April 28, 2025 • 43 mins
Dale and Matt share their thoughts and takeaways from the Draft and overview where the current Steeler roster sits after picking up 7 new players.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven home of the Black and
Golds in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And welcome to the Drive. Yeah, post post draft drive,
we're not going to do a mock draft today.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We're not going to talk about we.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Could do it all too early. Look at next year's.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm such a Sickoh, I'm actually interested to look at
those names. It's the first time you like get exposed
the name.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Oh, there's what we're gonna do. We would just do
thirty two quarterbacks in the first round.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Because it's always a better quarterback last night year. Right,
that's crazy. I mean, now we know where these players landed.
It's not like, well, what if they do this and
do this and what if he goes here and you know,
shor Sanders in the first round and blah blah blah
blah blah.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The Steelers come out of the twenty twenty five draft
with Derek Harmon, defensive tackle out of Oregon in the
first round. Heard that a few times here.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Then they drafted Caleb Johnson, the running back out of Iowa.
Heard that a few times here.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, usually not.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
The surprise pick to me was Jack Sawyer in round four.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I understand it more now the value that happened, but
that's definitely the most shocking pick to me.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, the value was definitely there. Yeah yeah yeah Black
or yeah yeah Black?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Why yea?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Why yeah yeah, defensive tackle out of Iowa. In the
fifth round. We took him several times. That neighbor, Will Howard,
the quarterback out of Ohio State. We took him in
our mock drafts several times. Carson Bruner in round seven,
they traded back before they took Black and got another
(01:54):
seventh round pick. Took Carson Bruner, the linebacker out of Washington,
and then the other rounds of him. Pick was Dante Kent,
cornerback from Central Michigan.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, and frankly, we didn't do a whole lot of
chatting about the seventh round picks. That's often the case
it's pretty late in the draft. But one of those
last names is pretty familiar. They say the least and
I don't say it's a predictable draft, but I think
we had a really good feel going in.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well they were going to do. It was predictable if
you listen to this show lot.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Right right, We got a pretty good feel for what
they were doing. The Sawyer thing I didn't see coming,
but like you said, I thought that was value. I
mean there were times big on him in the second round,
the fourth there were.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
There were a lot of times when we would take
an extra edge rusher because later in the draft, right,
because of value, because of value, and it's like, Okay,
this guy's going to play special teams for you, is
going to he can.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Do some stuff, but you never want to get weak there.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, right, if you had a second round grade on
Jack Sawyer, even a third round grade on Jack Sawyer
and he's still available in the fourth round, right, Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I think that's what it comes down to. And we
can talk about all these guys specific fits and we
will to no end, and we got mini camp around
the corner, and maybe a quarterback signed at some point.
But oh no, I think it was a real solid draft.
And I urge you greatly don't forget. You got DK Metcalf,
and you got DK Metcalf. Yeah, let's just say hypothetical,
(03:15):
you have all your picks, get draft Harmon in round one,
and then trade comes up when the Steelers are on
the clock, and you take dk Metcalf's.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Extremely excited and losing your Marbley.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
You know, just because it happened weeks and months ago
doesn't change who's going to be here in camp.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Absolutely, And you know we talked about this at length
despite every time the Steelers pick came up, because there
was a certain quarterback who was still available, right every
time the Steelers picked until the round six. I believe
and I.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Hate that the biggest story of the draft is Shad
Door Sanders, right, you know, like the guy's a fifth
round pick.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It just the draft just didn't align itself to take
a quarterback because you had the love they weren't going
to reach for a quarterback, no, no, right, right, And
b they got they have a pretty good feeling that
Aaron Rodgers is going to sign.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
You really got that feeling being in the facility those
three days, being around owners, coaches, gms. They don't seem
super worried about it. And we say this all the time.
Teams don't lie when they spend their money or their
draft picks or their assets. And they didn't go crazy
at quarterback. I think they have pretty good, pretty good idea,
pretty good idea what's.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Going to happen there. And that's one of the things
when you look at the draft grades and the people
who are grading these are looking at, well, the Steelers
didn't address the quarterback position until the sixth round. What's
that tell you, right?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Like, don't don't knock their draft if you like the
players that they drafted, but you're going to knock them
because they didn't address quarterback until the sixth round, You're
doing this the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah. I've seen a lot of write ups and conversations about, well,
now Aaron Rodgers holds all the cards and he's gonna,
you know, hold the Steelers feet to the fire, and
he's gonna get more money and he can get whatever
he wants. I'm like, I don't think that's what happened
at all. I think the fact that the offers the offer, right,
I mean, that's not really how they operate, and I
think that all that stuff's been worked out. If it's
(05:17):
not Man, I need more money or I maybe he
wanted to see might they take a quarterback high? I
don't know, maybe all right, right exactly? And I think
we I'm almost certain we said this like in the
seventh round during the live coverage that I very much
believe if Rogers were assigned a month ago, they make
(05:37):
the exact same draft. Draft is the same way, exact same.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Drafts, right, I mean, you got your defensive lineman in
the first round. Who that was a need, That was
a definite need and people who I can't believe the
number of national analysts that overlooked that as a need
for the Steelers. I just can't believe it. Running back
it pick eighty three was a need.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Was a need. Yeah, they were going to draft a
round back this draft, no matter what.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
They took to defensive linemen, like we thought they were
going to early. They didn't wait. And do you know,
I'll take a throw a flyer on a seventh round
defensive lineman. No, because they expect Black to play some
snaps this year.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah. Yeah, two guys that they're kind of counting on, Yeah,
especially Harmon of course.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Then you add your developmental quarterback, a guy that's going
to be maybe your long term backup for you know,
for at least the next four years. Ideally maybe he
develops into something beyond that.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Hey you take a bite.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, And then you take a couple of guys in
round seven that are going to help you on special teams.
Maybe Kent is your nickel.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Maybe maybe there are some traits there. I didn't know
much about them, but between Kent and Brunner, they played
a lot of special team snaps and they're not throwaways
on defense.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Nor so I think they helped themselves.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Then you look at what they did post draft and
the guys that they went out and signed.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Castro looks like he could be in the mix.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Sebastian Castro is a player.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yeah, yeah, like I thought he'd get drafted.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I thought he would too.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
The only knock that I had on him going into
this while he's gonna he's twenty five, But I don't
care as an undrafted free agent, Like sure, great good.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
That's fine if he makes a roster or contributes it
any way. Special teams slash you know, your last safety
on the roster or whatever. That's home run, much like
bed Bashop last year.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, you got to maybe a developmental small school offensive lineman.
And Aiden Williams the guard out of Minnesota Duluth. He
was just tackle in college. But yeah, okay, let's that's.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
There's gonna be a learning curve, obviously, but there's some
traits there to build around, you know, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
A couple of wide receivers, a full back in you know,
DJ Thomas.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Interesting. They've flirted with that last year and I definitely
think within the about the final roster, but there's a
receiver spot to be had here on a practice squad
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, So I like what they've done here. They've set
themselves up well, I believe, you know, moving forward and
we'll see. I mean, I think this roster will go
over the roster now how it appears in a next segment.
But it looks like they filled all the holes with
one except one big one, right, And I think they
(08:07):
feel like that is going to take get taken care
of here in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
And I bet they're not done. And there's gonna be
a name or too that maybe we didn't see coming
that they kind of add to the mix between now
and camp. Every team will do that. I mean, there's
I don't know three hundred human beings walking around right
now without a contract that are going to be football
players this year, and a couple of more resteelers too. Yeah,
the nuts and bolts of it are done.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Quarterback side quarterback aside I understand quarterback is a massive No.
Of course, it's the biggest thing on your on your
defense or your offense. I should say it's the biggest, the biggest.
But they know they're idea. Yeah, they're not ignoring the position,
like some draft analysts seem to think, Well, Steelers just
ignored quarterback, right, what's that telling you?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
All these a lot of these draft grades. I had
to give them much better draft if they were to
address quarterback earlier.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, if data's quarterback earlier than.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
You, you wouldn't have Caleb Johnson, you.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Wouldn't have got Derrek Carmon, you wouldn't have got Kleed. No,
that's not how this works.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
You got to weigh your options and the value, what's
available and right.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
If they would have taken Sanders, for example, instead of
Sawyer with it, whoh Steelers get an A eight plus?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Did he become a better prospect on that right? More
valuable all of a sudden? Right, I mean we get
the Sanders stuff out of the way. I mean part
of me hates that we're talking that this is the
shodoor Sanders draft. I mean, cam Ward's a great prospect.
No one seems to talk about. This guy was the
first pick and the other guy that was the fifth round. Now,
(09:40):
I'll be honest, if you look at my Twitter timeline,
I'm driving down to the Steelers facility on Saturday and thought, okay,
I'd consider him now, you know, but he's a day
to prospect that fell for some other reasons apparently. I mean,
the Browns took a quarterback ahead of him. We'll talk
about the Browns draft. He's not the answer. It's not like, boy,
(10:01):
they missed this golden opportunity. I wish him.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Well, it's something that we talked about in the pre
draft process. You're not just picking a player, you're picking
a brand. Yeah, and you've got to deal with the
fallout that comes with that.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
You know, if you were an l Way like prospect,
you don't mind doing that, right, But he's he's a
backup round three ish type prospect that probably got driven
up in a class that's not loaded with top dudes.
And is it worth all the other stuff? Well, the
league told you the answer.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Right, They said they don't want the distraction that I mean, is.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Not great enough to be might end up being good player.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
To be that kind of distraction off the field, where
you know the Browns are going to have to hold
press conferences with like he's the starter.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I equated it to when the Jets signed t Bow,
not let alone when the Broncos draft of it. It's
very similar. The Jets drafted Tebow to be a personal protector,
slash special teamer and third string quarterback.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And you get to have a press call, gotta have
press conferences because of who they are.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
And they're stars on the team that have been in
the league forever. Get a microphone in their face. So
what do you think of the addition of t Bone.
I hope he makes a team.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Right, Yeah, right, I haven't met him yet.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Right, the Browns have four quarterbacks. Who's gonna be the starter?
How's that gonna pan out? We'll see.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, It's it's a strange dynamic to have for a
guy who isn't your starter or star.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Mm hmm. Yeah. It's just there's a team dynamic too.
It's not fantasy football. You're just not adding names.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, it's it's I always look back at that on
the way when the Jets drafted Joe Namath back in
way back, way back, when and they gave him the
first million dollar contract.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I think it was one hundred thousand.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Was it one hundred thousand? I think thou first one
hundred thousand dollars contract, and the you know, he's going
in that locker room for the first time in the
offensive linement, are.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Like, who's this guy? Right? You know? Yeah, Hey, better
be good, you.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Better be good. We're being asked about you all the time.
We got we gotta deal with all. Hey, what do
you think of getting Broadway Joe or Joe Willie at
that point?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, you know, very good. And he was. He was.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
He was worth it.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Better prospect than shod or Too a little bit better. Yeah,
but anyway, hope it works out for him.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I really do.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I do. I do. And this draft has been way
too much to door Sanders talk, and he's not a Steeler.
I'm absolutely fine with that. Move on, you know, move on, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
The Steelers. You know, I think when you look at
what they've acquired again, I to me, it's all going
to be determined. And as is always the case, what
happens with Derek Karme not the second round pick this year,
but the third round pick Caleb Johnson. What those two
(12:55):
do this year is going to determine whether people look, well,
this was a good draft, Clabs, or whether it was
a bad one.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
And those the guys that you would expect, as is
the case with the other teams in the league, they're
the early picks. But particularly how needs felt, you know,
match value matched the players you added. You need those
guys to be good this year. Yeah, I mean, not
like I hope they turn out a pretty good player
in a year or two. No, we need him now,
need him to play right to players make an impact.
(13:21):
And I think it also played out if you look
at how this whole thing went kind of like we
talked about a lot, whereas the value was on Day
two and then beyond Yeah, I mean you look at
who they got Caleb Johnson, Jack Sawyer, Black Howard. I
mean those are guys that we're talking about a lot
of those guys second third, even fourth round grades for
(13:43):
some of the later guys, and they went beyond that
because I think some teams did reach for need you know.
Oh of course, and this doesn't mean it's going to
be a great draft by any stretch, but you know,
Warren Sharp's a big analytical guy and blah, blah blah. Well,
there's a consensus board out there. Take Mels and Todd, right,
all these guys and they'll combine and be like, this
(14:03):
is the consensus draft board. Now, the NFL knows more
than all those guys put together. Right, it will be
the first to admit that. Don't get me wrong. But
in terms of value compared to the consensus board, I
think the Steelers had like the sixth best value of anyone,
you know, like maybe they didn't play on ticket Sawyer,
but well there he was already.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Picks there later than the thought. So let's do it,
you know. Yeah, And that's that's I think there's any reaching.
That's how you end up just acquiring depth and good players.
You can't have enough good players.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Right because injuries hit. Contracts aren't very long in this league.
You're gonna need them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
So anyways, let's get to a break. He is the
Matt Williamson. I am Dale LOLLI. You're listening to the
Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. We'll take a
look at that Steelers roster and what it looks like
now with these latest editions.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Right after this, he's the Drive with Dale Lolly and
Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of
the Black and Gold cast in Steelers Nation.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Radio, and we are back. I'm Dale Lolly, he is
the Matt Williamson and Matt as I promise. We'll go
over the Steelers' roster as it now appears following this weekend,
and we'll start with the wide receiver position. You got
DK Metcalf, George Pickens, you still have Calvin, Austin, Roman
(15:29):
Wilson there, there's four. Ben Scronic is five. Then you
look at the Scotty Miller there, you got Rock Taylor,
one of the undrafted rookies that they brought in, Brandon Johnson,
who he's not a throwaway player there as well. You've
had the team last year, Lance McCutcheon, and then the
other undrafted free agent they brought in, Keyshawn Williams out
(15:53):
of Indiana. You love your top.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Two, Yeah, I mean I think those two stand alone
as every down play. We know that this is not
a heavy eleven personnel team. The third guys don't get
or called upon as often as most teams. But Austin
more than proved to me that he's that at least
at this point remand Wilson's a wild card, but I
don't know if there's any reason to think less of
(16:16):
him than he did exactly one year ago when they
use a third round pick on the guy. I think
Scoronic has value. I think he was on my favorite
bring back guys.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I feel pretty good about the top five.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
I do too, and Wilson I can't wait to see
what he proves. Now. I'll probably say this about several positions.
If there's a veteran that's been around the block that's
now taking fifty cents on the dollar on a one
year deal, I look at like Keenan Allen, I'd consider it.
You know, there's room for that guy. Or I'm very
fine with this.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Waited out and somebody gets cut at the end of
training camp you didn't expect to see there. Oh we'll
bring him in as our number six.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yeah, and I'm not even sure that six will make
the team it's all said and done. But maybe there's
a spot for that, you know, yeah that maybe they're
not done there, but I think they're in really good shape.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
On the offensive line. You got Broderick Jones, Isaac Saamalu,
Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick, Troy Foltano. You got a couple
of first round picks and a second round pick on
that line. Then behind those guys you have Dylan Cook
and Calvin Anderson along with Doug Nester at the tackle position.
At the guard position, you got Spencer Anderson, Max Sharping,
(17:24):
Aiden Williams one of the undrafted that they signed.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, he's a small, cool guy.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And Stephen Jones is another guy that they got there.
And then you got Ryan McCullum and Lucidas Smith as
your center backups.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
If I had a draft criticism, it would have been
I would have liked to see a draft pick us
on an offensive lineman. But I probably would say that
about every team in the league that didn't, and it
wasn't a very good offensive line draft, So I don't know, boy,
in the fifth round, they should have taken player acts.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Honestly, that's probably why a guy like Jack Sawyer ends
up going into the fourth round, because we offensive lineman
who we looked at and like that guy might be
a fifth round guy, where they're getting taken in a
third and a third.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Right, It's just a supply demand thing, which is why
I want them. But that's why the other thirty one teams. Yeah,
overreach thething you kind of.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I mean, you draft five in the previous two seasons, right,
they're all still going to be on your roster.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, you draft five in the previous two seasons. You
took three defensive front players in this one. I mean,
like the draft the offense first.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Maybe next year you take one of each and you
just got.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Well because you got the young guys there. Now, I
do think there's some volatility here. You got the two
tackles that have immensibility, but they're You're not out of
the woods on those guys yet, No, you know, for sure,
I think see them all lose on the back nine,
to be kind, you know, but he's the veteran and
here's a spot that I definitely would have some interest
(18:48):
in what's out there, But they're not going to be
John Hannah's on out there.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
A household names you pick up. I mean, if you
look at it, last year, they picked up a guy
like Sharping. Yeah, when they had all the injuries early
in the season. He's got forty career starts. It's like
he's a throwaway guy.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Sharping and Calvin Anderson don't seem like much. They were
both picked up at that they're both picked up, and
I think there's a reason they gave him money too, Like,
I think they were pretty happy with that experiment. Yeah,
but I would always be open to more of that.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You're always looking, you always always and you know, that's
one situation there where they have all those compensatory picks.
Next year, you're going to have eleven picks available next year.
If you need to acquire somebody, you could, you could
trade one, yeah, you could, you could. And you got
a lot of cap space at tight end. You got
Pat Firemouth, you got Darnell Washington, you got Donald Parham,
you get now JJ Galberth who is a also a
(19:39):
he's the full back tight end type. Actually he's the
he's the undersized guy out of uh okay.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I got the dude.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
And then they got Connor Heyward and DJ Thomas Jones,
who is a listed as a fullback by them fullback
h backs. They get a couple of those guys. They
got some big bodies, little bodies.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a lot of tight ends on
the roster for going into camp. Was it six or seven? Yeah,
I mean they usually They're gonna probably keep four under
Arthur Smith, which worked out fine last year. I'm interested
to see par Hum in person. Yeah, he's huge, I
know that much. I've seen him on tape and on Sundays,
et cetera. But I think they love their top two
(20:20):
then they should.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
I expecting even a little bit more of those guys
this year.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
At running back. They added Caleb Johnson in the third
round to that group that also includes Jalen Warren, Kenneth Gamewell,
Cordeal Patterson, Aaron Shampkin, Jonathan Ward, and Evan Hall.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
It's premature to say this, but I think before long
it'll be pretty clear that Johnson is the one. A,
Warren's the one. B.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I think you keep Warren in the same role that
he's had.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
He's definitely your third down guy, plus right, more early
down stuff too. Gainwell's a fallback option safe number three cool,
But I think Johnson's a wonderful addition to that.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Oh, it's tremendous. Yeah, tremendous. I think you got in
every down back. Potentially, we'll see how he does in
past protection things of that nature, but at the very
least he's your He replaces Nagie Harris's.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yea, yeah, yeah, And I think he's just a better
steam fit. He's younger. I think he's got more big playability.
I think he's got better vision and nausea. Was a
good player, but you might have a better running back
Whoman he did last year.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, yeah, quarterback. You add Will Howard to the group
with Mason Rudolph Skyler Thompson. Interesting to note Will Howard
and Skyler Thompson split time at k State. Yeah, I
heard two seasons.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
That's crazy. Yeah, they were teammates. Interact now or overlap now. Thompson,
this isn't terrible. By the way, I kind of liked
him coming out of Kansas State. He's had some struggles
when thrown into the mix. We never talk about him,
but I am interested to watch him in camp.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
He had to go in and start a playoff game, right,
he had a tough situation.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah, without much of an O line. I'm not saying
he's wonderful, but he's not. I am interested to watch
him in black and gold. Getting Howard where they did,
I think is wonderful. And the more and more that
I'm around the facility, you're there more. I think they're
really content, happy, excited quietly about Rudolph. I'm not saying
he's the answer this year, that he's going to take
(22:20):
him the super Bowl. That's not the plan. Yeah. I
think they're very happy he's in black and gold.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And I think in the next few weeks here, we're
going to see somebody else added to that.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yes, room, I think that's an absolute.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I mean we know, well, first of all, we know
they're going to take four to training camp. Yes, they've
only got three on the roster. They didn't even sign
one after the draft, just to have another.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Body in another camp. Arm. The writings on the wall.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
The writing is on the wall. It's going to happen. Yeah,
it's going to happen. Right, So we'll see any minute
now when. Yeah, that when is the only question. Moving
over to the defensive side of things, he added Derek
Harmon in the first round. He is immediately, in my eyes,
hilarry Okanjobi replacement.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I agree. I agree. I mean between him, Betton and Heyward,
those are your your top three guys clearly, and then
everyone else is battling for four through seven or whatever.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, then you got Isaiah Lot Loudermilk. You got Yaye
Black who he drafted in the fifth round, Daniel Kyle,
I can I need to get better that Kayley who
you signed as an from New England. Logan Lee's toll
on a team yet another Iowa. They actually have four
(23:34):
Iowa players in this year's draft because Lee was hurt
all last year. Yeah, Jacob Slade who they added, Dean Lowry,
uhs Eziwayo, and Dominique Davis another guy that they assigned that.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I mean, he's not a big name guy, but that's
we talked about this a lot with the line. If
there's only seven spots, nine NFL players in that group,
you know, so we'll see all that shapes out. But
that could be a very competitive bottom of the room battle. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
They made the move to release Montrevius Adams today.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Shocked me a little bit. I wonder if there's somebody
else to have their eye on. I don't know, I
just wonder. You know, he had the knee injury last year.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yeah, they never quite looked the same. He didn't look
the same when he came back. I just wonder if
that's something that they looked at and said that's going
to be a long term problem for him. He's thirty
now and they didn't need the cap space. I mean,
I just assume that after they drafted Black that we
probably can move on now. Yeah, maybe just did him
a favor because he has been a good soldier for them.
No at outside linebacker. Well, you went out and that
(24:38):
of Jack Sawyer to a room that already includes TJ.
Watt and Alex high Smith, Nick Herbig. You still have
Jeremiah Moon there as well. What does this mean for
Demarvin Leal?
Speaker 3 (24:49):
That's a great question. I haven't thought about that angle
at all. I mean, which maybe he should have been
lumped with the other room. Does he is him as question?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Does he move the defensive line now or is he now?
Is he an outside linebacker full time?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
It's not like you've seen lately, But do we know
what he weighs? I mean, I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
He had a neck injury last year. Yeah, yeah, that
you know ended his season.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
They also have Echu Lioda there and Julius Welshoff. Uh,
okay year and did something did some nice things too,
So they they're really kind of stacked. Thomas Rush another
guy that they have there as well.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
They're really including Leo. I wonder if they keep six,
you know, is it Moon and Leal fighting for a
spot or they both make it or whatever. Obviously, special
teams has a lot to do with it. But I
do think we'll talk about all these individual players a
lot going forward. I didn't see the Sawyer pick coming,
but they've made two acquisitions there, Preston Smith and Sawyer,
(25:47):
both that don't look like her big and a big game,
you know.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Go back the year before that, and they tried to
bring him back in training camp Marcus Golden.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yeah, and it was a bigger, big body, yeah, not
super twitchy off the edge, you know, like a her big,
like a our pass rusher. It screams Ravens. Yeah. You
gonna play the Ravens twice.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
And we want somebody's gonna set the edge. Yeah, you know,
if we if we have to, you know, pull one
of our starters off the field for whatever reason, even
if he's off the field for three plays. I want
to power edge rusher out there. One of the things
that we saw a lot last year other teams, not.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
The splits as well, the Hayward stuff here.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Yeah, when Cam Hayward and t J. Watt were off
the field, run the ball.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Yep, and I think an immediate shortcut that fans think
are stopped around the fence. I need to put Casey
Hampton in the middle. It's helpful, but set in the
edges too. Yeah, it's a group effort.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Force everything back inside your inside linebackers who are really fast,
and let them make plays. Speaking of those inside linebackers,
you have Patrick Queen, you have Peyton Wilson, Cole Holcom.
They brought in Malik Harrison in the off season, Mark
Robinson still here. They had Devin hen Harper, who's the
guy that they they brought in on a as a
(26:58):
camp invite. And they drafted Carson Brunner in the seventh round.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Just for the inside linebacker room specifically. I'm like, boy,
that's too crowded, you know. I mean that does that
mean him and Mark Robinson are going to battle for
a spot. I don't think Harrison's in any jeopardy in
neither of the top three. But special team, special team,
special teams.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
They've kept six there before. They that depends on how
many defensive backs you keep.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
They don't know have to be acting on game day,
and you know Harrison's a really good special team or
Robinson's a really good special teamer. I would imagine Wilson's
role on special teams is going to decrease. Bruner is
a great special team. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
And if you're like two years ago they had the
least amount of special teams plays from their linebackers in
the league, Well, now you've got the You've got the
potential here because I believe, I mean no use Sawyer
on special teams as well.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
I don't know how much he's done, but he's gonna
he's going to.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I believe he should be able to do it. You
might have the most.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Moon as well. I'm just saying some
of the edge guys.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Especially with this new kickoff rule, I'd like to have
four or five linebackers out there on.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
The You don't want all corners, No, you need some size.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
You've got to be able to get off a block
and make a play.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Physicality against try to drag a quarter O Patterson down
right right. You don't want a bunch of hundred and
eighty pound guys.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Uh, it's safety. Well, today we find out that Ryan Watts,
a sixth round pick from last year, the neck issue
that he had that kind of training camp last year
is going to end his career.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
That's pretty psyched about him.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, it's unfortunate. But they did go out and they added, well,
they had this, you got this Sean Elliott, You've got
makea Fitzpatrick's there. They brought him one thornhill in the offseason.
You still have Miles killer Brew who is your special
team's captain and a all Pro special teams guy. You
got Joshua Bledsoe there, and you added in as an
(28:50):
undrafted pre agent Sebastian Castro from Iowa.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Who's easily could have been a six or seventh round pick.
And that's the type of prospect he is. Thicker build,
not a tremendous tester, but played a lot of football
at Iowa.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
At Iowa, which is prother more a lot of defensive
backs in the league.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yeah, tough, smart, all those things, special teams of course,
plays in a line of scrimmage well, tackles, physical childhood
heroes Troy Paul Maler all right, yeah, let's go.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
And also played a lot of nickel Yeah a lot, yeah,
right right for Iowa.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
So between we'll get the corners, but between Bishop Eccles, Thornhill, Castro,
the slots, that stuff might be a lot different this year.
I think it's going to be. I mean, you get
two bigger body guys there. Maybe safety types.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Yeah, that are safety types for when you're playing these
run heavy teams that want to get you an eleven.
They come out in eleven personnel and then want to
run the ball right right right, I got I got
a couple of bigger bodies there that can put out
there now.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Or even the Ravens if they're going to put Likely
and Andrews out there. You know they're not exactly Mark
Brunner like blockers. Yeah, maybe I match that with Nickel,
but I have Thornhill on them or some you know, Castro.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Whatever the cornerback position. Uh, you guess, Joey Porter Jr.
You got Darius Lay, Corey Trice, James Pierre, uh DeShawn Jamison, Kyler, McMichael,
Cameron McCutcheon, Brandon Echoles, Beanie Bishop. Don't they kent one
(30:21):
of the other seventh round the other seventh round pick?
And then you know how you how do you view
Castro there? Maybe he's one in that Nickel conversation, but
they've got bought a lot of bodies there, Kent. Was
this the last pick that they made in this draft.
But you know, he's a guy that's played a lot
of a lot of football at Central Michigan.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
And I think, like Commons said at the final press
conference or right after that pick, that he is inside
slot in outside capable. We'll see. He's not huge.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
He had like forty seven pass breakups in his career.
It's central a lot.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
He didn't have a lot of picks, but he's got
his hands on the ball a lot. It's pretty good
tester too, really good tackler. Team ran like a four
to three nine. That's some returnability too, right that. I
didn't know anything about him before they picked him, But
the more I researched, might, oh, that's very worthles seventh
round pick.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, so I you know, I look at that group.
Would have been nice to add a good young talent
to that. Sure, absolutely, Yeah, you know Slagh's thirty four
years old. But you have Trice there. It's not like
you're counting as the wild card. You're not counting on
Trice to start, right, But if he develops into a starter, great, If.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
He pushes forward or looks like a future starter. That
that's why I think he's the wild card.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Yeah, you know, so you know, you still got a
guy like James Pierre there who was maybe.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Defensive snat He's played there for special teams, right, so.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
You know I don't I don't mind that group. Then
you look at the I.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Thought they might draft a six to one long arm
corner though.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Well, I think they looked at it and maybe that
would have been where they took Sawyer at. And a
lot of times that's what we did in that round.
The guy we're looking in that neighborhood. You know, there
were still guys available. I remember writing up you know,
here's some guys that they could look at, and those dudes,
those guys were still there, and I think they looked
at Sawyer and said, this is too good of an
(32:11):
opportunity to pass up.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
You have the two punters, Cameron Johnston, who's by all counts,
is recovering well and looks like he's, yeah, gonna be healthy,
Corless weightman n Yeah, you have Chris Boswell at place Kicker.
They brought in Ben Sols from pitt as Theirs their
camp leg although that's a little different since he is
a left footed kicker.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
He is and he's not gonna be Boswell out and.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
That's not gonna happen, right. Your long snapper is Christian Kunz,
although I'll say that Brunner has done some long snapping
and he's got some of that in his background, so.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
That's pretty well set. I would love for them to
turn Weightman into a seventh round pick at some point
because he's time making the team.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, you know, we'll see, uh, maybe a flip something
there and maybe you trade your one of your trade
your seven and get a six for him exactly something
like that.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I mean, there will be teams that could do a
lot worse than wait, mine when it all comes down
to cut down.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Dere Yeah, I just look at the roster and I'm like, Okay,
where could they add at because I can remember us
sitting there at We're doing shows at Chucknols Stadium a
couple of years ago, and I'm like, there's still a
linebacker short. When got Alexander, it went out and signed
the Juan Alexander's Like, some of those things will happen, right,
And it was like I think it was within a
(33:32):
day or two, like I'm watching them, you know, I've
got the binoculars. We're up there in the press box,
and I'm looking around like I'd still like to see
one more line, one more guy, right, Yeah, maybe it's
another wide receiver offensive line.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Makes some sense. Maybe a slot capable receiver. I brought
up Keen Allen's name a lot. I mean, that's kind
of pie in the sky. But I mean somebody like
that O Lineman's gonna be a lot thinner. I mean,
we could come up with receiver names people know that
are going to be in the league. If an outside
corner became available, maybe, but the defense is pretty static.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Defense looks pretty good. Would you consider I don't.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Know the name, but like a thirty five year old
nose tackle that's done it for one hundred years, that
just eats blocks like it's his job. Those guys are
always available. I don't know. I don't know if they
want that.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Drafted two guys there and you assigned two guys already.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
It's like, but they mentioned black is more of an
end than nose. Yeah, And I don't know. I thought
maybe a power guy in the middle that's just a
massive human being. But I'm not sure. If they want
that guy anymore.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I mean, he's gonna play eight snaps a.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Game, right right, you know it is not special teams, and.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
You know, and the other team's going to might be
happy when you when you put him out there. Okay,
they bring out the big nose tackle and I was
just gonna throw. So I got to go to rush
the passer a little bit.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Do I know? And I don't think the Steelers are
in this market, but who knows. But like Adam Schefter
put out a name of twelve guys that could get
traded on Draft Day, None did none. I mean that
doesn't mean that Jalen Ramsey's still going to be a
Dolphin or whoever else. And I'm not saying there to
go trade for Jalen Ramsey, but there's some names that
are gonna get moved still. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Absolutely, So we'll see how that all shakes out. And
you know, I want to see what they look like
on the field. That's the next step now as we
get here in.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
A couple of weeks camp. But I would like to
see where are they aligning. You know why you're black
guys like that? Yeah, what's a plan? He is Matt Williamson.
I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here
on the Steelers Audio Network. Matt and I are going to
take a break. We'll be back with more right after this.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
At least he's 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 (35:46):
And welcome back. I am Dale LOLLI he is the
Matt Williamson and Matt some of the things that drive
me a little bit bonkers about the business that we
have chosen.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yep, yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
I'm just looking here on the top two stories right
now on nfl dot com Power Rankings, who's up after
the draft? Which team slipped instant impact picks? The next
one is the final grades for all thirty two classes.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Like, can we just relax a little relax right right?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Not to steal a Aaron Rodgers term, but come on.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
But we have to be Oh he went from the
they went from the twelfth best team to the fourteenth
because of this fifth round?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Because yeah, did any like who like? I get it.
It's the draft and teams improved, But everybody, did.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
I know, I know, And we've had a lot of optimism, rightfully, so,
and we'll have more if Rogers signs in five minutes
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, well Steelers' power rankings are they going to all
the Steelers jump up three spots because they got Aaron Rodgers, Like,
you should already factor that into this exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
And but my my thing is the other thirty one
teams got better.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Everybody did.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Everybodybody got new players, right, We're gonna talk about other
teams draft classes, We'll talk around the league for the
next couple of months a lot, and we'll like some
stuff better than others. But the league is so smart
because this is really the time I call the Eternal
Optimism time, because nobody's breaking their legs or blowing out
a knee, and every pick that you make is going
(37:16):
to be a good right, which, of course isn't going
to happen. This is my favorite.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Well, there's no chance we're as injured as we.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Were last year because people don't get hurt anymore, or
you know what I mean. Like, there's a lot of
bad stuff that happens, but it won't for another month
or two. And it's just everyone that comes back from
injury is going to be better than ever, no one's
going to get older.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Everybody's in the best shape of their lives exactly.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Exactly, and the league is super competitive. And yes, thirty
two teams got better in the last couple of days,
but the team you're playing against it too.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
You know, everybody added people, yes, some more than others.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Like there's some draft classes that are light.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
You know, there's some draft classes that are light. There's
some other one. Like I liked what the Ravens did
in the first and second round. Yeah, they made a
lot of picks, and they made a lot of picks,
but the majority of their picks we're in the sixth
and seventh rounds exactly. Like how yeah, you had eleven picks,
but seven of them were in round six and seven. Yeah,
(38:17):
like you hit, you know, tremendously.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
If they get two guys out of that night's great.
You know, a better chance they got a six or
seven fined than most. It's not like when.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
The Ram you know, the Rams have, well they have
you know, six picks on day two, Well you better
hit on those. Yeah, those are like if you better
hit on five or six of those.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Yeah, you're winning. Percentage needs to be a lot better
as opposed to those.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
You know, if I hit on these six and seventh
round guys, that's gravy.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
That's gravy. Or if they turn into more than a backup,
or if you get a full four years out of
their contract, that's all win.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
You know, too many people, but I think get wrapped
up in a guy being drafted like I. You know,
for example, this was the first first round draft pick
the Steelers have used on a defensive lineman since Cam Hayward.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Since Cam right right, it's a long time.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I can think. I think they've only gone with a
defensive lineman four times into thirty three years that I've
covered the team. Wow, I guess that is a It
was Cam right right, and and Ziggi Hood and Casey Hampton.
I can't think if there was an I don't think
there was another one in there the first round to
talk about what I'm not talking about edge about the
(39:27):
defensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Wow, I mean Gab Rivera, Joe Green. But I mean
that's going back. I mean that's fifty years yeah, Aaron.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Jones, depending on how you look at that, but that's
before my time, yeah, right right, And people look at
this way, you know, they've they've used these picks on
these defensive linemen and it hasn't worked out. You're gonna
kill him for taking it. Isaiah louder Milk in the
fifth round, right, all right, what are we talking about here?
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, we talked about this one.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
They traded up to get him.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
I don't care, but the give it a frown draft
back of a future six or something to get him,
Like this is I love the NFL and the draft
is more meaningful than other leagues. But if the Penguins
move up in the sixth round for somebody says it's
not even on TV or a line in the newspaper
on the internet in.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Major League Baseball team, but you can't even tell me
who the fifth round pick was.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
For second third round pick. People don't know right exactly.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
And there's not there's only two rounds in the NBA draft,
Like what are we talking you know? If a guy
to me, if you're drafted in the first three rounds, yeah,
you should be a future starter. Yeah, anything beyond that,
Like the word bus gets thrown around so much, you
can't I'm of the thought that you can't be a
(40:42):
bust unless you're a first or second round.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
Draft pick Jobey putting it. I mean Third's have an
uphill climb. I mean it's border line up with third
in that conversation, you know, I mean.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
You could be a third round pick and still be
over one hundred where you were drafted. Yeah, the hundreds
player in your draft.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
If you're a third round pick and you're a sixty
percent since snap, guys a nickel corner for six years,
Yeah that worked.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
But if you're a first or second round pick, you
better hit.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
You can't miss it.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
You can't miss on nothing.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
That's yeah, when you you almost have to look at
a negative light, we're the ones you had missed early
as opposed to the hits. The hits you gotta you
gotta hit, I mean you gotta get on base. Yeah,
you know.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
But and to me, as awesome as.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
A draft is, it gets overblown every year every year
because like one thing I like about Pro Football focus,
and they do it during the downtime. Here's our thirty
two rookie classes. Washington's first with Jayalen Daniels. But it
wasn't like it was Pro Bowl or Pro Bowl or
Pro Bowl, Pro Bowl or the fifteenth team. Their rookie
classes a couple of decent dudes, but nothing great, you know,
(41:47):
like and rookies have a hard time adjusting the league too.
Sometimes it takes a couple of years. Sometimes it does
take a couple of years. And to me, everything got
fixed this weekend.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
For example. For example, people look at well nausea Harris
didn't work out for this, so that was a that
was a wasted draft pick. I'm like, you get fourced
four years of one thousand yard rushers rushing each year
right out of that player. That is not a failed
draft pick.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
No, and a lot of it. Like you mentioned, not
all first round picks are created equal. Appreciate the running
back position. So if gent D does that his first
four years, that's below the line. That's not good enough.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
He was a top ten pick, top.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Ten pick of running back. I mean those guys have
to be special. I mean the bar is higher h
at that position. So anyways, I just take it all
over the grain of salt. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
You know, you can't judge the draft classes overall based
on well, where this guy had the rank, that guy
was ranked here that I don't care about that, Like A,
I do my own evaluations on this stuff. So I
have an idea of where I would take guys. I
know where you would take guys. That kind of stuff,
talk to to the end. But to just sit there
and say, well that draft class that's an A plus
(42:53):
and that one's a D like, or that one's a
C and that one's a B like.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
You don't know, right, And I do urge people go
to draft history, pull up the Steelers, look at their
last five, ten, fifteen, twenty drafts. Is however old you are,
and if you remember what draft day was like and
then you look at the results, usually you're gonna be underwhelmed. Yeah,
I mean it's not like, Man, we found I can't
believe this guy fell to the fifth round. I had
a third round grade on him. Yeah. But did he
(43:19):
have a long, great career or was he a contributor? Yeah?
A fine player, he was, okay, you know.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
And that's it's that way for every team. It's a
way for every team, right everyone. There's a lot of
misses that's going to do it. For our number one.
I am Dale Lalli. He is the Matt Williamson. Matt
and I are going to be back with our number
two of the drive right after this
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven home of the Black and
Golds in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And welcome to the Drive. Yeah, post post draft drive,
we're not going to do a mock draft today.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We're not going to talk about we.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Could do it all too early. Look at next year's.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm such a Sickoh, I'm actually interested to look at
those names. It's the first time you like get exposed
the name.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Oh, there's what we're gonna do. We would just do
thirty two quarterbacks in the first round.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Because it's always a better quarterback last night year. Right,
that's crazy. I mean, now we know where these players landed.
It's not like, well, what if they do this and
do this and what if he goes here and you know,
shor Sanders in the first round and blah blah blah
blah blah.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The Steelers come out of the twenty twenty five draft
with Derek Harmon, defensive tackle out of Oregon in the
first round. Heard that a few times here.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Then they drafted Caleb Johnson, the running back out of Iowa.
Heard that a few times here.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, usually not.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
The surprise pick to me was Jack Sawyer in round four.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I understand it more now the value that happened, but
that's definitely the most shocking pick to me.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, the value was definitely there. Yeah yeah yeah Black
or yeah yeah Black?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Why yea?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Why yeah yeah, defensive tackle out of Iowa. In the
fifth round. We took him several times. That neighbor, Will Howard,
the quarterback out of Ohio State. We took him in
our mock drafts several times. Carson Bruner in round seven,
they traded back before they took Black and got another
(01:54):
seventh round pick. Took Carson Bruner, the linebacker out of Washington,
and then the other rounds of him. Pick was Dante Kent,
cornerback from Central Michigan.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, and frankly, we didn't do a whole lot of
chatting about the seventh round picks. That's often the case
it's pretty late in the draft. But one of those
last names is pretty familiar. They say the least and
I don't say it's a predictable draft, but I think
we had a really good feel going in.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well they were going to do. It was predictable if
you listen to this show lot.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Right right, We got a pretty good feel for what
they were doing. The Sawyer thing I didn't see coming,
but like you said, I thought that was value. I
mean there were times big on him in the second round,
the fourth there were.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
There were a lot of times when we would take
an extra edge rusher because later in the draft, right,
because of value, because of value, and it's like, Okay,
this guy's going to play special teams for you, is
going to he can.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Do some stuff, but you never want to get weak there.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, right, if you had a second round grade on
Jack Sawyer, even a third round grade on Jack Sawyer
and he's still available in the fourth round, right, Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I think that's what it comes down to. And we
can talk about all these guys specific fits and we
will to no end, and we got mini camp around
the corner, and maybe a quarterback signed at some point.
But oh no, I think it was a real solid draft.
And I urge you greatly don't forget. You got DK Metcalf,
and you got DK Metcalf. Yeah, let's just say hypothetical,
(03:15):
you have all your picks, get draft Harmon in round one,
and then trade comes up when the Steelers are on
the clock, and you take dk Metcalf's.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Extremely excited and losing your Marbley.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
You know, just because it happened weeks and months ago
doesn't change who's going to be here in camp.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Absolutely, And you know we talked about this at length
despite every time the Steelers pick came up, because there
was a certain quarterback who was still available, right every
time the Steelers picked until the round six. I believe
and I.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Hate that the biggest story of the draft is Shad
Door Sanders, right, you know, like the guy's a fifth
round pick.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It just the draft just didn't align itself to take
a quarterback because you had the love they weren't going
to reach for a quarterback, no, no, right, right, And
b they got they have a pretty good feeling that
Aaron Rodgers is going to sign.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
You really got that feeling being in the facility those
three days, being around owners, coaches, gms. They don't seem
super worried about it. And we say this all the time.
Teams don't lie when they spend their money or their
draft picks or their assets. And they didn't go crazy
at quarterback. I think they have pretty good, pretty good idea,
pretty good idea what's.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Going to happen there. And that's one of the things
when you look at the draft grades and the people
who are grading these are looking at, well, the Steelers
didn't address the quarterback position until the sixth round. What's
that tell you, right?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Like, don't don't knock their draft if you like the
players that they drafted, but you're going to knock them
because they didn't address quarterback until the sixth round, You're
doing this the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah. I've seen a lot of write ups and conversations about, well,
now Aaron Rodgers holds all the cards and he's gonna,
you know, hold the Steelers feet to the fire, and
he's gonna get more money and he can get whatever
he wants. I'm like, I don't think that's what happened
at all. I think the fact that the offers the offer, right,
I mean, that's not really how they operate, and I
think that all that stuff's been worked out. If it's
(05:17):
not Man, I need more money or I maybe he
wanted to see might they take a quarterback high? I
don't know, maybe all right, right exactly? And I think
we I'm almost certain we said this like in the
seventh round during the live coverage that I very much
believe if Rogers were assigned a month ago, they make
(05:37):
the exact same draft. Draft is the same way, exact same.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Drafts, right, I mean, you got your defensive lineman in
the first round. Who that was a need, That was
a definite need and people who I can't believe the
number of national analysts that overlooked that as a need
for the Steelers. I just can't believe it. Running back
it pick eighty three was a need.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Was a need. Yeah, they were going to draft a
round back this draft, no matter what.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
They took to defensive linemen, like we thought they were
going to early. They didn't wait. And do you know,
I'll take a throw a flyer on a seventh round
defensive lineman. No, because they expect Black to play some
snaps this year.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah. Yeah, two guys that they're kind of counting on, Yeah,
especially Harmon of course.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Then you add your developmental quarterback, a guy that's going
to be maybe your long term backup for you know,
for at least the next four years. Ideally maybe he
develops into something beyond that.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Hey you take a bite.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, And then you take a couple of guys in
round seven that are going to help you on special teams.
Maybe Kent is your nickel.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Maybe maybe there are some traits there. I didn't know
much about them, but between Kent and Brunner, they played
a lot of special team snaps and they're not throwaways
on defense.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Nor so I think they helped themselves.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Then you look at what they did post draft and
the guys that they went out and signed.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Castro looks like he could be in the mix.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Sebastian Castro is a player.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yeah, yeah, like I thought he'd get drafted.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I thought he would too.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
The only knock that I had on him going into
this while he's gonna he's twenty five, But I don't
care as an undrafted free agent, Like sure, great good.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
That's fine if he makes a roster or contributes it
any way. Special teams slash you know, your last safety
on the roster or whatever. That's home run, much like
bed Bashop last year.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, you got to maybe a developmental small school offensive lineman.
And Aiden Williams the guard out of Minnesota Duluth. He
was just tackle in college. But yeah, okay, let's that's.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
There's gonna be a learning curve, obviously, but there's some
traits there to build around, you know, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
A couple of wide receivers, a full back in you know,
DJ Thomas.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Interesting. They've flirted with that last year and I definitely
think within the about the final roster, but there's a
receiver spot to be had here on a practice squad
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, So I like what they've done here. They've set
themselves up well, I believe, you know, moving forward and
we'll see. I mean, I think this roster will go
over the roster now how it appears in a next segment.
But it looks like they filled all the holes with
one except one big one, right, And I think they
(08:07):
feel like that is going to take get taken care
of here in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
And I bet they're not done. And there's gonna be
a name or too that maybe we didn't see coming
that they kind of add to the mix between now
and camp. Every team will do that. I mean, there's
I don't know three hundred human beings walking around right
now without a contract that are going to be football
players this year, and a couple of more resteelers too. Yeah,
the nuts and bolts of it are done.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Quarterback side quarterback aside I understand quarterback is a massive No.
Of course, it's the biggest thing on your on your
defense or your offense. I should say it's the biggest, the biggest.
But they know they're idea. Yeah, they're not ignoring the position,
like some draft analysts seem to think, Well, Steelers just
ignored quarterback, right, what's that telling you?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
All these a lot of these draft grades. I had
to give them much better draft if they were to
address quarterback earlier.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, if data's quarterback earlier than.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
You, you wouldn't have Caleb Johnson, you.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Wouldn't have got Derrek Carmon, you wouldn't have got Kleed. No,
that's not how this works.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
You got to weigh your options and the value, what's
available and right.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
If they would have taken Sanders, for example, instead of
Sawyer with it, whoh Steelers get an A eight plus?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Did he become a better prospect on that right? More
valuable all of a sudden? Right, I mean we get
the Sanders stuff out of the way. I mean part
of me hates that we're talking that this is the
shodoor Sanders draft. I mean, cam Ward's a great prospect.
No one seems to talk about. This guy was the
first pick and the other guy that was the fifth round. Now,
(09:40):
I'll be honest, if you look at my Twitter timeline,
I'm driving down to the Steelers facility on Saturday and thought, okay,
I'd consider him now, you know, but he's a day
to prospect that fell for some other reasons apparently. I mean,
the Browns took a quarterback ahead of him. We'll talk
about the Browns draft. He's not the answer. It's not like, boy,
(10:01):
they missed this golden opportunity. I wish him.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Well, it's something that we talked about in the pre
draft process. You're not just picking a player, you're picking
a brand. Yeah, and you've got to deal with the
fallout that comes with that.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
You know, if you were an l Way like prospect,
you don't mind doing that, right, But he's he's a
backup round three ish type prospect that probably got driven
up in a class that's not loaded with top dudes.
And is it worth all the other stuff? Well, the
league told you the answer.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Right, They said they don't want the distraction that I mean, is.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Not great enough to be might end up being good player.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
To be that kind of distraction off the field, where
you know the Browns are going to have to hold
press conferences with like he's the starter.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I equated it to when the Jets signed t Bow,
not let alone when the Broncos draft of it. It's
very similar. The Jets drafted Tebow to be a personal protector,
slash special teamer and third string quarterback.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And you get to have a press call, gotta have
press conferences because of who they are.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
And they're stars on the team that have been in
the league forever. Get a microphone in their face. So
what do you think of the addition of t Bone.
I hope he makes a team.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Right, Yeah, right, I haven't met him yet.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Right, the Browns have four quarterbacks. Who's gonna be the starter?
How's that gonna pan out? We'll see.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, It's it's a strange dynamic to have for a
guy who isn't your starter or star.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Mm hmm. Yeah. It's just there's a team dynamic too.
It's not fantasy football. You're just not adding names.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, it's it's I always look back at that on
the way when the Jets drafted Joe Namath back in
way back, way back, when and they gave him the
first million dollar contract.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I think it was one hundred thousand.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Was it one hundred thousand? I think thou first one
hundred thousand dollars contract, and the you know, he's going
in that locker room for the first time in the
offensive linement, are.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Like, who's this guy? Right? You know? Yeah, Hey, better
be good, you.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Better be good. We're being asked about you all the time.
We got we gotta deal with all. Hey, what do
you think of getting Broadway Joe or Joe Willie at
that point?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, you know, very good. And he was. He was.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
He was worth it.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Better prospect than shod or Too a little bit better. Yeah,
but anyway, hope it works out for him.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I really do.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I do. I do. And this draft has been way
too much to door Sanders talk, and he's not a Steeler.
I'm absolutely fine with that. Move on, you know, move on, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
The Steelers. You know, I think when you look at
what they've acquired again, I to me, it's all going
to be determined. And as is always the case, what
happens with Derek Karme not the second round pick this year,
but the third round pick Caleb Johnson. What those two
(12:55):
do this year is going to determine whether people look, well,
this was a good draft, Clabs, or whether it was
a bad one.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
And those the guys that you would expect, as is
the case with the other teams in the league, they're
the early picks. But particularly how needs felt, you know,
match value matched the players you added. You need those
guys to be good this year. Yeah, I mean, not
like I hope they turn out a pretty good player
in a year or two. No, we need him now,
need him to play right to players make an impact.
(13:21):
And I think it also played out if you look
at how this whole thing went kind of like we
talked about a lot, whereas the value was on Day
two and then beyond Yeah, I mean you look at
who they got Caleb Johnson, Jack Sawyer, Black Howard. I
mean those are guys that we're talking about a lot
of those guys second third, even fourth round grades for
(13:43):
some of the later guys, and they went beyond that
because I think some teams did reach for need you know.
Oh of course, and this doesn't mean it's going to
be a great draft by any stretch, but you know,
Warren Sharp's a big analytical guy and blah, blah blah. Well,
there's a consensus board out there. Take Mels and Todd, right,
all these guys and they'll combine and be like, this
(14:03):
is the consensus draft board. Now, the NFL knows more
than all those guys put together. Right, it will be
the first to admit that. Don't get me wrong. But
in terms of value compared to the consensus board, I
think the Steelers had like the sixth best value of anyone,
you know, like maybe they didn't play on ticket Sawyer,
but well there he was already.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Picks there later than the thought. So let's do it,
you know. Yeah, And that's that's I think there's any reaching.
That's how you end up just acquiring depth and good players.
You can't have enough good players.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Right because injuries hit. Contracts aren't very long in this league.
You're gonna need them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
So anyways, let's get to a break. He is the
Matt Williamson. I am Dale LOLLI. You're listening to the
Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. We'll take a
look at that Steelers roster and what it looks like
now with these latest editions.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Right after this, he's the Drive with Dale Lolly and
Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of
the Black and Gold cast in Steelers Nation.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Radio, and we are back. I'm Dale Lolly, he is
the Matt Williamson and Matt as I promise. We'll go
over the Steelers' roster as it now appears following this weekend,
and we'll start with the wide receiver position. You got
DK Metcalf, George Pickens, you still have Calvin, Austin, Roman
(15:29):
Wilson there, there's four. Ben Scronic is five. Then you
look at the Scotty Miller there, you got Rock Taylor,
one of the undrafted rookies that they brought in, Brandon Johnson,
who he's not a throwaway player there as well. You've
had the team last year, Lance McCutcheon, and then the
other undrafted free agent they brought in, Keyshawn Williams out
(15:53):
of Indiana. You love your top.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Two, Yeah, I mean I think those two stand alone
as every down play. We know that this is not
a heavy eleven personnel team. The third guys don't get
or called upon as often as most teams. But Austin
more than proved to me that he's that at least
at this point remand Wilson's a wild card, but I
don't know if there's any reason to think less of
(16:16):
him than he did exactly one year ago when they
use a third round pick on the guy. I think
Scoronic has value. I think he was on my favorite
bring back guys.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I feel pretty good about the top five.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
I do too, and Wilson I can't wait to see
what he proves. Now. I'll probably say this about several positions.
If there's a veteran that's been around the block that's
now taking fifty cents on the dollar on a one
year deal, I look at like Keenan Allen, I'd consider it.
You know, there's room for that guy. Or I'm very
fine with this.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Waited out and somebody gets cut at the end of
training camp you didn't expect to see there. Oh we'll
bring him in as our number six.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yeah, and I'm not even sure that six will make
the team it's all said and done. But maybe there's
a spot for that, you know, yeah that maybe they're
not done there, but I think they're in really good shape.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
On the offensive line. You got Broderick Jones, Isaac Saamalu,
Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick, Troy Foltano. You got a couple
of first round picks and a second round pick on
that line. Then behind those guys you have Dylan Cook
and Calvin Anderson along with Doug Nester at the tackle position.
At the guard position, you got Spencer Anderson, Max Sharping,
(17:24):
Aiden Williams one of the undrafted that they signed.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, he's a small, cool guy.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And Stephen Jones is another guy that they got there.
And then you got Ryan McCullum and Lucidas Smith as
your center backups.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
If I had a draft criticism, it would have been
I would have liked to see a draft pick us
on an offensive lineman. But I probably would say that
about every team in the league that didn't, and it
wasn't a very good offensive line draft, So I don't know, boy,
in the fifth round, they should have taken player acts.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Honestly, that's probably why a guy like Jack Sawyer ends
up going into the fourth round, because we offensive lineman
who we looked at and like that guy might be
a fifth round guy, where they're getting taken in a
third and a third.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Right, It's just a supply demand thing, which is why
I want them. But that's why the other thirty one teams. Yeah,
overreach thething you kind of.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I mean, you draft five in the previous two seasons, right,
they're all still going to be on your roster.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, you draft five in the previous two seasons. You
took three defensive front players in this one. I mean,
like the draft the offense first.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Maybe next year you take one of each and you
just got.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Well because you got the young guys there. Now, I
do think there's some volatility here. You got the two
tackles that have immensibility, but they're You're not out of
the woods on those guys yet, No, you know, for sure,
I think see them all lose on the back nine,
to be kind, you know, but he's the veteran and
here's a spot that I definitely would have some interest
(18:48):
in what's out there, But they're not going to be
John Hannah's on out there.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
A household names you pick up. I mean, if you
look at it, last year, they picked up a guy
like Sharping. Yeah, when they had all the injuries early
in the season. He's got forty career starts. It's like
he's a throwaway guy.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Sharping and Calvin Anderson don't seem like much. They were
both picked up at that they're both picked up, and
I think there's a reason they gave him money too, Like,
I think they were pretty happy with that experiment. Yeah,
but I would always be open to more of that.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You're always looking, you always always and you know, that's
one situation there where they have all those compensatory picks.
Next year, you're going to have eleven picks available next year.
If you need to acquire somebody, you could, you could
trade one, yeah, you could, you could. And you got
a lot of cap space at tight end. You got
Pat Firemouth, you got Darnell Washington, you got Donald Parham,
you get now JJ Galberth who is a also a
(19:39):
he's the full back tight end type. Actually he's the
he's the undersized guy out of uh okay.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I got the dude.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
And then they got Connor Heyward and DJ Thomas Jones,
who is a listed as a fullback by them fullback
h backs. They get a couple of those guys. They
got some big bodies, little bodies.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a lot of tight ends on
the roster for going into camp. Was it six or seven? Yeah,
I mean they usually They're gonna probably keep four under
Arthur Smith, which worked out fine last year. I'm interested
to see par Hum in person. Yeah, he's huge, I
know that much. I've seen him on tape and on Sundays,
et cetera. But I think they love their top two
(20:20):
then they should.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
I expecting even a little bit more of those guys
this year.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
At running back. They added Caleb Johnson in the third
round to that group that also includes Jalen Warren, Kenneth Gamewell,
Cordeal Patterson, Aaron Shampkin, Jonathan Ward, and Evan Hall.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
It's premature to say this, but I think before long
it'll be pretty clear that Johnson is the one. A,
Warren's the one. B.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I think you keep Warren in the same role that
he's had.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
He's definitely your third down guy, plus right, more early
down stuff too. Gainwell's a fallback option safe number three cool,
But I think Johnson's a wonderful addition to that.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Oh, it's tremendous. Yeah, tremendous. I think you got in
every down back. Potentially, we'll see how he does in
past protection things of that nature, but at the very
least he's your He replaces Nagie Harris's.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yea, yeah, yeah, And I think he's just a better
steam fit. He's younger. I think he's got more big playability.
I think he's got better vision and nausea. Was a
good player, but you might have a better running back
Whoman he did last year.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, yeah, quarterback. You add Will Howard to the group
with Mason Rudolph Skyler Thompson. Interesting to note Will Howard
and Skyler Thompson split time at k State. Yeah, I
heard two seasons.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
That's crazy. Yeah, they were teammates. Interact now or overlap now. Thompson,
this isn't terrible. By the way, I kind of liked
him coming out of Kansas State. He's had some struggles
when thrown into the mix. We never talk about him,
but I am interested to watch him in camp.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
He had to go in and start a playoff game, right,
he had a tough situation.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah, without much of an O line. I'm not saying
he's wonderful, but he's not. I am interested to watch
him in black and gold. Getting Howard where they did,
I think is wonderful. And the more and more that
I'm around the facility, you're there more. I think they're
really content, happy, excited quietly about Rudolph. I'm not saying
he's the answer this year, that he's going to take
(22:20):
him the super Bowl. That's not the plan. Yeah. I
think they're very happy he's in black and gold.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And I think in the next few weeks here, we're
going to see somebody else added to that.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yes, room, I think that's an absolute.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I mean we know, well, first of all, we know
they're going to take four to training camp. Yes, they've
only got three on the roster. They didn't even sign
one after the draft, just to have another.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Body in another camp. Arm. The writings on the wall.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
The writing is on the wall. It's going to happen. Yeah,
it's going to happen. Right, So we'll see any minute
now when. Yeah, that when is the only question. Moving
over to the defensive side of things, he added Derek
Harmon in the first round. He is immediately, in my eyes,
hilarry Okanjobi replacement.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I agree. I agree. I mean between him, Betton and Heyward,
those are your your top three guys clearly, and then
everyone else is battling for four through seven or whatever.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, then you got Isaiah Lot Loudermilk. You got Yaye
Black who he drafted in the fifth round, Daniel Kyle,
I can I need to get better that Kayley who
you signed as an from New England. Logan Lee's toll
on a team yet another Iowa. They actually have four
(23:34):
Iowa players in this year's draft because Lee was hurt
all last year. Yeah, Jacob Slade who they added, Dean Lowry,
uhs Eziwayo, and Dominique Davis another guy that they assigned that.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I mean, he's not a big name guy, but that's
we talked about this a lot with the line. If
there's only seven spots, nine NFL players in that group,
you know, so we'll see all that shapes out. But
that could be a very competitive bottom of the room battle. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
They made the move to release Montrevius Adams today.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Shocked me a little bit. I wonder if there's somebody
else to have their eye on. I don't know, I
just wonder. You know, he had the knee injury last year.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yeah, they never quite looked the same. He didn't look
the same when he came back. I just wonder if
that's something that they looked at and said that's going
to be a long term problem for him. He's thirty
now and they didn't need the cap space. I mean,
I just assume that after they drafted Black that we
probably can move on now. Yeah, maybe just did him
a favor because he has been a good soldier for them.
No at outside linebacker. Well, you went out and that
(24:38):
of Jack Sawyer to a room that already includes TJ.
Watt and Alex high Smith, Nick Herbig. You still have
Jeremiah Moon there as well. What does this mean for
Demarvin Leal?
Speaker 3 (24:49):
That's a great question. I haven't thought about that angle
at all. I mean, which maybe he should have been
lumped with the other room. Does he is him as question?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Does he move the defensive line now or is he now?
Is he an outside linebacker full time?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
It's not like you've seen lately, But do we know
what he weighs? I mean, I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
He had a neck injury last year. Yeah, yeah, that
you know ended his season.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
They also have Echu Lioda there and Julius Welshoff. Uh,
okay year and did something did some nice things too,
So they they're really kind of stacked. Thomas Rush another
guy that they have there as well.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
They're really including Leo. I wonder if they keep six,
you know, is it Moon and Leal fighting for a
spot or they both make it or whatever. Obviously, special
teams has a lot to do with it. But I
do think we'll talk about all these individual players a
lot going forward. I didn't see the Sawyer pick coming,
but they've made two acquisitions there, Preston Smith and Sawyer,
(25:47):
both that don't look like her big and a big game,
you know.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Go back the year before that, and they tried to
bring him back in training camp Marcus Golden.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yeah, and it was a bigger, big body, yeah, not
super twitchy off the edge, you know, like a her big,
like a our pass rusher. It screams Ravens. Yeah. You
gonna play the Ravens twice.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
And we want somebody's gonna set the edge. Yeah, you know,
if we if we have to, you know, pull one
of our starters off the field for whatever reason, even
if he's off the field for three plays. I want
to power edge rusher out there. One of the things
that we saw a lot last year other teams, not.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
The splits as well, the Hayward stuff here.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Yeah, when Cam Hayward and t J. Watt were off
the field, run the ball.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Yep, and I think an immediate shortcut that fans think
are stopped around the fence. I need to put Casey
Hampton in the middle. It's helpful, but set in the
edges too. Yeah, it's a group effort.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Force everything back inside your inside linebackers who are really fast,
and let them make plays. Speaking of those inside linebackers,
you have Patrick Queen, you have Peyton Wilson, Cole Holcom.
They brought in Malik Harrison in the off season, Mark
Robinson still here. They had Devin hen Harper, who's the
guy that they they brought in on a as a
(26:58):
camp invite. And they drafted Carson Brunner in the seventh round.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Just for the inside linebacker room specifically. I'm like, boy,
that's too crowded, you know. I mean that does that
mean him and Mark Robinson are going to battle for
a spot. I don't think Harrison's in any jeopardy in
neither of the top three. But special team, special team,
special teams.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
They've kept six there before. They that depends on how
many defensive backs you keep.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
They don't know have to be acting on game day,
and you know Harrison's a really good special team or
Robinson's a really good special teamer. I would imagine Wilson's
role on special teams is going to decrease. Bruner is
a great special team. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
And if you're like two years ago they had the
least amount of special teams plays from their linebackers in
the league, Well, now you've got the You've got the
potential here because I believe, I mean no use Sawyer
on special teams as well.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
I don't know how much he's done, but he's gonna
he's going to.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I believe he should be able to do it. You
might have the most.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Moon as well. I'm just saying some
of the edge guys.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Especially with this new kickoff rule, I'd like to have
four or five linebackers out there on.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
The You don't want all corners, No, you need some size.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
You've got to be able to get off a block
and make a play.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Physicality against try to drag a quarter O Patterson down
right right. You don't want a bunch of hundred and
eighty pound guys.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Uh, it's safety. Well, today we find out that Ryan Watts,
a sixth round pick from last year, the neck issue
that he had that kind of training camp last year
is going to end his career.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
That's pretty psyched about him.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, it's unfortunate. But they did go out and they added, well,
they had this, you got this Sean Elliott, You've got
makea Fitzpatrick's there. They brought him one thornhill in the offseason.
You still have Miles killer Brew who is your special
team's captain and a all Pro special teams guy. You
got Joshua Bledsoe there, and you added in as an
(28:50):
undrafted pre agent Sebastian Castro from Iowa.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Who's easily could have been a six or seventh round pick.
And that's the type of prospect he is. Thicker build,
not a tremendous tester, but played a lot of football
at Iowa.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
At Iowa, which is prother more a lot of defensive
backs in the league.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yeah, tough, smart, all those things, special teams of course,
plays in a line of scrimmage well, tackles, physical childhood
heroes Troy Paul Maler all right, yeah, let's go.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
And also played a lot of nickel Yeah a lot, yeah,
right right for Iowa.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
So between we'll get the corners, but between Bishop Eccles, Thornhill, Castro,
the slots, that stuff might be a lot different this year.
I think it's going to be. I mean, you get
two bigger body guys there. Maybe safety types.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Yeah, that are safety types for when you're playing these
run heavy teams that want to get you an eleven.
They come out in eleven personnel and then want to
run the ball right right right, I got I got
a couple of bigger bodies there that can put out
there now.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Or even the Ravens if they're going to put Likely
and Andrews out there. You know they're not exactly Mark
Brunner like blockers. Yeah, maybe I match that with Nickel,
but I have Thornhill on them or some you know, Castro.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Whatever the cornerback position. Uh, you guess, Joey Porter Jr.
You got Darius Lay, Corey Trice, James Pierre, uh DeShawn Jamison, Kyler, McMichael,
Cameron McCutcheon, Brandon Echoles, Beanie Bishop. Don't they kent one
(30:21):
of the other seventh round the other seventh round pick?
And then you know how you how do you view
Castro there? Maybe he's one in that Nickel conversation, but
they've got bought a lot of bodies there, Kent. Was
this the last pick that they made in this draft.
But you know, he's a guy that's played a lot
of a lot of football at Central Michigan.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
And I think, like Commons said at the final press
conference or right after that pick, that he is inside
slot in outside capable. We'll see. He's not huge.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
He had like forty seven pass breakups in his career.
It's central a lot.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
He didn't have a lot of picks, but he's got
his hands on the ball a lot. It's pretty good
tester too, really good tackler. Team ran like a four
to three nine. That's some returnability too, right that. I
didn't know anything about him before they picked him, But
the more I researched, might, oh, that's very worthles seventh
round pick.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, so I you know, I look at that group.
Would have been nice to add a good young talent
to that. Sure, absolutely, Yeah, you know Slagh's thirty four
years old. But you have Trice there. It's not like
you're counting as the wild card. You're not counting on
Trice to start, right, But if he develops into a starter, great, If.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
He pushes forward or looks like a future starter. That
that's why I think he's the wild card.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Yeah, you know, so you know, you still got a
guy like James Pierre there who was maybe.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Defensive snat He's played there for special teams, right, so.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
You know I don't I don't mind that group. Then
you look at the I.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Thought they might draft a six to one long arm
corner though.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Well, I think they looked at it and maybe that
would have been where they took Sawyer at. And a
lot of times that's what we did in that round.
The guy we're looking in that neighborhood. You know, there
were still guys available. I remember writing up you know,
here's some guys that they could look at, and those dudes,
those guys were still there, and I think they looked
at Sawyer and said, this is too good of an
(32:11):
opportunity to pass up.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
You have the two punters, Cameron Johnston, who's by all counts,
is recovering well and looks like he's, yeah, gonna be healthy,
Corless weightman n Yeah, you have Chris Boswell at place Kicker.
They brought in Ben Sols from pitt as Theirs their
camp leg although that's a little different since he is
a left footed kicker.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
He is and he's not gonna be Boswell out and.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
That's not gonna happen, right. Your long snapper is Christian Kunz,
although I'll say that Brunner has done some long snapping
and he's got some of that in his background, so.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
That's pretty well set. I would love for them to
turn Weightman into a seventh round pick at some point
because he's time making the team.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, you know, we'll see, uh, maybe a flip something
there and maybe you trade your one of your trade
your seven and get a six for him exactly something
like that.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I mean, there will be teams that could do a
lot worse than wait, mine when it all comes down
to cut down.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Dere Yeah, I just look at the roster and I'm like, Okay,
where could they add at because I can remember us
sitting there at We're doing shows at Chucknols Stadium a
couple of years ago, and I'm like, there's still a
linebacker short. When got Alexander, it went out and signed
the Juan Alexander's Like, some of those things will happen, right,
And it was like I think it was within a
(33:32):
day or two, like I'm watching them, you know, I've
got the binoculars. We're up there in the press box,
and I'm looking around like I'd still like to see
one more line, one more guy, right, Yeah, maybe it's
another wide receiver offensive line.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Makes some sense. Maybe a slot capable receiver. I brought
up Keen Allen's name a lot. I mean, that's kind
of pie in the sky. But I mean somebody like
that O Lineman's gonna be a lot thinner. I mean,
we could come up with receiver names people know that
are going to be in the league. If an outside
corner became available, maybe, but the defense is pretty static.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Defense looks pretty good. Would you consider I don't.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Know the name, but like a thirty five year old
nose tackle that's done it for one hundred years, that
just eats blocks like it's his job. Those guys are
always available. I don't know. I don't know if they
want that.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Drafted two guys there and you assigned two guys already.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
It's like, but they mentioned black is more of an
end than nose. Yeah, And I don't know. I thought
maybe a power guy in the middle that's just a
massive human being. But I'm not sure. If they want
that guy anymore.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I mean, he's gonna play eight snaps a.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Game, right right, you know it is not special teams, and.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
You know, and the other team's going to might be
happy when you when you put him out there. Okay,
they bring out the big nose tackle and I was
just gonna throw. So I got to go to rush
the passer a little bit.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Do I know? And I don't think the Steelers are
in this market, but who knows. But like Adam Schefter
put out a name of twelve guys that could get
traded on Draft Day, None did none. I mean that
doesn't mean that Jalen Ramsey's still going to be a
Dolphin or whoever else. And I'm not saying there to
go trade for Jalen Ramsey, but there's some names that
are gonna get moved still. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Absolutely, So we'll see how that all shakes out. And
you know, I want to see what they look like
on the field. That's the next step now as we
get here in.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
A couple of weeks camp. But I would like to
see where are they aligning. You know why you're black
guys like that? Yeah, what's a plan? He is Matt Williamson.
I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here
on the Steelers Audio Network. Matt and I are going to
take a break. We'll be back with more right after this.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
At least he's 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 (35:46):
And welcome back. I am Dale LOLLI he is the
Matt Williamson and Matt some of the things that drive
me a little bit bonkers about the business that we
have chosen.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yep, yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
I'm just looking here on the top two stories right
now on nfl dot com Power Rankings, who's up after
the draft? Which team slipped instant impact picks? The next
one is the final grades for all thirty two classes.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Like, can we just relax a little relax right right?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Not to steal a Aaron Rodgers term, but come on.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
But we have to be Oh he went from the
they went from the twelfth best team to the fourteenth
because of this fifth round?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Because yeah, did any like who like? I get it.
It's the draft and teams improved, But everybody, did.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
I know, I know, And we've had a lot of optimism, rightfully, so,
and we'll have more if Rogers signs in five minutes
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, well Steelers' power rankings are they going to all
the Steelers jump up three spots because they got Aaron Rodgers, Like,
you should already factor that into this exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
And but my my thing is the other thirty one
teams got better.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Everybody did.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Everybodybody got new players, right, We're gonna talk about other
teams draft classes, We'll talk around the league for the
next couple of months a lot, and we'll like some
stuff better than others. But the league is so smart
because this is really the time I call the Eternal
Optimism time, because nobody's breaking their legs or blowing out
a knee, and every pick that you make is going
(37:16):
to be a good right, which, of course isn't going
to happen. This is my favorite.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Well, there's no chance we're as injured as we.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Were last year because people don't get hurt anymore, or
you know what I mean. Like, there's a lot of
bad stuff that happens, but it won't for another month
or two. And it's just everyone that comes back from
injury is going to be better than ever, no one's
going to get older.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Everybody's in the best shape of their lives exactly.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Exactly, and the league is super competitive. And yes, thirty
two teams got better in the last couple of days,
but the team you're playing against it too.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
You know, everybody added people, yes, some more than others.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Like there's some draft classes that are light.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
You know, there's some draft classes that are light. There's
some other one. Like I liked what the Ravens did
in the first and second round. Yeah, they made a
lot of picks, and they made a lot of picks,
but the majority of their picks we're in the sixth
and seventh rounds exactly. Like how yeah, you had eleven picks,
but seven of them were in round six and seven. Yeah,
(38:17):
like you hit, you know, tremendously.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
If they get two guys out of that night's great.
You know, a better chance they got a six or
seven fined than most. It's not like when.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
The Ram you know, the Rams have, well they have
you know, six picks on day two, Well you better
hit on those. Yeah, those are like if you better
hit on five or six of those.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Yeah, you're winning. Percentage needs to be a lot better
as opposed to those.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
You know, if I hit on these six and seventh
round guys, that's gravy.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
That's gravy. Or if they turn into more than a backup,
or if you get a full four years out of
their contract, that's all win.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
You know, too many people, but I think get wrapped
up in a guy being drafted like I. You know,
for example, this was the first first round draft pick
the Steelers have used on a defensive lineman since Cam Hayward.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Since Cam right right, it's a long time.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I can think. I think they've only gone with a
defensive lineman four times into thirty three years that I've
covered the team. Wow, I guess that is a It
was Cam right right, and and Ziggi Hood and Casey Hampton.
I can't think if there was an I don't think
there was another one in there the first round to
talk about what I'm not talking about edge about the
(39:27):
defensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Wow, I mean Gab Rivera, Joe Green. But I mean
that's going back. I mean that's fifty years yeah, Aaron.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Jones, depending on how you look at that, but that's
before my time, yeah, right right, And people look at
this way, you know, they've they've used these picks on
these defensive linemen and it hasn't worked out. You're gonna
kill him for taking it. Isaiah louder Milk in the
fifth round, right, all right, what are we talking about here?
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, we talked about this one.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
They traded up to get him.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
I don't care, but the give it a frown draft
back of a future six or something to get him,
Like this is I love the NFL and the draft
is more meaningful than other leagues. But if the Penguins
move up in the sixth round for somebody says it's
not even on TV or a line in the newspaper
on the internet in.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Major League Baseball team, but you can't even tell me
who the fifth round pick was.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
For second third round pick. People don't know right exactly.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
And there's not there's only two rounds in the NBA draft,
Like what are we talking you know? If a guy
to me, if you're drafted in the first three rounds, yeah,
you should be a future starter. Yeah, anything beyond that,
Like the word bus gets thrown around so much, you
can't I'm of the thought that you can't be a
(40:42):
bust unless you're a first or second round.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
Draft pick Jobey putting it. I mean Third's have an
uphill climb. I mean it's border line up with third
in that conversation, you know, I mean.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
You could be a third round pick and still be
over one hundred where you were drafted. Yeah, the hundreds
player in your draft.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
If you're a third round pick and you're a sixty
percent since snap, guys a nickel corner for six years,
Yeah that worked.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
But if you're a first or second round pick, you
better hit.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
You can't miss it.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
You can't miss on nothing.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
That's yeah, when you you almost have to look at
a negative light, we're the ones you had missed early
as opposed to the hits. The hits you gotta you
gotta hit, I mean you gotta get on base. Yeah,
you know.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
But and to me, as awesome as.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
A draft is, it gets overblown every year every year
because like one thing I like about Pro Football focus,
and they do it during the downtime. Here's our thirty
two rookie classes. Washington's first with Jayalen Daniels. But it
wasn't like it was Pro Bowl or Pro Bowl or
Pro Bowl, Pro Bowl or the fifteenth team. Their rookie
classes a couple of decent dudes, but nothing great, you know,
(41:47):
like and rookies have a hard time adjusting the league too.
Sometimes it takes a couple of years. Sometimes it does
take a couple of years. And to me, everything got
fixed this weekend.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
For example. For example, people look at well nausea Harris
didn't work out for this, so that was a that
was a wasted draft pick. I'm like, you get fourced
four years of one thousand yard rushers rushing each year
right out of that player. That is not a failed
draft pick.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
No, and a lot of it. Like you mentioned, not
all first round picks are created equal. Appreciate the running
back position. So if gent D does that his first
four years, that's below the line. That's not good enough.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
He was a top ten pick, top.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Ten pick of running back. I mean those guys have
to be special. I mean the bar is higher h
at that position. So anyways, I just take it all
over the grain of salt. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
You know, you can't judge the draft classes overall based
on well, where this guy had the rank, that guy
was ranked here that I don't care about that, Like A,
I do my own evaluations on this stuff. So I
have an idea of where I would take guys. I
know where you would take guys. That kind of stuff,
talk to to the end. But to just sit there
and say, well that draft class that's an A plus
(42:53):
and that one's a D like, or that one's a
C and that one's a B like.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
You don't know, right, And I do urge people go
to draft history, pull up the Steelers, look at their
last five, ten, fifteen, twenty drafts. Is however old you are,
and if you remember what draft day was like and
then you look at the results, usually you're gonna be underwhelmed. Yeah,
I mean it's not like, Man, we found I can't
believe this guy fell to the fifth round. I had
a third round grade on him. Yeah. But did he
(43:19):
have a long, great career or was he a contributor? Yeah?
A fine player, he was, okay, you know.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
And that's it's that way for every team. It's a
way for every team, right everyone. There's a lot of
misses that's going to do it. For our number one.
I am Dale Lalli. He is the Matt Williamson. Matt
and I are going to be back with our number
two of the drive right after this
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