bad?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
You know?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
So the Jets take Anthony Hill. The Saints take Caleem
Down's safety out of Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
A lot of people think he's the best player in
this draft, like a flawless safety prospect. He's Josh Downs's brother.
He started as a freshman from Bama when Saban transferred,
he went to Ohio States. I mean, he's a monster,
but how high does the safety go? That's gonna be
the conversation.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
For the next no quarterback for the Saints.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Right again, a couple of these teams. If they're picking
that low, are they married to the dude they have now?
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I mean, Shuck would have to look really good.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
At six, Carolina takes Peter Wood's defensive tackle from Clemson.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Okay, it makes some sense. I mean they tried to
sign Milton Williams. Brown's a really good player, but he's
coming off injury. Yeah, something on defense makes sense, so
the offense is kind of complete if Young is good.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah. Seven the Raiders take Ruben Bain, junior edge rusher
out of Miami.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Really good at the defenses. Defensive line would be top notch.
I mean, if he's everything's cracked up to be the
The kid they took two years ago has been the
the end, the long I always forget his name. He's
like sixty six sixt' seven. He was overdrafted to begin with.
It has not worked out at all. They got guys
(20:59):
like Coon's but Crosby's not young either, right.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
At eight, the Patriots take Jordan Tyson wide receiver Arizona State.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Okay, Diggs is basically a stop gap. Maybe there's some
other decent young ones. If Polt could step up, he
was terrible.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I know, Max Starks love.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
He's been talked about a ton. Yeah, then I think
he's got size to six one. I thought he's bigger
than that even Okay, so he's maybe the leader in
the clubhouse for wide receiver one. Yeah, that would certainly
make sense for anyone.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
At nine, the Rams from Atlanta take Caden Proctor offensive
tackle Alabama.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I guess haven't seen still quarterback. Still only one quarterback again,
very subject to change, but I bet there's more than
one quarterback.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
And I can see the Rams taking a quarterback absolutely.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Or trading up. They have two first round picks. Two
the Browns and Rams of two first round picks, and
they both gotta be very much in the quarterback market.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
At ten, the Seattle Seahawks take Spencer Fano offensive tackle Utah.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Got me two years in a rowgo no line. Steelers
like move seeing teams do that more and more. That
adds up.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
At eleven, the Colts take Garrett no Smier quarterback Lsu.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, it's hard to put any faith in Richardson Jones
is a rental. I could absolutely see them being in
the first round quarterback.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah. At twelve, the Browns from Jacksonville take Caleb Loomu
the other offensive tackle from Utah.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Their O line needs a ton of work.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I mean again, I can't stress enough how shocked down
that they did not draft one offensive lineman.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
At thirteen, the Cowboys take Keltrick Falk edge rusher out
of Auburn.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Okay, Lawrence has moved on. They're gonna pay Parsons heavy.
You mean they did take the Boston College kids, Azaruko.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
He's this kid's different though. He's six six to an hern.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Idiots, He's like more of a bumping size. Okay, he's big, Yeah, Okay,
that would make sense.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
At fourteen, the Cardinals take Antonio Williams, wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Clemson second receiver. Would makes sense.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
That's four Clemson guys.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Fourteen insane Yeah, and one of them is a quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
They should be loaded this year.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
At fifteen, the Dolphins take Jermond McCoy, cornerback out of Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
We talked about this the first segment. Their cornerback room
was bad with Ramsay. Now it's like historically bad with
m Yeah. It's really rough. Yeah, a lot of retreads
and Storm Duck you know, I mean that might be
your starting corner.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, Duck's right, it's sixteen the Steelers Tick Leonora's Sellers
quarterback out of South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Okay, big, strong, fast, super raw doesn't have a ton
of experience, yet people will give him. There's Richardson vibe.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
He's a red shirt freshman last year, so he'll be
a red shirt sophomore, but elf two years of starting.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Thience, experience. I mean, he's not a guaranteed to even
come out. He doesn't have to. I'm considered very smart,
very conscientious, and you know, works on his craft and
all those type of things. If he is a big
time year, he's on last and fifteen, no, you know,
because he may run a four or five flat at
two hundred and forty five pounds and rocket arm and
all those things. Yeah, I mean, if Richardson goes on
(24:43):
top five, he might go on the top five roll.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Richardson shouldn't have gone in the top five. That was
a mistake. And he's gonna have more experience, yeah than
Richardson by the time he comes out.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Yes, but same with Manning. By recent quarterback standards, some
of these guys are six year starters.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I mean, yeah, you know, but two years versus one year.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Oh, compared to Richardson. Yeah, Da Richardson hardly played it all.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
At seventeen, the Bears take Jeremiah Love running back at
a Notre Dame.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Sounds like he's the clear one.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
He's good.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Yeah. Yeah, the little I've seen about him or people
talking about him, he would have been behind genty, would
have battled Hampton to be the second back this year. Yeah,
but he's the best back in college football.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
At eighteen, the Vikings take Tim keenan defensive tackle out
of Alabama.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Now that they signed to but they're both old. Yeah
hard Raven Allen okay.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
In nineteen, the Packers take lt overton ed rusher out
of Alabama.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
That would make some sense. They need Gary to get
back to where he was a couple of years ago.
Van Ness, I don't think is ever going to be
a difference maker. He's not an edge bender. He's a bully. Yeah,
that makes some sense. Corner will make a lot of
sense for them too, after Alexander situation.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
At twenty, the Broncos take Eli Stours tight end out.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Of Vanderbilt, possibly Ingram's not going to be their long term.
Their weapons to me are still a little lacking.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, this guy's more of a slot a six four five.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Oh the Vanderbilt kid okay, former quarterback from what I understand,
and kind of a leaner downfield type tight end. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Twenty one, the Texan steak Austin Barber offensive tackle Florida.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Yeah. I think they're kind of hoping and praying that
these O line changes not only are better than last year,
but are or somewhat of a long term.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
That's fourth offensive tackle in the top twenty one.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Okay, the Steelers aren't in the offensive tackle we hope,
So at twenty two, the Buccaneers take Patrick Payton ed
rusher at of LSU. I thought they would go ed
rusher really high this year, and they didn't.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
At twenty three, the forty nine Ers take Isaiah World
offensive tackle Oregon.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Sure, Trent Williams isn't gonna last much longer, right, so
what's that five or six tackles?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
That's five at twenty four, and I disagree that this
team will be. At twenty four, the Bengals take Avon Terrell,
cornerback at a Clemson.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
He's Ajterrell's brother, Yeah, and another at Clemson. Yet, I
don't think anybody's gonna fight that they could eat the corner.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
This idea that the Bengals are an elite team is
mind boggling.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Twenty four I don't think is crazy extreme. They could
be a playoff team, could be I some of the
So Warren.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Sharpe, where did they get better this year?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
That's the thing. That's the thing. They just we're gonna
pay Higgins. We're gonna run it back and do the
exact same thing. And you're making your two d ns
that are super important to you unhappy as we speak
to like, I can't imagine the defense being two tiers better.
I mean, maybe it's two percent better, but not the
worst defensive league. It's the twenty ninth best defensive league. Yeah,
(28:25):
they're just not very good football player. No, and their
protection is really bad. I mentioned Warren Sharp put on
his book yesterday. I'm going to read the Bengals tonight,
but he'd sent a tweet out about how brutal burrows
protection has off, I mean through his whole career, and
they're not. It's kind of Andrew luck esque in terms
of not protecting your best asset.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
At twenty five, the Commander's take a J Harris cornerback
out of Penn State.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Okay, Lattimore might not be a good trade for them,
but they took the QUARNERO it took trains and st Yeah.
I think their defense totally needs needs a ton of work,
So I definitely think it could be defense. I don't
know if it'd be a corner though.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
At twenty six, the Chargers take C. J. Allen linebacker Georgia.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
I guess that's possible. I don't know much about him.
Is he an off the ball.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
GUYM six one five?
Speaker 3 (29:26):
So he's on that drusher?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Okay, I don't see the Chargers being twenty six.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
No, I don't either. I mean that's probably won the
playoff games. Yeah, yeah, I don't think they're in that neighborhood.
I'm not sure if I would pick them to be
one of my seven in the AFC.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
At twenty seven, the Rams state Drew Aller, quarterback out
of Penn State.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah. Well, I definitely think whether it's this pick or
the earlier one or whatever, I would think this is
the year you get a quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, yeah, since you got two first round picks.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
At twenty eight, the Ravens take D'Angelo Pond's cornerback of Indiana.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I guess Alexander's only a one year deal.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Humphrey's not young.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Humphrey's not young. Wiggins is okay, and see what happens
with Alexander.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
It is a five point nine, one hundred and seventy
pound cornerback.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
He's from Bama, he said, no Indiana, Indiana, Okay, I
don't know him.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
At twenty nine, the Lions take Tyreek sap As Russier
out of Florida.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yeah, they've been rumored to be in the edge rusher
market for two years now, so they didn't do a
whole lot.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Thirty the chief Steak Dylan Theman Theneman, I should say
safety out of Oregon.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Kay. I'm trying to think here what needs would be
glaring for them? They hope it's not a line they
have to keep going back to that. Well it's not
going well. A little bit on it, a little bit
of everything on defense. It kind of makes sense for.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, yeah, thirty one take Denzel Boston wide receiver out
of Washington.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Maybe their third receiver situation now is very up in
the air. You laid this out a couple of weeks ago,
months ago. Guys like AJ Brown or Monster Cap hits
two years from now. Yeah, I mean there's a couple
of these guys that are, like, I think he's like
a sixty million dollar cap hit in twenty twenty seven,
Like you might have to trade him or you know,
(31:25):
do something like that.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And at thirty two, the Buffalo Bills take Jake Slaughter
center out of Florida.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Okay, I think they're who is their center?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Nobody have known.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Nobody have known, So, I mean it's nobody that they're
they're lying in general is pretty solid. They won the
Super Bowl. To you, the best center in the league
or in the draft. Okay, that's a good place to.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Take that that. You know, this guy six five, three
oh eight. Okay, so he's a good size center.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Okay. That's a couple centers in this draft that are
potential top fifty type guys. Yeah, which is good for
the Steelers still, right.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Because then they're not gonna be Yeah, but four quarterbacks
in the first round.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Again, it's only July, but I bet every bit of
four quarterbacks go next draft.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, you know, and they probably all go earlier than this. Yeah,
top thirteen or fourteen, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Think earlier than this.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So the Saints passing on one if they're in the
top five, probably.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Not, probably not right. Anyways, that was Matt Miller's look
at the twenty twenty six draft, which of course will
be held here.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, so looking forward to that. But let's get through
a break. He's Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lolli. This is
a drive on Steelers station radio.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
He's the drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven home of the Black and
Gold car Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lollie. He is the
Matt Williamson and Matt As Luck would have it, Pro
Football Focus put out a little thing here, a propofol fuck,
I should say, little blurb that the Steelers are only
(33:22):
favored now in six of their seventeen games.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yeah. I actually saw that last night with it in
the Sharp Report thing too.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
It's a tough schedule.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
It's tougher than I originally thought in terms of like
rest and when they play people, and the end of
the year is harder than in the beginning. That still
seems like an unusually.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Low number, ridiculously low.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, Like I remember when Mike Clay had his thing
and he put out right after the draft. I thought
it showed the Steelers favored in at least ten of
their games.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
That a one hundredercent sure, so it speak.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Makes me wonder what's changed.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
That's the thing. I mean, I would think vibes should
be better than ever you would think without question. Do
you know, if the top of your head, I'm are
the Bengals favored here?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Assume so? Are the Browns favored in Cleveland? No? Okay, good,
I just say that sounds crazy, man, I'm putting a
buck on that. Now.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
All the games in which they're favored, well, one road
game at the Jets.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Oh, so the Browns are favored in Cleveland?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
No, I'm sorry to road games?
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Oh okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
So they're only favored in four home games?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Wow? Okay. They definitely should be favored.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Week one, and they have nine home games this year,
including one over twenty one overseas.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
I mean, I understand being a dog to the Vikings overseas.
I don't have a problem with that, and there are
some good teams coming here, of course, Ravens, Bengals, Packers,
et cetera. That does seem really low though, Like I
had a number of teams.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Bring us up because, and I got this from you.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Say it's six six, but they're over under win totals
eight and a half, right, so shouldn't you be favored
in eight or nine?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
You would think? Yeah, right, Well, I think that's a
nod of the cap to Mike Tomlin. Over the last
two years, Okay, the Steelers are fifteen and six in
one score games.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Oh there's some crazy one score game stuff. Yes, that's the.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Third most in the league behind the Eagles and Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Yes, the Super Bowl teams, right, and.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
The Steelers have done that using five different starting quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
So I cut and pasted this out of the Sharp
Book yesterday and it's along those lines, but I just
want to make sure that it gets on the airwaves
over these two hours. I was blown away. I mean,
talk about the quarterback usage, but when you read it
and see it like this, in the last decade, the
Steelers have started nine quarterbacks. And here they are in order,
(36:09):
Ben Landry Jones, Michael Vick at the end of his career,
Mason Rudolph Duck Hodges, Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Justin Fields,
and Russell Wilson. Okay, just everybody remembers every one of
those guys has a winning record except for Trubisky. That's
(36:29):
nuts to me. Yeah, that's nuts to me, you know
what I mean, Like, I bet Rogers is better than
half of those and I mean I'm being real conservative
there all except for maybe prime Ben right, I mean
decade it will go. Ben. Do you think he's gonna
have a winning record here? I mean if Duck does,
(36:49):
and Picket does, and Rudolph and everybody else.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
What's the thing? So, all the people who rip on
Mike Tomlin, you don't go fifteen and six in one
score games if your head coach doesn't know what the
hell he's.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Doing right, right, or this team makes no adjustment storing games. Well,
they second half, they're much better than the first half.
I mean, a huge problem. We haven't talked about this enough.
Their their first quarter stuff has been really, really bad
and they're open years. Yeah, really bad. Now. They're the
worst point differential in the first quarter of all thirty
(37:29):
two teams, so more so than any team in the league.
They're losing after the first quarter by a significant amount
by NFL standing.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
And yet they have when they've once they're twenty and fourteen. Yeah,
the last two years.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yeah. And a big thing Sharpe was talking about too,
is over the last two years, there's been five games
in twenty twenty four and five games in twenty twenty
three where they're leading at halftime and they still end
up with winning records. They're ten to oh right, Like
the analytics fit people will be like, that's impossible, you know,
like you play seventeen games, only five of them, you're
(38:04):
leading at halftime two years in a row, and you
still end up in the playoffs. Now, I mentioned their
first quarter point differential. Their third quarter point differential is awesome.
I mean that's when they've been at their best. So
don't tell me they don't make adjustments a.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Halfen, that's coaching.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
You're right, right, right, don't tell me. I mean you
could say, well, they prep better during the week. I
think that's a valid argument. You know, they should probably
look at that situation because the first quarter in early
in games has not gone well, but coming out of
halftime they're a menace.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
I think some of that is when you have a
head coach and scheme in place for so long. Oh yeah,
the teams know, Okay, here's what we're going to do
to attack the Steelers. Yes, but the Steelers then make
the adjustments off of that.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
This is how they're adjusting to us.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
And I'm not making excuses for their first quarter stuff
because it's really needs to be better.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
It's got to be better.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Yeah. But I also think when you're a run heavy team,
some of the dividends start getting paid as the game
goes on.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
You know the physicality of it all, you know, the
wear and tear of tackling nausea or you know. I
mean I think some of that pays off as the
game goes on. Yeah. And I also think you got
a credit conditioning too.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
You know there's teams like the Bengals that start slow
every year because they don't come in in great shape
and they wear down in games.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
For sure, for sure. But I just thought that was interesting.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
It's coaching, yeah, right, I mean, there's we all know
a joke at this point. I know they haven't won
a playoff game lately. I'm aware. I'm also aware that
Mike Tomlins never had a losing season. I mean, it's
almost like comical at this point. But when you really
think about some of the circumstances they've had to get
over just to get to the competitiveness.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
It's a feather and the coaching cap really doubt Yeah,
with that a doubt anyways, that's going to do it
for our number one, Matt. Now. I'll be back with
our number two right after this
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lollly. He is
the Matt Williamson and we've had a couple of days now, yeah,
to kind of digest this whole train. It took place
on Monday. Make a Fitzpatrick going to the Miami Dolphins.
In return, the Steelers get Jalen Ramsey Johnny Smith, and
(00:40):
it just makes a whole lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
The more and more you unpeel that, it makes a
ton of sense. It really does for so many levels.
I don't know if Ramsey is a better player than
or Maker is a better player than Ramsey, but Ramsey's
skill sets harder to find. I think they're going to
change their schemes a lot, and they've they've pieced together
(01:02):
corner for too long, you know what I mean. And
it's such an important position, and I think that they
like their safety. They may add a safety, but I
think they're happy with the other two guys.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
You know, Here's the thing I dug out so last
year to slot receivers, Receivers aligned in the slot. The
Steelers allowed one hundred and thirty nine receptions, which.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Isn't bad, which isn't crazy. I mean it's an easier
throw for quarterback. You know slots, you know you want
your receiver and fantasy to line up in the slot.
They get a lot of free, you know, layup targets.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
But it went for two thousand and three yards and
ten touchdowns. Yeah, and that adds up the fourteen point
four yards per catch they allowed.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Was the last that has to be terrible.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Last. That's not slot receiver, right.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
That's not Welker getting four yards.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And as you said, right, easy throws, easy throws, but hi,
you know return for Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So I think there's a couple layers here. First off,
one thing I did, and I'm sure you've looked at
this too, is I really went and I looked at
Smith and Ramsey's alignment. Yeah, and we'll talk more about
Smith than but Ramsey with Miami was still mostly an
outside corner, but has an extensive history of playing a slot.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And he's about thirteen career snash Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Dead on. I mean he was even recruited as a safety.
He's played some nickel linebacker stuff, especially with the Rams.
The Rams called it a star position, which the reason
they called a star is there's five points of a star.
Fifth guy's a nickel, so they call a star whatever.
So he was basically a nickel for them. To your point,
(02:46):
he's better than Beanie Bishop and Beanie by bye a lot,
by a thousand. You know, one of them is the
best slot guy in the league and the other one's
a borderline roster player. That's a good story. That made
some big plays, But I think there's even more layers
to it that we didn't talk about Monday. With those
slot numbers, it really adds up as well. Is we
know this pass rush, even though they didn't have a
(03:07):
ton of sacks, is lethal and is scary and maybe
even better now than it was last year. So the
teams that had the success were get the ball out quick,
easy throws, not drive at deep out routes and comebacks
outside the numbers and stuff like that too. So even
if Menca and Ramsey are equal players, the beauty of
(03:28):
having Menca so deep is on longer developing plays where
I would rather change my strengths closer to the line
of scrimmage coverage wise, because if the guy's back there
tapping the ball for two point eight two point nine seconds,
he's gonna get hit. Yeah, you know what I mean.
And so it was kind of imbalanced before, as all
(03:50):
defenses are. You know.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, that rdage total that they allowed the slot receivers
two thousand and three yards. Mind you, they only gave
up a little over thirty eight hundred yeah passing area,
so more than half the artists total or to allow
it was the slot receivers. Yeah, can't happen.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It can't happen. And again it nullifies your pass rush.
And their tackling is pretty good too. It's not like boy,
they hits. I mean just watching the tape and people
probably remember games. It's not like man Bishop couldn't gain
one on the ground or you know, comes into an
eighty or play. No, that was an area of weakness,
you know. And it's a little bit on linebackers too.
I always look at you know, it's not just slot corners,
(04:35):
but strong safeties and linebackers too, or you know, crossers
and in breakers and near the line of scrimmage stuff.
But massively upgrading its slot I think has a huge
ripple effect. It makes all the sense in the world.
And I'm not saying Steelers are behind the times, but
you're definitely seeing more teams invest real things in slots. Yeah,
(04:55):
you know. I mean it was an easy position to
really cut corners at. And even like Hilton left, which
seems like a million years ago, we're not giving a
slot that much money. He's little.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
He Cam Sutton and Sutton right exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And a lot of the logic for not paying slots are, well,
they got to tackle running backs. They're not going to
be long for this world. They're one hundred and eighty
pounds trying to tackle Derrick Henry. I don't think they're
gonna last. But now people are like, just give me
bigger guys, give me Brian Branch, give me Ramsey. You
know that can do all these things. Yeah, he's also
a good blitzer.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So what I think is going to happen because a
lot of people have asked this, you're not paying Ramsey
just to be the slot.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
No, not at all.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So I think Ramsey importer aligne on the outside when
they're in the base.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
I was going to bring that up too, and I've
leaned the same way. I don't think Ramsey ever comes
off field no. Yeah, he's too good, he's too versatile,
he's too talented, he's expensive, you know. I mean, like,
you don't invest in him to be thirty snap guy.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
The other thing that does is everyone who is concerned
about Darius Slay's age. Now he becomes the Cam Heyward. Yeah. Yeah,
for when we need him sat.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, and of course injury. It's an awesome backup. We
were texting back and forth, and strangely enough, I was
asked today on my podcast, is that the best corner
trio in the league. I think the answer is probably yes.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I think it's yes.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah. I came up with like six teams that are
comparable or at least in the conversation, including the Ravens.
But I'm like, I don't know I trade any of
them for that group for this year. Yeah, and it's
also great insurance if Sleigh does fall off in his thirties.
But if you ask less of Sleigh on early downs,
it's less tackling, less, you know, less running, less running,
less everything wear and tear. It all makes sense, you know.
(06:49):
And I was a little shocked back to we were
just talking about that his Miami snaps were as heavy
outside as they were. Their corners are terrible. But by
the way, they're the worst corner room.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
They have the worst.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, you talk about the best warner back of the room,
theirs is the worst. They're kind of like Ardie Burns.
But anyways, I just think I've been thinking about this
more and more since we got together, that when it's
two corners with one of them and they're both just
typical outside guys, Ramsey's definitely gonna be one of them. Yeah, definitely.
And I can't imagine Porters not the other, which is
no knock at all on Sleigh. No, I may welcome it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I think he's the best number three in the league.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, and maybe even play more nickel than ever. Yeah,
you know, because you get your best football players out there.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah. Now you got Peyton Wilson and Queen inside, and
you got your you know, your edge rushers.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Fore man front.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know, it's formidable.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
It's formidable, no question about it. And again, i'd rather
be if my let's say, the top fifteen guys on
defense that are gonna play meaningful snaps harm and her
big Sleigh if he's the third corners guys that might
not be technically starters. If my free safety is my
weakest guy, and it's uh Thornhill or Thornhill's my weakest guy. Okay,
(08:04):
I mean that's better than Bishop being my weakest guy,
or you know Roberts in coverage. Roberts a good player,
but he's one dimension, you know what I mean, like
some of the guys you played with. If you go
fifteen deep on defense and my fifteenth best players Thornhill, okay,
you know, or safety to be named later, right, Yeah,
I think it's well off the line of scrimmage with
that pass rush. That's why I'm going that, Not that
(08:25):
thorn Hill's bad or good. It's just if I can
have my week at the If I'm game planning for
the Steelers, I'm going who in coverage I want to attack?
All right, let's challenge Thornhill.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Good luck?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, you better hold the ball on time, you know
what I mean. You're gonna your quarterbacks not gonna love
it all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Right Looking at Johnny Smith and people say, well, what
does this mean for Pat Friarmouth? Nothing my much. They
played thirteen personnel fifteen percent of the time. Like, yeah,
they played twelve personnel of the time. Yeah, so forty
(09:02):
percent of the time you had multiple, multiple tight ends
on the field.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Right, which is right at the top of the league.
When you combine the two, you know, at thirteen it
is the top of the league. Twelve is not one,
but it's like six highest percentage just to put it
in contact.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So that doesn't change, No, and you can even go
up with that.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Well, they might be sure they will. Yeah, I'm sure
they will. I'm not sure what if they're most used
alignment will be twelve or thirteen, but maybe, I mean
it might be more multiple. It wouldn't shock me. A
fifty percent of their snaps they have multiple tight ends, yeh,
which is still a big jump because they're three of
your best players again, right right.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And Aaron Rodgers over the course of his career has
shown he likes to throw to the tight end.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, some of his tight end history stuff is really
interesting because I think he even mentioned Darnell Washington. Yeah,
the same vein as Marcedes Lewis. Yeah, massive human being.
But he's also had the Jermichael Finleys of the world,
who were who on forty pounds that could really run
that looked like John new You know what I mean
that we're going to be on the field together with
(10:05):
the big guy the little guy. And I've been harping
on this on other outlets too, why any three tight ends.
I wish he almost didn't have a te next to
his name because he has as many snaps outside as
a pure wide out let alone slot as he has
inline you know, I mean his inline stuff, especially with
the Dolphins last year, he had like one hundred snaps
(10:27):
or something as a true inline Mark Brunner old school
type end.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Right, do it, But that's they're not looking for that.
Lu Color replaced him with right Darren Waller.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Right right, right, exactly. That's not what they want at all.
He's a big slot. Yeah, he almost should have wr
next to his name. And he's a lot different than
Rome and Calvin, right, you know, I mean, And it's
not a competition, it's just a different body type for
the slot. And Austin's fine outside. He might even better outside. Right. Yeah,
that's some don't think people don't think of.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
So you got those two speak guys on the outside,
Now you got John new Smith in the slot. You
can solve farm Ruther Washington on the field. It's it.
What's a defense in an interesting contract?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
It does, it does, And Roman Wilson was a good
blocker at Michigan. Okay, I bet Johnny Smith's a better blocker, yeah,
you know, And I bet he's one of the best.
If we just call him a slot receiver, he's gonna
be one of the best slot receiver blockers in the league. Yeah,
we call him an in line tight end. He's the
worst in line tight end blocker.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
You're one of But oh yeah, I don't know, he's worse.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
He's not the worst, but he's not. That's not what
he does, right, They're all right, He's not going to
uproot Miles Garrett in the run game and run behind
him on fourth and one. You know. But as a
detached guy, and you mentioned this even Monday, his lateral stuff,
for like the zone blocking stuff is good in the
blocking game because he's such a good athlete and he's ring,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So I think they've they become very dangerous on that side.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
The versatility is an obvious theme with both these guys.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
The twenty twenty three Falcons had Kyle Pitts and Johnny
Smith combine for one hundred and three catches twelve hundred
and forty nine yards and six touchdowns.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
And Pitt's had hardly any that year, right, was that
the year he had.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Hard he had fifty three catches.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I was like a touchdowns that his rookie year when
he didn't have any.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, he's your rookie yer. Okay, they both had three.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But here's the thing. That was with Desmond Ritter oh
and Taylor Heineke throwing the ball right.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Right right brutal. I mean that was probably that was
the worst quarterback room in the league that year. Yeah,
you know, I remember joking about it, you know, like
that offseason Steelers or higher Arthur Smith. Then he looks
back at his old team like, you guys just signed
Kirk Cousins. Yeah, and then you draft or draft Pennix.
I could use that, you know, I was making the
(12:46):
joke too, Steelers go get fields. And then he looks
back like, you guys just got DJ Moore and Dunsa
and all these things. I could use those two.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
You know the other part of that equation. Drake London
led them with sixty nine catches that year.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
The next I'm sorry, no other wide receiver on that
team had more than eighteen.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Wow, that's not ideal to me, but it's still the
way Smith's done things he likes.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
But if you looked at those receivers, they were craps.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
They didn't have mooney.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
They are crass.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
The keys and guys like that, they were bordered.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
There was nobody that deserved right, right, right, more than
eighteen catches.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And London's better now than then. They would have killed
for Calvin Austin. Oh yeah, yeah, one hundred. I mean
it was Van Jefferson. Are worst type guys, Yeah, I
mean that's in some of the I mean, the number
two receiver is not on the top of Smith's wish list,
but some of the best offenses were when Corey Davis
was with AJ Brown, you know. But I think there's
(13:50):
one of a lot of options. Yeah, I mean both
sides of the ball, and this trade really screams at absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Let's get to a break. He is the Matt Williamson,
Dale Lollie. They're listening to the Drive. You're on the
Steelers Audio Network. We'll be back with more right after this.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Least.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
He is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lollie. He is the
Matt Williamson and I'm Matt. Matt Miller on ESPN has
put together the early mock draft. Yeah, ok for next year.
Let's go ahead and take a look at this. Now.
They're basing the draft order on their Football Power Index.
(14:46):
Yeah yeah, Okay, and this thing came out June thirtieth.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Okay, so Rogers at lease was on board.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Rogers on board. Trade hadn't happened, but the trade hadn't happen.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So yeah, so I'm Steelers probably picking a little earlier
than PEP might think.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I wonder how the trade affected.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I don't know. It had to boost them a little,
I would think, so, I mean, I don't know if
it's enough to I think their their Vegas win total
I think is eight and a half. I don't know
if it's enough to get you to nine and a half.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Probably not.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
That's a big jump.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
But the money coming in on that.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I'm sure that the odds don't pay as well. Now, yeah,
you know, on the over anyways, so super relevant as
the quarterbacks, and I'm not going to claim to be
on top of these guys, and as we always say,
next year's quarterback class is going to be better. Very
subject to change, but I have done more summer scouting
(15:38):
of the quarterbacks than I usually do. I very much
believe a sealer first round picks would be a quarterback too.
And I like what I'm seeing. YT say that from
where we sit here at the beginning of July, there's
some talent. Yeah, I'm pretty excited. There'll be multiple options.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
So he is Cleveland taking k klub Nick from Clemson, okay, quarterback?
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I assume he thinks arch isn't coming out. I don't
know yet, Yeah, I mean, I don't know if he's
in this mock or not, But yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Think right now, I haven't light club Nick more than
arch Manning. I haven't seen Arch Manning two games right
right right.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
The Archie or the Manning passing camp is going on
as we speak, actually, and it's been a month breaking news.
But omar CON's there, I mean, like, I mean, it's
these things are starting out. Why right, of course you
should be there.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Right at two, the Giants take Francis Mayou got the
offensive tackle from Miami.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And it also looks like a decent tackle class from
what I've seen. Yeah, and I would assume Dart's going
to be there if they picked two. Do you think
Darts are starter? Who knows? I mean I could, I
could see both sides.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I think he is. They took him in a freight.
They're not going to just bolt on him for one year.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
The thing is it might be a different coach, different GM.
If there's a stud there, If Arch goes one in club,
Nick is sitting there. If you turn your back on him,
I don't know you're a pick for them though.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Three the Titans take T J. Parker from Clemson.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
He's the d lineman. Yeah, Okay, Clemson's defense is gonna
be mentioned. They're loaded. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Also, I don't going back to the Giants. They're not
going to be picking two.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Why do you say that?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I think the defense is solid.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I think defense is quite good.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
The offense has some pieces. I don't think they're going
to be that high.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
The only reason I fight you is their schedule is
unusually hard.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I can't you know.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
I mean, there's not I don't think they're favored in
any game except for one. But I think they're a
much better team than people think.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, I mean they're better than the Titans.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Say we want about Wilson Winston and even Dart. They're
better than Tommy Cutlets. Yeah, I mean it's and they
got neighbors, and they got some playmakers, and they have
a defense.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, so the Titans go defense because they're not gonna
be interested in the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I could only if it's maybe they would take a
stud receiver for for ward. Yeah, and I'm not even
sure who that is in this draft, that there is
a stud stay.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I've heard it's not a great I don't think
it's a step class. At four, the Jets take Anthony Hill,
junior linebacker out of Texas.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Mosley just retired. It's not hard to find needs for them.
They're picking the top five, though. I bet quarterback is
high on the wish list. Yeah, you know, yeah, the
fields is really a one year deal.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I could much more see them picking second than the Giants.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I could see the Giants being a better football team
for sure. I like their strengths better.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Like the Jets to pick second. Over the last few years,
you're gonna win like three games.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
You're really bad. Yeah, I mean, like We've had this
conversation count times. But those that are listening, and I
think they're fewer than ever lately, especially after these last
couple of moves. The Rogers moved this Steeler trade, they
made her fewer listeners. No, always more listeners, spread the word,
but I think fewer people are in the trade. Watt trade,
(19:16):
Cam Tank get the first pick in the draft. You
know how bad you have to be to get the
first pick in the draft.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
You know, sel I won my two games.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Two games, three games, maybe four. That's hard to do.
And this organization, when's the last time his organization has
done it? Chuck Nole was like the rookie head coach,
is the last time they've been that bad?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
You know?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
So the Jets take Anthony Hill. The Saints take Caleem
Down's safety out of Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
A lot of people think he's the best player in
this draft, like a flawless safety prospect. He's Josh Downs's brother.
He started as a freshman from Bama when Saban transferred,
he went to Ohio States. I mean, he's a monster,
but how high does the safety go? That's gonna be
the conversation.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
For the next no quarterback for the Saints.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Right again, a couple of these teams. If they're picking
that low, are they married to the dude they have now?
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I mean, Shuck would have to look really good.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
At six, Carolina takes Peter Wood's defensive tackle from Clemson.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Okay, it makes some sense. I mean they tried to
sign Milton Williams. Brown's a really good player, but he's
coming off injury. Yeah, something on defense makes sense, so
the offense is kind of complete if Young is good.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah. Seven the Raiders take Ruben Bain, junior edge rusher
out of Miami.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Really good at the defenses. Defensive line would be top notch.
I mean, if he's everything's cracked up to be the
The kid they took two years ago has been the
the end, the long I always forget his name. He's
like sixty six sixt' seven. He was overdrafted to begin with.
It has not worked out at all. They got guys
(20:59):
like Coon's but Crosby's not young either, right.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
At eight, the Patriots take Jordan Tyson wide receiver Arizona State.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Okay, Diggs is basically a stop gap. Maybe there's some
other decent young ones. If Polt could step up, he
was terrible.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I know, Max Starks love.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
He's been talked about a ton. Yeah, then I think
he's got size to six one. I thought he's bigger
than that even Okay, so he's maybe the leader in
the clubhouse for wide receiver one. Yeah, that would certainly
make sense for anyone.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
At nine, the Rams from Atlanta take Caden Proctor offensive
tackle Alabama.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I guess haven't seen still quarterback. Still only one quarterback again,
very subject to change, but I bet there's more than
one quarterback.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
And I can see the Rams taking a quarterback absolutely.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Or trading up. They have two first round picks. Two
the Browns and Rams of two first round picks, and
they both gotta be very much in the quarterback market.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
At ten, the Seattle Seahawks take Spencer Fano offensive tackle Utah.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Got me two years in a rowgo no line. Steelers
like move seeing teams do that more and more. That
adds up.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
At eleven, the Colts take Garrett no Smier quarterback Lsu.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, it's hard to put any faith in Richardson Jones
is a rental. I could absolutely see them being in
the first round quarterback.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah. At twelve, the Browns from Jacksonville take Caleb Loomu
the other offensive tackle from Utah.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Their O line needs a ton of work.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I mean again, I can't stress enough how shocked down
that they did not draft one offensive lineman.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
At thirteen, the Cowboys take Keltrick Falk edge rusher out
of Auburn.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Okay, Lawrence has moved on. They're gonna pay Parsons heavy.
You mean they did take the Boston College kids, Azaruko.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
He's this kid's different though. He's six six to an hern.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Idiots, He's like more of a bumping size. Okay, he's big, Yeah, Okay,
that would make sense.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
At fourteen, the Cardinals take Antonio Williams, wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Clemson second receiver. Would makes sense.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
That's four Clemson guys.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Fourteen insane Yeah, and one of them is a quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
They should be loaded this year.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
At fifteen, the Dolphins take Jermond McCoy, cornerback out of Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
We talked about this the first segment. Their cornerback room
was bad with Ramsay. Now it's like historically bad with
m Yeah. It's really rough. Yeah, a lot of retreads
and Storm Duck you know, I mean that might be
your starting corner.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, Duck's right, it's sixteen the Steelers Tick Leonora's Sellers
quarterback out of South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Okay, big, strong, fast, super raw doesn't have a ton
of experience, yet people will give him. There's Richardson vibe.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
He's a red shirt freshman last year, so he'll be
a red shirt sophomore, but elf two years of starting.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Thience, experience. I mean, he's not a guaranteed to even
come out. He doesn't have to. I'm considered very smart,
very conscientious, and you know, works on his craft and
all those type of things. If he is a big
time year, he's on last and fifteen, no, you know,
because he may run a four or five flat at
two hundred and forty five pounds and rocket arm and
all those things. Yeah, I mean, if Richardson goes on
(24:43):
top five, he might go on the top five roll.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Richardson shouldn't have gone in the top five. That was
a mistake. And he's gonna have more experience, yeah than
Richardson by the time he comes out.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Yes, but same with Manning. By recent quarterback standards, some
of these guys are six year starters.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I mean, yeah, you know, but two years versus one year.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Oh, compared to Richardson. Yeah, Da Richardson hardly played it all.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
At seventeen, the Bears take Jeremiah Love running back at
a Notre Dame.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Sounds like he's the clear one.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
He's good.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Yeah. Yeah, the little I've seen about him or people
talking about him, he would have been behind genty, would
have battled Hampton to be the second back this year. Yeah,
but he's the best back in college football.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
At eighteen, the Vikings take Tim keenan defensive tackle out
of Alabama.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Now that they signed to but they're both old. Yeah
hard Raven Allen okay.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
In nineteen, the Packers take lt overton ed rusher out
of Alabama.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
That would make some sense. They need Gary to get
back to where he was a couple of years ago.
Van Ness, I don't think is ever going to be
a difference maker. He's not an edge bender. He's a bully. Yeah,
that makes some sense. Corner will make a lot of
sense for them too, after Alexander situation.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
At twenty, the Broncos take Eli Stours tight end out.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Of Vanderbilt, possibly Ingram's not going to be their long term.
Their weapons to me are still a little lacking.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, this guy's more of a slot a six four five.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Oh the Vanderbilt kid okay, former quarterback from what I understand,
and kind of a leaner downfield type tight end. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Twenty one, the Texan steak Austin Barber offensive tackle Florida.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Yeah. I think they're kind of hoping and praying that
these O line changes not only are better than last year,
but are or somewhat of a long term.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
That's fourth offensive tackle in the top twenty one.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Okay, the Steelers aren't in the offensive tackle we hope,
So at twenty two, the Buccaneers take Patrick Payton ed
rusher at of LSU. I thought they would go ed
rusher really high this year, and they didn't.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
At twenty three, the forty nine Ers take Isaiah World
offensive tackle Oregon.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Sure, Trent Williams isn't gonna last much longer, right, so
what's that five or six tackles?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
That's five at twenty four, and I disagree that this
team will be. At twenty four, the Bengals take Avon Terrell,
cornerback at a Clemson.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
He's Ajterrell's brother, Yeah, and another at Clemson. Yet, I
don't think anybody's gonna fight that they could eat the corner.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
This idea that the Bengals are an elite team is
mind boggling.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Twenty four I don't think is crazy extreme. They could
be a playoff team, could be I some of the
So Warren.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Sharpe, where did they get better this year?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
That's the thing. That's the thing. They just we're gonna
pay Higgins. We're gonna run it back and do the
exact same thing. And you're making your two d ns
that are super important to you unhappy as we speak
to like, I can't imagine the defense being two tiers better.
I mean, maybe it's two percent better, but not the
worst defensive league. It's the twenty ninth best defensive league. Yeah,
(28:25):
they're just not very good football player. No, and their
protection is really bad. I mentioned Warren Sharp put on
his book yesterday. I'm going to read the Bengals tonight,
but he'd sent a tweet out about how brutal burrows
protection has off, I mean through his whole career, and
they're not. It's kind of Andrew luck esque in terms
of not protecting your best asset.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
At twenty five, the Commander's take a J Harris cornerback
out of Penn State.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Okay, Lattimore might not be a good trade for them,
but they took the QUARNERO it took trains and st Yeah.
I think their defense totally needs needs a ton of work,
So I definitely think it could be defense. I don't
know if it'd be a corner though.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
At twenty six, the Chargers take C. J. Allen linebacker Georgia.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
I guess that's possible. I don't know much about him.
Is he an off the ball.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
GUYM six one five?
Speaker 3 (29:26):
So he's on that drusher?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Okay, I don't see the Chargers being twenty six.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
No, I don't either. I mean that's probably won the
playoff games. Yeah, yeah, I don't think they're in that neighborhood.
I'm not sure if I would pick them to be
one of my seven in the AFC.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
At twenty seven, the Rams state Drew Aller, quarterback out
of Penn State.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah. Well, I definitely think whether it's this pick or
the earlier one or whatever, I would think this is
the year you get a quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, yeah, since you got two first round picks.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
At twenty eight, the Ravens take D'Angelo Pond's cornerback of Indiana.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I guess Alexander's only a one year deal.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Humphrey's not young.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Humphrey's not young. Wiggins is okay, and see what happens
with Alexander.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
It is a five point nine, one hundred and seventy
pound cornerback.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
He's from Bama, he said, no Indiana, Indiana, Okay, I
don't know him.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
At twenty nine, the Lions take Tyreek sap As Russier
out of Florida.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yeah, they've been rumored to be in the edge rusher
market for two years now, so they didn't do a
whole lot.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Thirty the chief Steak Dylan Theman Theneman, I should say
safety out of Oregon.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Kay. I'm trying to think here what needs would be
glaring for them? They hope it's not a line they
have to keep going back to that. Well it's not
going well. A little bit on it, a little bit
of everything on defense. It kind of makes sense for.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, yeah, thirty one take Denzel Boston wide receiver out
of Washington.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Maybe their third receiver situation now is very up in
the air. You laid this out a couple of weeks ago,
months ago. Guys like AJ Brown or Monster Cap hits
two years from now. Yeah, I mean there's a couple
of these guys that are, like, I think he's like
a sixty million dollar cap hit in twenty twenty seven,
Like you might have to trade him or you know,
(31:25):
do something like that.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And at thirty two, the Buffalo Bills take Jake Slaughter
center out of Florida.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Okay, I think they're who is their center?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Nobody have known.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Nobody have known, So, I mean it's nobody that they're
they're lying in general is pretty solid. They won the
Super Bowl. To you, the best center in the league
or in the draft. Okay, that's a good place to.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Take that that. You know, this guy six five, three
oh eight. Okay, so he's a good size center.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Okay. That's a couple centers in this draft that are
potential top fifty type guys. Yeah, which is good for
the Steelers still, right.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Because then they're not gonna be Yeah, but four quarterbacks
in the first round.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Again, it's only July, but I bet every bit of
four quarterbacks go next draft.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, you know, and they probably all go earlier than this. Yeah,
top thirteen or fourteen, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Think earlier than this.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So the Saints passing on one if they're in the
top five, probably.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Not, probably not right. Anyways, that was Matt Miller's look
at the twenty twenty six draft, which of course will
be held here.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, so looking forward to that. But let's get through
a break. He's Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lolli. This is
a drive on Steelers station radio.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
He's the drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven home of the Black and
Gold car Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lollie. He is the
Matt Williamson and Matt As Luck would have it, Pro
Football Focus put out a little thing here, a propofol fuck,
I should say, little blurb that the Steelers are only
(33:22):
favored now in six of their seventeen games.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yeah. I actually saw that last night with it in
the Sharp Report thing too.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
It's a tough schedule.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
It's tougher than I originally thought in terms of like
rest and when they play people, and the end of
the year is harder than in the beginning. That still
seems like an unusually.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Low number, ridiculously low.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, Like I remember when Mike Clay had his thing
and he put out right after the draft. I thought
it showed the Steelers favored in at least ten of
their games.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
That a one hundredercent sure, so it speak.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Makes me wonder what's changed.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
That's the thing. I mean, I would think vibes should
be better than ever you would think without question. Do
you know, if the top of your head, I'm are
the Bengals favored here?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Assume so? Are the Browns favored in Cleveland? No? Okay, good,
I just say that sounds crazy, man, I'm putting a
buck on that. Now.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
All the games in which they're favored, well, one road
game at the Jets.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Oh, so the Browns are favored in Cleveland?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
No, I'm sorry to road games?
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Oh okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
So they're only favored in four home games?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Wow? Okay. They definitely should be favored.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Week one, and they have nine home games this year,
including one over twenty one overseas.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
I mean, I understand being a dog to the Vikings overseas.
I don't have a problem with that, and there are
some good teams coming here, of course, Ravens, Bengals, Packers,
et cetera. That does seem really low though, Like I
had a number of teams.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Bring us up because, and I got this from you.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Say it's six six, but they're over under win totals
eight and a half, right, so shouldn't you be favored
in eight or nine?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
You would think? Yeah, right, Well, I think that's a
nod of the cap to Mike Tomlin. Over the last
two years, Okay, the Steelers are fifteen and six in
one score games.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Oh there's some crazy one score game stuff. Yes, that's the.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Third most in the league behind the Eagles and Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Yes, the Super Bowl teams, right, and.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
The Steelers have done that using five different starting quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
So I cut and pasted this out of the Sharp
Book yesterday and it's along those lines, but I just
want to make sure that it gets on the airwaves
over these two hours. I was blown away. I mean,
talk about the quarterback usage, but when you read it
and see it like this, in the last decade, the
Steelers have started nine quarterbacks. And here they are in order,
(36:09):
Ben Landry Jones, Michael Vick at the end of his career,
Mason Rudolph Duck Hodges, Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Justin Fields,
and Russell Wilson. Okay, just everybody remembers every one of
those guys has a winning record except for Trubisky. That's
(36:29):
nuts to me. Yeah, that's nuts to me, you know
what I mean, Like, I bet Rogers is better than
half of those and I mean I'm being real conservative
there all except for maybe prime Ben right, I mean
decade it will go. Ben. Do you think he's gonna
have a winning record here? I mean if Duck does,
(36:49):
and Picket does, and Rudolph and everybody else.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
What's the thing? So, all the people who rip on
Mike Tomlin, you don't go fifteen and six in one
score games if your head coach doesn't know what the
hell he's.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Doing right, right, or this team makes no adjustment storing games. Well,
they second half, they're much better than the first half.
I mean, a huge problem. We haven't talked about this enough.
Their their first quarter stuff has been really, really bad
and they're open years. Yeah, really bad. Now. They're the
worst point differential in the first quarter of all thirty
(37:29):
two teams, so more so than any team in the league.
They're losing after the first quarter by a significant amount
by NFL standing.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
And yet they have when they've once they're twenty and fourteen. Yeah,
the last two years.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yeah. And a big thing Sharpe was talking about too,
is over the last two years, there's been five games
in twenty twenty four and five games in twenty twenty
three where they're leading at halftime and they still end
up with winning records. They're ten to oh right, Like
the analytics fit people will be like, that's impossible, you know,
like you play seventeen games, only five of them, you're
(38:04):
leading at halftime two years in a row, and you
still end up in the playoffs. Now, I mentioned their
first quarter point differential. Their third quarter point differential is awesome.
I mean that's when they've been at their best. So
don't tell me they don't make adjustments a.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Halfen, that's coaching.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
You're right, right, right, don't tell me. I mean you
could say, well, they prep better during the week. I
think that's a valid argument. You know, they should probably
look at that situation because the first quarter in early
in games has not gone well, but coming out of
halftime they're a menace.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
I think some of that is when you have a
head coach and scheme in place for so long. Oh yeah,
the teams know, Okay, here's what we're going to do
to attack the Steelers. Yes, but the Steelers then make
the adjustments off of that.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
This is how they're adjusting to us.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
And I'm not making excuses for their first quarter stuff
because it's really needs to be better.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
It's got to be better.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Yeah. But I also think when you're a run heavy team,
some of the dividends start getting paid as the game
goes on.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
You know the physicality of it all, you know, the
wear and tear of tackling nausea or you know. I
mean I think some of that pays off as the
game goes on. Yeah. And I also think you got
a credit conditioning too.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
You know there's teams like the Bengals that start slow
every year because they don't come in in great shape
and they wear down in games.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
For sure, for sure. But I just thought that was interesting.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
It's coaching, yeah, right, I mean, there's we all know
a joke at this point. I know they haven't won
a playoff game lately. I'm aware. I'm also aware that
Mike Tomlins never had a losing season. I mean, it's
almost like comical at this point. But when you really
think about some of the circumstances they've had to get
over just to get to the competitiveness.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
It's a feather and the coaching cap really doubt Yeah,
with that a doubt anyways, that's going to do it
for our number one, Matt. Now. I'll be back with
our number two right after this
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