June 10, 2025 • 46 mins
Matt and Dale, alongside Tom Opferman, kickoff SNR's coverage of mandatory mini camp 2025.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
At least.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
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 3 (00:18):
Live from the upmc rooney Sports Complex on the South Side.
Welcome into Steelers mandatory Mini camp coverage here on Steelers
Nation Radio in the Steelers Audio Network. I am Tom Aferman.
With me are the two co hosts of The Drive,
Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson. And it's real now, guys.
You don't show up, money comes out of your pocket.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah. Absolutely, And OTAs were great. We got good weather,
We've got great participation. We had a lot of enthusiasm.
Saw some new faces and maybe we'll see a few
new faces today too that haven't been around the last
two weeks.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
May have already seen it would be what's that yeah
back on the air? Uh can I I've already been
here seen that new face you're alluding to, Matt, And
I think that that's why the parking lot was a
little jammed out there today too.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It's a pretty different feel to it. There's a buzz,
there's a buzz, and I don't think it was an
accident that it was announced a new Steeler quarterback is uh,
you know, right after OTA's that makes all the sense
in the world. Line up for this stuff, the serious stuff,
and then take a little break, come back to camp
and get after it. But there's definitely a buzz down here,
more so than last couple of weeks, for sure. Even
(01:26):
DK Metcalf and Sleigh and some of these guys right too,
and give new faces.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
All the new toys are here, so you know now
that it's real. You gotta get everybody here, and that's
what the Steelers are about getting these guys here. We'll
see if everybody is here, but you know, at this
point in the last three days, to get an opportunity
(01:53):
to see everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Without question, and I'm sure everyone more than anything, of course,
is just anxiously awaiting Raw, of course, and I'm excited
to see how he interacts with the teammates, how he
throws the football. He's not going to be doing deep,
you know, deep things against the Ravens in week twelve
and right now, I mean that kind of thing too,
But things should be a little more serious this week
(02:15):
than they were last couple of weeks. And even the
you know, week one mini camp Tuesday was a lot
different than Thursday to me. Week too, Mini Camp Tuesday
was a lot different than Thursday. To me, the team activities,
the the pace of everything. Now again, they're not hitting,
they're not tackling, they're not blocking, of course, but they're
(02:36):
still getting ramped up and they're improving, you know, as
all all teams are right now across the league.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
And I think it is you guys haven't really talked
about ar coming in, right because that happened after your
OTA show wrapped on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Or we've brought it up over the last couple of months.
But yeah, it's not beneficial.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
That's the thing about it. It's like we've just basically
talked about every angle already, right, it's just actually putting
pen to paper. But it is good as we predicted
what happened that he is here for the mandatory MIDI
camp session, and Matt, you just alluded to how things
can get a little bit more serious now, Hm, you
need your QB one to allow that to happen.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, and particularly this QB one, And I've done a
lot of homework on him obviously this whole offseason, but
even more the last four or five days. Now that
it's he's he's.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
A steeler right now.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And one thing that I'm sure will never change if
he's twenty eight thirty eight, forty two sixty two is
he's ridiculously good above the neck and he is such
a good processor, and he's so meticulous and demanding of
(03:44):
his receivers. Yes, you know, I mean very very much
so in terms of if I get this coverage, it's
not that you're going to pop open at this point.
It's I'm going to put the ball six inches in
front of your numbers or on your back hip or
you know where the ball placement is based on coverage.
And he's gotten a reputation, I want to say, a
(04:07):
bad reputation of liking his guys, the Randall Cobbs, the Lizards.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Because they know what he wants.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
It's also Davante Adams and Jordy Nelson and guys that
are really, really good the back shoulder.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
DeVante Adams got a billion first downs in green pay
for like eight years.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You're a little young too, But the Jordy Nelson stuff
was ridiculous too. You know, I meant all levels of
the field, and that's because it's it's not I'm sure,
he loves to have beers and barbecue with those guys too,
and they get along. But I think it's truly being
on the same page, you know, Like a lot of
people just throw that out there, Oh, get on the
same page. Well, with this guy, you better be, because
(04:44):
he's gonna be really demanding. He's not gonna throw you
the football if you're not exactly where you're supposed to
be when you're supposed to be there, And that's gonna
be a challenge, you know. I mean with DK Metcalf
in particular, he's a really, really good receiver, but he's
not a precise, precise route runner type. I do think
they'll add another receiver at some point, and I bet
that guy is really on his p's and q's with
(05:06):
his footwork and all those things. And Metcalf and Rogers
and Austin and Wilson and all these guys have a
lot of work to do to get to the point
where the quarterback's happy with them, you know. I mean,
the standards are a little different now.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Yeah. The other thing this does is it allows the
quarterback packing order to set itself up.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Now, it's not Mason Rudolph taking all the ones. Now
you're a number eight, Yeah, taking all the ones, and
so that's a big difference.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
That's a huge difference.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And I think it's pretty clear. I mean, now the
packing order is very clear. I think the overall plan
is pretty clear. I'm sure Rogers will do a lot
with the ones from between now and all through training camp.
But Rudolph will get mixed in there a little. I
don't know. Sure he gets some Yeah, And I was
gonna ask you this, and I don't think we even
know this yet, but I would imagine Rogers will probably
(05:59):
get some better in days off here and there. Sure,
I would think so, I would think at his age,
I mean, Ben did, I mean, I think Wilson.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Will Howard a few more snaps.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That's where I was going with it, is I bet
Will Howard gets a ton of preseason snaps. He might
not get a lot of action these next three days
with the top units, but I bet in the preseason
he gets a ton of usage, and you really have
a good feel for him and hopefully don't use him
into the season.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
The other thing's gonna be interesting, guys, is how does
Arthur Smith cater this offense two and Aaron Rodgers. It's
not gonna be, yeah, the exact same thing. Oh no, no,
if they ran last year.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
No, he's gonna have a lot of input on the
x's and.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
O's as he should. Really heard people say that they've
already started any kind of pow wow in this short
time they've been together.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I'm sure that's gone back to even his visit here
months ago or whatever too. And I don't think it's
going to be the Rogers offense like this is exactly
what playbooking throat in the fire. I mean, that's not
what's going to happen. But one thing about Rogers that
over his entire career we've seen the ridiculously good throws
(07:11):
and the MVP level stuff and Super Bowls and stuff
like that, but his knowledge of the game and his
intelligence is really an asset on game day during prep
all those type of things. I mean, he's phenomenal with
things like when the defense is trying to get a
guy on late, he'll snap the ball and make you pay.
(07:33):
I mean, he's going to always get you out of
bad plays at the line of scrimmage. And he's gonna
have all the freedom in.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
The world to do all those things here, do you
think so?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I think that's a big question that people have on
their minds right now is how much he'll be able
to do with the line of scrimmage, how much freedom
he's gonna get. And I agree with you, it's not
going to be like, hey, Art, take a back seat.
I got it for the rest of this game. There's
gonna be a lot of give and take between the
two of them.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
But it was like Ben at the end.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I mean, yeah, and Matt you mentioned above the neck.
I mean that's his greatest strength now at this point.
And if you don't let them do stuff at the
line of scrimmage, if you don't let him check out
of this check into that, you're neutralizing that.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
One hundred percent. And I also think there's a misconception
of what went on last year. And I wasn't here.
I don't know the Steelers playbook. I don't know the
relationship between Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith and Mike Tomlin.
But I do understand that Arthur Smith's play calling when
he puts, you know, when he hears in his headset
(08:26):
to quarterback, there are multiple options, and that doesn't mean
you have to run power into a ten man block box.
I mean the quarterbacks. I think there's a misnomer that
quarterbacks last year had no power at the line of scrimmage,
had no options. That's not how the offense is designed,
any offense. No no, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Right, unless maybe you got a rookie right and you're
really trying to keep the handcuffs on him, keeping training
wheels on him. But once you get to week twelve,
week thirteen, week fourteen with that rookie, it's it's time
to take those training wheels off a little bit. So
oh yeah, I could see maybe being the helicopter offensive
coordinat early on in a very young quarterbacks tenure. But
if you don't let them fly Dale, you know, jump
out of the nest, he'll never be a starter.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Tom. If you think about it the way they did
it was Ben Roethlisberger. He basically at half field rights.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
His rookie year.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Very easy, yes, yeah, something simple, easy that he can execute,
hand off to the bus.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
When they got to the playoffs, they opened things up
a little bit more and you saw more Ben going
out winning game because.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
You're not really rookie anymore. Right, you're an NFL.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Stars or whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
College basketball they always say, once you get to March Madness,
you see all these freshmen outdays, they're basically sophomores. Once
that tournament. Yeah, it's the same deal with the end
of the NFL season. Basically into your second season. Now
you know how to be a pro.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
No, I would think so you should.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah again better Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And I'm I'm certain of it that for a long
stretch of the second half of Ben's career two he
was not. I mean he he'll override the coaching staff too.
He's the one on the field at the line of
screen image. If these are my options, I'm going to
change something. I mean, there's a misnomer that he like
drew stuff up in the dirt. I mean, that's not
the way that works. But I'm sure, even more so
(10:10):
than Wilson, Rogers is going to get you in the
right place. Not run into heavy boxes, don't run cover
twos in the cover two beaters, you know what I mean,
Like be in the right situations. And I don't think
it'll take him long at all, because again, I'm just
gonna stress so much how good he is from the
neck up of learning all this stuff, but it might
(10:31):
take time for him and his receivers to truly get
on the right page, same page, with the precision of
it all.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
No, I think that's a big by the way.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
DK metcalf looks all right first time in person, But yeah,
he's everything bloody big, right.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I mean here, you're really you're talking about a guy
two worst starts to get to two hundred and fifty
in his career.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Okay, two hundred and fifty starts right, r right?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean come on, yeah, to your point Matt about
the receivers and getting the timing down to I mean
that's just again you hit on it's so big when
it comes to an Aaron Rodgers led team in an
Aaron Rodgers led offense, and you mentioned bringing in another piece.
You think they're gonna do that? Do you think they
kind of have to to get a guy that is
that precise route running tactician or technician if you will.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, but it doesn't have to happen today, right right right?
I mean I think you could be pretty content with
this group for now with your eyes open on the
best deal. You know, I don't think you make a
deal just to make it deal. You make the right
deal when the time comes.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
You know what else? I like, we talk a ton
about the draft capital that they've been able to accumulate
through compensatory picks that they will be awarded and the
picks that they have themselves. We saw what the market
looked like for wide receivers last year at the trade deadline.
Third and third and first fourth round picks get you
a good game change. And that's as in the NFL,
(11:57):
that's the hot stove position now. So even if you
get into the season a little bit, you got enough
capital to make a big splash. I'm talking even bigger
than Mike Williams last year.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, And I would think whatever edition they make is
bigger not late literally but figuratively than Mike Williams was too.
I mean in terms of immediate impact. I'm looking for
a starter, you know, or at least a Gabe Davis Samari.
I mean, like gave Davis, Amari, Cooper Keenan Allen are
on the open market still, okay, you know, I mean
(12:27):
they're free. I mean I don't know how attainable McLaurin
or Ayuk or any of these guys that.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Are having contracts.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I think he's not going in. He's getting paid right right, right,
But there's going to be more of those situations, you know,
where you can probabe receivers away. Green Bay's got a bunch,
Houston's got a bunch, you know. I'm sure all those
talks are being had. I don't know if there's any
truth to the tight end talks, but those are all
receiving types. They need another pass catcher, and that really
would complete the roster pretty much for me.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, I think, God, oh, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
You know, when you look at it, guys, you just
want to build the best roster that you can right now.
You're in it to win. You've shown that by signing
a forty one right right, right, right right, and you're
not thinking about next year or the year after.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
And Tom, you mentioned all those picks. I mean as
it stands now, and these are somewhat subject to change,
but it looks pretty firm that they're going to have
their first, their second, three thirds, two fourths, two fifths,
two six that's a lot, you know, And they're not
going to make all those picks in April of next year. Yeah,
you're not going to have what twelve or thirteen new
(13:38):
draft picks. No, and I still think the move is
to somewhere position yourself to get a quarterback in the
first round, whatever that takes. But extra six and fifth
round picks aren't going to get you anywhere in the
first round. But that should they could get you a receiver.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
There to fill out the the other Yeah, after you've
treated away, yep, you know you're maybe it's your you know,
next year's first and maybe one of those.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Threes get you in the top ten, top five.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Now you still you know, even.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
If you make a move, you still might like to
see them ALU and need a guard.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
The third round picks now to still play with guards.
You can take two guards.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
You're not completely you know, bankrupting yourself in the draft.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And before you even get to that point, you have
some of the some of the most available cap space
in the league. You go grab things or keep your
own or extend Austin or Warren or Elliott or whoever
you want. And I know that there's a watt contract
out there that's probably gonna be the next thing we
talk about.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Now, the receiver or the quarterback settled.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I don't know that that's going
to eat up all that much space. I mean, the
Rogers contract didn't cripple your cap this year too. You
got a ton of ability to restructure guys. You know,
there's a lot of fluidity with this.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
They know how much they need to allocate to watch. Yeah. Yeah,
I don't know where he is right now. He's on field,
Omar up there in his room, like he knows what
he needs. And they've i think kept a very good
eye on their cap with in mind what they think
they're going to have to end up paying.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Well, the thing is any extension you sign what to now,
he isn't going because this year's cap to go up.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
It's gonna actually probably right, yeah, because a lot of
that's going to be signing bonus.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah. Now that they have a lot of options with
that stuff, and Omar's background with the salary cap is
very apparent over the last couple of years, you know,
because they have a high quality roster with a lot
of fluidy cap space. And next year, like I said,
there's only two or three teams as it stands right now,
that when free agency opens a year from now, they'll
(15:45):
have more. Now that will change a lot throughout the
entire league. But still you can go fill your other
needs and push all your chips in for a young
quarterback come draft time.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And we're talking about money right now. I mean, that's
the golden window in the NFL is when you're not
paying a quarterback anything. He's a talent that deserves to
be paid fifty million dollars a year. He's just young.
And the Steeler.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I mean, despite having a Hall of Famer as your quarterback,
your quarterback room is pretty cheap right now.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I was just gonna say, Matt, like, they're kind of.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
In for like the next five that space twenty.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, they're in that phase already. Yeah, they're Rodgers because
they're only paying them ten million guaranteed, thirteen million maybe
year twenty like whoop do do. And by the way,
if it gets to twenty, we win the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
It's a great thing.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Yeah, right right, So if you yeah, if you look
at this, you can kind of do what Washington did
last year next year.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Yeah, you know you've got your your veterans in place,
you have cap space, you know, you build around that
young quarterback with veteran players, yep.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, and you know you win a playoff game, and
you know, to be a desirable place for free agents.
You know, if Rogers can keep you highly competitive this year,
I think your ceiling's higher with this guy. And I'm
just gonna put it out there. I mean, I very
much believe and will be shocked if the quarterback if
Rogers isn't the best quarterback in this franchise since Ben's
(17:13):
elbow surgery. I would not since Prime Bell, but I
mean I'm talking about since his elbow surgery. I would
be shocked if this is not the best quarterback they've had.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Let's talk about that when we get Yeah, let's pick
up on that, because I think a big part of
that is him being more removed from the injury that
he had his first year.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I will say the second half of last year was
way better than the first half.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So we'll keep talking some Rogers. We're down here at
the upmc rooney Sports Complex. He's the Matt Williams says,
see I did it right, Dale Lollie, and I'm Tom
Aferman here for live coverage of Steelers Mandatory Mini Camp
on Steelers Nation Radio on Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
At least, he's the drive with Dale Lollie and Matt
Williamson on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Back at the uar pmc Roody Sports Complex for our
coverage of Steelers Mandatory Mini Camp on Steelers Nation Radio
and Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy AM, Tom offermandale Lallie
and the Matt Williamson and we were just talking about
Aaron Rodgers, of course in that first segment, and how
you're going to see Now you ended that segment saying
(18:26):
you're going to see a quarterback this year. You guess
that is better than or on par to anything we've
seen since Big Ben walked away. That's my expectation, I
mean a fair one to have.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, I mean were so his last year in Green
Bay was okay, not great.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Eight nine.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
His first year in the Jets, he played four STAPs
or something like that and had a pretty awful injury.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Was achilles right out.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, and then last year with the Jets. Not to
make excuses for him, but the beginning of the season
was not like the end. I mean, he was looked
like an older guy coming off a serious injury.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
And they were also a mess.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
They were also a mess. And maybe he contributed to
that being a mess. I mean it was it was
I don't think no, no, everyone's to blame. You're the
starting quarterback. Everything's a mess.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I mean, I like this notion that he ruined the
Jets because it right Jets. I mean, it's been like this,
this is the norm for them. He was supposed to
change them from what they usually do.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And that's a big thing I've been stressing too, is
that these two organizations couldn't be any more different. I mean,
in terms of walking past Lombardi trophies. Who the head?
I mean, do we really think Mike Tomlin's going to
get fired in week six or whatever? Like salaw and
you know, like I mean, like the constant change that
was going on in New York. And the other thing
was their protections were really bad. They were I found
(19:45):
this out over the weekend. They were third in the
league in most drops the Jets, So there were a
lot of catchuple balls that his guys didn't help them.
But the second half of the season after trading for
Devonte Adams, but even more so, who's definitely the post
boy for being where you're supposed to be in a
Rogers offense obviously, and he's a great player, but he
(20:06):
also started to move around a lot better he used to.
He got to higher speeds as a runner, he was
more and more comfortable. I think he was more of
an elevator as opposed to just kind of getting by
and it gets the ball up really quick for better
or worse. I mean, at this stage of his career,
kind of like Ben, he does not want to hold
the football on a you know, three four seconds into
(20:28):
there and take get blasted in the back by you know,
Miles Garrett. But his quick games were really, really good,
and it got better and better as the season went on,
despite tough circumstances in New York.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Wasn't there moments later in the season two where you're
you're right that he gets rid of the ball crazy fast,
he doesn't want to get hit. It's a lot of
short game stuff, but there were deep yeah, And I
think there were moments where he was like I have
to get hit in the chint here, like I just
have no choice about this, Like this is going to
be a big play. It's single coverage with Garrett Wilson.
He's gonna beat this corner. I'm gonna get blasted by
(21:00):
the linebacker. And he's still willing to do that, not
as much as maybe he used to be in his
mid twenties in his prime. But you're not going to
see just a completely scared dink and dunk. No.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
That's also knowing that you don't have to do that.
You know, Hey, I don't have to take that deep yard,
take the picket, you know, shot in the face. I
can dump it off here and get ten yards.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
He's getting the first instead.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Yeah, and just play it that way.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
That goes along with above the neck, right, what Matt
was harping on to the beginning.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
That's what you want. I mean, if you look at it.
In twenty twenty, Roethlisberger's first year back from the elbow
in Tree, he threw for thirty eight hundred yards. He
also had thirty three touchdown passes hand I mean thirty three.
That's the second most, yeah, second highest of his career.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
So you know, and that was getting rid of the
ball quickly your playmakers.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Now, I do think the line is going to be
extremely important, as is the running game. Now, I'm not
saying he's end of career, lway, and you're a little
young for this one.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Too, Tom, but I know what he was doing with
TD exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
I mean it was a zone running game, and Davis
became the focal point of the offense and l Way
made plays when he needed to. It wasn't I gotta
wear the cape for sixty minutes type of thing. I
think that's ideally where you want to be with Rogers.
You know where I need you to make a handful
of big throws. I need you to be always have
us in the right plays. You be the leader. All
(22:38):
the communication and all that kind of stuff needs to
be perfect, and you can handle that stuff like in
your sleep, but the line needs to also be a
little better. What I find interesting about the like the
time to throw stuff though, is Wilson and Fields were
hold the ball guys. Yeah. I mean so people be like, man,
(22:58):
this line, they're not gonna be able to heck them.
That's where I'll fight you because I can't stress this
number enough that time. Everyone knows what a pressure is.
I think at this point not a sack, but a pressure,
and they could be a little foggy. I mean they're
not dead on a sack, but it still get the idea.
The only teams that had a higher in terms of
(23:19):
seconds time to pressure when they finally gave up a pressure,
or the Chiefs and the Ravens, and that's the quarterbacks.
You know, those guys are hard to sack. They run around.
I mean, Holmes and Jackson maybe the best two quarterbacks
on the planet right now. A lot of MVPs between
them as well. So my point is, Okay, the Steelers
gave up sacks last year, and I'm not throwing these
(23:41):
dudes under the bus, but those numbers highly indicate that
the pressures were on Wilson and Fields in Dale. And
I talk about this all the time. Sacks and pressures
are as much a quarterback stat as they are an
a line stat. So if you're not giving up pressures
until late in the down, this fault come out as
opposed to last year. You know.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
The other thing to remember, guys, no team ran the
ball last last year, then the Jets, I bet it
makes it dead last.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
That makes sense. And rushing attempts that's totally opposite.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
That's going to be completely different.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yeah, well, why do you think that was with the Jets?
Presall was good back and they had expectations for him,
and I bet you you know, Jets Nation Radio might
have been saying some similar things to us, were like,
we can run the ball with Priese Hall. We're putting
a lot into our offensive line.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Our line was great.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
The line was bad.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Vera.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Tucker is their best line and he missed a ton
of time. Faushon who they're like Steelers, they went two
years in row now taking a tackle and they've which
tells you that they knew it was bad.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
But you had Tyrone Smith who was in.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
And out, in and out the Penn State Faushon who
was slow to acclimate, and so they took another one
this past year. I mean, I like what they're doing now,
but that didn't help Rogers then. And I also think
back to Dale's point too. You have a head coach
getting fired mid season, you didn't really have a real
strong replacement or coordinator. Yeah before that, before that too,
(25:12):
like what's the plan here? What's the foundation of things?
Who's keeping this thing on the on the tracks? Too?
And then their defense started to crumble a little bit too.
You know, they're playing from behind a little bit more.
And I'm sure solid too, I think that right, No, yeah, yeah,
one hundred percent. And then I think you look at
it and say, in hindsight, we should have ran the ball.
You know, we do resolve and yeah, Raylen Allen's on him. Yeah,
(25:35):
I mean that can't be the key.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Like the room is better than the usage we mentioned. Yeah,
but that's not gonna be a problem here with the
Steelers down, they.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Will run the ball a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
They drafted Caleb Johnson with their second pick, third round
pick in this year's draft, and they have a lot
of faith in Jalen Warre too. And we talked about
this when I was here at OTAs two. But the
rest of that running back room has been filled out
better than in previous years as well. Like when you
get to the third and even the fourth and fifth
guys on this roster, there's there's better players there.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
There's some intriguing guys. I mean, stands out right right,
he's an NFL back and if that's your three year
in really good shape. But I keep looking at guys
like Evan Hull from h Northwestern, some of the dudes
that were back last year. Tray sermon, they have not
been super productive at this league. That's the reason you're
getting it for nothing. But they had good college resumes
their mid round picks. I mean, this is kind of
(26:25):
the end of their rope that they better put up
her shut up if they're gonna be NFL players.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Like it's time for them
to prove it. And you know that's when it comes
to the offensive line too, Matt. I mean, that's kind
of the year for them too. Right, it's kind of
put up her, shut up time when it comes to
these players, especially a guy like Roger Jones. I know
you're going through the switch to left tackle. Yeah, she
got to establish yourself. And and if for nothing more, if.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
The line is like riddled with injuries though or doesn't
live up to things, it's problem for no matter who
the quarterback. It would have been the same if it
was Rudolph or Wilson or whoever. But yeah, Homes right,
But that's gonna be a critical component, Burrow.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
And it's just that if you don't have a good
line play, you're gonna have a struggle during the season.
But back to that offensive line, if not for anything,
you know, Roderick Jones, it's money time for him. Oh yeah,
fifth year option time for him. It's time to get
paid like a real NFL player and come into some
I mean, you're already making some pretty l nice life
changing money, but real generational wealth is on the table
(27:21):
now for you.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
If Damn More makes twenty, what do you think that guy's.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
With the pedigree that he has and the potential still well, I.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Mean, we know what the fifth year option is, and
it's a big even if he doesn't go to a
Pro Bowl or dramatically, they have a big decision to
make after this year.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So beyond just establishing yourself as an NFL player and
being a hit as a first round pick as opposed
to a miss, you know, looking at it from a
selfish perspective, it's money makes of time.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
So absolutely all these guys have to look at that, right.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Especially when you're into that fifth year option pick up
or not pick up after this season window.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I mean, all these guys are teammates and part of
a team, but they're also independent contractors have to look
out for themselves, and there's something to be said about, Hey,
this is contract year, I mean, and that's how the
league works.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
So often players just ball out in the year when
it's money.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Time, and sometimes that's just when they mature. I mean,
I think there's a misnomer that he tried so much
harder this year. I mean, sometimes it's a couple of
years right time to be a good player, you know, right.
And I do think the contrary to some popular belief
that Jones got a lot better post by last year,
there was some messiness before that, and I think he
(28:32):
got a lot of things ironed out, got away from
the game for a week and looked a lot better
when he got back.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And you know what they felt like at this time
last year, And I think especially at training camp, we
started to see some turbulence with Jones. The injury to
ye first day camp.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, I remember watching it live. I was like, oh, I.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Haven't had any of that so far. It looks great,
looks like he's in great shape, he's healthy. So maybe
you know that injury and that slow start to the
season last year, or actually that slow started the season
last year, Matt had a little bit more to do
with the injury than we gave credit.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
And he toughened through it and he put that I
mean no, I mean toughness and competitiveness was never an
issue with that situation, and he did wear an elwell
brace the whole year from what I remember. But Tom,
I mean, most things ahead of us are going to
be bad. I mean a lot of these guys were
looking at are going to get injured in the next
(29:24):
six months or whatever. There's a lot of hurdles that
are we have not foreseen yet.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
They had unbelievable luck for two years on that offensive
lineout injuries, and then last year that bill kind of
came to the starters like immediately.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
I mean, Herbig was a starter when he was the
lost probably would have went past him. But the day
he got hurt, he was a starter.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
The starter's gone. Her Big Daniels gets hurt and was
a starter, I mean the starter, and he goes down.
So three fits of your offensive line is injured last year,
and you knew that that pendulum was going to swing
back in that direction. Maybe a little less in that
direct this time, though, Like maybe we just deal with
the guy missing a few weeks, not a season ender.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I forget who we were chatting with last week, but
the state of this line compared to last year. I
like the starting five better than I liked last year
starting five when we sat here, but I liked the
depth of that group a year ago more than I
liked the depth of this group. And remember, at that point,
Fraser was a rookie, McCormick was a rookie, Anderson was
(30:26):
a second year guy. Obviously Fatanu was a rookie. Jones
was in his second year. You didn't know as much
about those dudes, but you still had the Herbigs and
Daniels and Siam Malus and some guys had been more
that have been around the block. We'll see. I mean
that's one thing I'm really going to concentrate on camp.
And it's hard to know here, but what's the second
(30:47):
team offensive line look like right now? Last year I
thought it was extremely strong. This year, I have some questions. Well,
and they needed it last year and then thank god,
right they would have been in a really bad shape
if they had not had that line depth.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, I mean, right now you're looking at guys like
Dylan Cook, Calvin Anderson, Max Sharping.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I do get the impression they like Calvin and Anderson
better than maybe people out there might know. They're kind
of aggressive to keep him, and I think he signed
a two year deal with that right Yeah, Yeah, but
just says a lot.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Now I'm looking at our lads right now, and they
actually have Spencer Anderson lined up as the backup center
behind crazier lads.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, that's not the case, I would think McCall.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
I would hope not. It was pretty surprising to see that.
Speaker 5 (31:29):
I mean, he's capable, he's done it, he's he's a
great Spencer.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Anderson is a good bench option though, because of that
versatility everywhere on the line.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, he can get you out of a game of tackle,
but ideally he's a guard and he has center more
than just center capabilities. You know, I get why.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
You're you know, I don't know if skeptical is the
right word when it comes to the second.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
String unproven that's it, yeah, because.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
There's definitely a chance for it to be good, maybe
just as good as last year, but last year was
a little more proven. At this point.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
The last two camps, I've really liked the line depth.
You know, you even had guys like Dots and and
Green and some of those dudes that they end up
trading this year. I'm not sure, you know, I hope
it doesn't get tested.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
I think they're like, uh, you know, a guy like
Sharping better than I think a lot of people understand.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yeah, I mean these are fewer household names, right, not
that o Lineman always with household names.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
He's got twenty plus starts in the league.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, some of these guys are have played,
you know, right, right. But if by to your point though, Tom,
I mean, if three of these starters get hit, oh no,
you know what I mean. That's every team and there's
such an no line shortage across the Steelers, not on common.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Kind of just lucky last year that they had three
of their five starters go down and the guys that
filled in were future starters. Frasier, Yeah, obviously a big
plan for him. Roderick Jones who jumped in for Fotanu.
That guy's the first round pick. Just a couple of
years ago.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
They had three tackles for two spots.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Was kind of the more sinker swim guy that they
had to throw into the fire.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
But he did a real good job swam. Yeah right, yeah, yeah,
so we'll see. But I also think the starters could
be noticeably better in year two for your right guard,
your center, your right tackle, although it's more like a
year one for him.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Jones the center especially, and I think.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
He's I worry about least.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, but I think he takes a big jump up.
Yeah this year.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I already think he's a top five guy.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
And does a guy like Rogers help with that development? Yes,
a quarterback like that, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, off on his plate, they
could talk a little bit learn Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Not to say that Russ wasn't that kind of quarterback either,
like he has that kind of mental ability as well.
Rogers is a complete Yeah, it's a different league, right.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
He doesn't get lumped this way. But Rogers is a
Peyton Manning like mind. Yes, yes, yes, I mean one
of the best ever. And that's not a knock on Russ.
Russ obviously had a has in having a great career
and is good from the neck up. But he's a
little more improv He's a little more my way the highway.
And I think it tells a lot that Pete Carroll
(34:06):
and then Sean Payton and then Mike Tomlin all decided
we're gonna be fine with you going somewhere else. And
those three coaches have won about eight million games in
this league.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
You know what they're doing. They have a pretty good
sense of what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Yeah, Yeah, they're on top of it.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Yeah, so that you know that above the neck aspect.
When it comes to Aaron Rodgers's it's obviously his biggest
strength right now. We talked about that, and.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
That's I've been stressing that more than anything over this
last couple of weeks. And I'm trying to on the
air to his smarts, his football intelligence, his IQ, his
processing on the field. And I'm sure I know that
people look at him like he's a diva. He's a
big personality, he's hard to be around. None of his
teammates have ever said that. They're all like, he makes
(34:48):
me better every day.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Even we heard Brandon Echoles earlier this offseason because this
is potentially gonna happen, and he said, I loved Aaron
Rodgers in New York like nothing that everyone was saying
like we had a great And that's a guy who
was in the locker room last year with him when
they were supposed to be this big dumpster.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
When you right right right, yeah that I mean, I
don't know him off the field all those things, but
his teammates do not complain at all. It's quite the opposite.
Is I learned so much football from being around him,
and he made me and my team better, you know,
behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
The Matt Williamsondel Lollie, and Tom Offerman here until one
o'clock for Steelers Mandatory Mini Camp. Players walking off the
field right now, well some of them are. Some of
them are still on the field as that was the
walkthrough walk through, so Mini Camp is underway.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Structed different than last month. Okay. I I was wondering,
what's going on regular season? Yeah, yeah, We'll be.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Back at the upmc rooney Sports Complex after this on
Steelers Nation Radio and Steelers Audio Network and Fox Sports
Pittsburgh nine seventy am.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
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 3 (36:10):
Live at the upmc rooney Sports Complex. It is Steelers
Nation Radio and the Steelers Audio Networks coverage of Mandatory
Mini Camp with the Matt Williamson, Dale Lawley, and myself,
Tom Opferman. We talked a lot about the offensive line, gentlemen,
at the end of that second segment in the first hour. Here,
let's switch it over to the other side of the trenches,
the defense.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
What's funny I feel the exact opposite about that about
the defensive line, like they have like three too many
good ones, Like it's such a deep room.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
I mean that's a good problem to have, exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I mean there's like nine of them for six pots.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Especially when it comes to how you see that position
on teams that are really great at defensive line utilized.
It's like hockey line changes almost. It's like, okay, three
over the boards and three back on the sideline now,
And it keeps everybody fresh late in games. That's a
good thing. Say eight year old, you'd like to maybe
ease up his second half or first half, excuse me,
(37:05):
second quarter usage so the fourth quarter he can bring
it on home be the nice closer.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
End of the season and playoffs and all that stuff too.
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
So I like that, you like the depth in that room.
But let's start at the very top of it. It
starts with Ayward. Obviously, his first team All Pro. He's
got to pass that baton sooner or not later. I mean,
it's just natural that time. Yeah, time is coming for him.
I think I think maybe he'll be like forty eight
and still doing this.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
No, I don't know that anyone's going to be as
good as him. I mean, I think he's a potential
Hall of Famer and you know, so you want.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
To see and the two candidates are obviously Harmon and Benton, right,
you want to see one.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
See he doesn't see the same way we do. I mean,
look at the position that's similar.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
You want to see one of them this year really
start to again, not take it from him because I
think Cam's gonna have a great year, but start to
maybe get his fingerprints on it a little bit, and
see I can I can carry that a little bit
if you need me to captain, no question.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
I think you know, Benton, this is year three needs
to start taking those steps.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Oh yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Would I expect that from Harmon right away? But Ben's
got to be that guy.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
And it's been very promising.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
The pressures that he had last year now need to
start turning, you know in the sacks.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, things are that nature. And you know, take words
out of your mouth literally, because give you a little
break here. You've told this story many times about you
talking to Steff Onto. It probably the somewhat similar style
part of his career where he was getting close. He
was getting close and then he realized there's an art
to getting the sack. Yeah, and then all of a
(38:35):
sudden he became really as good as Cam and you
tom to your point. We talked the labs all the time.
He brings us up every Wednesday, like we need the
next stuff onto it and you do. And that was
a massive loss that they didn't see coming.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Such a big life. I mean, I think it's not
talked about enough either.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Can you imagine if they died his ear and to
it the last couple.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Of years, Matt, you know, when he was healthy and
I think before that really final injury happened to him,
he was the defensive player too. And I mean he
was the defensive player of the year. Actually you could
apply that to shay'zier too in his year. But to
it that season before his final like last injury happened,
I don't think you could block him. Like there are.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
Five guys in the league who had double legit sacks
that year live.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
And it was one of them. He played half the game. Yes,
it was an unbelievable display. In that first half of
that season. I thought he was gonna be the DePoy.
I thought he was better than Cam that year. So
it's a massive loss. Yeah, a guy that could still
be in his prime today.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Yeah, and because Salard cap reasons, he had to let
Hargrave go in his prime, and so they're looking for
that guy and they obviously understand that too. I mean,
I think some of our listeners have heard us say
this over the last couple of months, but their yards
per carry when Cam was on the field was like
best in the league against their yards per carrying me
(39:53):
was off the field was like worst.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I mean it's a massive discrepancy.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
Three point six versus five point one.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
I mean that's hard and a half every carry. I mean,
think about that, and that can't be the case. I mean,
it's a testament of ninety seven how awesome he is.
But even if he's awesome for two years, you can't
be that dependent on one player. And that's one hundred percent.
What they're doing here is they've created a lot of
depth to take snaps off. These guys. The Logan Lee's
and people like that are going to play more and
(40:21):
more and you hopefully get a star out of one
or both out of Benton and Harmon, and you know
their pedigree indicates that that's quite possible, and plus Benton's
been a success. I mean, it's not like we're down
on Benton all right.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Now, what about somebody and maybe that next line, because
that's talking about the first line of guys, Harmon Benton Hayward.
Who's a guy in the depth role that might turn
your head a little bit this year? Is it the
rookie Wya Black, is it an equalle addition from New
England and free agency, or is it somebody that's been
around like a louder Milk at Dean Lowry, somebody like that.
Speaker 4 (40:54):
I'm looking forward to sing Marvin Leal.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
You know, year we'll talk about a guy in his
big year in front of his place.
Speaker 4 (41:02):
He was having a good camp and you know, I
think the neck injury and the bouncing back and forth
really kind of hurt him outside inside, outside inside. Now
he's just playing defensive tackle.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
And you talk about the guys that are too you know, right, he.
Speaker 4 (41:22):
Was a better, great guy. So you know, I think
they need him to show that he can he belongs
in the league, and I think he's capable.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
The two of them encouraged with for sure that are
young that we have not seen really take snaps yet.
Are logan the two Iowa guys Black and Lead and
for very different reasons, Blacks size, physicality, you know, ability
to open up those around him, I think will be very,
(41:53):
very valuable from the beginning. And I think Lee is
a guy that they're way more optimistic than people might think.
And I think he has a lot of traits to
be a rotational Dean Lowry type, but maybe better, you know.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
I mean when it comes to Loganly, doesn't it kind
of tell you how the team views this player and
their potential. When he misses his entire rookie year as
a sixth round pick, they still give them that red
shirt season and they still bring him back, and I
think they hope he makes the roster out of this
training camping k factor in so and another.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Guy that's another.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Guy I look at it in the kind of that
same light. He's not a second year guy, but Corey Trice.
I mean, they have to like something about this guy
if they continue to keep him around despite the injury
problems that he's had. Now Loganly doesn't have injury problems
just one year, but you get my drift, like there's
something there that the team is seeing in these guys,
to keep staying committed to them despite turbulence at the
beginning of their career for being undrafted late round picks.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
And to still give them legitimate shots at the right
at the roster squad like you could, you could bring
in other guys to challenge them even more directly than
they have, you know.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
No doubt, so, Matt, a little more optimistic, you'd say
about the defensive line and the offensive line, right, absolutely,
I mean more comfortable.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Maybe also the first round pick and a mid draft
pick there too, you know.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
May there's a couple first round picks on the offensive line.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
I know, but there's five of them and three of
these you know, I mean, but yes, I mean I
misspoke that there's nine for six spots. There's probably more
like ten for seven, right right, you know, which is
a nice situation, and especially if Benton has the ability
to turn into a star, or Benton or Harmon has
the ability to turn into a star, and Benton can
(43:30):
really be a plus starter for you, which I think
he already is.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
And we shouldn't be surprised, right that this is starting
to happen, because this is Andy Widel, This is amre
con when hiring Andy Widel. This is what they wanted
to do. There was a mandate, if you will to
fix the trenches on both sides of the ball. You
do that first, poured a ton of capital draft wise
into it. Splash some free agency capital into it as well.
And now three years later, look at it where it's at.
(43:53):
You have depth on the defensive line, and you're cautiously
optimistic about offense and youth on both sides, right other
than the who's the first team.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
On pro yep? And you have leadership in your youth,
you know, and in both and I think that's a
really good situation. And that's step one, you know. I mean,
now you insert the quarterback, you know what I mean.
Building the line of scrimmage is the biggest key to
this league besides quarterback. Without questioning.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Yeah, it's just so boring and so sleepy that never
pays attention to it.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
And the offensive side's really hard to do.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
I mean, look at when the Chiefs have had quote
unquote struggles and for them that's losing in the Super Bowl.
It's because their offensive line has been bad. It's because
their offensive line got overwhelmed by an Eagles defensive line.
It's because their offensive line got overwhelmed by a Buccaneers
defensive line like that.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
The only time of Homes hasn't.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Thrived when they're not good, it's their offensive line is
a little bit below what they need it to be. Now,
what makes them so great is that you know, they
go their their front office and Andy Reid, you know,
they go into their their front offices and they figure
out how to fix this offensive line and they've done
it quickly, and they've turned it around fast.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
They put a lot of resources and it will see right,
exactly right. But they're aggressive about it.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
They never but it is the biggest key matt to
your point, like if if even that's a little bit lacking.
Teams with truly elite Hall of Fame quarterbacks will not
achieve what they possibly could a lot of the time.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Yeah, most of no questions. And that's not you know,
from a chiefs perspective, that's not Week eight against the
Raiders or Bears. That's in the Super Bowl against the
eas you know, I mean, it wasn't a kryptonite until they.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
It's funny because they lose. They always get to the
final They've never not gotten the final four Mahomes is
the quarterback. But I'm just trying to illustrate that. It's
like that's the one thing that they have kind of
not been super elite at and it's hurt them. They
traded to Tyreek Hill away. Doesn't matter. We're fine. We'll
get by the makers. We'll build playmakers. Mahomes will make
them great. The defense has had some changeover, it doesn't matter.
(45:49):
We're gonna make our defense great. We sell Chris Jones.
We're fine. But when that line takes a little bit
of a dip for them, they're not at their full death.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Star superpower in terms of being the best team jar Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
A lot of hope for the Steelers offensive line this
year to start to turn that page and take that
step forward into being one of the best units in football.
And they certainly got the quarterback behind them that it
can pay dividends if they do achieve that. We will
be back for the second hour of mini camp down
here at upmc rooney Sports Complex. Team went inside, so
they should be coming out in the field shortly to
(46:21):
get the practice portion of things underway. Matt Williamson, Dal Lawley,
Tom Opperman, You're listening to Steelers Nation radio coverage of
Mini camp on Steelers Audio Network and Fox Sports Pittsburgh
nine seventy am
At least.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
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 3 (00:18):
Live from the upmc rooney Sports Complex on the South Side.
Welcome into Steelers mandatory Mini camp coverage here on Steelers
Nation Radio in the Steelers Audio Network. I am Tom Aferman.
With me are the two co hosts of The Drive,
Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson. And it's real now, guys.
You don't show up, money comes out of your pocket.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah. Absolutely, And OTAs were great. We got good weather,
We've got great participation. We had a lot of enthusiasm.
Saw some new faces and maybe we'll see a few
new faces today too that haven't been around the last
two weeks.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
May have already seen it would be what's that yeah
back on the air? Uh can I I've already been
here seen that new face you're alluding to, Matt, And
I think that that's why the parking lot was a
little jammed out there today too.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It's a pretty different feel to it. There's a buzz,
there's a buzz, and I don't think it was an
accident that it was announced a new Steeler quarterback is uh,
you know, right after OTA's that makes all the sense
in the world. Line up for this stuff, the serious stuff,
and then take a little break, come back to camp
and get after it. But there's definitely a buzz down here,
more so than last couple of weeks, for sure. Even
(01:26):
DK Metcalf and Sleigh and some of these guys right too,
and give new faces.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
All the new toys are here, so you know now
that it's real. You gotta get everybody here, and that's
what the Steelers are about getting these guys here. We'll
see if everybody is here, but you know, at this
point in the last three days, to get an opportunity
(01:53):
to see everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Without question, and I'm sure everyone more than anything, of course,
is just anxiously awaiting Raw, of course, and I'm excited
to see how he interacts with the teammates, how he
throws the football. He's not going to be doing deep,
you know, deep things against the Ravens in week twelve
and right now, I mean that kind of thing too,
But things should be a little more serious this week
(02:15):
than they were last couple of weeks. And even the
you know, week one mini camp Tuesday was a lot
different than Thursday to me. Week too, Mini Camp Tuesday
was a lot different than Thursday. To me, the team activities,
the the pace of everything. Now again, they're not hitting,
they're not tackling, they're not blocking, of course, but they're
(02:36):
still getting ramped up and they're improving, you know, as
all all teams are right now across the league.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
And I think it is you guys haven't really talked
about ar coming in, right because that happened after your
OTA show wrapped on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Or we've brought it up over the last couple of months.
But yeah, it's not beneficial.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
That's the thing about it. It's like we've just basically
talked about every angle already, right, it's just actually putting
pen to paper. But it is good as we predicted
what happened that he is here for the mandatory MIDI
camp session, and Matt, you just alluded to how things
can get a little bit more serious now, Hm, you
need your QB one to allow that to happen.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, and particularly this QB one, And I've done a
lot of homework on him obviously this whole offseason, but
even more the last four or five days. Now that
it's he's he's.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
A steeler right now.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And one thing that I'm sure will never change if
he's twenty eight thirty eight, forty two sixty two is
he's ridiculously good above the neck and he is such
a good processor, and he's so meticulous and demanding of
(03:44):
his receivers. Yes, you know, I mean very very much
so in terms of if I get this coverage, it's
not that you're going to pop open at this point.
It's I'm going to put the ball six inches in
front of your numbers or on your back hip or
you know where the ball placement is based on coverage.
And he's gotten a reputation, I want to say, a
(04:07):
bad reputation of liking his guys, the Randall Cobbs, the Lizards.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Because they know what he wants.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
It's also Davante Adams and Jordy Nelson and guys that
are really, really good the back shoulder.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
DeVante Adams got a billion first downs in green pay
for like eight years.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You're a little young too, But the Jordy Nelson stuff
was ridiculous too. You know, I meant all levels of
the field, and that's because it's it's not I'm sure,
he loves to have beers and barbecue with those guys too,
and they get along. But I think it's truly being
on the same page, you know, Like a lot of
people just throw that out there, Oh, get on the
same page. Well, with this guy, you better be, because
(04:44):
he's gonna be really demanding. He's not gonna throw you
the football if you're not exactly where you're supposed to
be when you're supposed to be there, And that's gonna
be a challenge, you know. I mean with DK Metcalf
in particular, he's a really, really good receiver, but he's
not a precise, precise route runner type. I do think
they'll add another receiver at some point, and I bet
that guy is really on his p's and q's with
(05:06):
his footwork and all those things. And Metcalf and Rogers
and Austin and Wilson and all these guys have a
lot of work to do to get to the point
where the quarterback's happy with them, you know. I mean,
the standards are a little different now.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Yeah. The other thing this does is it allows the
quarterback packing order to set itself up.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Now, it's not Mason Rudolph taking all the ones. Now
you're a number eight, Yeah, taking all the ones, and
so that's a big difference.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
That's a huge difference.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And I think it's pretty clear. I mean, now the
packing order is very clear. I think the overall plan
is pretty clear. I'm sure Rogers will do a lot
with the ones from between now and all through training camp.
But Rudolph will get mixed in there a little. I
don't know. Sure he gets some Yeah, And I was
gonna ask you this, and I don't think we even
know this yet, but I would imagine Rogers will probably
(05:59):
get some better in days off here and there. Sure,
I would think so, I would think at his age,
I mean, Ben did, I mean, I think Wilson.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Will Howard a few more snaps.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That's where I was going with it, is I bet
Will Howard gets a ton of preseason snaps. He might
not get a lot of action these next three days
with the top units, but I bet in the preseason
he gets a ton of usage, and you really have
a good feel for him and hopefully don't use him
into the season.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
The other thing's gonna be interesting, guys, is how does
Arthur Smith cater this offense two and Aaron Rodgers. It's
not gonna be, yeah, the exact same thing. Oh no, no,
if they ran last year.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
No, he's gonna have a lot of input on the
x's and.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
O's as he should. Really heard people say that they've
already started any kind of pow wow in this short
time they've been together.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I'm sure that's gone back to even his visit here
months ago or whatever too. And I don't think it's
going to be the Rogers offense like this is exactly
what playbooking throat in the fire. I mean, that's not
what's going to happen. But one thing about Rogers that
over his entire career we've seen the ridiculously good throws
(07:11):
and the MVP level stuff and Super Bowls and stuff
like that, but his knowledge of the game and his
intelligence is really an asset on game day during prep
all those type of things. I mean, he's phenomenal with
things like when the defense is trying to get a
guy on late, he'll snap the ball and make you pay.
(07:33):
I mean, he's going to always get you out of
bad plays at the line of scrimmage. And he's gonna
have all the freedom in.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
The world to do all those things here, do you
think so?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I think that's a big question that people have on
their minds right now is how much he'll be able
to do with the line of scrimmage, how much freedom
he's gonna get. And I agree with you, it's not
going to be like, hey, Art, take a back seat.
I got it for the rest of this game. There's
gonna be a lot of give and take between the
two of them.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
But it was like Ben at the end.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I mean, yeah, and Matt you mentioned above the neck.
I mean that's his greatest strength now at this point.
And if you don't let them do stuff at the
line of scrimmage, if you don't let him check out
of this check into that, you're neutralizing that.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
One hundred percent. And I also think there's a misconception
of what went on last year. And I wasn't here.
I don't know the Steelers playbook. I don't know the
relationship between Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith and Mike Tomlin.
But I do understand that Arthur Smith's play calling when
he puts, you know, when he hears in his headset
(08:26):
to quarterback, there are multiple options, and that doesn't mean
you have to run power into a ten man block box.
I mean the quarterbacks. I think there's a misnomer that
quarterbacks last year had no power at the line of scrimmage,
had no options. That's not how the offense is designed,
any offense. No no, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Right, unless maybe you got a rookie right and you're
really trying to keep the handcuffs on him, keeping training
wheels on him. But once you get to week twelve,
week thirteen, week fourteen with that rookie, it's it's time
to take those training wheels off a little bit. So
oh yeah, I could see maybe being the helicopter offensive
coordinat early on in a very young quarterbacks tenure. But
if you don't let them fly Dale, you know, jump
out of the nest, he'll never be a starter.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Tom. If you think about it the way they did
it was Ben Roethlisberger. He basically at half field rights.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
His rookie year.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Very easy, yes, yeah, something simple, easy that he can execute,
hand off to the bus.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
When they got to the playoffs, they opened things up
a little bit more and you saw more Ben going
out winning game because.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
You're not really rookie anymore. Right, you're an NFL.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Stars or whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
College basketball they always say, once you get to March Madness,
you see all these freshmen outdays, they're basically sophomores. Once
that tournament. Yeah, it's the same deal with the end
of the NFL season. Basically into your second season. Now
you know how to be a pro.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
No, I would think so you should.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah again better Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And I'm I'm certain of it that for a long
stretch of the second half of Ben's career two he
was not. I mean he he'll override the coaching staff too.
He's the one on the field at the line of
screen image. If these are my options, I'm going to
change something. I mean, there's a misnomer that he like
drew stuff up in the dirt. I mean, that's not
the way that works. But I'm sure, even more so
(10:10):
than Wilson, Rogers is going to get you in the
right place. Not run into heavy boxes, don't run cover
twos in the cover two beaters, you know what I mean,
Like be in the right situations. And I don't think
it'll take him long at all, because again, I'm just
gonna stress so much how good he is from the
neck up of learning all this stuff, but it might
(10:31):
take time for him and his receivers to truly get
on the right page, same page, with the precision of
it all.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
No, I think that's a big by the way.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
DK metcalf looks all right first time in person, But yeah,
he's everything bloody big, right.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I mean here, you're really you're talking about a guy
two worst starts to get to two hundred and fifty
in his career.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Okay, two hundred and fifty starts right, r right?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean come on, yeah, to your point Matt about
the receivers and getting the timing down to I mean
that's just again you hit on it's so big when
it comes to an Aaron Rodgers led team in an
Aaron Rodgers led offense, and you mentioned bringing in another piece.
You think they're gonna do that? Do you think they
kind of have to to get a guy that is
that precise route running tactician or technician if you will.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, but it doesn't have to happen today, right right right?
I mean I think you could be pretty content with
this group for now with your eyes open on the
best deal. You know, I don't think you make a
deal just to make it deal. You make the right
deal when the time comes.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
You know what else? I like, we talk a ton
about the draft capital that they've been able to accumulate
through compensatory picks that they will be awarded and the
picks that they have themselves. We saw what the market
looked like for wide receivers last year at the trade deadline.
Third and third and first fourth round picks get you
a good game change. And that's as in the NFL,
(11:57):
that's the hot stove position now. So even if you
get into the season a little bit, you got enough
capital to make a big splash. I'm talking even bigger
than Mike Williams last year.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, And I would think whatever edition they make is
bigger not late literally but figuratively than Mike Williams was too.
I mean in terms of immediate impact. I'm looking for
a starter, you know, or at least a Gabe Davis Samari.
I mean, like gave Davis, Amari, Cooper Keenan Allen are
on the open market still, okay, you know, I mean
(12:27):
they're free. I mean I don't know how attainable McLaurin
or Ayuk or any of these guys that.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Are having contracts.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I think he's not going in. He's getting paid right right, right,
But there's going to be more of those situations, you know,
where you can probabe receivers away. Green Bay's got a bunch,
Houston's got a bunch, you know. I'm sure all those
talks are being had. I don't know if there's any
truth to the tight end talks, but those are all
receiving types. They need another pass catcher, and that really
would complete the roster pretty much for me.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, I think, God, oh, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
You know, when you look at it, guys, you just
want to build the best roster that you can right now.
You're in it to win. You've shown that by signing
a forty one right right, right, right right, and you're
not thinking about next year or the year after.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
And Tom, you mentioned all those picks. I mean as
it stands now, and these are somewhat subject to change,
but it looks pretty firm that they're going to have
their first, their second, three thirds, two fourths, two fifths,
two six that's a lot, you know, And they're not
going to make all those picks in April of next year. Yeah,
you're not going to have what twelve or thirteen new
(13:38):
draft picks. No, and I still think the move is
to somewhere position yourself to get a quarterback in the
first round, whatever that takes. But extra six and fifth
round picks aren't going to get you anywhere in the
first round. But that should they could get you a receiver.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
There to fill out the the other Yeah, after you've
treated away, yep, you know you're maybe it's your you know,
next year's first and maybe one of those.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Threes get you in the top ten, top five.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Now you still you know, even.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
If you make a move, you still might like to
see them ALU and need a guard.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
The third round picks now to still play with guards.
You can take two guards.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
You're not completely you know, bankrupting yourself in the draft.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And before you even get to that point, you have
some of the some of the most available cap space
in the league. You go grab things or keep your
own or extend Austin or Warren or Elliott or whoever
you want. And I know that there's a watt contract
out there that's probably gonna be the next thing we
talk about.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Now, the receiver or the quarterback settled.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I don't know that that's going
to eat up all that much space. I mean, the
Rogers contract didn't cripple your cap this year too. You
got a ton of ability to restructure guys. You know,
there's a lot of fluidity with this.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
They know how much they need to allocate to watch. Yeah. Yeah,
I don't know where he is right now. He's on field,
Omar up there in his room, like he knows what
he needs. And they've i think kept a very good
eye on their cap with in mind what they think
they're going to have to end up paying.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Well, the thing is any extension you sign what to now,
he isn't going because this year's cap to go up.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
It's gonna actually probably right, yeah, because a lot of
that's going to be signing bonus.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah. Now that they have a lot of options with
that stuff, and Omar's background with the salary cap is
very apparent over the last couple of years, you know,
because they have a high quality roster with a lot
of fluidy cap space. And next year, like I said,
there's only two or three teams as it stands right now,
that when free agency opens a year from now, they'll
(15:45):
have more. Now that will change a lot throughout the
entire league. But still you can go fill your other
needs and push all your chips in for a young
quarterback come draft time.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And we're talking about money right now. I mean, that's
the golden window in the NFL is when you're not
paying a quarterback anything. He's a talent that deserves to
be paid fifty million dollars a year. He's just young.
And the Steeler.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I mean, despite having a Hall of Famer as your quarterback,
your quarterback room is pretty cheap right now.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I was just gonna say, Matt, like, they're kind of.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
In for like the next five that space twenty.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, they're in that phase already. Yeah, they're Rodgers because
they're only paying them ten million guaranteed, thirteen million maybe
year twenty like whoop do do. And by the way,
if it gets to twenty, we win the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
It's a great thing.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Yeah, right right, So if you yeah, if you look
at this, you can kind of do what Washington did
last year next year.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Yeah, you know you've got your your veterans in place,
you have cap space, you know, you build around that
young quarterback with veteran players, yep.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, and you know you win a playoff game, and
you know, to be a desirable place for free agents.
You know, if Rogers can keep you highly competitive this year,
I think your ceiling's higher with this guy. And I'm
just gonna put it out there. I mean, I very
much believe and will be shocked if the quarterback if
Rogers isn't the best quarterback in this franchise since Ben's
(17:13):
elbow surgery. I would not since Prime Bell, but I
mean I'm talking about since his elbow surgery. I would
be shocked if this is not the best quarterback they've had.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Let's talk about that when we get Yeah, let's pick
up on that, because I think a big part of
that is him being more removed from the injury that
he had his first year.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I will say the second half of last year was
way better than the first half.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So we'll keep talking some Rogers. We're down here at
the upmc rooney Sports Complex. He's the Matt Williams says,
see I did it right, Dale Lollie, and I'm Tom
Aferman here for live coverage of Steelers Mandatory Mini Camp
on Steelers Nation Radio on Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
At least, he's the drive with Dale Lollie and Matt
Williamson on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Back at the uar pmc Roody Sports Complex for our
coverage of Steelers Mandatory Mini Camp on Steelers Nation Radio
and Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy AM, Tom offermandale Lallie
and the Matt Williamson and we were just talking about
Aaron Rodgers, of course in that first segment, and how
you're going to see Now you ended that segment saying
(18:26):
you're going to see a quarterback this year. You guess
that is better than or on par to anything we've
seen since Big Ben walked away. That's my expectation, I
mean a fair one to have.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, I mean were so his last year in Green
Bay was okay, not great.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Eight nine.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
His first year in the Jets, he played four STAPs
or something like that and had a pretty awful injury.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Was achilles right out.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, and then last year with the Jets. Not to
make excuses for him, but the beginning of the season
was not like the end. I mean, he was looked
like an older guy coming off a serious injury.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
And they were also a mess.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
They were also a mess. And maybe he contributed to
that being a mess. I mean it was it was
I don't think no, no, everyone's to blame. You're the
starting quarterback. Everything's a mess.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I mean, I like this notion that he ruined the
Jets because it right Jets. I mean, it's been like this,
this is the norm for them. He was supposed to
change them from what they usually do.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And that's a big thing I've been stressing too, is
that these two organizations couldn't be any more different. I mean,
in terms of walking past Lombardi trophies. Who the head?
I mean, do we really think Mike Tomlin's going to
get fired in week six or whatever? Like salaw and
you know, like I mean, like the constant change that
was going on in New York. And the other thing
was their protections were really bad. They were I found
(19:45):
this out over the weekend. They were third in the
league in most drops the Jets, So there were a
lot of catchuple balls that his guys didn't help them.
But the second half of the season after trading for
Devonte Adams, but even more so, who's definitely the post
boy for being where you're supposed to be in a
Rogers offense obviously, and he's a great player, but he
(20:06):
also started to move around a lot better he used to.
He got to higher speeds as a runner, he was
more and more comfortable. I think he was more of
an elevator as opposed to just kind of getting by
and it gets the ball up really quick for better
or worse. I mean, at this stage of his career,
kind of like Ben, he does not want to hold
the football on a you know, three four seconds into
(20:28):
there and take get blasted in the back by you know,
Miles Garrett. But his quick games were really, really good,
and it got better and better as the season went on,
despite tough circumstances in New York.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Wasn't there moments later in the season two where you're
you're right that he gets rid of the ball crazy fast,
he doesn't want to get hit. It's a lot of
short game stuff, but there were deep yeah, And I
think there were moments where he was like I have
to get hit in the chint here, like I just
have no choice about this, Like this is going to
be a big play. It's single coverage with Garrett Wilson.
He's gonna beat this corner. I'm gonna get blasted by
(21:00):
the linebacker. And he's still willing to do that, not
as much as maybe he used to be in his
mid twenties in his prime. But you're not going to
see just a completely scared dink and dunk. No.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
That's also knowing that you don't have to do that.
You know, Hey, I don't have to take that deep yard,
take the picket, you know, shot in the face. I
can dump it off here and get ten yards.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
He's getting the first instead.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Yeah, and just play it that way.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
That goes along with above the neck, right, what Matt
was harping on to the beginning.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
That's what you want. I mean, if you look at it.
In twenty twenty, Roethlisberger's first year back from the elbow
in Tree, he threw for thirty eight hundred yards. He
also had thirty three touchdown passes hand I mean thirty three.
That's the second most, yeah, second highest of his career.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
So you know, and that was getting rid of the
ball quickly your playmakers.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Now, I do think the line is going to be
extremely important, as is the running game. Now, I'm not
saying he's end of career, lway, and you're a little
young for this one.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Too, Tom, but I know what he was doing with
TD exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
I mean it was a zone running game, and Davis
became the focal point of the offense and l Way
made plays when he needed to. It wasn't I gotta
wear the cape for sixty minutes type of thing. I
think that's ideally where you want to be with Rogers.
You know where I need you to make a handful
of big throws. I need you to be always have
us in the right plays. You be the leader. All
(22:38):
the communication and all that kind of stuff needs to
be perfect, and you can handle that stuff like in
your sleep, but the line needs to also be a
little better. What I find interesting about the like the
time to throw stuff though, is Wilson and Fields were
hold the ball guys. Yeah. I mean so people be like, man,
(22:58):
this line, they're not gonna be able to heck them.
That's where I'll fight you because I can't stress this
number enough that time. Everyone knows what a pressure is.
I think at this point not a sack, but a pressure,
and they could be a little foggy. I mean they're
not dead on a sack, but it still get the idea.
The only teams that had a higher in terms of
(23:19):
seconds time to pressure when they finally gave up a pressure,
or the Chiefs and the Ravens, and that's the quarterbacks.
You know, those guys are hard to sack. They run around.
I mean, Holmes and Jackson maybe the best two quarterbacks
on the planet right now. A lot of MVPs between
them as well. So my point is, Okay, the Steelers
gave up sacks last year, and I'm not throwing these
(23:41):
dudes under the bus, but those numbers highly indicate that
the pressures were on Wilson and Fields in Dale. And
I talk about this all the time. Sacks and pressures
are as much a quarterback stat as they are an
a line stat. So if you're not giving up pressures
until late in the down, this fault come out as
opposed to last year. You know.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
The other thing to remember, guys, no team ran the
ball last last year, then the Jets, I bet it
makes it dead last.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
That makes sense. And rushing attempts that's totally opposite.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
That's going to be completely different.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yeah, well, why do you think that was with the Jets?
Presall was good back and they had expectations for him,
and I bet you you know, Jets Nation Radio might
have been saying some similar things to us, were like,
we can run the ball with Priese Hall. We're putting
a lot into our offensive line.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Our line was great.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
The line was bad.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Vera.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Tucker is their best line and he missed a ton
of time. Faushon who they're like Steelers, they went two
years in row now taking a tackle and they've which
tells you that they knew it was bad.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
But you had Tyrone Smith who was in.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
And out, in and out the Penn State Faushon who
was slow to acclimate, and so they took another one
this past year. I mean, I like what they're doing now,
but that didn't help Rogers then. And I also think
back to Dale's point too. You have a head coach
getting fired mid season, you didn't really have a real
strong replacement or coordinator. Yeah before that, before that too,
(25:12):
like what's the plan here? What's the foundation of things?
Who's keeping this thing on the on the tracks? Too?
And then their defense started to crumble a little bit too.
You know, they're playing from behind a little bit more.
And I'm sure solid too, I think that right, No, yeah, yeah,
one hundred percent. And then I think you look at
it and say, in hindsight, we should have ran the ball.
You know, we do resolve and yeah, Raylen Allen's on him. Yeah,
(25:35):
I mean that can't be the key.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Like the room is better than the usage we mentioned. Yeah,
but that's not gonna be a problem here with the
Steelers down, they.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Will run the ball a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
They drafted Caleb Johnson with their second pick, third round
pick in this year's draft, and they have a lot
of faith in Jalen Warre too. And we talked about
this when I was here at OTAs two. But the
rest of that running back room has been filled out
better than in previous years as well. Like when you
get to the third and even the fourth and fifth
guys on this roster, there's there's better players there.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
There's some intriguing guys. I mean, stands out right right,
he's an NFL back and if that's your three year
in really good shape. But I keep looking at guys
like Evan Hull from h Northwestern, some of the dudes
that were back last year. Tray sermon, they have not
been super productive at this league. That's the reason you're
getting it for nothing. But they had good college resumes
their mid round picks. I mean, this is kind of
(26:25):
the end of their rope that they better put up
her shut up if they're gonna be NFL players.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Like it's time for them
to prove it. And you know that's when it comes
to the offensive line too, Matt. I mean, that's kind
of the year for them too. Right, it's kind of
put up her, shut up time when it comes to
these players, especially a guy like Roger Jones. I know
you're going through the switch to left tackle. Yeah, she
got to establish yourself. And and if for nothing more, if.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
The line is like riddled with injuries though or doesn't
live up to things, it's problem for no matter who
the quarterback. It would have been the same if it
was Rudolph or Wilson or whoever. But yeah, Homes right,
But that's gonna be a critical component, Burrow.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
And it's just that if you don't have a good
line play, you're gonna have a struggle during the season.
But back to that offensive line, if not for anything,
you know, Roderick Jones, it's money time for him. Oh yeah,
fifth year option time for him. It's time to get
paid like a real NFL player and come into some
I mean, you're already making some pretty l nice life
changing money, but real generational wealth is on the table
(27:21):
now for you.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
If Damn More makes twenty, what do you think that guy's.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
With the pedigree that he has and the potential still well, I.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Mean, we know what the fifth year option is, and
it's a big even if he doesn't go to a
Pro Bowl or dramatically, they have a big decision to
make after this year.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So beyond just establishing yourself as an NFL player and
being a hit as a first round pick as opposed
to a miss, you know, looking at it from a
selfish perspective, it's money makes of time.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
So absolutely all these guys have to look at that, right.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Especially when you're into that fifth year option pick up
or not pick up after this season window.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I mean, all these guys are teammates and part of
a team, but they're also independent contractors have to look
out for themselves, and there's something to be said about, Hey,
this is contract year, I mean, and that's how the
league works.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
So often players just ball out in the year when
it's money.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Time, and sometimes that's just when they mature. I mean,
I think there's a misnomer that he tried so much
harder this year. I mean, sometimes it's a couple of
years right time to be a good player, you know, right.
And I do think the contrary to some popular belief
that Jones got a lot better post by last year,
there was some messiness before that, and I think he
(28:32):
got a lot of things ironed out, got away from
the game for a week and looked a lot better
when he got back.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And you know what they felt like at this time
last year, And I think especially at training camp, we
started to see some turbulence with Jones. The injury to
ye first day camp.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, I remember watching it live. I was like, oh, I.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Haven't had any of that so far. It looks great,
looks like he's in great shape, he's healthy. So maybe
you know that injury and that slow start to the
season last year, or actually that slow started the season
last year, Matt had a little bit more to do
with the injury than we gave credit.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
And he toughened through it and he put that I
mean no, I mean toughness and competitiveness was never an
issue with that situation, and he did wear an elwell
brace the whole year from what I remember. But Tom,
I mean, most things ahead of us are going to
be bad. I mean a lot of these guys were
looking at are going to get injured in the next
(29:24):
six months or whatever. There's a lot of hurdles that
are we have not foreseen yet.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
They had unbelievable luck for two years on that offensive
lineout injuries, and then last year that bill kind of
came to the starters like immediately.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
I mean, Herbig was a starter when he was the
lost probably would have went past him. But the day
he got hurt, he was a starter.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
The starter's gone. Her Big Daniels gets hurt and was
a starter, I mean the starter, and he goes down.
So three fits of your offensive line is injured last year,
and you knew that that pendulum was going to swing
back in that direction. Maybe a little less in that
direct this time, though, Like maybe we just deal with
the guy missing a few weeks, not a season ender.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I forget who we were chatting with last week, but
the state of this line compared to last year. I
like the starting five better than I liked last year
starting five when we sat here, but I liked the
depth of that group a year ago more than I
liked the depth of this group. And remember, at that point,
Fraser was a rookie, McCormick was a rookie, Anderson was
(30:26):
a second year guy. Obviously Fatanu was a rookie. Jones
was in his second year. You didn't know as much
about those dudes, but you still had the Herbigs and
Daniels and Siam Malus and some guys had been more
that have been around the block. We'll see. I mean
that's one thing I'm really going to concentrate on camp.
And it's hard to know here, but what's the second
(30:47):
team offensive line look like right now? Last year I
thought it was extremely strong. This year, I have some questions. Well,
and they needed it last year and then thank god,
right they would have been in a really bad shape
if they had not had that line depth.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, I mean, right now you're looking at guys like
Dylan Cook, Calvin Anderson, Max Sharping.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I do get the impression they like Calvin and Anderson
better than maybe people out there might know. They're kind
of aggressive to keep him, and I think he signed
a two year deal with that right Yeah, Yeah, but
just says a lot.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Now I'm looking at our lads right now, and they
actually have Spencer Anderson lined up as the backup center
behind crazier lads.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, that's not the case, I would think McCall.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
I would hope not. It was pretty surprising to see that.
Speaker 5 (31:29):
I mean, he's capable, he's done it, he's he's a
great Spencer.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Anderson is a good bench option though, because of that
versatility everywhere on the line.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, he can get you out of a game of tackle,
but ideally he's a guard and he has center more
than just center capabilities. You know, I get why.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
You're you know, I don't know if skeptical is the
right word when it comes to the second.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
String unproven that's it, yeah, because.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
There's definitely a chance for it to be good, maybe
just as good as last year, but last year was
a little more proven. At this point.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
The last two camps, I've really liked the line depth.
You know, you even had guys like Dots and and
Green and some of those dudes that they end up
trading this year. I'm not sure, you know, I hope
it doesn't get tested.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
I think they're like, uh, you know, a guy like
Sharping better than I think a lot of people understand.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yeah, I mean these are fewer household names, right, not
that o Lineman always with household names.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
He's got twenty plus starts in the league.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, some of these guys are have played,
you know, right, right. But if by to your point though, Tom,
I mean, if three of these starters get hit, oh no,
you know what I mean. That's every team and there's
such an no line shortage across the Steelers, not on common.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Kind of just lucky last year that they had three
of their five starters go down and the guys that
filled in were future starters. Frasier, Yeah, obviously a big
plan for him. Roderick Jones who jumped in for Fotanu.
That guy's the first round pick. Just a couple of
years ago.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
They had three tackles for two spots.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Was kind of the more sinker swim guy that they
had to throw into the fire.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
But he did a real good job swam. Yeah right, yeah, yeah,
so we'll see. But I also think the starters could
be noticeably better in year two for your right guard,
your center, your right tackle, although it's more like a
year one for him.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Jones the center especially, and I think.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
He's I worry about least.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, but I think he takes a big jump up.
Yeah this year.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I already think he's a top five guy.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
And does a guy like Rogers help with that development? Yes,
a quarterback like that, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, off on his plate, they
could talk a little bit learn Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Not to say that Russ wasn't that kind of quarterback either,
like he has that kind of mental ability as well.
Rogers is a complete Yeah, it's a different league, right.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
He doesn't get lumped this way. But Rogers is a
Peyton Manning like mind. Yes, yes, yes, I mean one
of the best ever. And that's not a knock on Russ.
Russ obviously had a has in having a great career
and is good from the neck up. But he's a
little more improv He's a little more my way the highway.
And I think it tells a lot that Pete Carroll
(34:06):
and then Sean Payton and then Mike Tomlin all decided
we're gonna be fine with you going somewhere else. And
those three coaches have won about eight million games in
this league.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
You know what they're doing. They have a pretty good
sense of what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Yeah, Yeah, they're on top of it.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Yeah, so that you know that above the neck aspect.
When it comes to Aaron Rodgers's it's obviously his biggest
strength right now. We talked about that, and.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
That's I've been stressing that more than anything over this
last couple of weeks. And I'm trying to on the
air to his smarts, his football intelligence, his IQ, his
processing on the field. And I'm sure I know that
people look at him like he's a diva. He's a
big personality, he's hard to be around. None of his
teammates have ever said that. They're all like, he makes
(34:48):
me better every day.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Even we heard Brandon Echoles earlier this offseason because this
is potentially gonna happen, and he said, I loved Aaron
Rodgers in New York like nothing that everyone was saying
like we had a great And that's a guy who
was in the locker room last year with him when
they were supposed to be this big dumpster.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
When you right right right, yeah that I mean, I
don't know him off the field all those things, but
his teammates do not complain at all. It's quite the opposite.
Is I learned so much football from being around him,
and he made me and my team better, you know,
behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
The Matt Williamsondel Lollie, and Tom Offerman here until one
o'clock for Steelers Mandatory Mini Camp. Players walking off the
field right now, well some of them are. Some of
them are still on the field as that was the
walkthrough walk through, so Mini Camp is underway.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Structed different than last month. Okay. I I was wondering,
what's going on regular season? Yeah, yeah, We'll be.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Back at the upmc rooney Sports Complex after this on
Steelers Nation Radio and Steelers Audio Network and Fox Sports
Pittsburgh nine seventy am.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
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 3 (36:10):
Live at the upmc rooney Sports Complex. It is Steelers
Nation Radio and the Steelers Audio Networks coverage of Mandatory
Mini Camp with the Matt Williamson, Dale Lawley, and myself,
Tom Opferman. We talked a lot about the offensive line, gentlemen,
at the end of that second segment in the first hour. Here,
let's switch it over to the other side of the trenches,
the defense.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
What's funny I feel the exact opposite about that about
the defensive line, like they have like three too many
good ones, Like it's such a deep room.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
I mean that's a good problem to have, exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I mean there's like nine of them for six pots.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Especially when it comes to how you see that position
on teams that are really great at defensive line utilized.
It's like hockey line changes almost. It's like, okay, three
over the boards and three back on the sideline now,
And it keeps everybody fresh late in games. That's a
good thing. Say eight year old, you'd like to maybe
ease up his second half or first half, excuse me,
(37:05):
second quarter usage so the fourth quarter he can bring
it on home be the nice closer.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
End of the season and playoffs and all that stuff too.
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
So I like that, you like the depth in that room.
But let's start at the very top of it. It
starts with Ayward. Obviously, his first team All Pro. He's
got to pass that baton sooner or not later. I mean,
it's just natural that time. Yeah, time is coming for him.
I think I think maybe he'll be like forty eight
and still doing this.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
No, I don't know that anyone's going to be as
good as him. I mean, I think he's a potential
Hall of Famer and you know, so you want.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
To see and the two candidates are obviously Harmon and Benton, right,
you want to see one.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
See he doesn't see the same way we do. I mean,
look at the position that's similar.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
You want to see one of them this year really
start to again, not take it from him because I
think Cam's gonna have a great year, but start to
maybe get his fingerprints on it a little bit, and
see I can I can carry that a little bit
if you need me to captain, no question.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
I think you know, Benton, this is year three needs
to start taking those steps.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Oh yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Would I expect that from Harmon right away? But Ben's
got to be that guy.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
And it's been very promising.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
The pressures that he had last year now need to
start turning, you know in the sacks.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, things are that nature. And you know, take words
out of your mouth literally, because give you a little
break here. You've told this story many times about you
talking to Steff Onto. It probably the somewhat similar style
part of his career where he was getting close. He
was getting close and then he realized there's an art
to getting the sack. Yeah, and then all of a
(38:35):
sudden he became really as good as Cam and you
tom to your point. We talked the labs all the time.
He brings us up every Wednesday, like we need the
next stuff onto it and you do. And that was
a massive loss that they didn't see coming.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Such a big life. I mean, I think it's not
talked about enough either.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Can you imagine if they died his ear and to
it the last couple.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Of years, Matt, you know, when he was healthy and
I think before that really final injury happened to him,
he was the defensive player too. And I mean he
was the defensive player of the year. Actually you could
apply that to shay'zier too in his year. But to
it that season before his final like last injury happened,
I don't think you could block him. Like there are.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
Five guys in the league who had double legit sacks
that year live.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
And it was one of them. He played half the game. Yes,
it was an unbelievable display. In that first half of
that season. I thought he was gonna be the DePoy.
I thought he was better than Cam that year. So
it's a massive loss. Yeah, a guy that could still
be in his prime today.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Yeah, and because Salard cap reasons, he had to let
Hargrave go in his prime, and so they're looking for
that guy and they obviously understand that too. I mean,
I think some of our listeners have heard us say
this over the last couple of months, but their yards
per carry when Cam was on the field was like
best in the league against their yards per carrying me
(39:53):
was off the field was like worst.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I mean it's a massive discrepancy.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
Three point six versus five point one.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
I mean that's hard and a half every carry. I mean,
think about that, and that can't be the case. I mean,
it's a testament of ninety seven how awesome he is.
But even if he's awesome for two years, you can't
be that dependent on one player. And that's one hundred percent.
What they're doing here is they've created a lot of
depth to take snaps off. These guys. The Logan Lee's
and people like that are going to play more and
(40:21):
more and you hopefully get a star out of one
or both out of Benton and Harmon, and you know
their pedigree indicates that that's quite possible, and plus Benton's
been a success. I mean, it's not like we're down
on Benton all right.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Now, what about somebody and maybe that next line, because
that's talking about the first line of guys, Harmon Benton Hayward.
Who's a guy in the depth role that might turn
your head a little bit this year? Is it the
rookie Wya Black, is it an equalle addition from New
England and free agency, or is it somebody that's been
around like a louder Milk at Dean Lowry, somebody like that.
Speaker 4 (40:54):
I'm looking forward to sing Marvin Leal.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
You know, year we'll talk about a guy in his
big year in front of his place.
Speaker 4 (41:02):
He was having a good camp and you know, I
think the neck injury and the bouncing back and forth
really kind of hurt him outside inside, outside inside. Now
he's just playing defensive tackle.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
And you talk about the guys that are too you know, right, he.
Speaker 4 (41:22):
Was a better, great guy. So you know, I think
they need him to show that he can he belongs
in the league, and I think he's capable.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
The two of them encouraged with for sure that are
young that we have not seen really take snaps yet.
Are logan the two Iowa guys Black and Lead and
for very different reasons, Blacks size, physicality, you know, ability
to open up those around him, I think will be very,
(41:53):
very valuable from the beginning. And I think Lee is
a guy that they're way more optimistic than people might think.
And I think he has a lot of traits to
be a rotational Dean Lowry type, but maybe better, you know.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
I mean when it comes to Loganly, doesn't it kind
of tell you how the team views this player and
their potential. When he misses his entire rookie year as
a sixth round pick, they still give them that red
shirt season and they still bring him back, and I
think they hope he makes the roster out of this
training camping k factor in so and another.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Guy that's another.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Guy I look at it in the kind of that
same light. He's not a second year guy, but Corey Trice.
I mean, they have to like something about this guy
if they continue to keep him around despite the injury
problems that he's had. Now Loganly doesn't have injury problems
just one year, but you get my drift, like there's
something there that the team is seeing in these guys,
to keep staying committed to them despite turbulence at the
beginning of their career for being undrafted late round picks.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
And to still give them legitimate shots at the right
at the roster squad like you could, you could bring
in other guys to challenge them even more directly than
they have, you know.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
No doubt, so, Matt, a little more optimistic, you'd say
about the defensive line and the offensive line, right, absolutely,
I mean more comfortable.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Maybe also the first round pick and a mid draft
pick there too, you know.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
May there's a couple first round picks on the offensive line.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
I know, but there's five of them and three of
these you know, I mean, but yes, I mean I
misspoke that there's nine for six spots. There's probably more
like ten for seven, right right, you know, which is
a nice situation, and especially if Benton has the ability
to turn into a star, or Benton or Harmon has
the ability to turn into a star, and Benton can
(43:30):
really be a plus starter for you, which I think
he already is.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
And we shouldn't be surprised, right that this is starting
to happen, because this is Andy Widel, This is amre
con when hiring Andy Widel. This is what they wanted
to do. There was a mandate, if you will to
fix the trenches on both sides of the ball. You
do that first, poured a ton of capital draft wise
into it. Splash some free agency capital into it as well.
And now three years later, look at it where it's at.
(43:53):
You have depth on the defensive line, and you're cautiously
optimistic about offense and youth on both sides, right other
than the who's the first team.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
On pro yep? And you have leadership in your youth,
you know, and in both and I think that's a
really good situation. And that's step one, you know. I mean,
now you insert the quarterback, you know what I mean.
Building the line of scrimmage is the biggest key to
this league besides quarterback. Without questioning.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Yeah, it's just so boring and so sleepy that never
pays attention to it.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
And the offensive side's really hard to do.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
I mean, look at when the Chiefs have had quote
unquote struggles and for them that's losing in the Super Bowl.
It's because their offensive line has been bad. It's because
their offensive line got overwhelmed by an Eagles defensive line.
It's because their offensive line got overwhelmed by a Buccaneers
defensive line like that.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
The only time of Homes hasn't.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Thrived when they're not good, it's their offensive line is
a little bit below what they need it to be. Now,
what makes them so great is that you know, they
go their their front office and Andy Reid, you know,
they go into their their front offices and they figure
out how to fix this offensive line and they've done
it quickly, and they've turned it around fast.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
They put a lot of resources and it will see right,
exactly right. But they're aggressive about it.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
They never but it is the biggest key matt to
your point, like if if even that's a little bit lacking.
Teams with truly elite Hall of Fame quarterbacks will not
achieve what they possibly could a lot of the time.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Yeah, most of no questions. And that's not you know,
from a chiefs perspective, that's not Week eight against the
Raiders or Bears. That's in the Super Bowl against the
eas you know, I mean, it wasn't a kryptonite until they.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
It's funny because they lose. They always get to the
final They've never not gotten the final four Mahomes is
the quarterback. But I'm just trying to illustrate that. It's
like that's the one thing that they have kind of
not been super elite at and it's hurt them. They
traded to Tyreek Hill away. Doesn't matter. We're fine. We'll
get by the makers. We'll build playmakers. Mahomes will make
them great. The defense has had some changeover, it doesn't matter.
(45:49):
We're gonna make our defense great. We sell Chris Jones.
We're fine. But when that line takes a little bit
of a dip for them, they're not at their full death.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Star superpower in terms of being the best team jar Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
A lot of hope for the Steelers offensive line this
year to start to turn that page and take that
step forward into being one of the best units in football.
And they certainly got the quarterback behind them that it
can pay dividends if they do achieve that. We will
be back for the second hour of mini camp down
here at upmc rooney Sports Complex. Team went inside, so
they should be coming out in the field shortly to
(46:21):
get the practice portion of things underway. Matt Williamson, Dal Lawley,
Tom Opperman, You're listening to Steelers Nation radio coverage of
Mini camp on Steelers Audio Network and Fox Sports Pittsburgh
nine seventy am
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