April 30, 2025 • 53 mins
Dale and Matt talk about the recent storm in Pittsburgh and its aftermath, before bringing in Steelers.com Editor Bob Labriola to discuss his thoughts on how the 2025 NFL Draft went for the Steelers.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
At least.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolli and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven home of the Black and
Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Welcome to the Drive. I am Dale Lolli. He is
the Matt Williamson. And well it's a lovely Wednesday outside
here in Pittsburgh, Sora. That's so nice right now. Yeah,
last night a storm rolled to here, knock the lights out.
We are actually in a studio here that actually has power.
Everything else in the building out out. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
I walked in and there's something's beeping and I went
to use the drinking fountain. That doesn't work. I guess
that's the electricity. I didn't put two and two together
on that. Then you broke my heart and you're like,
I don't think you can make a coffee either.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm like, Matt always drinks two to three cups of coffee.
It's always the same.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
There's one full one and then it gets almost to
the end, and then I top it off and then
I go to water.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
At the end.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Yeah, now my systems almost now and I generated and
to really pull back the curtain. Last night's the first
night I didn't sleep with my seapap for like years,
and I'm tired as could be. I'm like, oh, I
can't wait for that coffee heartbreaker the day that it
couldn't be there because we have power all night, I
power back noon today.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It came rolling through by my house really bad, but
we didn't We never lost electricity or anything.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
There's a lot of trees down.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
But I texted you last I knew somebody was coming
home from it from the South Hills. He he had
done a baseball game up there. I'mpired a baseball game,
and he was telling me it was really bad. It
was Yeah, all the lights were out and everything. And
I'm like, well, we didn't get hit quite that hard.
We got hit, but not anything like that. And then
I texted you later in the night and you didn't
get back to me. I'm like, oh, I bet Matt's Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
My phone was a paperweight for a while there until
about noon today. Yeah. And what's crazy is some for
whatever in our house, we don't get good cell service
unless we use the internet. So my kids were losing
their minds. They were just going anywhere that had Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I was like, that's like going back to the old
days when.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Oh, yeah, They're like, I forgot what my son was saying,
something like this is like the eighteen hundreds here. I'm like,
not quite. You still have fiddling on your iPad, but
you know it's a little.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You know, in regards to that. So I've been doing
this a long time. And a friend of mine from
college got a job in Jacksonville one year, okay, and
we were talking. He came to Pittsburgh a couple about
a month ago, and we were talking. I met him
for you know, before he flew back to Boston, and
(02:45):
we were talking about he does remember the time we
met in Jacksonville and neither there were no cell phones
at the time, and somehow we figured out exactly where
to meet in Jacksonville without cell phones and we didn't
miss each other.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, that's how it used to be.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I was telling my daughters about that, you know. I'm like, okay,
He's like, they couldn't they couldn't figure out how to
meet their friends without their cell phones. Oh, I know.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
I mean, like everybody. We would be on our corded
phone in the kitchen, all right. I called Jeff, you
called Jason. We'll meet here, and then someone's ten minutes late.
But who knows or you know, somehow we all made
it work. Yeah, different era call him. I'll call him, okay,
well just to get together for dinner.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
It's so I bring that up because it's funny. I
was chatting with working on a story on Derek Carmon, Yeah,
first round draft pick. I talked to his high school
coach today, and his high school coach got hired his
He had a couple of coaches, but the guy he
had his senior year got hired the week before the season.
That's why I talked to today and he was telling
(03:49):
me that he's like because I asked him, I was
that when COVID hit, because it was you know, in
that frame timeframe. He goes funny and mentioned that he goes,
I got hired on a Monday, when day we had
a first team meeting Friday, coach, everything shut down because
of COVID. Wow, he of the dudes, he said, I
don't know anybody there, he said, And he told me,
he said, you know, Derek Harmon was like another a
(04:11):
coach with that team. He says, he organized all the
zoom calls, set them up, made sure everybody was on them.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know just took care of his
new for everybody. And these kids are sixteen, seventeen, eighteen
years old looking up to him, I assume.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
And it was a private school, so it wasn't like
it was a neighborhood situation. Okay. He went to an
all boys school in Detroit.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
So a lot of them are from distance.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
They're all, yeah, they're not all in the same neighborhood
where you can run next door to Jimmy's house. Hey, Jimmy,
get on the zoom call. Yeah, yeah, wow, that's cool,
he said he was. He was like another coach with that.
He said, he's a great leader.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Yeah, I've gotten that impression. You know, super well organized,
you know, all the stuff with his family and his mom,
you know, really being on top of that situation.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Highly focused and because of that situation and just highly focused,
highly motivated, and you know, just a great leader.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
And Mike Pursuda was telling stories about him right after
they drafted him to you know, going back to the
Michigan State stuff of Michigan State that with a lot
of his na L money, he was getting really put
it towards his mother, you know what I mean, like
towards vehicles. So that she could use and that kind
of stuff. He wasn't buying Lamborghinis and stupid stuff.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, it wasn't Carson beckened up right now. He wasn't
making Carson beck money.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Right now.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
But he sounds like a great human, you know.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So, uh just interesting how you know, just some of
the We even talked about the recruiting process. I'm like,
what was that recruiting process like during COVID. He's like
it was interesting because if schools from out of state
couldn't come in, they couldn't fly in and visit with
the with the pl and so you know, he's like,
(05:48):
I had to send out you know, tapes and everything
to all these other schools to get you know, to
drum up the interest because.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
They're not gonna so to pull back the curtain. You know,
like at least in my day, which was a long
time ago, Bro is pretty similar. Our d line coach
did whip youles, you know, it did local. I mean,
our tight end coach had New Jersey like you had
these these territories where you really built relationships and you'd
go into high schools even if they didn't have a kid,
(06:16):
because you just wanted to see the coach and because
you know they're gonna have a kid, and he was
coming in the pipe in the piper, right right, right.
Maybe you ask about an opponent that you're that you're
recruiting or whatever, but the big schools you hit all
the time and you really develop a relationship with the
people in the building, and none of that could have existed.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Doing right right right. Couldn't do it, I mean, especially
if you know, you couldn't even you couldn't even go
out of Like you couldn't get into some of these states,
all right, Like if you're on and you're recruiting somebody
in Michigan, you couldn't get there.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
You couldn't get there at all. Yeah, And I didn't
know what a zoom.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Was before that, nor did I.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
I remember we were coming home from the Combine that
year and they're like made jokes about Corona the beer.
I'm like, what's that.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
That was the first time I saw somebody in a mask.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I was walking over to the to the mall that
the Center City Mall or whatever it's called the Circle,
like our last day there or whatever, and somebody was
walking through there's a mask. IM like, oh, that's weird.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
That's strange. Yeah, I remember here in Philip River is
gonna be a cult and figured out what the coronavirus
was at the time as we were leaving. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Anyway, so, uh, Steelers again will have their rookie Mini
camp next weekend, so they'll get an opportunity to get
hands on this rookie draft class. So also have their tryouts.
Every team has some guys they bring in for tryouts.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
People don't realize that it is kind of almost like
a high school college situation where you just bring dudes in,
try them out, and sometimes you find somebody you know.
Sometimes yeah, I mean the camp body. I mean they've they've.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Gotten Terrence Garvin out of that for example. Okay, let's
say there is there any names you knew of that
stuck who actually made the team. Yeah, you know, yeah,
coming out of that that you know, so, you know,
you do find some guys that slipped through the cracks,
and I would think that happens before the mini camp. Yes,
that that well, that happens the rookie Mini camp. Okay, Okay,
(08:01):
they just bring because you don't for rookie Mini camp,
you bring in your draft picks. You bring in your
undrafted free agent guys. You can bring in some first
year players from rookies from the year before, rookies from
the year before, but I think they I don't know,
there's some specification. There's a specification like typically not draft picks,
(08:24):
guys that have played, I think if they've been on
the air, if they've been on the active roster for
a certain number game, they can't can't do this. So
I mean, if you just did it out of that
your draft class, your undrafted guys, and five or six
guys that you can bring in, you wouldn't have much
of a camp. It's not gonna be eleven or eleven
twenty five guys there, and you'd be like, Okay, what
(08:46):
are we going to do here now? So you bring
in these undrafted guys.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
The field some semblance of a team. Yeah, and you
mentioned this off of the air yesterday, like, well, what
if they didn't draft a quarterback. You need a quarterback
at these things, right, at least one, probably two. So
they're definitely gonna have another not even a camp arm
a mini camp, a rookie mini camp arm right, right,
So probably somebody local and and for that guy, it's
(09:12):
something you might keep him around. I think I saw
a quarterback from my new Hampshire Mount Lebanon guy. For him,
you might keep him around just because, just because let's
keep let's keep.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
A fourth arm around until Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Signed specialist could be the same way or whatever. Right, Yeah,
you gotta be you got a leg up over whoever else.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Right, at least you do something play that position. Yeah, yeah,
it's interesting. I did want to make some clarification here
yesterday I misspoke with the with the situation with Nick
Krbrigg's contract. He just finished year two. Yeah, for some
reason I had in my head it was year three.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I was thinking about that too, like they got that
that's two years down the road, that that could be
the situation, right, I'm not gonna lose him next.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
No, Yeah, he's here for next season in which is big. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
I remember talking through him like, boy, that seems quick.
But things happened quick in this league.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I guess I miss a lot of radio in the
last and a lot of hours over the last I
don't know, five or six days and everything starts to
bang around in your head and I.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Completely misspoke on that. But one year different but right, Yeah,
But the factory.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
The fact remains, you still needed that fourth.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it's still a logical acquisition. And
the style of outside linebacker edge guy they got is
a lot different than her big Doo. But maybe by
that two year stretch he's Sawyer's a starter or who knows,
a lot can change.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
You don't know what's going to happen, right right they
you know, think about think about it this way. What
if when the injury situation happened with Brian Chase Eer
where they had stuff on to it retire, but unexpectedly
they had already had that guy in place, right, that's
(11:00):
the ideas waiting. Like, I think they've done a really
good job. I think of building depth across the board,
like you think about the inside linebacker position.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
No doubt safety.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah, some of these some of these spots where you're like, oh,
did they really need that? And then all of a sudden,
you know, looka well, okay, I guess those things happen.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Oh yeah, And unfortunately, I mean, we can be real
critical of draft classes and whatnot, but they only give
you a seven picks to start. I mean, you really
have to allocate where you're going with these I mean
it is a backup outside linebacker, more important than a
guard could be, you know. I mean, and you want
to keep a strength of strength. And obviously it depends
who's there on the board and all those things too.
(11:41):
But it's hard to have a succession plan. It's not
like the olden days with the Steelers where pre free
agency or James Harrison's waiting in the wings. I mean,
that's really hard to pull off nowadays because it really
had these guys as long they develop them as well.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
You know, you don't have as many practices, no many
practice right, and free agency hits and somebody's going to
offer him something. Uh you know, I just look at
you know, there were people on the message board, Oh
I can't you guys are praising them for signing Robert Woods.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
It's depth, depth, depth, depth raising them. But he said, fine,
it's a no risk move, right, What's what's the loss there?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
What's the what's the what's not about?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Si bonus? You don't have to cut somebody to sign them?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Give him two million dollars he didn't. That doesn't even
guarantee he makes the team.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
That he might not make the team. There's a chance
you sign him with the intentions that he's going to
be a contributor. But if it doesn't work out.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
If he's saying this is a guy that puts you
over the top.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
No, I don't think it's a b or lintzwan.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
But you know if you if you lose George Pickens
in the middle of the season or something, you'll be
glad you had him. Right. You know, it's not a
huge move, but it's it's worth discussing. Yeah, I guess
we're not supposed to talk about those things. Yeah, it's
like fight club anyway. Let's talk about the railwell time. Yeah,
that's what we'll do. Let's get to a break. He
(13:02):
is the Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening
to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. Some
interesting moves going on around the league with the fifty
year option stuff. I wanted to talk about that next week.
Come back. He's Matt Williamson. I'm Dale LOLLI you're listening
to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
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 (13:36):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lolli. He is the
Matt Williamson and Matt we've talked about this one over
the last couple of months here and it turned out
to be the case. It was interesting case here the
Ravens today. I think by the end of the week,
teams have to announce the fifth round option stuff for
(13:58):
the guys who were taken in the twenty twenty two draft. Okay,
that's a Kenny Pickett year. Yeah. The Ravens announcing today
they will pick up the fifty year option on safety
Cal Hamilton. Cale Hamilton, I haven't seen any of this yet. Yeah,
they're not going to pick it up on center Tyler Linderbaum.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Which we've talked about this before, but is not an
indictment on the player. It's kind of indictment on the system.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
And yet that's what people look at, Well, you didn't
pick up his fifty year option, you must not like
the player.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Right, all right? I mean the Steelers didn't pick up
Edmunds and Nausea recently, but because it wasn't worth it. Yeah,
I mean for those particular positions in particular, and Linderbaum
to me is easily a top five center they're happy
with them, they like him, he's a good player, but
you got.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
To pay him like a tackle and that's twenty. They
would have to pay him twenty three point four million
dollars if they pick up that fifty year option.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Fully guarantee gantee the moment you offer that, not only
is next year guaranteed, you're essentially guaranteeing this year as well.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Yeah, that's the thing that timing is always so goofy
on it too. I mean you got to kind of
have a crystal ball.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Now, I think you mentioned off the air that they're
planning on having contract.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
They would like contract discussions with him. But if I'm him,
I'm like, well, I could have had twenty three point
four million. The top centers are making seventeen eighteen million.
I want twenty plus.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I'm coming in at twenty. Then you know, like, I
guess no one's giving you twenty three, but you would
hit the open market a year from now.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
In this year was a bad center draft, very so
nobody years ago. Yeah, nobody's getting centers out of necessarily
out of this draft. There may be something happened or
who knows, right, Yeah, yeah, but it wasn't a great
center draft, so nobody's gonna if you need, if you
had a center.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Need, there's more seats that they're going to still have.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
A center need next year too.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a great point because you know,
if there's thirty two good ones and they're really probably
twenty five, that maybe one team finds one this year
or maybe two, where last year there was like six
or seven in the Fraser draft, and then someone's gonna retire,
someone's gonna get hurt, someone's gonna you know, there's gonna
be more seats opening than filling.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
So looking at this the guys who've been picked up already.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
We have lights on it. How about that. I'm gonna
make some coffee after this segment.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
The Jaguars are picking up the option on number one
overall pick, Trayvon Walker.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Okay, people probably think that's a debatable one. He's been
a real good, good year. He's not as good as Hutchinson.
It's really his crime is he's not as good as Hutcheon.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
And then Tyler said there was and there was Aiden Hutchinson. Okay, one, right, right,
but the difference there, Trayvon Walker's got a so there
are four levels at which you pick these things up.
It can be confusing, but it's really important to know
that it's basic playtime guys who've made one Pro Bowl
(17:00):
and guys who've made multiple problems.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
I assume Hutchinson's made multiple, He's only made one. I
guess you wouldn't have went last year because of ANDREI.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Right. Basic is for guys who do not meet any
of the requirements to be eligible for fifty year base
salary calculated in the average. They still get the average
from the third to twenty fifth highest salaries at their
position over the last five seasons.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
And for example, O line is just oh line, that's
all tackles and right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
The playtime one. They get the fifty year option if
they've played seventy five percent or greater of the snaps
and two of their first three seasons, or an average
of seventy five percent or greater over the course of
all three seasons, or fifty percent over the entirety of it.
So you gonna be at least a fifty percent yeah
on the field. Yeah, And those guys get the average
(17:49):
from the third to twentieth highest paid players at their position. Okay,
I mean that's a nice yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah, yeah, I assume Hutchinson's pricier than Walker.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yes, that's where I was going.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Position.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Okay, if you've made one Pro Bowl on the original ballot,
not as an alternate, they do, they do designate that
leading't counter. You get the equal of the transition tag.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Oh wow, which is tops good money.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Yeah, and if you've been to multiple Pro Bowls, you
get the franchise tag tender.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Really okay, Wow, that seems I mean that's why it's
so hot.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
That's why you see guys that there's just.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Less fifty year options picked up than people think or
used to for this CBA.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
So the difference between Walker on a playtime, they play
the same position. Walker and Hutchinson are both Yeah. Yeah,
Walker get his His fifty year option is fourteen point
seventy five million.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Okay, so that's not a bad pickup for him. He's young.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
You want to keep them right, had ten sacks last year.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yeah, he's a good player.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Hutchinson's fifty year option twenty point eight million. Wow, he
makes six million dollars more because he made a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
And he's coming up. I mean it's an easy one,
but he's coming off a major injury, and he was
right when he was healthy. But it's a pretty pricey
jump for a rookie.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Sauce Gardner the third guaranteed, folks, Yeah, Sauce Gardner is
the third overall pick. He gets the multip Pro Bowl.
So for a cornerback, it's twenty point two million. Basically
twenty point one eight. These guys are twenty plus. Yeah.
Keevon Thibodeaux was the third overall pick. Did he pick
his up? They picked his up? Okay, I thought they
announced that. Why again, he gets that fourteen point seventy five.
(19:26):
I can Echawanu as a offensive lineman, even though it's
just the playtime option. Seventeen point five to six million. Yeah,
and that probably wasn't a simple easy This is the
decision the Steelers are going to have to make after
this season on Roger Jones.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Yeah, and Ikey started slow and now they're happy enough
with them. Yeah, but they're not like out of the woods.
He's phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
You know, Jones is going to have the play He'll
have the playtime. I look at this guy, look at him.
Tyler Tyler Wittmeyer making a rare on camera appearance there,
Oh well, wor getting Matt Coffee. So seventeen point five
to six million, and it's going to go much better.
It will go up next year when the stato is
only going to go up. Yeah, I have to make
that decision on Roder Jones, Evan Neil.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
That's a no.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I'm sure who the Giants didn't. They didn't take the
fifty year option, just a basic fifty year option on
an offensive lineman. Sixteen point sixty eight million.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
That's an easy no though. Yeah, would you consider trading
for him for like nothing? He's been bad, He's been terrible.
He's been terrible, Like that's an easy decision for this.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
He'd be worth him. I'm like a six round pick.
Somebody would have to like and then you only get
him for a year. Somebody would have to be a
disaster at one of your two tackle positions.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Yeah, so no, I just like reclamation projects. I didn't
love him coming out of Bama.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, Drake London got his picked up. Sixteen point eight million. Okay,
that's a good deal for him. That's the playtime. Yeah,
Charles Cross, so he has not gone to a Pro Bowl,
No London? Okay, Charles Cross with the Seahawks seventeen point
five million. I would say he's better than that, but
that's the playtime option. Yeah, Chris a Lava with the Saints.
(21:11):
He only qualifies for the basic because he's missed some
time at some time. Yeah, and receivers are tough to
get the Pro Bowl. It's still fifteen point five million.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, but that's very worth it. I mean, that was
an easy decision money.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
But yeah, Jamis and Williams had has picked up fifteen
point five million basic playtime.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I think that was somewhat questioned.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Some of that was by his own time stuff. I've
been suspended for about fifteen games.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
More more than that. He gets his whole season right,
whole season, I think, or at least the majority of
the majority of it.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
The Eagles surprisingly picked up Jordan Davis's fifty year option.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
That one shocks.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Here's the thing though, at defensive tackle, the interior defensive
line is different than defensive.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
But interial line isn't right, which is flaw.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
It's only twelve point nine million, so at that price, Yeah,
you pick it right.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
One more year of a young player, you hope he's developing.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
If you're the Steelers. You hope that Derek Carmon gets
more than just the basicpe he's been to every Pro Bowl.
I hope he's right. At the very least, he better
get the playtime.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah yeah, yeah, you know, but he didn't.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
He didn't hit the playtime because he barely played. He's
not a high snap guy. But twelve point nine million
for a guy who's plays less than fifty percent of
the snaps.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
So I guess that's a pretty easy one to pick up.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
It would have been fourteen point three for the playtime,
twenty point eight for one Pro Bowl, twenty five point
one if you've made multiple Pro Bowls at D tackle
at dtackle, which is what you're hoping, pretty significant, Yeah yeah,
and by then it'll be thirty. It just tells you
that the big time defensive tackles are getting paid a
lot of money, but it falls off pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Yeah yeah, that's exactly like linebackers like that.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Too, Hamilton, same thing here, But he's been to multiple
Pro Bowls, so he gets eighteen point six million a
big safety salary. If he just had the basic it
was nine point two so half wow.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, doubles just for that, Okay, interesting.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Uh, Kenyon Green. The Eagles did not pick him up. Yeah,
nor did they pick up Johan Dotson, the next guy.
They've got three first round guys from this including because
they traded for Green.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
They traded for Green, three teams to deside on him.
Kind of.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Green's fifty year option would have been sixteen point six
eight million.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
They decided not to pick that up. Okay, so that
he's really a one year rental for them. Yeah, that trade.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Johan Dotson has hit the playtime numbers. His number would
have been sixteen point eight. They're not picking picking that up. Uh.
The Chargers haven't made a decision yet. On Zion Johnson.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
I would say I thought he was like as safe
as prospect as you could get, and he hasn't been
that safe.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
He's he's also a guard. Yeah, seventeen point five to
six million for the playtime option.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
A lot of their interior options, a lot of money
for a guard. Ack, then I bet he won't pick
it up.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Treylon Burks with the Titans fifteen point four three four
nine three. They're not they haven't picked that up yet, okay.
Trevor Penning with the Saints. They had two first round
draft picks that year, his would have been he would
be the basic at sixteen point six eighty five. They
haven't picked that up.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
No, they drafted a tackle two years in a row.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Now can he pickt now with the Browns. Kind of
funny they didn't know when they traded for him. Now
that they had to make a decision on his fifty
year option.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
That's their he's their property when when the deadline hits, Yes,
it's not the Eagles job.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
The basic fifty year option for him would have been
twenty two point one million, okay. The playtime option would
have been twenty five point three uh, the one Pro
Bowl option would have been thirty five point three seven
and if you've been the multiple Pro Bowls, forty point.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Twenty four okay. So like Jayden Daniels, I think is
all he gone to a Pro Bowl? Right in one year,
he'll probably go to multiple. Yeah, and he's gonna.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Which is why if you if you've got a quarterback
like that on the fifth year option, you probably want
to rework that. You can do that after the third year, Yeah,
you can. You can get that out of the way.
And just like we're not even gonna mess with that.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
I mean, plus you can get injured, and I don't
love the guaranteed part of it.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Trent McDuffie, they picked that one up. Those last one, two, three,
four or five six guys haven't haven't been a big
stret Trent McDuffie with the Kansas City thirteen point six.
They have picked that up.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
That's an easy one. Yeah, so he's that's a playtime
Yeah yeah, okay, Kway Walker with the with the Packers,
his would be fourteen point seventy five for being an
off ball linebacker.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
He would get the playtime and they haven't picked.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
That up yet. I say Cooper's gone past him.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
To kyer Elam now with the Cowboys, got drafted by.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Uh yeah, I'm sure they won't.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
He hasn't even qualified for the playtime yet. He's twelve
point six to eight. Yeah, you're not going to pick
that up. Problematic. Tyler Smith. They are picking that one up,
but it's twenty one point two to seven million.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
It's the same as Lenderbaum.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I bet well, Lenderbaum's actually more because he's Tyron Smith
has only been the Enderbaum's a multiple guy. Okay, yeah,
Lenderbaum has been the multiple Pro Bowl. So he gets
twenty twenty three point four and they have not picked
that up by lenderbaumb Yeah they're not going to yes, right, okay.
Jermaine Johnson with the Jets, what are they doing that one?
They really liked him, then he got they picked it up. Okay,
(26:30):
it's thirteen point four. He hasn't hit the playtime? Yeah,
I guess just the basic. Yeah, he also missed all
last year. Yeah. Devin Lloyd was another one with the
Jaguars today they're not picking it up.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Really, I think he's a really underrated player. I'm not
say he's a superstar, but I.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Think he's an under He's hit the playtime. I'm sure
numbers on that. So it's fourteen point seventy five. The
Packers with Devonte Wyatt that they're picking it up. Really, Yeah,
he's hit. It's the basic and it's probably the same
as Jordan David thirteen point nine two.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah, okay, I guess it's not that expensive then.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
And then you got Cole Strange with the Patriots. That's
they have not picked it up. It's sixteen point six eight.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
I'm sure that's the bottom wrong. Yeah, it's still a Ligne.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Money and the Chiefs have picked up George Carl Loftis
at fifteen point one nine six.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
These defensive ends aren't too bad.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah, and then Das Hill the Bengals are picking up.
They're picking up Dax Hill, and they're calling him a cornerback.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
I think that's what he is now. But he was
a safety then.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Yeah. It's twelve point six eight million, Okay, and that's
just to do that. That's just a basic if.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
You position change or you're in the midst of a
position change, is it like go to a committee and
they improve it or not or I don't think.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Maybe it depends on how many you know, the number
of snaps that you've played.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yeah, where her position? Okah makes sense? So he is
a corner now.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yeah, I mean at least uh, you know, twelve guys
there that haven't been picked up, and including Tyler Linderbaum.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
This has a pretty good draft class too. I mean
some of the better players, like the London in a
law of as don't cost you too much because they
didn't hit Pro Bowls, so they were pretty easy decisions.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Yeah, okay, but if you got multiple first round draft picks,
that's tough.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Oh, it is so Roger Jones. Decision comes one year
from now. Okay, well, stuff happens quick too, because you're
really got to get ahead of it.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
He hasn't made a Pro Bowl yet, right, but he
will get to play.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
He'll get the playtime for sure. He won't be the
cheapest one, that's what I say.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
And if he makes a Pro Bowl this year, then
it goes up. He can't go to multiple but he
could either be he could be one or three. Yeah,
he's going to be Tier two or three guy. And
right now, if you're looking at tier two or three,
you know you're looking at seventeen point five to six
million for the playtime, and you're looking over twenty probably
you're looking at twenty one point twenty seven if he
(28:46):
makes a Pro Bowl. Now, if he makes a Pro Bowl,
you're happy.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Right right right, I mean you gladly give him that money,
and it'll be even more than that.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Especially if he's your starting left tackle.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
That's what I mean, right, ye, if he's the Pro
Bowl starting left tackle for the AFC, Okay, you pick
it up.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, right, a great year.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
If it's similar, that's a tough decision. Yeah, but that's
that comes quick. Not all that different money than what
Dan Moore signed for. No, exactly, I mean he's twenty ish. Yeah,
good point. Yeah, maybe relatively speaking, if you're gott to
pick up if Jones is still a sending, the sending ascending.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Jones is probably it's seventeen to five for just the
basic playtime offensive line, which is likely what he'll Yeah,
that's probably what he's going to be the decision seventeen
point five to six. Let's say next.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Year, maybe it's eighteen five.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Yeah, eighteen five. Dan Moore just signed for twenty one.
It would rather have.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
It's not that it's but still it's a lot of money. Yeah,
that's the thing. That's why you always draft tackles. Yeah,
I mean draft lineman because they're.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Really hard to pay, and that edge rusher hard to find.
The guys that took edge rushers in the first round.
This year you got Miles Garrett's contract.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Oh yeah, they've spiked, like Parsons has even to have
Parsons sign, Wat's gonna sign.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Maybe Hutchinson gets a new deal maybe you know why, Yeah,
it's got it might be inflation at that, it might
be thirty five. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Wow, it's a good point. I say, what positions jumped
heavily this offseason. That's one really threw things out. I
mean Crosby got money.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Yeah, Crosby is another one, right, Yeah, it's gonna get
a real price. I mean you get top five money
at that position if you make multiple Pro Bowls and
you get the franchise tag value at edge rusher. Yikes.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
I would say about receiver too. Jamar Chase signed a
big deal. I mean he was an easy fifth year
pickup at the time. But man, it's not that team friendly.
It really is, and it really isn't. Yeah, and it
would rather negotiate beforehand. Like if you can get a
deal down with Progert Jones, now do it.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah. I'm not saying right, Steelers are going to do
that right right, But you know, because you want to
see I want him to be motivated when I.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Want more info. Yeah, I mean I want to see
him as the left tackle for seventeen game right right.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
You know, But if you're like looking at you know,
for the Seahawks with Charles Cross, Charles Cross is in
a superstar left tackle, but they're happy with them, They're
happy with him, and they pick up the option at
seventeen point five to six. That's going to be where
you're going to be out with Roderick Jones.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And they're probably happy with that, yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Whereas you look at like Trevor Penning and they didn't
pick that up, and it's like, okay, I get it.
He's not even a starter.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
No, I mean he is drafted tackles second year in
a row. Yeah, I don't know if he'll be a
starting guard play it all for them.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Yeah, So it's an interesting puzzle. It is an interesting puzzle.
You have to keep looking at it, but at.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Least you know it's on the horizon. GMS can plan
for it, right, you know, you've got this decision and
you have a ballpark what he's going.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
To make in that regard though, and there are no
running backs on this list, the running back numbers for
the fifth year option isn't outrageous.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
I remember, it wasn't crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
The only problem with it is is when you make
that offer to the running back after his third season,
you're guaranteeing the fourth year, fully guaranteeing the fourth year
in the fifth.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Year, right, all right, I mean that's a at a
wear in terror position, to wear in terror position, I
mean I thought, nause at the time was an easy pickup,
and then when they didn't, I understood it better and realized.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Once you thought it out, it was an easy to climb.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
It was not because he's the bad players. Just I
don't want to guarantee two.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Years, fully guarantee two years to a running back that's not.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
That at that point, it never missed time runs as
hard as possible, I mean, destined to get banged up,
and he hasn't to his credit, which is pretty incredible.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
But man, and I say that because if the Steelers
hadn't taken, if Derek Carmon had been gone before their.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Pick, if that's Hampton or Henderson or whatever.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Right, Omari and Hampton or Trevon Henderson would have been
a Steeler that was going to be their pick, not
a quarterback. They were they were taking one of those
two running backs.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Okay, I know they liked them both a lot, and
I would understand it, but that's a tough decision. Yeah,
I mean, you would hope at that point they hit
a Pro Bowl too. Yeah, I mean, if you're using
the first round pick on a running back, you'd hope
it'd be in the Pro Bowl. Well, on nausey had
so that Yeah, yeah, that skewed it a little bit too.
It didn't help his cause.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Well, I guess he wouldn't have been voted as a
starter to the pro or no, I think he was.
He might have been like first alternate or something like
clearly playing time. Yeah, clearly had the playtime, but would
have been expensive and as it turned out, when you
dropt on a third round. Yeah. So anyways, let's get
to a break. He is the Matt Williamson. I am
(33:22):
Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here on the
Steelers Audio Network. When we come back, we need to
turn the lights back down because we're going to be
joined by the Dean of Doom, the Lord of living
in his fears, Bob Labriola right after this.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold cast in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
And welcome back to the Drive. I am Dale Lalli.
He is the Matt Williamson and you can tell by
the foreboding music. We are now joined on the well
not to Justin Miller Hotline today today it's the CJ.
Wolfly Hotline by Bob Lariola, editor of Steelers Digest and
Steelers dot Com and the Dean of doom and lord
(34:30):
of living in his fears? How you doing, Labs?
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I thought you used that music for mel Kiper too.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Now it'd be more crazed. Uh, I don't even know
what it would be.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Yeah, like, yeah, pretty good. I know. I'm starting to
get my body back to normal rhythms after the three
days of the NFL Draft, which is anything but a
normal you know, situation, but uh it was. It was
pretty interesting. Matt. How's your throat?
Speaker 4 (35:01):
I'm all right to have to do a lot of
shows since so, you know, no rest for the wicked. Right,
got my coffee here, I'm ready to rock. Right, you
never rubbed them down?
Speaker 1 (35:09):
And we'll go.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Yeah, some horse ran back there.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
You know.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
I was a little weary at the end, I must say, Bob.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
But looking at how the draft went for the Steelers,
how things played out, anything that surprised you there that.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Took place, uh, you know, I wouldn't say surprise. I
mean I thought, uh I liked it. It made a
lot of sense to me. I think that you know,
there wasn't any what's the word I guess craziness or
(35:47):
trying to make something out of nothing, you know. I
mean I think that the Steelers allowed it the picking
to come to them, and then they made some solid
decisions based on value at that spot and the needs
on their roster. Yeah, I mean, uh, the only thing
I'll say about the draft is, uh, Friday was was
(36:11):
just a slog I just I didn't realize how you know,
it's it's and it's you know, this is us talking
here too. It was mentally taxing, you know, to be
there all that time and not have a pick.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Oh, no doubt the people in Cleveland the last three
years having no first, no second, no thirds, Like what
are you doing all day right? For two days?
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Right? And it's not like you can just you know,
go lay down and take a nap and you know,
wake up ten minutes before you know it's your return
to pick again because you kind of have to be
paying attention to what's going on. But you know, it's
it's just really I don't know, just kind of watching, uh,
watching everybody else do all the shopping. You don't get,
(37:00):
you don't get to do anything like that. So yeah,
Friday was you know it would be Okay, if you know,
like the last two picks of the seventh round weren't
there and you were done early. But you know, when
when you have that long gap in the actual middle
of it, it was it was a little a test
(37:22):
of endormance.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
I think so labs. I think Mike Tomlins said it
wasn't an agenda to be so Big ten happy in
their draft class. But I also don't think it's a
shock or a surprise that they took multiple players from
Ohio State and Iowa. Do you agree?
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Oh? Yeah, And I think really, I think it's what's
going to happen now in future drafts. It's going to
be all Big ten and SEC players. Let's let's say
the majority, because there's a First of all, there's a
lot of teams now in each of those two conferences.
It's not like there were just eight or ten teams.
The Big ten is as such a misnomer.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Now apparently the count.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Right, well, they'll do all much better job in the Southeast.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Either they can count the dollar bills, you know.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Yeah, well, and that's why you're gonna have, uh, the
primarily two conferences I think dominating the the NFL draft.
Those are the schools with the nil money. Those are
the schools that are playing big time football every week. Uh,
and so you know, it's just natural. I think that
(38:37):
the NFL is going to go looking for players in
the leagues that are able to closest replicate the level
of football that is played in the NFL. I mean,
you know the Big ten and the SEC. You know
those schools, you know, they they know how to run
(38:58):
the ball. I mean it's not all you know, air
raid offense or throw it seventy times. It's not like
you know, some of the like Big twelve schools, they
never run the ball. You're throwing the ball whether you're
up by sixty or done by sixty. Not a lot
of defenses played. So yeah, it doesn't It doesn't surprise me.
(39:21):
And I think it's kind of the start of a
trend and it will only grow, I think as we
move on here down the road, until or unless the
college football does something to you know, distribute I won't
say the wealth, but maybe that's the word. That's the
best word. Distribute the wealth around to some of the
(39:44):
other schools and some of the other conferences well, at.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Least put some limits on what they're able to spend,
like there's no salary cap right now in college football.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Right this is and this is.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Really you know, for people that that complain about the NFL. Shit, yeah,
you know, this is what college football right now is
what the NFL would look like if there wasn't revenue sharing.
Hio States, the Yankees and you know, right yeah, I
mean right now, Pitt would be Green Bay, you know, yeah,
the Pirates, right that's that's that's what you're looking at
(40:18):
right now.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
And speaking of Pitt Labs, I heard some people even say,
like what you mentioned too about Pitt, or about you
know the two conferences that cam Ward you know, he
was in the a CEC but didn't go to the playoffs. Oh,
I'd like to see him play some better competition, like
I mean, you never heard that before from someone from.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
The U, right exactly. And you know, the salary cap
is what kid differential the n NFL from Major League Baseball.
And the other thing that's bad about it, I believe
in college football is you know, guys, the transfer portal,
(40:59):
you know, it is messed up. I mean they have
to they have to get that under control and you know,
get a specific window and limited you know, try and
regiment some of this stuff because you know, these guys
players are just I read somewhere and I don't know
(41:20):
if this is true or not, but it was on
the internet. So it has to be right that you
look at the top quarterbacks available projected to be available
in the next draft, like all but one or two
of them are have been in the transfer portal, and
you know, quarterbacks, I think it's really a situation that
(41:45):
is kind of conducive to that kind of craziness because
a kid, there's no sitting behind arch Manning. You know,
if you're a Texas, you're going somewhere else. You know,
it's shocking to me that he didn't go anywhere. You know,
he sat behind yours.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
Yeah, Matt talked about this yesterday when when he was
when he was recruiting at Pitt you kind of had
the board in front of you, knowing, Okay, we got
we got this senior tackle offensive tackle, and our next
guy is like a freshman. Our next guy is a freshman.
Speaker 4 (42:20):
Gap between him, So we better get a JC kidd.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Better get a guy there right now.
Speaker 4 (42:24):
You don't know it plan what's going to come back.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Right right? So you know in recruiting. I don't know
if recruiting anymore. By recruiting, I mean high school kids.
I don't know if that's the lifeblood of a college program.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
It certainly isn't.
Speaker 4 (42:43):
It can't be.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Why would write why would you want to gamble on
an eighteen year old when you can probably wait a
year or two look at a twenty year old and
have a better idea of what he might be or
what he is and what he might become. Then you know,
a seventeen or eighteen year old out of high school.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
And there's more time you're spending this time if you
if you bring in the eighteen year old recruit and
he is not a every downstarter for you, or he
doesn't like his playing time, he's just gonna leave after
a year.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
Someone will take him.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Somebody else will take him. Yeah, so you I just
wasted my time recruiting that.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
How many hours you put into getting a kid to
say yes to your school?
Speaker 3 (43:25):
You know?
Speaker 1 (43:26):
And you know there are so many other non non
significant factors that are you have to weigh, you know, cash,
you know, how many how many people in that kid's
family because he responsible for financially and if you know,
he might like the coach, and he might like the facility,
(43:49):
and he might even not hate you know, his role
at that point in his college career. But if somebody
comes up with ten or fifth, teen or twenty thousand
dollars more, somebody might be in his ear. Hey man,
you've got to go, and you know, go for the money.
We need the money. So yeah, it's uh, it's messy.
(44:13):
I think it's only even get messier. And I don't
know if it's I don't know that it is a
good thing for the NFL to try and to be
figuring out all of that as they're also trying to
draft and fill holes on their own rosters.
Speaker 4 (44:28):
And along those lines, like this past class, it really
showed up to me Evyon's talking about what a great
running back class it was, and it was, but so
few of them pass blocked, and the wide receiver class,
so few of them run blocked. Like they're already becoming
divas where I'm not getting the ball, I'm not going
(44:48):
to run this route hard, you know, Like that's amazing
to me, you know.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
Yeah, And here's you know, just here's another position. How
many quarterbacks go through their college eligibility and have never
called to play in a huddle or taken a snap
from the house.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
Yeah, that was everybody at the Senior Bowl this year.
The first day of practice at the Senior Bowl, they
had to practice the center exchange with all the quarterbacks
because none of them have done it before.
Speaker 4 (45:14):
Yeah, yeah, and probably never.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
And they don't and they don't use a cadence either.
They clap their hands.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Right, it's just a it's a different game. Yes, it's
free agency every year in college football now.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Yes, And as I said, I don't know that it's
a good thing for college football or for the NFL
until the NCAA gets gets a little handle on this
in some way that you know is not against the law,
which is how they got themselves into this pickle in
the first place.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Bob, did you have a favorite Steelers draft pick?
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Well, I mean I seriously, I can say something that
I liked about everyone, you know, the Derek Harmon pick.
I have believed for a while that it was time
to do for the defensive line what the Steelers had
done in the previous couple of off seasons for their
(46:22):
offensive line. And that happened with both Derek Harmon and
Whya Black and you know, the Black pick, to me,
it was okay to pick a big, stout, run plugging
interior defensive lineman who's maybe a little bit one dimensional
(46:44):
in that respect, because you already got Harmon right, So
you know, picking a player like Black first, to me,
is not the kind of thing you're looking for, because
I think offenses will just scheme that kind of guy
out of the game if you don't have more diversified
(47:08):
players at that position who can both play against the
pass and against the run. So I like those picks.
You know, Caleb Johnson, you know, let me let me
give Matt some props. The one, the one stat I
heard him talking about during the draft, Caleb Johnson running
against stack boxes and how good he is at that.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
So, and then the other one, also talking about the
same guy, Arthur Smith talked about his yards per carrying
the fourth quarter and how that is a a statement
of you know, this guy's ability. And you know, talking
about football or Big ten football, people have had to
(47:54):
have watched IOWA lately to understand how bad their offense
was trying to throw the ball. So this guy had
no help long and and I'll tell you what, I
don't call him you know, an NFL.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
Caliber quarterback, college quarterback, but not.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
A not a thrower, not somebody that. Okay, so there
was that. I loved the Sawyer pick. Some people think
it was a luxury, but let's not forget you know,
the past couple of seasons or the recent past. You know,
the Steelers have had to do some you know, bargain
basement shopping for depth there, Marcus Golden, Preston Smith, that
(48:41):
kind of thing. And you know, I don't know anything
about Jack Sawyer except this. He's a guy who I
saw make big time game changing plays on defense in
big games, and that is worth something. And that's the
(49:03):
same thing for the quarterback, Will Howard. You know, the
fact that they won a national championship and he was
the starting quarterback and played his best football down that
stretch is not something that you should just take lightly.
And another thing is this, they lost Ohio State lost
(49:26):
that game to Michigan, and for him and them to
bounce back from that and play the way they did
and go on a run and win a trophy and
he's the quarterback again, that is that says something to
me that is a laudable about him. You know, Carson brunner.
(49:52):
I don't know if Danny Smith can do cartwheels, but
he might have been doing some cartwheels because I think
this might be the first time a guy was ever
picked as a core special teams player or who will
be a core special teams player. Right from the jump,
(50:12):
you know he's a four Danny Smith calls him a
four tool guy. Punt, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return. He
is a find the ball, get the guy with the
ball on the ground, and that is invaluable in special teams.
And who knows how these modified kickoff rules are going
to impact the number of kickoffs returns. I mean there
(50:34):
may be a lot more because of the you know,
moving the touch back up five yards. So you need
guys who can do that, who will do that willingly,
and who understand that that is their job. And I
think he gives you all of that. Dante Kent gives
you some punt returning, and he's a combative corner. You
(50:59):
can't ever have many of those guys. And you know,
seventh round, second pick in the seventh round, you take
a shot at a guy like this. He has some
interesting production. So you know, again, as I said, all
of these picks made sense to me. I didn't. It
(51:21):
wasn't any of what were they thinking about that when
they when the pick was announced. And let me say
this too, I was very happy with who and what
players and positions that they did not pick the first
round quarterback thing made no sense to me at any point,
and I was glad that, you know, they didn't fall
(51:42):
into that trap. And that's about all I got on
the draft.
Speaker 3 (51:50):
Well, we appreciate your time back, Bob, and we'll let
you get back to plotting the end of the free
world in your in your little us here and the
North Hills and you can get back to that, either.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
That or picking up all the sticks that broke off
the trees and stuff last night.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
That was Washington. We didn't get hit anywhere anywhere near
as hard as you guys. I had electricity all day.
I got it hard. Our electricity just came back.
Speaker 1 (52:19):
Yeah, it's it's, it's it was. We were fortunate here
specifically where I live, but other areas of the North
Hills were out. We're out of power at least until
noon today. I don't know how, you know, I'm sure
they're getting it close. But yeah, it was, uh, you know,
(52:39):
Annie m Annie m.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
L Our guest has been Bob Barbiola, editor of Steelers
Digest and Steelers dot Com. He is Matt Williamson. I
am Dale, Lolly. You're listening to the drive here on
the Steelers Audio Network. That's going to do it for
our number one, Matt and I will be back with
our number two right after this
At least.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolli and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven home of the Black and
Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Welcome to the Drive. I am Dale Lolli. He is
the Matt Williamson. And well it's a lovely Wednesday outside
here in Pittsburgh, Sora. That's so nice right now. Yeah,
last night a storm rolled to here, knock the lights out.
We are actually in a studio here that actually has power.
Everything else in the building out out. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
I walked in and there's something's beeping and I went
to use the drinking fountain. That doesn't work. I guess
that's the electricity. I didn't put two and two together
on that. Then you broke my heart and you're like,
I don't think you can make a coffee either.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm like, Matt always drinks two to three cups of coffee.
It's always the same.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
There's one full one and then it gets almost to
the end, and then I top it off and then
I go to water.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
At the end.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Yeah, now my systems almost now and I generated and
to really pull back the curtain. Last night's the first
night I didn't sleep with my seapap for like years,
and I'm tired as could be. I'm like, oh, I
can't wait for that coffee heartbreaker the day that it
couldn't be there because we have power all night, I
power back noon today.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It came rolling through by my house really bad, but
we didn't We never lost electricity or anything.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
There's a lot of trees down.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
But I texted you last I knew somebody was coming
home from it from the South Hills. He he had
done a baseball game up there. I'mpired a baseball game,
and he was telling me it was really bad. It
was Yeah, all the lights were out and everything. And
I'm like, well, we didn't get hit quite that hard.
We got hit, but not anything like that. And then
I texted you later in the night and you didn't
get back to me. I'm like, oh, I bet Matt's Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
My phone was a paperweight for a while there until
about noon today. Yeah. And what's crazy is some for
whatever in our house, we don't get good cell service
unless we use the internet. So my kids were losing
their minds. They were just going anywhere that had Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I was like, that's like going back to the old
days when.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Oh, yeah, They're like, I forgot what my son was saying,
something like this is like the eighteen hundreds here. I'm like,
not quite. You still have fiddling on your iPad, but
you know it's a little.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You know, in regards to that. So I've been doing
this a long time. And a friend of mine from
college got a job in Jacksonville one year, okay, and
we were talking. He came to Pittsburgh a couple about
a month ago, and we were talking. I met him
for you know, before he flew back to Boston, and
(02:45):
we were talking about he does remember the time we
met in Jacksonville and neither there were no cell phones
at the time, and somehow we figured out exactly where
to meet in Jacksonville without cell phones and we didn't
miss each other.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, that's how it used to be.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I was telling my daughters about that, you know. I'm like, okay,
He's like, they couldn't they couldn't figure out how to
meet their friends without their cell phones. Oh, I know.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
I mean, like everybody. We would be on our corded
phone in the kitchen, all right. I called Jeff, you
called Jason. We'll meet here, and then someone's ten minutes late.
But who knows or you know, somehow we all made
it work. Yeah, different era call him. I'll call him, okay,
well just to get together for dinner.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
It's so I bring that up because it's funny. I
was chatting with working on a story on Derek Carmon, Yeah,
first round draft pick. I talked to his high school
coach today, and his high school coach got hired his
He had a couple of coaches, but the guy he
had his senior year got hired the week before the season.
That's why I talked to today and he was telling
(03:49):
me that he's like because I asked him, I was
that when COVID hit, because it was you know, in
that frame timeframe. He goes funny and mentioned that he goes,
I got hired on a Monday, when day we had
a first team meeting Friday, coach, everything shut down because
of COVID. Wow, he of the dudes, he said, I
don't know anybody there, he said, And he told me,
he said, you know, Derek Harmon was like another a
(04:11):
coach with that team. He says, he organized all the
zoom calls, set them up, made sure everybody was on them.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know just took care of his
new for everybody. And these kids are sixteen, seventeen, eighteen
years old looking up to him, I assume.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
And it was a private school, so it wasn't like
it was a neighborhood situation. Okay. He went to an
all boys school in Detroit.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
So a lot of them are from distance.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
They're all, yeah, they're not all in the same neighborhood
where you can run next door to Jimmy's house. Hey, Jimmy,
get on the zoom call. Yeah, yeah, wow, that's cool,
he said he was. He was like another coach with that.
He said, he's a great leader.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Yeah, I've gotten that impression. You know, super well organized,
you know, all the stuff with his family and his mom,
you know, really being on top of that situation.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Highly focused and because of that situation and just highly focused,
highly motivated, and you know, just a great leader.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
And Mike Pursuda was telling stories about him right after
they drafted him to you know, going back to the
Michigan State stuff of Michigan State that with a lot
of his na L money, he was getting really put
it towards his mother, you know what I mean, like
towards vehicles. So that she could use and that kind
of stuff. He wasn't buying Lamborghinis and stupid stuff.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, it wasn't Carson beckened up right now. He wasn't
making Carson beck money.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Right now.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
But he sounds like a great human, you know.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So, uh just interesting how you know, just some of
the We even talked about the recruiting process. I'm like,
what was that recruiting process like during COVID. He's like
it was interesting because if schools from out of state
couldn't come in, they couldn't fly in and visit with
the with the pl and so you know, he's like,
(05:48):
I had to send out you know, tapes and everything
to all these other schools to get you know, to
drum up the interest because.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
They're not gonna so to pull back the curtain. You know,
like at least in my day, which was a long
time ago, Bro is pretty similar. Our d line coach
did whip youles, you know, it did local. I mean,
our tight end coach had New Jersey like you had
these these territories where you really built relationships and you'd
go into high schools even if they didn't have a kid,
(06:16):
because you just wanted to see the coach and because
you know they're gonna have a kid, and he was
coming in the pipe in the piper, right right, right.
Maybe you ask about an opponent that you're that you're
recruiting or whatever, but the big schools you hit all
the time and you really develop a relationship with the
people in the building, and none of that could have existed.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Doing right right right. Couldn't do it, I mean, especially
if you know, you couldn't even you couldn't even go
out of Like you couldn't get into some of these states,
all right, Like if you're on and you're recruiting somebody
in Michigan, you couldn't get there.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
You couldn't get there at all. Yeah, And I didn't
know what a zoom.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Was before that, nor did I.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
I remember we were coming home from the Combine that
year and they're like made jokes about Corona the beer.
I'm like, what's that.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
That was the first time I saw somebody in a mask.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I was walking over to the to the mall that
the Center City Mall or whatever it's called the Circle,
like our last day there or whatever, and somebody was
walking through there's a mask. IM like, oh, that's weird.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
That's strange. Yeah, I remember here in Philip River is
gonna be a cult and figured out what the coronavirus
was at the time as we were leaving. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Anyway, so, uh, Steelers again will have their rookie Mini
camp next weekend, so they'll get an opportunity to get
hands on this rookie draft class. So also have their tryouts.
Every team has some guys they bring in for tryouts.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
People don't realize that it is kind of almost like
a high school college situation where you just bring dudes in,
try them out, and sometimes you find somebody you know.
Sometimes yeah, I mean the camp body. I mean they've they've.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Gotten Terrence Garvin out of that for example. Okay, let's
say there is there any names you knew of that
stuck who actually made the team. Yeah, you know, yeah,
coming out of that that you know, so, you know,
you do find some guys that slipped through the cracks,
and I would think that happens before the mini camp. Yes,
that that well, that happens the rookie Mini camp. Okay, Okay,
(08:01):
they just bring because you don't for rookie Mini camp,
you bring in your draft picks. You bring in your
undrafted free agent guys. You can bring in some first
year players from rookies from the year before, rookies from
the year before, but I think they I don't know,
there's some specification. There's a specification like typically not draft picks,
(08:24):
guys that have played, I think if they've been on
the air, if they've been on the active roster for
a certain number game, they can't can't do this. So
I mean, if you just did it out of that
your draft class, your undrafted guys, and five or six
guys that you can bring in, you wouldn't have much
of a camp. It's not gonna be eleven or eleven
twenty five guys there, and you'd be like, Okay, what
(08:46):
are we going to do here now? So you bring
in these undrafted guys.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
The field some semblance of a team. Yeah, and you
mentioned this off of the air yesterday, like, well, what
if they didn't draft a quarterback. You need a quarterback
at these things, right, at least one, probably two. So
they're definitely gonna have another not even a camp arm
a mini camp, a rookie mini camp arm right, right,
So probably somebody local and and for that guy, it's
(09:12):
something you might keep him around. I think I saw
a quarterback from my new Hampshire Mount Lebanon guy. For him,
you might keep him around just because, just because let's
keep let's keep.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
A fourth arm around until Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Signed specialist could be the same way or whatever. Right, Yeah,
you gotta be you got a leg up over whoever else.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Right, at least you do something play that position. Yeah, yeah,
it's interesting. I did want to make some clarification here
yesterday I misspoke with the with the situation with Nick
Krbrigg's contract. He just finished year two. Yeah, for some
reason I had in my head it was year three.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I was thinking about that too, like they got that
that's two years down the road, that that could be
the situation, right, I'm not gonna lose him next.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
No, Yeah, he's here for next season in which is big. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
I remember talking through him like, boy, that seems quick.
But things happened quick in this league.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I guess I miss a lot of radio in the
last and a lot of hours over the last I
don't know, five or six days and everything starts to
bang around in your head and I.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Completely misspoke on that. But one year different but right, Yeah,
But the factory.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
The fact remains, you still needed that fourth.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it's still a logical acquisition. And
the style of outside linebacker edge guy they got is
a lot different than her big Doo. But maybe by
that two year stretch he's Sawyer's a starter or who knows,
a lot can change.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
You don't know what's going to happen, right right they
you know, think about think about it this way. What
if when the injury situation happened with Brian Chase Eer
where they had stuff on to it retire, but unexpectedly
they had already had that guy in place, right, that's
(11:00):
the ideas waiting. Like, I think they've done a really
good job. I think of building depth across the board,
like you think about the inside linebacker position.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
No doubt safety.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah, some of these some of these spots where you're like, oh,
did they really need that? And then all of a sudden,
you know, looka well, okay, I guess those things happen.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Oh yeah, And unfortunately, I mean, we can be real
critical of draft classes and whatnot, but they only give
you a seven picks to start. I mean, you really
have to allocate where you're going with these I mean
it is a backup outside linebacker, more important than a
guard could be, you know. I mean, and you want
to keep a strength of strength. And obviously it depends
who's there on the board and all those things too.
(11:41):
But it's hard to have a succession plan. It's not
like the olden days with the Steelers where pre free
agency or James Harrison's waiting in the wings. I mean,
that's really hard to pull off nowadays because it really
had these guys as long they develop them as well.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
You know, you don't have as many practices, no many
practice right, and free agency hits and somebody's going to
offer him something. Uh you know, I just look at
you know, there were people on the message board, Oh
I can't you guys are praising them for signing Robert Woods.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
It's depth, depth, depth, depth raising them. But he said, fine,
it's a no risk move, right, What's what's the loss there?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
What's the what's the what's not about?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Si bonus? You don't have to cut somebody to sign them?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Give him two million dollars he didn't. That doesn't even
guarantee he makes the team.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
That he might not make the team. There's a chance
you sign him with the intentions that he's going to
be a contributor. But if it doesn't work out.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
If he's saying this is a guy that puts you
over the top.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
No, I don't think it's a b or lintzwan.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
But you know if you if you lose George Pickens
in the middle of the season or something, you'll be
glad you had him. Right. You know, it's not a
huge move, but it's it's worth discussing. Yeah, I guess
we're not supposed to talk about those things. Yeah, it's
like fight club anyway. Let's talk about the railwell time. Yeah,
that's what we'll do. Let's get to a break. He
(13:02):
is the Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening
to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. Some
interesting moves going on around the league with the fifty
year option stuff. I wanted to talk about that next week.
Come back. He's Matt Williamson. I'm Dale LOLLI you're listening
to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
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 (13:36):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lolli. He is the
Matt Williamson and Matt we've talked about this one over
the last couple of months here and it turned out
to be the case. It was interesting case here the
Ravens today. I think by the end of the week,
teams have to announce the fifth round option stuff for
(13:58):
the guys who were taken in the twenty twenty two draft. Okay,
that's a Kenny Pickett year. Yeah. The Ravens announcing today
they will pick up the fifty year option on safety
Cal Hamilton. Cale Hamilton, I haven't seen any of this yet. Yeah,
they're not going to pick it up on center Tyler Linderbaum.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Which we've talked about this before, but is not an
indictment on the player. It's kind of indictment on the system.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
And yet that's what people look at, Well, you didn't
pick up his fifty year option, you must not like
the player.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Right, all right? I mean the Steelers didn't pick up
Edmunds and Nausea recently, but because it wasn't worth it. Yeah,
I mean for those particular positions in particular, and Linderbaum
to me is easily a top five center they're happy
with them, they like him, he's a good player, but
you got.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
To pay him like a tackle and that's twenty. They
would have to pay him twenty three point four million
dollars if they pick up that fifty year option.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Fully guarantee gantee the moment you offer that, not only
is next year guaranteed, you're essentially guaranteeing this year as well.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Yeah, that's the thing that timing is always so goofy
on it too. I mean you got to kind of
have a crystal ball.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Now, I think you mentioned off the air that they're
planning on having contract.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
They would like contract discussions with him. But if I'm him,
I'm like, well, I could have had twenty three point
four million. The top centers are making seventeen eighteen million.
I want twenty plus.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I'm coming in at twenty. Then you know, like, I
guess no one's giving you twenty three, but you would
hit the open market a year from now.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
In this year was a bad center draft, very so
nobody years ago. Yeah, nobody's getting centers out of necessarily
out of this draft. There may be something happened or
who knows, right, Yeah, yeah, but it wasn't a great
center draft, so nobody's gonna if you need, if you
had a center.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Need, there's more seats that they're going to still have.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
A center need next year too.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a great point because you know,
if there's thirty two good ones and they're really probably
twenty five, that maybe one team finds one this year
or maybe two, where last year there was like six
or seven in the Fraser draft, and then someone's gonna retire,
someone's gonna get hurt, someone's gonna you know, there's gonna
be more seats opening than filling.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
So looking at this the guys who've been picked up already.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
We have lights on it. How about that. I'm gonna
make some coffee after this segment.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
The Jaguars are picking up the option on number one
overall pick, Trayvon Walker.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Okay, people probably think that's a debatable one. He's been
a real good, good year. He's not as good as Hutchinson.
It's really his crime is he's not as good as Hutcheon.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
And then Tyler said there was and there was Aiden Hutchinson. Okay, one, right, right,
but the difference there, Trayvon Walker's got a so there
are four levels at which you pick these things up.
It can be confusing, but it's really important to know
that it's basic playtime guys who've made one Pro Bowl
(17:00):
and guys who've made multiple problems.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
I assume Hutchinson's made multiple, He's only made one. I
guess you wouldn't have went last year because of ANDREI.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Right. Basic is for guys who do not meet any
of the requirements to be eligible for fifty year base
salary calculated in the average. They still get the average
from the third to twenty fifth highest salaries at their
position over the last five seasons.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
And for example, O line is just oh line, that's
all tackles and right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
The playtime one. They get the fifty year option if
they've played seventy five percent or greater of the snaps
and two of their first three seasons, or an average
of seventy five percent or greater over the course of
all three seasons, or fifty percent over the entirety of it.
So you gonna be at least a fifty percent yeah
on the field. Yeah, And those guys get the average
(17:49):
from the third to twentieth highest paid players at their position. Okay,
I mean that's a nice yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah, yeah, I assume Hutchinson's pricier than Walker.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yes, that's where I was going.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Position.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Okay, if you've made one Pro Bowl on the original ballot,
not as an alternate, they do, they do designate that
leading't counter. You get the equal of the transition tag.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Oh wow, which is tops good money.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Yeah, and if you've been to multiple Pro Bowls, you
get the franchise tag tender.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Really okay, Wow, that seems I mean that's why it's
so hot.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
That's why you see guys that there's just.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Less fifty year options picked up than people think or
used to for this CBA.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
So the difference between Walker on a playtime, they play
the same position. Walker and Hutchinson are both Yeah. Yeah,
Walker get his His fifty year option is fourteen point
seventy five million.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Okay, so that's not a bad pickup for him. He's young.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
You want to keep them right, had ten sacks last year.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yeah, he's a good player.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Hutchinson's fifty year option twenty point eight million. Wow, he
makes six million dollars more because he made a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
And he's coming up. I mean it's an easy one,
but he's coming off a major injury, and he was
right when he was healthy. But it's a pretty pricey
jump for a rookie.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Sauce Gardner the third guaranteed, folks, Yeah, Sauce Gardner is
the third overall pick. He gets the multip Pro Bowl.
So for a cornerback, it's twenty point two million. Basically
twenty point one eight. These guys are twenty plus. Yeah.
Keevon Thibodeaux was the third overall pick. Did he pick
his up? They picked his up? Okay, I thought they
announced that. Why again, he gets that fourteen point seventy five.
(19:26):
I can Echawanu as a offensive lineman, even though it's
just the playtime option. Seventeen point five to six million. Yeah,
and that probably wasn't a simple easy This is the
decision the Steelers are going to have to make after
this season on Roger Jones.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Yeah, and Ikey started slow and now they're happy enough
with them. Yeah, but they're not like out of the woods.
He's phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
You know, Jones is going to have the play He'll
have the playtime. I look at this guy, look at him.
Tyler Tyler Wittmeyer making a rare on camera appearance there,
Oh well, wor getting Matt Coffee. So seventeen point five
to six million, and it's going to go much better.
It will go up next year when the stato is
only going to go up. Yeah, I have to make
that decision on Roder Jones, Evan Neil.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
That's a no.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I'm sure who the Giants didn't. They didn't take the
fifty year option, just a basic fifty year option on
an offensive lineman. Sixteen point sixty eight million.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
That's an easy no though. Yeah, would you consider trading
for him for like nothing? He's been bad, He's been terrible.
He's been terrible, Like that's an easy decision for this.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
He'd be worth him. I'm like a six round pick.
Somebody would have to like and then you only get
him for a year. Somebody would have to be a
disaster at one of your two tackle positions.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Yeah, so no, I just like reclamation projects. I didn't
love him coming out of Bama.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, Drake London got his picked up. Sixteen point eight million. Okay,
that's a good deal for him. That's the playtime. Yeah,
Charles Cross, so he has not gone to a Pro Bowl,
No London? Okay, Charles Cross with the Seahawks seventeen point
five million. I would say he's better than that, but
that's the playtime option. Yeah, Chris a Lava with the Saints.
(21:11):
He only qualifies for the basic because he's missed some
time at some time. Yeah, and receivers are tough to
get the Pro Bowl. It's still fifteen point five million.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, but that's very worth it. I mean, that was
an easy decision money.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
But yeah, Jamis and Williams had has picked up fifteen
point five million basic playtime.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I think that was somewhat questioned.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Some of that was by his own time stuff. I've
been suspended for about fifteen games.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
More more than that. He gets his whole season right,
whole season, I think, or at least the majority of
the majority of it.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
The Eagles surprisingly picked up Jordan Davis's fifty year option.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
That one shocks.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Here's the thing though, at defensive tackle, the interior defensive
line is different than defensive.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
But interial line isn't right, which is flaw.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
It's only twelve point nine million, so at that price, Yeah,
you pick it right.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
One more year of a young player, you hope he's developing.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
If you're the Steelers. You hope that Derek Carmon gets
more than just the basicpe he's been to every Pro Bowl.
I hope he's right. At the very least, he better
get the playtime.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah yeah, yeah, you know, but he didn't.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
He didn't hit the playtime because he barely played. He's
not a high snap guy. But twelve point nine million
for a guy who's plays less than fifty percent of
the snaps.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
So I guess that's a pretty easy one to pick up.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
It would have been fourteen point three for the playtime,
twenty point eight for one Pro Bowl, twenty five point
one if you've made multiple Pro Bowls at D tackle
at dtackle, which is what you're hoping, pretty significant, Yeah yeah,
and by then it'll be thirty. It just tells you
that the big time defensive tackles are getting paid a
lot of money, but it falls off pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Yeah yeah, that's exactly like linebackers like that.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Too, Hamilton, same thing here, But he's been to multiple
Pro Bowls, so he gets eighteen point six million a
big safety salary. If he just had the basic it
was nine point two so half wow.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, doubles just for that, Okay, interesting.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Uh, Kenyon Green. The Eagles did not pick him up. Yeah,
nor did they pick up Johan Dotson, the next guy.
They've got three first round guys from this including because
they traded for Green.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
They traded for Green, three teams to deside on him.
Kind of.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Green's fifty year option would have been sixteen point six
eight million.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
They decided not to pick that up. Okay, so that
he's really a one year rental for them. Yeah, that trade.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Johan Dotson has hit the playtime numbers. His number would
have been sixteen point eight. They're not picking picking that up. Uh.
The Chargers haven't made a decision yet. On Zion Johnson.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
I would say I thought he was like as safe
as prospect as you could get, and he hasn't been
that safe.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
He's he's also a guard. Yeah, seventeen point five to
six million for the playtime option.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
A lot of their interior options, a lot of money
for a guard. Ack, then I bet he won't pick
it up.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Treylon Burks with the Titans fifteen point four three four
nine three. They're not they haven't picked that up yet, okay.
Trevor Penning with the Saints. They had two first round
draft picks that year, his would have been he would
be the basic at sixteen point six eighty five. They
haven't picked that up.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
No, they drafted a tackle two years in a row.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Now can he pickt now with the Browns. Kind of
funny they didn't know when they traded for him. Now
that they had to make a decision on his fifty
year option.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
That's their he's their property when when the deadline hits, Yes,
it's not the Eagles job.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
The basic fifty year option for him would have been
twenty two point one million, okay. The playtime option would
have been twenty five point three uh, the one Pro
Bowl option would have been thirty five point three seven
and if you've been the multiple Pro Bowls, forty point.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Twenty four okay. So like Jayden Daniels, I think is
all he gone to a Pro Bowl? Right in one year,
he'll probably go to multiple. Yeah, and he's gonna.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Which is why if you if you've got a quarterback
like that on the fifth year option, you probably want
to rework that. You can do that after the third year, Yeah,
you can. You can get that out of the way.
And just like we're not even gonna mess with that.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
I mean, plus you can get injured, and I don't
love the guaranteed part of it.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Trent McDuffie, they picked that one up. Those last one, two, three,
four or five six guys haven't haven't been a big
stret Trent McDuffie with the Kansas City thirteen point six.
They have picked that up.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
That's an easy one. Yeah, so he's that's a playtime
Yeah yeah, okay, Kway Walker with the with the Packers,
his would be fourteen point seventy five for being an
off ball linebacker.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
He would get the playtime and they haven't picked.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
That up yet. I say Cooper's gone past him.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
To kyer Elam now with the Cowboys, got drafted by.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Uh yeah, I'm sure they won't.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
He hasn't even qualified for the playtime yet. He's twelve
point six to eight. Yeah, you're not going to pick
that up. Problematic. Tyler Smith. They are picking that one up,
but it's twenty one point two to seven million.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
It's the same as Lenderbaum.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I bet well, Lenderbaum's actually more because he's Tyron Smith
has only been the Enderbaum's a multiple guy. Okay, yeah,
Lenderbaum has been the multiple Pro Bowl. So he gets
twenty twenty three point four and they have not picked
that up by lenderbaumb Yeah they're not going to yes, right, okay.
Jermaine Johnson with the Jets, what are they doing that one?
They really liked him, then he got they picked it up. Okay,
(26:30):
it's thirteen point four. He hasn't hit the playtime? Yeah,
I guess just the basic. Yeah, he also missed all
last year. Yeah. Devin Lloyd was another one with the
Jaguars today they're not picking it up.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Really, I think he's a really underrated player. I'm not
say he's a superstar, but I.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Think he's an under He's hit the playtime. I'm sure
numbers on that. So it's fourteen point seventy five. The
Packers with Devonte Wyatt that they're picking it up. Really, Yeah,
he's hit. It's the basic and it's probably the same
as Jordan David thirteen point nine two.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah, okay, I guess it's not that expensive then.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
And then you got Cole Strange with the Patriots. That's
they have not picked it up. It's sixteen point six eight.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
I'm sure that's the bottom wrong. Yeah, it's still a Ligne.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Money and the Chiefs have picked up George Carl Loftis
at fifteen point one nine six.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
These defensive ends aren't too bad.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah, and then Das Hill the Bengals are picking up.
They're picking up Dax Hill, and they're calling him a cornerback.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
I think that's what he is now. But he was
a safety then.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Yeah. It's twelve point six eight million, Okay, and that's
just to do that. That's just a basic if.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
You position change or you're in the midst of a
position change, is it like go to a committee and
they improve it or not or I don't think.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Maybe it depends on how many you know, the number
of snaps that you've played.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yeah, where her position? Okah makes sense? So he is
a corner now.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yeah, I mean at least uh, you know, twelve guys
there that haven't been picked up, and including Tyler Linderbaum.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
This has a pretty good draft class too. I mean
some of the better players, like the London in a
law of as don't cost you too much because they
didn't hit Pro Bowls, so they were pretty easy decisions.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Yeah, okay, but if you got multiple first round draft picks,
that's tough.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Oh, it is so Roger Jones. Decision comes one year
from now. Okay, well, stuff happens quick too, because you're
really got to get ahead of it.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
He hasn't made a Pro Bowl yet, right, but he
will get to play.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
He'll get the playtime for sure. He won't be the
cheapest one, that's what I say.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
And if he makes a Pro Bowl this year, then
it goes up. He can't go to multiple but he
could either be he could be one or three. Yeah,
he's going to be Tier two or three guy. And
right now, if you're looking at tier two or three,
you know you're looking at seventeen point five to six
million for the playtime, and you're looking over twenty probably
you're looking at twenty one point twenty seven if he
(28:46):
makes a Pro Bowl. Now, if he makes a Pro Bowl,
you're happy.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Right right right, I mean you gladly give him that money,
and it'll be even more than that.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Especially if he's your starting left tackle.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
That's what I mean, right, ye, if he's the Pro
Bowl starting left tackle for the AFC, Okay, you pick
it up.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, right, a great year.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
If it's similar, that's a tough decision. Yeah, but that's
that comes quick. Not all that different money than what
Dan Moore signed for. No, exactly, I mean he's twenty ish. Yeah,
good point. Yeah, maybe relatively speaking, if you're gott to
pick up if Jones is still a sending, the sending ascending.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Jones is probably it's seventeen to five for just the
basic playtime offensive line, which is likely what he'll Yeah,
that's probably what he's going to be the decision seventeen
point five to six. Let's say next.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Year, maybe it's eighteen five.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Yeah, eighteen five. Dan Moore just signed for twenty one.
It would rather have.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
It's not that it's but still it's a lot of money. Yeah,
that's the thing. That's why you always draft tackles. Yeah,
I mean draft lineman because they're.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Really hard to pay, and that edge rusher hard to find.
The guys that took edge rushers in the first round.
This year you got Miles Garrett's contract.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Oh yeah, they've spiked, like Parsons has even to have
Parsons sign, Wat's gonna sign.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Maybe Hutchinson gets a new deal maybe you know why, Yeah,
it's got it might be inflation at that, it might
be thirty five. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Wow, it's a good point. I say, what positions jumped
heavily this offseason. That's one really threw things out. I
mean Crosby got money.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Yeah, Crosby is another one, right, Yeah, it's gonna get
a real price. I mean you get top five money
at that position if you make multiple Pro Bowls and
you get the franchise tag value at edge rusher. Yikes.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
I would say about receiver too. Jamar Chase signed a
big deal. I mean he was an easy fifth year
pickup at the time. But man, it's not that team friendly.
It really is, and it really isn't. Yeah, and it
would rather negotiate beforehand. Like if you can get a
deal down with Progert Jones, now do it.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah. I'm not saying right, Steelers are going to do
that right right, But you know, because you want to
see I want him to be motivated when I.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Want more info. Yeah, I mean I want to see
him as the left tackle for seventeen game right right.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
You know, But if you're like looking at you know,
for the Seahawks with Charles Cross, Charles Cross is in
a superstar left tackle, but they're happy with them, They're
happy with him, and they pick up the option at
seventeen point five to six. That's going to be where
you're going to be out with Roderick Jones.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And they're probably happy with that, yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Whereas you look at like Trevor Penning and they didn't
pick that up, and it's like, okay, I get it.
He's not even a starter.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
No, I mean he is drafted tackles second year in
a row. Yeah, I don't know if he'll be a
starting guard play it all for them.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Yeah, So it's an interesting puzzle. It is an interesting puzzle.
You have to keep looking at it, but at.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Least you know it's on the horizon. GMS can plan
for it, right, you know, you've got this decision and
you have a ballpark what he's going.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
To make in that regard though, and there are no
running backs on this list, the running back numbers for
the fifth year option isn't outrageous.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
I remember, it wasn't crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
The only problem with it is is when you make
that offer to the running back after his third season,
you're guaranteeing the fourth year, fully guaranteeing the fourth year
in the fifth.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Year, right, all right, I mean that's a at a
wear in terror position, to wear in terror position, I
mean I thought, nause at the time was an easy pickup,
and then when they didn't, I understood it better and realized.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Once you thought it out, it was an easy to climb.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
It was not because he's the bad players. Just I
don't want to guarantee two.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Years, fully guarantee two years to a running back that's not.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
That at that point, it never missed time runs as
hard as possible, I mean, destined to get banged up,
and he hasn't to his credit, which is pretty incredible.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
But man, and I say that because if the Steelers
hadn't taken, if Derek Carmon had been gone before their.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Pick, if that's Hampton or Henderson or whatever.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Right, Omari and Hampton or Trevon Henderson would have been
a Steeler that was going to be their pick, not
a quarterback. They were they were taking one of those
two running backs.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Okay, I know they liked them both a lot, and
I would understand it, but that's a tough decision. Yeah,
I mean, you would hope at that point they hit
a Pro Bowl too. Yeah, I mean, if you're using
the first round pick on a running back, you'd hope
it'd be in the Pro Bowl. Well, on nausey had
so that Yeah, yeah, that skewed it a little bit too.
It didn't help his cause.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Well, I guess he wouldn't have been voted as a
starter to the pro or no, I think he was.
He might have been like first alternate or something like
clearly playing time. Yeah, clearly had the playtime, but would
have been expensive and as it turned out, when you
dropt on a third round. Yeah. So anyways, let's get
to a break. He is the Matt Williamson. I am
(33:22):
Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here on the
Steelers Audio Network. When we come back, we need to
turn the lights back down because we're going to be
joined by the Dean of Doom, the Lord of living
in his fears, Bob Labriola right after this.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold cast in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
And welcome back to the Drive. I am Dale Lalli.
He is the Matt Williamson and you can tell by
the foreboding music. We are now joined on the well
not to Justin Miller Hotline today today it's the CJ.
Wolfly Hotline by Bob Lariola, editor of Steelers Digest and
Steelers dot Com and the Dean of doom and lord
(34:30):
of living in his fears? How you doing, Labs?
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I thought you used that music for mel Kiper too.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Now it'd be more crazed. Uh, I don't even know
what it would be.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Yeah, like, yeah, pretty good. I know. I'm starting to
get my body back to normal rhythms after the three
days of the NFL Draft, which is anything but a
normal you know, situation, but uh it was. It was
pretty interesting. Matt. How's your throat?
Speaker 4 (35:01):
I'm all right to have to do a lot of
shows since so, you know, no rest for the wicked. Right,
got my coffee here, I'm ready to rock. Right, you
never rubbed them down?
Speaker 1 (35:09):
And we'll go.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Yeah, some horse ran back there.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
You know.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
I was a little weary at the end, I must say, Bob.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
But looking at how the draft went for the Steelers,
how things played out, anything that surprised you there that.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Took place, uh, you know, I wouldn't say surprise. I
mean I thought, uh I liked it. It made a
lot of sense to me. I think that you know,
there wasn't any what's the word I guess craziness or
(35:47):
trying to make something out of nothing, you know. I
mean I think that the Steelers allowed it the picking
to come to them, and then they made some solid
decisions based on value at that spot and the needs
on their roster. Yeah, I mean, uh, the only thing
I'll say about the draft is, uh, Friday was was
(36:11):
just a slog I just I didn't realize how you know,
it's it's and it's you know, this is us talking
here too. It was mentally taxing, you know, to be
there all that time and not have a pick.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Oh, no doubt the people in Cleveland the last three
years having no first, no second, no thirds, Like what
are you doing all day right? For two days?
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Right? And it's not like you can just you know,
go lay down and take a nap and you know,
wake up ten minutes before you know it's your return
to pick again because you kind of have to be
paying attention to what's going on. But you know, it's
it's just really I don't know, just kind of watching, uh,
watching everybody else do all the shopping. You don't get,
(37:00):
you don't get to do anything like that. So yeah,
Friday was you know it would be Okay, if you know,
like the last two picks of the seventh round weren't
there and you were done early. But you know, when
when you have that long gap in the actual middle
of it, it was it was a little a test
(37:22):
of endormance.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
I think so labs. I think Mike Tomlins said it
wasn't an agenda to be so Big ten happy in
their draft class. But I also don't think it's a
shock or a surprise that they took multiple players from
Ohio State and Iowa. Do you agree?
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Oh? Yeah, And I think really, I think it's what's
going to happen now in future drafts. It's going to
be all Big ten and SEC players. Let's let's say
the majority, because there's a First of all, there's a
lot of teams now in each of those two conferences.
It's not like there were just eight or ten teams.
The Big ten is as such a misnomer.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Now apparently the count.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Right, well, they'll do all much better job in the Southeast.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Either they can count the dollar bills, you know.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Yeah, well, and that's why you're gonna have, uh, the
primarily two conferences I think dominating the the NFL draft.
Those are the schools with the nil money. Those are
the schools that are playing big time football every week. Uh,
and so you know, it's just natural. I think that
(38:37):
the NFL is going to go looking for players in
the leagues that are able to closest replicate the level
of football that is played in the NFL. I mean,
you know the Big ten and the SEC. You know
those schools, you know, they they know how to run
(38:58):
the ball. I mean it's not all you know, air
raid offense or throw it seventy times. It's not like
you know, some of the like Big twelve schools, they
never run the ball. You're throwing the ball whether you're
up by sixty or done by sixty. Not a lot
of defenses played. So yeah, it doesn't It doesn't surprise me.
(39:21):
And I think it's kind of the start of a
trend and it will only grow, I think as we
move on here down the road, until or unless the
college football does something to you know, distribute I won't
say the wealth, but maybe that's the word. That's the
best word. Distribute the wealth around to some of the
(39:44):
other schools and some of the other conferences well, at.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Least put some limits on what they're able to spend,
like there's no salary cap right now in college football.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Right this is and this is.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Really you know, for people that that complain about the NFL. Shit, yeah,
you know, this is what college football right now is
what the NFL would look like if there wasn't revenue sharing.
Hio States, the Yankees and you know, right yeah, I
mean right now, Pitt would be Green Bay, you know, yeah,
the Pirates, right that's that's that's what you're looking at
(40:18):
right now.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
And speaking of Pitt Labs, I heard some people even say,
like what you mentioned too about Pitt, or about you
know the two conferences that cam Ward you know, he
was in the a CEC but didn't go to the playoffs. Oh,
I'd like to see him play some better competition, like
I mean, you never heard that before from someone from.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
The U, right exactly. And you know, the salary cap
is what kid differential the n NFL from Major League Baseball.
And the other thing that's bad about it, I believe
in college football is you know, guys, the transfer portal,
(40:59):
you know, it is messed up. I mean they have
to they have to get that under control and you know,
get a specific window and limited you know, try and
regiment some of this stuff because you know, these guys
players are just I read somewhere and I don't know
(41:20):
if this is true or not, but it was on
the internet. So it has to be right that you
look at the top quarterbacks available projected to be available
in the next draft, like all but one or two
of them are have been in the transfer portal, and
you know, quarterbacks, I think it's really a situation that
(41:45):
is kind of conducive to that kind of craziness because
a kid, there's no sitting behind arch Manning. You know,
if you're a Texas, you're going somewhere else. You know,
it's shocking to me that he didn't go anywhere. You know,
he sat behind yours.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
Yeah, Matt talked about this yesterday when when he was
when he was recruiting at Pitt you kind of had
the board in front of you, knowing, Okay, we got
we got this senior tackle offensive tackle, and our next
guy is like a freshman. Our next guy is a freshman.
Speaker 4 (42:20):
Gap between him, So we better get a JC kidd.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Better get a guy there right now.
Speaker 4 (42:24):
You don't know it plan what's going to come back.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Right right? So you know in recruiting. I don't know
if recruiting anymore. By recruiting, I mean high school kids.
I don't know if that's the lifeblood of a college program.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
It certainly isn't.
Speaker 4 (42:43):
It can't be.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Why would write why would you want to gamble on
an eighteen year old when you can probably wait a
year or two look at a twenty year old and
have a better idea of what he might be or
what he is and what he might become. Then you know,
a seventeen or eighteen year old out of high school.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
And there's more time you're spending this time if you
if you bring in the eighteen year old recruit and
he is not a every downstarter for you, or he
doesn't like his playing time, he's just gonna leave after
a year.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
Someone will take him.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Somebody else will take him. Yeah, so you I just
wasted my time recruiting that.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
How many hours you put into getting a kid to
say yes to your school?
Speaker 3 (43:25):
You know?
Speaker 1 (43:26):
And you know there are so many other non non
significant factors that are you have to weigh, you know, cash,
you know, how many how many people in that kid's
family because he responsible for financially and if you know,
he might like the coach, and he might like the facility,
(43:49):
and he might even not hate you know, his role
at that point in his college career. But if somebody
comes up with ten or fifth, teen or twenty thousand
dollars more, somebody might be in his ear. Hey man,
you've got to go, and you know, go for the money.
We need the money. So yeah, it's uh, it's messy.
(44:13):
I think it's only even get messier. And I don't
know if it's I don't know that it is a
good thing for the NFL to try and to be
figuring out all of that as they're also trying to
draft and fill holes on their own rosters.
Speaker 4 (44:28):
And along those lines, like this past class, it really
showed up to me Evyon's talking about what a great
running back class it was, and it was, but so
few of them pass blocked, and the wide receiver class,
so few of them run blocked. Like they're already becoming
divas where I'm not getting the ball, I'm not going
(44:48):
to run this route hard, you know, Like that's amazing
to me, you know.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
Yeah, And here's you know, just here's another position. How
many quarterbacks go through their college eligibility and have never
called to play in a huddle or taken a snap
from the house.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
Yeah, that was everybody at the Senior Bowl this year.
The first day of practice at the Senior Bowl, they
had to practice the center exchange with all the quarterbacks
because none of them have done it before.
Speaker 4 (45:14):
Yeah, yeah, and probably never.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
And they don't and they don't use a cadence either.
They clap their hands.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Right, it's just a it's a different game. Yes, it's
free agency every year in college football now.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Yes, And as I said, I don't know that it's
a good thing for college football or for the NFL
until the NCAA gets gets a little handle on this
in some way that you know is not against the law,
which is how they got themselves into this pickle in
the first place.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Bob, did you have a favorite Steelers draft pick?
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Well, I mean I seriously, I can say something that
I liked about everyone, you know, the Derek Harmon pick.
I have believed for a while that it was time
to do for the defensive line what the Steelers had
done in the previous couple of off seasons for their
(46:22):
offensive line. And that happened with both Derek Harmon and
Whya Black and you know, the Black pick, to me,
it was okay to pick a big, stout, run plugging
interior defensive lineman who's maybe a little bit one dimensional
(46:44):
in that respect, because you already got Harmon right, So
you know, picking a player like Black first, to me,
is not the kind of thing you're looking for, because
I think offenses will just scheme that kind of guy
out of the game if you don't have more diversified
(47:08):
players at that position who can both play against the
pass and against the run. So I like those picks.
You know, Caleb Johnson, you know, let me let me
give Matt some props. The one, the one stat I
heard him talking about during the draft, Caleb Johnson running
against stack boxes and how good he is at that.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
So, and then the other one, also talking about the
same guy, Arthur Smith talked about his yards per carrying
the fourth quarter and how that is a a statement
of you know, this guy's ability. And you know, talking
about football or Big ten football, people have had to
(47:54):
have watched IOWA lately to understand how bad their offense
was trying to throw the ball. So this guy had
no help long and and I'll tell you what, I
don't call him you know, an NFL.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
Caliber quarterback, college quarterback, but not.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
A not a thrower, not somebody that. Okay, so there
was that. I loved the Sawyer pick. Some people think
it was a luxury, but let's not forget you know,
the past couple of seasons or the recent past. You know,
the Steelers have had to do some you know, bargain
basement shopping for depth there, Marcus Golden, Preston Smith, that
(48:41):
kind of thing. And you know, I don't know anything
about Jack Sawyer except this. He's a guy who I
saw make big time game changing plays on defense in
big games, and that is worth something. And that's the
(49:03):
same thing for the quarterback, Will Howard. You know, the
fact that they won a national championship and he was
the starting quarterback and played his best football down that
stretch is not something that you should just take lightly.
And another thing is this, they lost Ohio State lost
(49:26):
that game to Michigan, and for him and them to
bounce back from that and play the way they did
and go on a run and win a trophy and
he's the quarterback again, that is that says something to
me that is a laudable about him. You know, Carson brunner.
(49:52):
I don't know if Danny Smith can do cartwheels, but
he might have been doing some cartwheels because I think
this might be the first time a guy was ever
picked as a core special teams player or who will
be a core special teams player. Right from the jump,
(50:12):
you know he's a four Danny Smith calls him a
four tool guy. Punt, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return. He
is a find the ball, get the guy with the
ball on the ground, and that is invaluable in special teams.
And who knows how these modified kickoff rules are going
to impact the number of kickoffs returns. I mean there
(50:34):
may be a lot more because of the you know,
moving the touch back up five yards. So you need
guys who can do that, who will do that willingly,
and who understand that that is their job. And I
think he gives you all of that. Dante Kent gives
you some punt returning, and he's a combative corner. You
(50:59):
can't ever have many of those guys. And you know,
seventh round, second pick in the seventh round, you take
a shot at a guy like this. He has some
interesting production. So you know, again, as I said, all
of these picks made sense to me. I didn't. It
(51:21):
wasn't any of what were they thinking about that when
they when the pick was announced. And let me say
this too, I was very happy with who and what
players and positions that they did not pick the first
round quarterback thing made no sense to me at any point,
and I was glad that, you know, they didn't fall
(51:42):
into that trap. And that's about all I got on
the draft.
Speaker 3 (51:50):
Well, we appreciate your time back, Bob, and we'll let
you get back to plotting the end of the free
world in your in your little us here and the
North Hills and you can get back to that, either.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
That or picking up all the sticks that broke off
the trees and stuff last night.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
That was Washington. We didn't get hit anywhere anywhere near
as hard as you guys. I had electricity all day.
I got it hard. Our electricity just came back.
Speaker 1 (52:19):
Yeah, it's it's, it's it was. We were fortunate here
specifically where I live, but other areas of the North
Hills were out. We're out of power at least until
noon today. I don't know how, you know, I'm sure
they're getting it close. But yeah, it was, uh, you know,
(52:39):
Annie m Annie m.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
L Our guest has been Bob Barbiola, editor of Steelers
Digest and Steelers dot Com. He is Matt Williamson. I
am Dale, Lolly. You're listening to the drive here on
the Steelers Audio Network. That's going to do it for
our number one, Matt and I will be back with
our number two right after this
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