July 23, 2021 • 30 mins
(01:25) - Mike Tomlin speaks to the media at the first day of Steelers' training camp. (10:05) - What are realistic expectations for the offensive line in 2021.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Your tunes about Drive on Home of the Black and
Goal Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome back to the Drive. I'm
(00:35):
Bail Lolly here with Matt Williamson, and the Steelers are
back at training camp. It's not at St. Vincent College.
It is, of course, at the they started out. The
first couple of days here of conditioning will be at
the south side of the up M. C rooney Sports Complex. Uh, Matt,
we heard from Mike Tomlin yesterday after practice. I wanted
to play that back. Lots of stuff to get through here,
but no players on the pulp. I guess that's a
(00:57):
good start. You know, you're seeing a lot of those
blurbs around the league. I think the Cowboys had six
or seven guys that that opened on the pup. I
haven't seen the whole list yet, but I've seen a
couple of the big names. Michael Thomas was a huge one.
That's a bigger deal. But like sa Juan Barkley and
a lot of these guys are starting on the pup
as it happens every year, so starting fresh with injuries
is great. Yeah. So let's hear from Mike Tomlin what
(01:18):
he had to say on Thursday after the Steelers had
gotten done in practice. Wow, we had great weather today.
Great day to get started. You know, guys, no bold
predictions from me. Um, I guess I'll just open it
up for questions. Talk to me. What do you see
(01:38):
from Trey Turner? And UM, you know he's got a
good demeanor. Um, he's a quick study. UM, he's a
he's a professional. He's been around. But you know, much
too early to tell, you know, just a one day sample, guys, Michael, None, guys,
small samples that you get a Melvin and ground what
(01:58):
looking about him? I need you guys want to go
out and drab him, bring him in. We've seen him
a lot over the years, you know, respectful of his
of his work, body of work. But not only that.
We were familiar with him in the draft. You know,
he's one of those guys that fit the profile. We
studied him and got to know him through the draft process,
and usually those are the guys that we end up
doubling back to and having an interest in when they're
(02:19):
available in free agency. So it makes the process an
easy one. Um. Also at the opportunity, I think in
seven team when we coached the Pro Bowl, we had
him down in Orlando and it really got to know
him something in that setting as well. So, um, we
felt really comfortable that he's gonna be an easy fit.
Um as a man and as a player. You didn't
hesitate to tell Kendath Green, I need to right in
(02:40):
the house. He looked in again a one day sample.
I mean, you know we can we can write a
story if we want, um, but we thought it was important. Man,
those guys that we're trying to get get starts in
the Hall of Fame game, to get as much work
as we can. There's no indication of where they are
in terms of their career. You can label him a
starter if you choose he is. He's a starter for
(03:00):
the Hall of Fame game. If that means anything. What
about no, No, we were taking care of him. Um,
he got a day or two, he should be fine.
I think he Um, you know, tweak a little something,
but it's not in anything of any concern whatsoever to
be honest with you. For a big picturestandpoint, Um, we're
kind of sass and many hunt mushing Man. Both guys
(03:20):
have worked. That tells off Man is great to see
him back out here and working. Um, we'll just continue
to be thoughtful of the reps that we give them. Uh.
Today was a big day for them to get back
out and put jersey on and be and put jerseys
on to be with their teammates. But we'll be thoughtful
about it through the journey and and and have good
days and continually to push them forward. Towards September twelve,
did you anticipate Vincer's Vince's retirements and and then maybe
(03:43):
talk about what he's meant to stay all over the year. No,
I did not, Um, But Man, Vince is just a
quality man first and quality football player second. Um Man,
his passion for the game, the spirit in which he
went about what he did. Um. It's a loss for us,
for sure, but that's the game. We respect the game
in that way. We wish him nothing but the best
(04:04):
in terms of how he moves forward. Um. But we're appreciative.
We're appreciative of the work in service that he gave
us eight plus years. How do you feel a bunch
of inside linebacker death after? I feel great today as
day one. You know, we hadn't suffered aniutrition. We hadn't
made any mistakes that make you feel bad, you know,
this thing is a process, and so you know, I
won't have a lot of strong feelings about any of
(04:26):
the circumstances today. It's just much too early in the journey.
And guys also released did since the last time we
talked to you how we're all transpired? There? Did that
catch you off guard at all? It was just you know,
health related and we we we did the things that
we had to do. I know we released the statement
regarding and I know he's spoken on it, so I
don't have a lot to add. It was really pretty
cut and dry. Like most Tunch teams, don't replace the
(04:46):
whole line. You know, different guys in different spots and
have a new coach. Pretty gig typical. There's something in
particularly you believe you guys can pull at all, you know.
I mean, we don't have a bar set real high.
We were last in the league in Russian, so um,
we got no where to go but up from from
certain aspects of that. It's not something that we fear. No.
I think we'll see about the read too much for
twenty five just slot die today and seeing a kind
(05:08):
of one exactly what you said, you know, Um, you'll
probably get the starting Canton and you can write a
story about that all the year. And it's the first
time we had to learn all new verbiage, all new
formations on that process. What does that revealed about him?
What you think it's It's not all new verbiage, all
(05:28):
new concepts. It's not. It's really not. Matt's done a
really good job, a thoughtful job of of easing the transition.
Sure there's some new things, and sure there's some new words,
but it's not it's not a blank slate. And Ben's
been on the job long enough where I don't want
to make that the same something significant when you know
it's an adjustment. But by the time we're able to play,
(05:48):
I doubt it's gonna be anything of any significance. Hookie
center to make the calls that come first over the
physical card or how does that usually work out? You know? Um,
these guys come to work man, um, you know, particularly
when they've been exposed to some of the things that
he's been exposed to. Man, he's played Big ten football,
he's been in some some circumstances and so um, you know,
(06:09):
we'll see what what what the process does to him.
But not a bad issue or a a bad start from
today's perspective at all. You know, um, this is our
first day working in passing the training camp like setting.
But we've been working extremely hard man, dating back to
the spring since we acquired them, classrooms, zooms and so forth,
and so he just had an opportunity to show some
of that today couple of hours. So that depending on
(06:33):
COVID and the one of those like on DOCTA players,
if the game is canceled because of those players, can
we be more things like that? And you guys just
felt about just how much importance it is for you
guys to have the players that you were comfortably Just
what does that do for you guys? We just checked
that box. We really kind of moved on, to be
(06:53):
honest with you, and that's why we weren't to be
so pro active about addressing it. So we're not spending
a whole bunch of time thinking our talking about it.
Uh So it's it's a non issue for us, thankfully
due to the efforts and willingness of our guys and so,
um we're focused on the football. Like three times, only
three times in the last thirty years has a team
started five new guys in five new spots on the
(07:14):
offensive line. Once the team won games, and once the
team one of other games, what has to happen the
chemistry and that you know, I don't worry about how
you lead into that. UM. We're just you know, we're
we're here working. We got capable guys. UM. You know,
there's an expectation here that those guys are going to deliver.
(07:35):
To be quite honest with you, I'm not gonna be
surprised when they do. As a matter of fact, we
expect them to. And so you know, you can write
a rag of the richest tale if you so choose,
like we're starting at ground zero in the basement, if
you will, UM, But we don't see it that way, UM,
And we definitely don't expect our results UM to be
elementary along those lines, how much has it helped to
have the extra week of training camp when you are
(07:56):
potentially having five new guys in five essentially you know,
big picture, you know, it's it's probably not really significant. UM.
Today it is because we're one of two teams working,
so we're excited about it. T J is going into
the last year of his deals. Sometimes guys like that
will say out a little bit or maybe not even
come right away. What does it say to you that
he's here? Just make that certa understand it's not that's game.
It doesn't tell me anything that I didn't already know
(08:18):
about t J. Watt. You know, what can you say
about him that hadn't been said. I'm sure that process
will run its course and we'll have something to report.
Two practices. There are not being much of teams that
just said you know, threading them off or anything. Yep,
exactly and at early, but how do you read because
you're in the rep sipasque with ingrampside, you know, it's
really much too early. Right now, we're just teaching them
(08:40):
and seeing how quickly he can learn, and that's probably
gonna dictate reps. What we don't want to do is
waste game reps on anyone. So his level of preparedness,
his ability to execute detail, particularly the early stages of development,
is going to determine how much he participates or when
he participates. You do have much of relationship with Trade Turning.
He brought I mean nothing more than a mutual respect
(09:02):
and a nod. You know, we had a preseason relationship
with those guys. Annually when he was in Carolina and said,
you get an opportunity to get to know the guys
and particularly the significant guys. Um, there's a guy that's
played a lot of ball. You guys know it. Perennially.
We're at the L s U Pro Day and so
we probably had some exposures to him from that standpoint too.
That was Mike Tomlin Thursday, after the Steelers came off
(09:25):
the field after their first practice of the training camp.
As you heard him say, and nobody, uh, nobody's starting
on the pup list. They had a few players that
didn't practice yesterday, TJ one among them. He practiced, but
not in the team portion, doing some drills and those
kind of things. Same thing with stuff onto it and
Kevin Dotson. Yeah, there's not much to worry about with
(09:47):
Tomlin saying that, you know, none of those are are
long term things are just uh, you know, maintenance stuff
or in Dodson's case, he tweaked something leads me to yeah,
but leads me to uh. The next next thing here
is that ESPN has a list that's coming from Pro
Football Focus ranking the NFL second year breakout Canada's fifteen
(10:10):
players who could become stars. Yeah, yeah, I read this.
I thought it was pretty good. Uh. One of the
guys on the face of the guy that wrote it.
But I've I've read him before and I think he's
kind of up and commorade knows the stuff. Number eight
on the list Kevin Dotson. Yeah, some interesting numbers. There's
uh for interesting status here from Kevin Dotson. Since two
thousand fifteen, no rookie guard has notched a higher pass
(10:34):
blockingradean Dotson's seven point to mark from and he was
known as a masher more. I mean, if you just
know his profile coming out of school, well on that
same token, Uh, Dotson's rookie stats are out of this world.
He led the NFL and pass blocking great among guards,
allowing zero sax, zero hits on the quarterback, and a
point five percent pressure rate. Uh. He also is a,
(11:00):
as you said, a ridiculous run blocker. I mean that
was his fortakes, you know, finisher, those type of things.
I'm not discrediting the pass blocking numbers because they're exceptional.
I mean, you're the best. It helps a little bit
that the ball came out as fast and sacks are
also a Roethlisberger number as well. But if that's the
(11:20):
thing you were most concerned about coming out of school,
we're gonna have to teach him pass blocking things. Will
he passed that with flying color? You know that. And
to your point, people are downgrading this offensive line. Well there,
you know, Ben Roethlisberg is gonna get hit a lot
sacks or quarterbacks that no, Yeah, without question, Ben Roethlisberger
(11:40):
is not going to allow himself to get hit. He's
gonna get the ball out of his hands. And honestly,
that doesn't mean that there are entirely a short passing
you know, but to keep Friarmouth in the block or not,
he has that capability to do that. He's not. This
is not two thousand and nine where roethlis You know,
they're running an offense where everything's down the field, but
you do have guys down the field. But no, they
(12:02):
can attack at all levels. You know. Adding naj Harris
to the equation gives them another receiving threat in the
short end. Who's Oh, by the way, if you do
dump it off to him short, he's gonna break a
tackle and turn that that four yard game into a
twelve yard game. Him in space a little bit and
easy throw Um. This is a good list that you mentioned,
but I also often referenced Football Outsiders Almanac. At the
(12:27):
end of the almanac, one of my favorite things that
they do every year is they pick twenty five I
think names that are similar, but they have different criteria.
It's guys we've seen in the pros that have under
four or five hundred snaps to their name that could
be big jump guys this past this upcoming year. And
Dotson was very high, Highsmith was as well. I mean,
(12:50):
there's there's a couple of people in division Matta boot
Gay and you know some of these guys, but the
Steelers had two in the top seven or eight. You
know that the people that studied every snap or high
and these guys you could also probably include at this
point in his career, Zach Banner. Yeah, like that. He
hasn't played. It's not his whole career, for his whole career, Okay.
(13:14):
And again they show with their money and him winning
the job last year that they're excited about him. I
don't want to say they're even like cautiously optimistic about him.
I think they're excited about what Banner can do. So
he's another one. Um, and again, I've been on the
national media side, and it's hard to know every offensive
(13:34):
line in the league like the back of your hand,
you know. I mean, he's played, he's actually played three
career snaps. But I do think the line collectively is
more unknown than it is terrible. But as we heard
Mike Tomlins say, there the bar set pretty low for expectations. Yeah,
they expect you know, probably not. Look, look, we were
(13:57):
last in the league last year in rushing. Don't don't
be last. There's nowhere to go but up. But as
he also said that to your point though, he said,
we don't look at them that way. We have expectations
for these guys to go out and perform. Well, then
you've seen Adrian Clement action. It doesn't sound like he
treats them that way at all. You know, he plays
with a real edge to him. You know that we
(14:19):
are great. Get used to it. That's how we do
things around here. We'll get rid of you, you know. No,
I think there's I think there's more room for optimism
with that unit than most people realize or want to
give them credit. I think people look at signings like that.
They signed Chaz Green earlier this week ingle while he
stinks and you know, he make the team, right, That's
(14:40):
the thing. They didn't sign him because they're signing him
Chas Green to start because they don't like Banner or
Choops or one of They were going to Dron Jones,
who they released Chas Green to pick up. Wasn't going
to make this team. Ron Jones got in trouble. He
had he had a domestic violence issue that that charges
(15:00):
came down in early July, so they had a ross
spot open, they had a roster spot. They didn't cut
him right away because they were on vacation. Okay, okay,
because these people are real human beings. But he was
not going to be on the roster. Okay, they knew
that a week ago. So Chazz Green essentially replaces Jeron Jones,
who really had no chance to make the team. You're
just looking for a body, and I guess Jazz Green
(15:21):
eats a little more of your cap space because he's
a veteran, but I'm sure roster and only if he
makes the roster, and then you have a useful player,
you know, I mean, And unfortunately, an injury or two
is gonna happen in preseason and you know, the best
nine or ten right now might not be available. You
maybe only eight or nine of them are. And you
look at Green and say, he can get me out
(15:42):
of a game. Okay, good, right, You know I don't
I don't read too much into that. I know people
he's you know, he was awful, and I heard that yesterday.
I talked to somebody in Indianapolis and they said, he's
just terrible. It's fine, You're not gonna play him, right right,
They're not counting on he's gonna be playing, you know,
in third quarter of preseason games. That's when he's right.
(16:04):
He'll be probably with the twos in the preseason maybe
there maybe the threes. Yeah, yeah, right. And they do
have a lot of able bodies online. Do you know
if he has any guard flexibility? I don't think he
don't think he does. I think he's gonna tackle over
the course of his career. That doesn't mean he can't
play no, right, right, more I think about it, they
have less flexibility than usual. I mean the guards are guards.
(16:26):
The tackles or tackles, which isn't that big of it
doesn't bother me because you've got guys like like Coward
and Finney, who can play multiple spots on the interior. Yeah,
you know, even Green can play guard or center. You
hope he never plays guards, but he could. You know, Um,
you know you're not gonna play hassa our guard, but
he has you know, so they've got some flexible tackle.
(16:49):
Hag is a tackle can do? I view him more
as a tackle. His body types more tackle is. He
doesn't look like Dots. You know, he's right, Um, but
they're gonna have a lot of movement based you know
stuff as well. Do you think, um, what's his face?
The rookie at A and M and more more? He
came to A and M as a guard and then
(17:10):
to tackle. I wonder if he could do both. I'm
just thinking, if they hit a string of injuries, you
can play tackle in the NFL. You can play guard. Yeah,
I think they're gonna leave him a tackle and if
three guards get hurt, maybe he or he's so impressive,
you gotta get him on the field, you know, because
I'm just equated the Dots in like, but I think
their guards. I mean, you've got Trede Turner, You've got
(17:31):
Kevin Dotson, Okay, yeah, right, you know you got a
five time pro bowler and a guy who everybody is
on everybody's breakout candidate list. At the other guard spot,
you might be pretty good there. Yeah, I mean, even
with the castro gone, I have more faith in the
starting guards than the starting tackles right this minute. Yeah,
they've got you know, Turner himself has more experience. Now.
He didn't play well with the Chargers last year, but
(17:53):
who did. Yeah, as I say, that doesn't bother me
that much, you know. But where I was going with
that is though a year ago, you and I sitting
here saying, well, they don't need dots in this year.
Things can change quick and if Moore is really good,
maybe he finds his way on the field. First is
at six though lineman. Then Dotson gets hurt and he's
a left guard, you know what I mean? A difference
to me, though he's gonna necessarily red shirt. Last year
(18:16):
you had any an older line, an older offensive line.
Even Matt Fyler was you know, new to the lineup.
But he's twenty nine, you know. So the more snaps
these guys play in terms of their their career, the
more likely you are to get hurt. Now you've got
a bunch of young guys in there, probably a little
(18:37):
less likely to get probably coming off an injuries, you know,
injuries happening. It happened to anybody. The Steelers are less
likely to do this than other teams. But when you're
an established pouncey to castro Villa in the WUAVA, it's
hard to bench those guys for performance, I mean, and
it's not even necessarily the best thing for the team.
(18:58):
With all respect to Ramon Foster at the he probably
should have got benched, you know what I mean, But
it doesn't send the right message the locker locker room leaders.
And you know, but now if Banner is not good
and more is Yeah, you know what I mean. I'm
not worried about hurting feelings or sending messages in the
locker room. Chokes can't cut it. Find give someone else
(19:20):
with you shot. Yeah, So yeah, there is a little
bit of that as well. You can make those changes
a lot easier. And I know, like even last year,
a lot of people Dotson should start when he started
in place a filer, But that's a tough move. You know. Again,
as you said, upsets the apple cart in the locker room.
(19:41):
These are human beings, I mean, you asked. It's like
knocking out the You know, you're fighting the champ. You've
got to knock the champ out. You're gotta be not
just as good as you gotta be head and shoulders above.
You're not going to change. You're not gonna win on points.
And that's worthy, especially they're where there's a lot of
(20:02):
alpha males and big, strong human beings and continuity so important.
If you're gonna bench a pouncy still gonna happen. It
doesn't happen. It doesn't happen, right, you know, at the
end of the day, the coaches sit down and go, yeah,
but we've won a lot of games with this guy.
We know what he is. If we go with the
young guy here, we don't have that track record to
(20:23):
fall back on. You know, what's he gonna do when
we're you know, we're playing in December against the Ravens.
We want a lot of fights with this guy. You know,
I can't imagine put him on the bench, and then
the rest of the team looks around like man Pounce
isn't even in the field, you know, And so there
will be more I don't want to say competent. I
guess they'll be more competition, but they'll be shorter leashes.
I would think too, Yeah, you know, yeah, because I
(20:45):
mean they've got bodies there. They've got guys that that's
not an accident. And that got back to them signing
Chas Green. It's almost it's almost a Bills like situation
with the Bills did a couple of years ago where
you bring in a whole bunch of guys who have
NFL experience, maybe not great, and they have word you know, right,
hag and but you find the top five and you
put him on the field and it was pretty good,
(21:05):
and your backup five's okay, then yeah, you know, and again,
you know, we keep bringing this up, but I think
it's really important that Rudolph and Haskins they should have
decent lines blocking for them in this preseason and you
can really get a look where if they're running around
for their life and they're not the most movable to
begin with, it's hard to che the judge who's that
six receiver when the quarterback can't get rid of the football.
(21:28):
The other thing that the Bills did blocking the whole time,
you know, the other thing that the Bills did a
couple of years ago when they signed him, was at
eight guys, eight offensive lineman who had none of the
more stars. They traded a couple of those guys right
before the season started. Yeah, I mean, these guysn't have value.
They've played NFL snaps and you're looking around the league
and if I'm a team, okay, i know who my
(21:50):
five starters are, but my backups are junk and then
none of these guys have ever played a snap in
the NFL. Oh wait, the Steelers have this guy. He's
not a star, but he started ten games that right
tackle and it's in one other dude to make the team.
I'll give you a sex six or bound pick for
him or something like that, you know. Yeah, so again,
I would rather have a great starting five, of course,
(22:11):
and I definitely think the Steelers starting O line is
in the bottom third in the league. I'm not gonna
candy code ude. I'm not sure it'll even get better
than that, even if, but there's there's there is potential
to get better, Whereas if you brought the same guys
back from last year, it's probably just the potential to
get better wasn't wasn't there. It's a depreciating asset, you know,
and it just wasn't worth what it was before. But
I do think the Steelers second line will be better
(22:33):
than average. Yeah, you know, but you might have to
call on at some point during the year, you know,
but we'll see. Yeah, they drop off from if you
can look at it either way, they drop off from
the first to second team is not as great as
it's not all that great, which is a blessing and
maybe a curse. And that's a little different. It's a
little different, right but right. You know, again, if you're
(22:54):
if you're you know, opposing team, you're trying to find
the weak spot. It's a little harder to do. It's
a little harder to do. You know, you get a
zero in oh, okay, who because that's what teams will do.
They'll find the you know, they'll find the overloa blitz
is to the left side if you can maybe have
problems with I mean, I'm sure they will. They're gonna
be struggles, there's no doubt in my mind. And then
(23:15):
they to keep friar Muth or Harrison when you really
want them out in a route or whatever, you know.
I mean, so yeah, I mean, it's it's not gonna
be easy to overcome. But really, when you talked about
like that, that Bills analogy, if any of those three
and there's probably ben More Coward Green Hag, if any
of those guys takes a step up from where they
(23:37):
were in a new environment and the other two are junk,
it's still a good experiment. You have nothing invested in
these guys. I mean, those three collectively didn't cost you much.
And if one of them turns out to be a player,
you're six lineman or you know, a keeper, somebody you
want to extend. It's worth it. Yeah, I mean, you know,
we'll see. They don't need to be Jonathan Hougden know,
(24:00):
and I don't think you know, if you look back
at that Bill's line, I'm calling it up here now,
I think it was they made all this, Moses. I
think it was interesting how they did this while you're
looking for it, because the Bills are constructed there, and
at least at that stage, the entire defense was basically drafted.
They drafted Josh Allen and then everything around him was
(24:22):
all veterans. So their young quarterback, they put you know,
a bunch of established John Brown's and and then traded
for digs and everywhere but the running back position. These
were the guys that they had on the interior offensive line.
It was Russell Bodine, like Bodiger. Are these all the signings.
This is everybody that they took to camp that year,
(24:44):
Vlad Ducas, John Feliciano, Spencer Long, Garrett mcgin Mitch Morris,
Quentin Spain, White Teller. And they didn't stick with it.
They didn't keep him right at offensive tactically a Dion Dawkins,
Cody Ford, Blake Hans, Connor McDermott, Tying Niche he's still
around the third tackle, yeah, Jeremiah Surlis and Adrian Waddle.
(25:07):
None of those guys except tell her Now and maybe
Quentin Spain and Feliciano. Dawkins was making big money, but
like Cody Ford was the second round pick, they weren't
at that time. No, No, he was. Morse was the
only guy that was making any money. He's not been
an awesome center, right and he's okay. There's a couple
of names on there that are interesting though, just that
didn't work out. The cost Bodine. I'm trying to think
(25:31):
there's like two or three others that were nice prospects
coming out of school. They didn't. They never hit in
the league. But it was the same theory of let's
bring in retreads that we might have had a decent
grade in coming out of college, and we'll invest nothing
in them. That's the key. And we'll bring him to
camp with along with twelve other guys and see who hits.
(25:51):
And now they have a decent line and they have
a ton invested inity. You know, they're not first round
picks across. So even a guy like Chaz Green or
Chas Yeah, Chas Green that they were the third round
draft pick y, you know, I mean, Haig's got some
ability a second or third I think he was a
Day two guy. Um. You know. So you've got a
(26:13):
bunch of guys there that that you probably liked coming
out of school, you know, and you can you coach
them up a little bit. You're you're running. Here's the
thing about the NFL. Guys flame out all the time
on one team, goes somewhere else and and and hit
Mike Hilton. Yeah, he was with he was with the Jaguars.
(26:36):
He was with the Jaguars and Patriots his rookie year.
You know, couldn't make their rock, couldn't make the Jaguars
roster bad Jaguars roster as and then couldn't stay stick
with the Patriots, who you know, could have used his
skill set stigns with the Steelers. He's starting for them
the next year in the slot and teams look for
different traits obviously a different positions, but such an advantage
(26:59):
in trust me I've seen his first hand is having
that continuity in the front office, because I mean, I'm
totally making this up out of the blue, Joe Haig.
We have a third round grade on. He really needs
to correct this one thing, though, And the Colts draft
him and they don't see him that correct and they
don't correct it. They don't recognize it. They run a
different style of offense. You know, it's it's it's not
(27:22):
his skill set doesn't necessarily fit their offense, but fits ours.
It's our tyson and Lulu. I mean, okay, he you
know he's playing's gonna be Warren Sap. It's not gonna
work out playing in a fortree you know, defensive tackle
by the same you know, ziggy hood didn't work out
in the opposite here, right, it happens. Guys are a
bad fit in certain schemes. Yes, they have talent um.
(27:44):
Maybe it doesn't work out the way you want it to,
but they can still play if you change what they're doing. Yeah,
I'm sure. Kevin the area scout, then goes to Adrian
Clem who's new but still you know he maybe he
wasn't there when those guys came out, but that and
they tell him, and they obviously have the reports in
the system, and he's crazy if he didn't read them.
(28:05):
These were two things that we really were worried about
that we thought were correctable. If we didn't think they
were correctable, we weren't. He was an undrafted guy from US,
but he's a third round pick. We think he's correctable.
Might not be easy, and watching the pro tape, no
one's ever corrected the athletics. Try to work on. Yeah, okay,
we'll give a shot. Yeah, you gotta have the athletic traits.
If you don't have the athletic traits, if he can't
(28:26):
do it, then I'm not gonna waste my time. Coaches
only have so many hours a day. Two people forget
about those things, especially in this kind of sleep. Like
you know, right, Yeah, you get two hours on the
field with them every day, and you're trying to coach
up Kendrick Green to be your starting center. You know,
you don't have a ton of time for Chaz Green
to fix his kick slide or whatever it is. You
know what I mean. It's just a little thing. You know,
(28:46):
guy and guys see the game differently, Different coaches see
the game differently. I mean, that's the reality of the situation.
So it'll be interesting and it would miously be one
of the big things that we watched. But as Mike
Tomlin said, hey, the bar is not set too high.
We were last in the league in rushing last year. Yeah,
last note on that too, And I'm expecting a lot
of the Steeler beat writers we'll have some negative things
(29:08):
to say one on ones, things like that the guys
are blocking are better than them. You practice, You know,
you're back in the day. If you watch Jeff Hardings
and one on ones, you would have thought he was
like the fourth string center because he was a lighter guy.
Is that Hampton type guy? Yeah, he's playing. He's lining
up against Hampton, He's lining up. Chris Hoke was a
(29:28):
maniac on practice um, but in game days Harding's was
a Pro Bowl player. You know, he was very good.
It's the Bama thing, Like the practice is harder than
the games at times, Like, no doubt my mind, Banner
and chookes are gonna look bad on edge rush kicking things. Yeah,
you wanna be against t J. Watter line you want
to you know ingram and to it and you know
(29:49):
those guys are gonna make it look bad. They're gonna
lose a lot of those one on one Yeah, you know,
but that's it's okay, that's the reality. Don't overreacted within
some point, you know, right right, that's gets you better. Yeah. So,
and I just hope the fans don't have react boy
banners getting whipped every day in practice. Yeah, who's he
going up a Yeah? Yeah. I think that was one
of the things last year that they looked at and said, well,
you know, these guys are at least what's not just
(30:11):
destroying them snap after snap, you know, like he did
the Bengals or you know right, that's why that's why
teams double him. Yeah, I'll put a single guy over
there on t J one. So, yeah, I have at it.
He's about to make a lot of money for doing
it right, you know, so interesting. But we'll continue to
keep an eye on what's going on in camp. They'll
be going all weekend long, they'll be going, yeah, I
(30:33):
had nauseam here. They're just gonna roll rate with it
right into the uh, the game next to Actually, let's
less than two weeks. Hard to believe. Good stuff here
on the horizon, absolutely, but that's gonna do it for
this segment. So for my partner Matt Williamson, for Jacob
Breck here on site keeping us on the air, I'm
Dale Lolly. We thank you for listening to this edition
of the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio.
Your tunes about Drive on Home of the Black and
Goal Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome back to the Drive. I'm
(00:35):
Bail Lolly here with Matt Williamson, and the Steelers are
back at training camp. It's not at St. Vincent College.
It is, of course, at the they started out. The
first couple of days here of conditioning will be at
the south side of the up M. C rooney Sports Complex. Uh, Matt,
we heard from Mike Tomlin yesterday after practice. I wanted
to play that back. Lots of stuff to get through here,
but no players on the pulp. I guess that's a
(00:57):
good start. You know, you're seeing a lot of those
blurbs around the league. I think the Cowboys had six
or seven guys that that opened on the pup. I
haven't seen the whole list yet, but I've seen a
couple of the big names. Michael Thomas was a huge one.
That's a bigger deal. But like sa Juan Barkley and
a lot of these guys are starting on the pup
as it happens every year, so starting fresh with injuries
is great. Yeah. So let's hear from Mike Tomlin what
(01:18):
he had to say on Thursday after the Steelers had
gotten done in practice. Wow, we had great weather today.
Great day to get started. You know, guys, no bold
predictions from me. Um, I guess I'll just open it
up for questions. Talk to me. What do you see
(01:38):
from Trey Turner? And UM, you know he's got a
good demeanor. Um, he's a quick study. UM, he's a
he's a professional. He's been around. But you know, much
too early to tell, you know, just a one day sample, guys, Michael, None, guys,
small samples that you get a Melvin and ground what
(01:58):
looking about him? I need you guys want to go
out and drab him, bring him in. We've seen him
a lot over the years, you know, respectful of his
of his work, body of work. But not only that.
We were familiar with him in the draft. You know,
he's one of those guys that fit the profile. We
studied him and got to know him through the draft process,
and usually those are the guys that we end up
doubling back to and having an interest in when they're
(02:19):
available in free agency. So it makes the process an
easy one. Um. Also at the opportunity, I think in
seven team when we coached the Pro Bowl, we had
him down in Orlando and it really got to know
him something in that setting as well. So, um, we
felt really comfortable that he's gonna be an easy fit.
Um as a man and as a player. You didn't
hesitate to tell Kendath Green, I need to right in
(02:40):
the house. He looked in again a one day sample.
I mean, you know we can we can write a
story if we want, um, but we thought it was important. Man,
those guys that we're trying to get get starts in
the Hall of Fame game, to get as much work
as we can. There's no indication of where they are
in terms of their career. You can label him a
starter if you choose he is. He's a starter for
(03:00):
the Hall of Fame game. If that means anything. What
about no, No, we were taking care of him. Um,
he got a day or two, he should be fine.
I think he Um, you know, tweak a little something,
but it's not in anything of any concern whatsoever to
be honest with you. For a big picturestandpoint, Um, we're
kind of sass and many hunt mushing Man. Both guys
(03:20):
have worked. That tells off Man is great to see
him back out here and working. Um, we'll just continue
to be thoughtful of the reps that we give them. Uh.
Today was a big day for them to get back
out and put jersey on and be and put jerseys
on to be with their teammates. But we'll be thoughtful
about it through the journey and and and have good
days and continually to push them forward. Towards September twelve,
did you anticipate Vincer's Vince's retirements and and then maybe
(03:43):
talk about what he's meant to stay all over the year. No,
I did not, Um, But Man, Vince is just a
quality man first and quality football player second. Um Man,
his passion for the game, the spirit in which he
went about what he did. Um. It's a loss for us,
for sure, but that's the game. We respect the game
in that way. We wish him nothing but the best
(04:04):
in terms of how he moves forward. Um. But we're appreciative.
We're appreciative of the work in service that he gave
us eight plus years. How do you feel a bunch
of inside linebacker death after? I feel great today as
day one. You know, we hadn't suffered aniutrition. We hadn't
made any mistakes that make you feel bad, you know,
this thing is a process, and so you know, I
won't have a lot of strong feelings about any of
(04:26):
the circumstances today. It's just much too early in the journey.
And guys also released did since the last time we
talked to you how we're all transpired? There? Did that
catch you off guard at all? It was just you know,
health related and we we we did the things that
we had to do. I know we released the statement
regarding and I know he's spoken on it, so I
don't have a lot to add. It was really pretty
cut and dry. Like most Tunch teams, don't replace the
(04:46):
whole line. You know, different guys in different spots and
have a new coach. Pretty gig typical. There's something in
particularly you believe you guys can pull at all, you know.
I mean, we don't have a bar set real high.
We were last in the league in Russian, so um,
we got no where to go but up from from
certain aspects of that. It's not something that we fear. No.
I think we'll see about the read too much for
twenty five just slot die today and seeing a kind
(05:08):
of one exactly what you said, you know, Um, you'll
probably get the starting Canton and you can write a
story about that all the year. And it's the first
time we had to learn all new verbiage, all new
formations on that process. What does that revealed about him?
What you think it's It's not all new verbiage, all
(05:28):
new concepts. It's not. It's really not. Matt's done a
really good job, a thoughtful job of of easing the transition.
Sure there's some new things, and sure there's some new words,
but it's not it's not a blank slate. And Ben's
been on the job long enough where I don't want
to make that the same something significant when you know
it's an adjustment. But by the time we're able to play,
(05:48):
I doubt it's gonna be anything of any significance. Hookie
center to make the calls that come first over the
physical card or how does that usually work out? You know? Um,
these guys come to work man, um, you know, particularly
when they've been exposed to some of the things that
he's been exposed to. Man, he's played Big ten football,
he's been in some some circumstances and so um, you know,
(06:09):
we'll see what what what the process does to him.
But not a bad issue or a a bad start from
today's perspective at all. You know, um, this is our
first day working in passing the training camp like setting.
But we've been working extremely hard man, dating back to
the spring since we acquired them, classrooms, zooms and so forth,
and so he just had an opportunity to show some
of that today couple of hours. So that depending on
(06:33):
COVID and the one of those like on DOCTA players,
if the game is canceled because of those players, can
we be more things like that? And you guys just
felt about just how much importance it is for you
guys to have the players that you were comfortably Just
what does that do for you guys? We just checked
that box. We really kind of moved on, to be
(06:53):
honest with you, and that's why we weren't to be
so pro active about addressing it. So we're not spending
a whole bunch of time thinking our talking about it.
Uh So it's it's a non issue for us, thankfully
due to the efforts and willingness of our guys and so,
um we're focused on the football. Like three times, only
three times in the last thirty years has a team
started five new guys in five new spots on the
(07:14):
offensive line. Once the team won games, and once the
team one of other games, what has to happen the
chemistry and that you know, I don't worry about how
you lead into that. UM. We're just you know, we're
we're here working. We got capable guys. UM. You know,
there's an expectation here that those guys are going to deliver.
(07:35):
To be quite honest with you, I'm not gonna be
surprised when they do. As a matter of fact, we
expect them to. And so you know, you can write
a rag of the richest tale if you so choose,
like we're starting at ground zero in the basement, if
you will, UM, But we don't see it that way, UM,
And we definitely don't expect our results UM to be
elementary along those lines, how much has it helped to
have the extra week of training camp when you are
(07:56):
potentially having five new guys in five essentially you know,
big picture, you know, it's it's probably not really significant. UM.
Today it is because we're one of two teams working,
so we're excited about it. T J is going into
the last year of his deals. Sometimes guys like that
will say out a little bit or maybe not even
come right away. What does it say to you that
he's here? Just make that certa understand it's not that's game.
It doesn't tell me anything that I didn't already know
(08:18):
about t J. Watt. You know, what can you say
about him that hadn't been said. I'm sure that process
will run its course and we'll have something to report.
Two practices. There are not being much of teams that
just said you know, threading them off or anything. Yep,
exactly and at early, but how do you read because
you're in the rep sipasque with ingrampside, you know, it's
really much too early. Right now, we're just teaching them
(08:40):
and seeing how quickly he can learn, and that's probably
gonna dictate reps. What we don't want to do is
waste game reps on anyone. So his level of preparedness,
his ability to execute detail, particularly the early stages of development,
is going to determine how much he participates or when
he participates. You do have much of relationship with Trade Turning.
He brought I mean nothing more than a mutual respect
(09:02):
and a nod. You know, we had a preseason relationship
with those guys. Annually when he was in Carolina and said,
you get an opportunity to get to know the guys
and particularly the significant guys. Um, there's a guy that's
played a lot of ball. You guys know it. Perennially.
We're at the L s U Pro Day and so
we probably had some exposures to him from that standpoint too.
That was Mike Tomlin Thursday, after the Steelers came off
(09:25):
the field after their first practice of the training camp.
As you heard him say, and nobody, uh, nobody's starting
on the pup list. They had a few players that
didn't practice yesterday, TJ one among them. He practiced, but
not in the team portion, doing some drills and those
kind of things. Same thing with stuff onto it and
Kevin Dotson. Yeah, there's not much to worry about with
(09:47):
Tomlin saying that, you know, none of those are are
long term things are just uh, you know, maintenance stuff
or in Dodson's case, he tweaked something leads me to yeah,
but leads me to uh. The next next thing here
is that ESPN has a list that's coming from Pro
Football Focus ranking the NFL second year breakout Canada's fifteen
(10:10):
players who could become stars. Yeah, yeah, I read this.
I thought it was pretty good. Uh. One of the
guys on the face of the guy that wrote it.
But I've I've read him before and I think he's
kind of up and commorade knows the stuff. Number eight
on the list Kevin Dotson. Yeah, some interesting numbers. There's
uh for interesting status here from Kevin Dotson. Since two
thousand fifteen, no rookie guard has notched a higher pass
(10:34):
blockingradean Dotson's seven point to mark from and he was
known as a masher more. I mean, if you just
know his profile coming out of school, well on that
same token, Uh, Dotson's rookie stats are out of this world.
He led the NFL and pass blocking great among guards,
allowing zero sax, zero hits on the quarterback, and a
point five percent pressure rate. Uh. He also is a,
(11:00):
as you said, a ridiculous run blocker. I mean that
was his fortakes, you know, finisher, those type of things.
I'm not discrediting the pass blocking numbers because they're exceptional.
I mean, you're the best. It helps a little bit
that the ball came out as fast and sacks are
also a Roethlisberger number as well. But if that's the
(11:20):
thing you were most concerned about coming out of school,
we're gonna have to teach him pass blocking things. Will
he passed that with flying color? You know that. And
to your point, people are downgrading this offensive line. Well there,
you know, Ben Roethlisberg is gonna get hit a lot
sacks or quarterbacks that no, Yeah, without question, Ben Roethlisberger
(11:40):
is not going to allow himself to get hit. He's
gonna get the ball out of his hands. And honestly,
that doesn't mean that there are entirely a short passing
you know, but to keep Friarmouth in the block or not,
he has that capability to do that. He's not. This
is not two thousand and nine where roethlis You know,
they're running an offense where everything's down the field, but
you do have guys down the field. But no, they
(12:02):
can attack at all levels. You know. Adding naj Harris
to the equation gives them another receiving threat in the
short end. Who's Oh, by the way, if you do
dump it off to him short, he's gonna break a
tackle and turn that that four yard game into a
twelve yard game. Him in space a little bit and
easy throw Um. This is a good list that you mentioned,
but I also often referenced Football Outsiders Almanac. At the
(12:27):
end of the almanac, one of my favorite things that
they do every year is they pick twenty five I
think names that are similar, but they have different criteria.
It's guys we've seen in the pros that have under
four or five hundred snaps to their name that could
be big jump guys this past this upcoming year. And
Dotson was very high, Highsmith was as well. I mean,
(12:50):
there's there's a couple of people in division Matta boot
Gay and you know some of these guys, but the
Steelers had two in the top seven or eight. You
know that the people that studied every snap or high
and these guys you could also probably include at this
point in his career, Zach Banner. Yeah, like that. He
hasn't played. It's not his whole career, for his whole career, Okay.
(13:14):
And again they show with their money and him winning
the job last year that they're excited about him. I
don't want to say they're even like cautiously optimistic about him.
I think they're excited about what Banner can do. So
he's another one. Um, and again, I've been on the
national media side, and it's hard to know every offensive
(13:34):
line in the league like the back of your hand,
you know. I mean, he's played, he's actually played three
career snaps. But I do think the line collectively is
more unknown than it is terrible. But as we heard
Mike Tomlins say, there the bar set pretty low for expectations. Yeah,
they expect you know, probably not. Look, look, we were
(13:57):
last in the league last year in rushing. Don't don't
be last. There's nowhere to go but up. But as
he also said that to your point though, he said,
we don't look at them that way. We have expectations
for these guys to go out and perform. Well, then
you've seen Adrian Clement action. It doesn't sound like he
treats them that way at all. You know, he plays
with a real edge to him. You know that we
(14:19):
are great. Get used to it. That's how we do
things around here. We'll get rid of you, you know. No,
I think there's I think there's more room for optimism
with that unit than most people realize or want to
give them credit. I think people look at signings like that.
They signed Chaz Green earlier this week ingle while he
stinks and you know, he make the team, right, That's
(14:40):
the thing. They didn't sign him because they're signing him
Chas Green to start because they don't like Banner or
Choops or one of They were going to Dron Jones,
who they released Chas Green to pick up. Wasn't going
to make this team. Ron Jones got in trouble. He
had he had a domestic violence issue that that charges
(15:00):
came down in early July, so they had a ross
spot open, they had a roster spot. They didn't cut
him right away because they were on vacation. Okay, okay,
because these people are real human beings. But he was
not going to be on the roster. Okay, they knew
that a week ago. So Chazz Green essentially replaces Jeron Jones,
who really had no chance to make the team. You're
just looking for a body, and I guess Jazz Green
(15:21):
eats a little more of your cap space because he's
a veteran, but I'm sure roster and only if he
makes the roster, and then you have a useful player,
you know, I mean, And unfortunately, an injury or two
is gonna happen in preseason and you know, the best
nine or ten right now might not be available. You
maybe only eight or nine of them are. And you
look at Green and say, he can get me out
(15:42):
of a game. Okay, good, right, You know I don't
I don't read too much into that. I know people
he's you know, he was awful, and I heard that yesterday.
I talked to somebody in Indianapolis and they said, he's
just terrible. It's fine, You're not gonna play him, right right,
They're not counting on he's gonna be playing, you know,
in third quarter of preseason games. That's when he's right.
(16:04):
He'll be probably with the twos in the preseason maybe
there maybe the threes. Yeah, yeah, right. And they do
have a lot of able bodies online. Do you know
if he has any guard flexibility? I don't think he
don't think he does. I think he's gonna tackle over
the course of his career. That doesn't mean he can't
play no, right, right, more I think about it, they
have less flexibility than usual. I mean the guards are guards.
(16:26):
The tackles or tackles, which isn't that big of it
doesn't bother me because you've got guys like like Coward
and Finney, who can play multiple spots on the interior. Yeah,
you know, even Green can play guard or center. You
hope he never plays guards, but he could. You know, Um,
you know you're not gonna play hassa our guard, but
he has you know, so they've got some flexible tackle.
(16:49):
Hag is a tackle can do? I view him more
as a tackle. His body types more tackle is. He
doesn't look like Dots. You know, he's right, Um, but
they're gonna have a lot of movement based you know
stuff as well. Do you think, um, what's his face?
The rookie at A and M and more more? He
came to A and M as a guard and then
(17:10):
to tackle. I wonder if he could do both. I'm
just thinking, if they hit a string of injuries, you
can play tackle in the NFL. You can play guard. Yeah,
I think they're gonna leave him a tackle and if
three guards get hurt, maybe he or he's so impressive,
you gotta get him on the field, you know, because
I'm just equated the Dots in like, but I think
their guards. I mean, you've got Trede Turner, You've got
(17:31):
Kevin Dotson, Okay, yeah, right, you know you got a
five time pro bowler and a guy who everybody is
on everybody's breakout candidate list. At the other guard spot,
you might be pretty good there. Yeah, I mean, even
with the castro gone, I have more faith in the
starting guards than the starting tackles right this minute. Yeah,
they've got you know, Turner himself has more experience. Now.
He didn't play well with the Chargers last year, but
(17:53):
who did. Yeah, as I say, that doesn't bother me
that much, you know. But where I was going with
that is though a year ago, you and I sitting
here saying, well, they don't need dots in this year.
Things can change quick and if Moore is really good,
maybe he finds his way on the field. First is
at six though lineman. Then Dotson gets hurt and he's
a left guard, you know what I mean? A difference
to me, though he's gonna necessarily red shirt. Last year
(18:16):
you had any an older line, an older offensive line.
Even Matt Fyler was you know, new to the lineup.
But he's twenty nine, you know. So the more snaps
these guys play in terms of their their career, the
more likely you are to get hurt. Now you've got
a bunch of young guys in there, probably a little
(18:37):
less likely to get probably coming off an injuries, you know,
injuries happening. It happened to anybody. The Steelers are less
likely to do this than other teams. But when you're
an established pouncey to castro Villa in the WUAVA, it's
hard to bench those guys for performance, I mean, and
it's not even necessarily the best thing for the team.
(18:58):
With all respect to Ramon Foster at the he probably
should have got benched, you know what I mean, But
it doesn't send the right message the locker locker room leaders.
And you know, but now if Banner is not good
and more is Yeah, you know what I mean. I'm
not worried about hurting feelings or sending messages in the
locker room. Chokes can't cut it. Find give someone else
(19:20):
with you shot. Yeah, So yeah, there is a little
bit of that as well. You can make those changes
a lot easier. And I know, like even last year,
a lot of people Dotson should start when he started
in place a filer, But that's a tough move. You know. Again,
as you said, upsets the apple cart in the locker room.
(19:41):
These are human beings, I mean, you asked. It's like
knocking out the You know, you're fighting the champ. You've
got to knock the champ out. You're gotta be not
just as good as you gotta be head and shoulders above.
You're not going to change. You're not gonna win on points.
And that's worthy, especially they're where there's a lot of
(20:02):
alpha males and big, strong human beings and continuity so important.
If you're gonna bench a pouncy still gonna happen. It
doesn't happen. It doesn't happen, right, you know, at the
end of the day, the coaches sit down and go, yeah,
but we've won a lot of games with this guy.
We know what he is. If we go with the
young guy here, we don't have that track record to
(20:23):
fall back on. You know, what's he gonna do when
we're you know, we're playing in December against the Ravens.
We want a lot of fights with this guy. You know,
I can't imagine put him on the bench, and then
the rest of the team looks around like man Pounce
isn't even in the field, you know, And so there
will be more I don't want to say competent. I
guess they'll be more competition, but they'll be shorter leashes.
I would think too, Yeah, you know, yeah, because I
(20:45):
mean they've got bodies there. They've got guys that that's
not an accident. And that got back to them signing
Chas Green. It's almost it's almost a Bills like situation
with the Bills did a couple of years ago where
you bring in a whole bunch of guys who have
NFL experience, maybe not great, and they have word you know, right,
hag and but you find the top five and you
put him on the field and it was pretty good,
(21:05):
and your backup five's okay, then yeah, you know, and again,
you know, we keep bringing this up, but I think
it's really important that Rudolph and Haskins they should have
decent lines blocking for them in this preseason and you
can really get a look where if they're running around
for their life and they're not the most movable to
begin with, it's hard to che the judge who's that
six receiver when the quarterback can't get rid of the football.
(21:28):
The other thing that the Bills did blocking the whole time,
you know, the other thing that the Bills did a
couple of years ago when they signed him, was at
eight guys, eight offensive lineman who had none of the
more stars. They traded a couple of those guys right
before the season started. Yeah, I mean, these guysn't have value.
They've played NFL snaps and you're looking around the league
and if I'm a team, okay, i know who my
(21:50):
five starters are, but my backups are junk and then
none of these guys have ever played a snap in
the NFL. Oh wait, the Steelers have this guy. He's
not a star, but he started ten games that right
tackle and it's in one other dude to make the team.
I'll give you a sex six or bound pick for
him or something like that, you know. Yeah, so again,
I would rather have a great starting five, of course,
(22:11):
and I definitely think the Steelers starting O line is
in the bottom third in the league. I'm not gonna
candy code ude. I'm not sure it'll even get better
than that, even if, but there's there's there is potential
to get better, Whereas if you brought the same guys
back from last year, it's probably just the potential to
get better wasn't wasn't there. It's a depreciating asset, you know,
and it just wasn't worth what it was before. But
I do think the Steelers second line will be better
(22:33):
than average. Yeah, you know, but you might have to
call on at some point during the year, you know,
but we'll see. Yeah, they drop off from if you
can look at it either way, they drop off from
the first to second team is not as great as
it's not all that great, which is a blessing and
maybe a curse. And that's a little different. It's a
little different, right but right. You know, again, if you're
(22:54):
if you're you know, opposing team, you're trying to find
the weak spot. It's a little harder to do. It's
a little harder to do. You know, you get a
zero in oh, okay, who because that's what teams will do.
They'll find the you know, they'll find the overloa blitz
is to the left side if you can maybe have
problems with I mean, I'm sure they will. They're gonna
be struggles, there's no doubt in my mind. And then
(23:15):
they to keep friar Muth or Harrison when you really
want them out in a route or whatever, you know.
I mean, so yeah, I mean, it's it's not gonna
be easy to overcome. But really, when you talked about
like that, that Bills analogy, if any of those three
and there's probably ben More Coward Green Hag, if any
of those guys takes a step up from where they
(23:37):
were in a new environment and the other two are junk,
it's still a good experiment. You have nothing invested in
these guys. I mean, those three collectively didn't cost you much.
And if one of them turns out to be a player,
you're six lineman or you know, a keeper, somebody you
want to extend. It's worth it. Yeah, I mean, you know,
we'll see. They don't need to be Jonathan Hougden know,
(24:00):
and I don't think you know, if you look back
at that Bill's line, I'm calling it up here now,
I think it was they made all this, Moses. I
think it was interesting how they did this while you're
looking for it, because the Bills are constructed there, and
at least at that stage, the entire defense was basically drafted.
They drafted Josh Allen and then everything around him was
(24:22):
all veterans. So their young quarterback, they put you know,
a bunch of established John Brown's and and then traded
for digs and everywhere but the running back position. These
were the guys that they had on the interior offensive line.
It was Russell Bodine, like Bodiger. Are these all the signings.
This is everybody that they took to camp that year,
(24:44):
Vlad Ducas, John Feliciano, Spencer Long, Garrett mcgin Mitch Morris,
Quentin Spain, White Teller. And they didn't stick with it.
They didn't keep him right at offensive tactically a Dion Dawkins,
Cody Ford, Blake Hans, Connor McDermott, Tying Niche he's still
around the third tackle, yeah, Jeremiah Surlis and Adrian Waddle.
(25:07):
None of those guys except tell her Now and maybe
Quentin Spain and Feliciano. Dawkins was making big money, but
like Cody Ford was the second round pick, they weren't
at that time. No, No, he was. Morse was the
only guy that was making any money. He's not been
an awesome center, right and he's okay. There's a couple
of names on there that are interesting though, just that
didn't work out. The cost Bodine. I'm trying to think
(25:31):
there's like two or three others that were nice prospects
coming out of school. They didn't. They never hit in
the league. But it was the same theory of let's
bring in retreads that we might have had a decent
grade in coming out of college, and we'll invest nothing
in them. That's the key. And we'll bring him to
camp with along with twelve other guys and see who hits.
(25:51):
And now they have a decent line and they have
a ton invested inity. You know, they're not first round
picks across. So even a guy like Chaz Green or
Chas Yeah, Chas Green that they were the third round
draft pick y, you know, I mean, Haig's got some
ability a second or third I think he was a
Day two guy. Um. You know. So you've got a
(26:13):
bunch of guys there that that you probably liked coming
out of school, you know, and you can you coach
them up a little bit. You're you're running. Here's the
thing about the NFL. Guys flame out all the time
on one team, goes somewhere else and and and hit
Mike Hilton. Yeah, he was with he was with the Jaguars.
(26:36):
He was with the Jaguars and Patriots his rookie year.
You know, couldn't make their rock, couldn't make the Jaguars
roster bad Jaguars roster as and then couldn't stay stick
with the Patriots, who you know, could have used his
skill set stigns with the Steelers. He's starting for them
the next year in the slot and teams look for
different traits obviously a different positions, but such an advantage
(26:59):
in trust me I've seen his first hand is having
that continuity in the front office, because I mean, I'm
totally making this up out of the blue, Joe Haig.
We have a third round grade on. He really needs
to correct this one thing, though, And the Colts draft
him and they don't see him that correct and they
don't correct it. They don't recognize it. They run a
different style of offense. You know, it's it's it's not
(27:22):
his skill set doesn't necessarily fit their offense, but fits ours.
It's our tyson and Lulu. I mean, okay, he you
know he's playing's gonna be Warren Sap. It's not gonna
work out playing in a fortree you know, defensive tackle
by the same you know, ziggy hood didn't work out
in the opposite here, right, it happens. Guys are a
bad fit in certain schemes. Yes, they have talent um.
(27:44):
Maybe it doesn't work out the way you want it to,
but they can still play if you change what they're doing. Yeah,
I'm sure. Kevin the area scout, then goes to Adrian
Clem who's new but still you know he maybe he
wasn't there when those guys came out, but that and
they tell him, and they obviously have the reports in
the system, and he's crazy if he didn't read them.
(28:05):
These were two things that we really were worried about
that we thought were correctable. If we didn't think they
were correctable, we weren't. He was an undrafted guy from US,
but he's a third round pick. We think he's correctable.
Might not be easy, and watching the pro tape, no
one's ever corrected the athletics. Try to work on. Yeah, okay,
we'll give a shot. Yeah, you gotta have the athletic traits.
If you don't have the athletic traits, if he can't
(28:26):
do it, then I'm not gonna waste my time. Coaches
only have so many hours a day. Two people forget
about those things, especially in this kind of sleep. Like
you know, right, Yeah, you get two hours on the
field with them every day, and you're trying to coach
up Kendrick Green to be your starting center. You know,
you don't have a ton of time for Chaz Green
to fix his kick slide or whatever it is. You
know what I mean. It's just a little thing. You know,
(28:46):
guy and guys see the game differently, Different coaches see
the game differently. I mean, that's the reality of the situation.
So it'll be interesting and it would miously be one
of the big things that we watched. But as Mike
Tomlin said, hey, the bar is not set too high.
We were last in the league in rushing last year. Yeah,
last note on that too, And I'm expecting a lot
of the Steeler beat writers we'll have some negative things
(29:08):
to say one on ones, things like that the guys
are blocking are better than them. You practice, You know,
you're back in the day. If you watch Jeff Hardings
and one on ones, you would have thought he was
like the fourth string center because he was a lighter guy.
Is that Hampton type guy? Yeah, he's playing. He's lining
up against Hampton, He's lining up. Chris Hoke was a
(29:28):
maniac on practice um, but in game days Harding's was
a Pro Bowl player. You know, he was very good.
It's the Bama thing, Like the practice is harder than
the games at times, Like, no doubt my mind, Banner
and chookes are gonna look bad on edge rush kicking things. Yeah,
you wanna be against t J. Watter line you want
to you know ingram and to it and you know
(29:49):
those guys are gonna make it look bad. They're gonna
lose a lot of those one on one Yeah, you know,
but that's it's okay, that's the reality. Don't overreacted within
some point, you know, right right, that's gets you better. Yeah. So,
and I just hope the fans don't have react boy
banners getting whipped every day in practice. Yeah, who's he
going up a Yeah? Yeah. I think that was one
of the things last year that they looked at and said, well,
you know, these guys are at least what's not just
(30:11):
destroying them snap after snap, you know, like he did
the Bengals or you know right, that's why that's why
teams double him. Yeah, I'll put a single guy over
there on t J one. So, yeah, I have at it.
He's about to make a lot of money for doing
it right, you know, so interesting. But we'll continue to
keep an eye on what's going on in camp. They'll
be going all weekend long, they'll be going, yeah, I
(30:33):
had nauseam here. They're just gonna roll rate with it
right into the uh, the game next to Actually, let's
less than two weeks. Hard to believe. Good stuff here
on the horizon, absolutely, but that's gonna do it for
this segment. So for my partner Matt Williamson, for Jacob
Breck here on site keeping us on the air, I'm
Dale Lolly. We thank you for listening to this edition
of the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.