June 19, 2025 • 28 mins
Even though the Steelers don’t have a standout WR2, Aaron Rodgers can elevate the play of guys like Calvin Austin, Robert Woods, and Pat Freiermuth. Jaylen Warren and rookie Kaleb Johnson can be a better dual running back tandem than last year’s.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
We've got lists and disrespect that we have to get
to today. When it comes to the Steelers ESPN, the
crosshairs will be set on you in the next episode
in your little quarter century lists. Yeah, and your little
tongue in cheek practice spad. But before we get there,
(00:31):
I want to start with ROGI. I'm really starting to
grow on this guy because listen, you have the four
time MVP. I'm getting bombarded with nothing but propaganda on
my social media feeds of highlight packages of him in
Green Bay and a little bit of sometimes I'm in
New York, usually to Davante, like some nice little connections
(00:51):
with his old pal Adams. But I'm just getting bombarded
with nothing. But wow, I didn't forget. But it's nice
to see it in front of my face again. How
freaking good this guy was. And you know what I
was thinking, it's really weird that the Steelers not only
(01:12):
have two Hall of Fame quarterbacks that are franchise icon
cornerstones jersey numbers should be retired. I think if Terry
was a little bit more receptive to the organization and
coming back, I think that might have been done already
or would be in the process. Are it is right, No,
it can wear it. I mean Rogers was the litmus
test for that, right. I mean, he's the only one
that could actually even say I'm a Hall of Famer too,
(01:34):
Why not wear it? But yeah, I mean they're retired
without being retired. But still, I kind of I don't
mind seeing that number up there, still, you know what
I mean, like going to the stadium and looking up
and seeing twelve or seeing seven hang him from the rafter.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
But I think it kind of also adds to the
allure of guys like Franco and me and Joe that
they're only two.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Of three guys that just statner, I'm just asking for
two more. Okay, I'm thinking Ben and here And here's
the thing, because you you make the argument right where,
well two more. Everybody's in, right. I think it works
really well if you do two quarterbacks. It's the defensive
face of the franchise, and then it's the offensive. They
(02:14):
didn't start winning, everybody says until Franco got here and
changed himself.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes, yes, the only other guy or I'm sorry, the
only other guy from that era of seventies football whose
number is retired as the one that said we didn't
start winning.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So I think you get away with it by being like,
what about all the other great players that you're not
gonna have the numbers? These are quarterbacks, Okay, it's different,
and these are two Hall of Fame Super Bowl champion quarterbacks.
Franchises don't even have one of those, and we have two.
So you have that in your history. You kind of
have four aout it. This is where I'm going, how
dare you jump in front of my port? Not only
(02:50):
do you have the two franchise icons, but you have
four others that are just either franchise adjacent or dip
their toe in the water Russ Aaron Rodgers, Len Dawson,
and then you go all the way back to Johnny
freaking Unitis had a little bit of just a brush
with the Pittsburgh steel So I mean those are four
(03:11):
Hall of Fame quarterbacks in their own right, who again
just kind of our Steelers adjacent slash have played for
a short amount of time. So it is wild when
you think about that, that like in totally six green
or gold green jacket gold jackets that have been around,
or played for, or been franchise icons for the Steelers
and Rogers. Is the latest in that line, and honestly,
(03:32):
post big ban era. Man, if you would have gone
back and talked to me in college and said you're
gonna get Russell Wilson and then a year later you're
gonna get Aaron Rodgers, I would be like, okayiot, what
do you smoke? Give me some of it, first of all,
and second of all, Wilson and Rodgers are gonna be
Seahawks and Packers for life, you dummy from those cities.
(03:57):
I mean, you might as well say that the Penguins
are gonna trade for McDavid and sounds stupid that way.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
People are saying, though, I think you're forgetting a quarterback.
Though it might be seven, this guy isn't a locked
locked on mainly because of what he.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Did off the field. Remember Mike Vick was here for
a couple Okay he was. That is a little bit
of a kind of like a technicality. Yeah, you're right,
he's not gonna get in the Hall of Fame, though
you don't think so. I don't think so because of
the dog stuff. And also he's not the best rushing
quarterback ever anymore. I know he was he was, but
(04:31):
I'm saying now that he went MVP. I don't believe,
like I feel like he didn't. That would have been
one of the more shocking snubs. He was never MVP.
You know what, he did win in twenty ten the
Comeback Player of the Year with the Philadelphia Eagles. Watch
it was a pretty cool thing when he came back
with film.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Also too, you're getting into the nitty gritty of did
he come back from a career he's raining injury or
did he come back from being a.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Terrible human being? He did not. But back back then,
the rules weren't, you know, injury related. It was just
you could even have played in the NFL and just
been bad and then come back just a down year.
Mike Vic another Let's not say he's in that class
of the other guys, the Dawson, the Uniteds, the Rogers
of the Wilson, the Ben, the Bradshaw, because I've no doubt.
I mean, three of those guys that I listed have
(05:19):
their gold jackets already, and the other three are getting them.
Rogers on the first ballot, Ben on the first ballot.
They're gonna make Russy wait maybe a little bit. I
don't think.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
It could go either way. I could see him being
a first ballot guy. If it's a weak year, maybe
he gets in, right.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
But yeah, I don't. I mean, look, they're on the
same path, right. What if Rogers and him retire at
the same time and Rogers is going in for I mean, yeah,
they're both It's crazy they're both still in. So yeah, yeah,
Mike Vica another interesting one to throw in there. But
what just a kind of a I don't even know
what you call. That is just like a fun little
tidbit about the Steelers history that they have. They have
all these kind of quarterbacks. I mean, Wowson and Johnny
(06:01):
you are the big ones. Yeah, they He's a chief
in Uniteds as a cult, I get it. But like
you go to their per football Evans, but three years
for Len Dawson's his pit right there. I mean he
started a couple of games for him. Johnny, you never played, Johnny,
you never played a game.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Just got drafted on like the eleventh round back when
they have like twenty rounds in the draft back in
the day.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You look at pictures of Johnny Unitis from when he
was supposedly like twenty five years old.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
He looks huh, it looks like eighty yeah, it looks
like seventy years old, forty five, he's even older.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Believe Why do people just look older? Right? Man? It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Must have had something to do with smoking a pack
of cigarettes for like breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
It made having terrible air quality. Yeah, made their well
that's a great point, Like they were just smoking packs
of cigarettes even if they didn't want to smoke walking outside.
It made them look like Kramer in that signs on it. Yeah, yeah,
old beat up my money maker, Jared. Yes. So just
really crazy that that has been a part of Steeler's history,
(07:02):
which is just such a rich history in its own right.
But that brings me to how do you get the
most out of this one? How do you get the
most out of this latest hall of fame quarterback that
has made his way through Steeler hallways? And I got
it narrowed done to the three obvious ones, but I
want to rank them in the order of importance when
it comes to the offense's contributions to helping Rogers, and
(07:23):
at number three will do this in ascending order. Okay,
at number three, I know I've been pounding the table
to get that number two wide receiver, but I think
number three wide receivers stepping up, and as far as
their current room is concerned, that's the least of my
worries out of the three that I have on this list,
because a DK Metcalf is an upgrade from anything that
you've had in the past couple of years, even more
(07:43):
so than George Pickens. And you heard that report from
Jeremy Fowler. That part of the motivation. I don't know
if you talked about this on the Morning Show or not,
but part of the motivation apparently to getting Pickens out
of here was looking ahead to Rogers coming in and
kind of getting a I don't know if there was
so many words spoken betwe Rodgers and the Steelers and
their meetings in conversation, but maybe it was more just
reading the tea leaves, like George Pickens is kind of
(08:06):
a clown and unprofessional. I don't think Rogers is gonna
really jive with that, because as much as you can
say that Rogers is an attention guy, a diva, all
that stuff about him and some of the off the
field stuff, you know, he likes to be a celebrity
on top of being an athlete. Of course, all that's valid.
He's a professional, like when he shows up to the
(08:27):
building and plays like he's a professional quarterback. And I
know sometimes the media, Oh he goes to Egypt and
Mini Caamp for the Jets. I can't believe he did that.
That's so unprofessional. Yeah, that was kind of unprofessional. He
showed up to harm Ani camp and he didn't even
have to sign the contract. So maybe that's a Jets problem.
Maybe that's a solid problem. Maybe that's a I don't
respect you as much, probably with Johnson probe that's in
this Organization's kind of a joke. I think I can
(08:49):
get away with going to Egypt, because what am I
gonna do at Jets freaking Mini Caamp? Steelers Minichamp. Though
the Pittsburgh Steelers say, hey, we kind of like you
to show up to Mini camp if you can, and
we handled this situation. I don't want to say blase a,
but we've been a little hands off and let you
do your thing Rogers, and he said in his intro,
I appreciated that from Mike Tomlin, how he handled this.
But then he then extends a little bit back and says,
(09:12):
you guys want me there, I can go. I can
go for three days in Pittsburgh and really become a
Pittsburgh stealer officially. So like you know, when he shows up,
he is the he is professional, and I know that
Mike Williams redline thing comes up and I sometimes he
can throw a teammate under the bus, and yeah, I
don't like that. I think sometimes that is better done
in private. But Rogers knows a lot more than me,
(09:34):
and maybe he thinks it's better with certain guys to
say it in public. But regardless of that, the guy's
gonna show up and he's gonna give you an absolute
Hall of Fame professional quarterback effort. He's gonna conduct himself
in such a professional way that I just think that
not only would he kind of roll his eyes and
(09:56):
get a little frustrated with a player on the team
acting the way that George had at acted, but a
player that's so important to his success and so reliant
on with the wide receiver room too, Like, look, no
one else has shown up the games late like George
Pickens was, Like, no one on the team wasn't like
minutes before. No one's saying anything because the Steelers are
(10:17):
really really just such a really well run ship when
it comes to keeping kind of things tight and stuff,
and all the players are trained really well to just
not really let your feelings shown. Deshaun Elliott might be
the only one that kind of strays from that path
a little bit, but like a lot of stuff is
kind of tight lipped. I mean, so Cam Hayward will
say something sometimes, C that's okay, it's a b He's
(10:40):
not a part of the team anymore. But like I'm
just saying, like they're smart in handling the pr and
keeping kind of things under the tent, keeping things in house.
That Steelers organization is so you know, I know that,
Like I said, some players can sometimes stray off from that,
but for the most part, like they get it. They
(11:01):
get how it's supposed to be. They get that it's
supposed to just be kind of like, you know what,
what happens in here stays in here are feelings. We're
not going to really let them know.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I I go back and forth on the professional thing
for Rogers because I think we can make any excuse
for him now that he's on the team. But let's
be honest, Tom, you and I and many many many
others have kind of flipped the script.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Since he's arrived, we were That's kind of what I'm
getting at, Like I'm more playing under a spell kind
of right.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
But here's the thing, Tom, I'd rather be under the
spell of Aaron Rodgers being here than under the spell
of Russell Wilson a year ago, because Russell Wilson one
is a lesser version of a product than Aaron Rodgers,
and two, Russell Wilson just fed you the quotes and
(11:57):
what you thought was bs and you just had to
buy into wait, even though when he was in Seattle,
when he was in Deavor doing Broncos Country, let's ride,
like you were making fun of it. And then when
he was in Pittsburgh you said, Okay, not you specifically,
we as a collective said okay, sure, Steels Country, let's ride.
Let's let's try this thing out. He's a professional quarterback.
He's a potential Hall of Famer, or he's probably he's
(12:19):
probably a Hall of Famer, maybe second ballot. He's a
Super Bowl champion. He led the league in passing yards
once or at least at least once, maybe twice in
his career. Like you had to buy into it. I'm
much happier drinking the kool aid of Aaron Rodgers for
a season. Right, again, this isn't a blockbuster, you know,
(12:39):
Peyton Manning to the Denver Broncos kind of deal, or
Tom Brady, I mean Tom Brady to the Bucks wasn't
even that big of a contract. But this isn't a
franchise altering acquisition for you. But again, in the short term,
it's gonna be bumpy, Like he didn't do great in
his time in New York and he caused problems, and
(13:02):
this year is probably gonna cause some headaches. He's not
going to be perfect. He's not going to be twenty
eleven Aaron Rodgers. This is twenty twenty five. It's fourteen.
We are fourteen years past his first MVP season. He's
not gonna be that same guy. But it's gonna be
worth it for a year to put up with those headaches,
is what I'm trying to get at, right, exactly what
you're gonna do exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
No one in this draft class tickled your fancy exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It was easy to look at the Jets, who are,
like you said earlier, a joke to begin with a.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Joke like this whole Rogers ruined the Jets ruined the Jets.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The Jets for years, it was easy to look at
the Jets and the Aaron Rodgers situation and laugh at
and say, geez, the Jets can't catch a break. Aaron
Rodgers is clearly crumbling in his post Green Bay era.
But here in Pittsburgh it's a different story. And you're
just gonna have to suck it up if you don't
(13:54):
like Aaron Rodgers. And I think you brought this point
up before. In the past, when Aaron went to the Jets,
he was looked at as like.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
The savior of the franchise.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Come to New York, get us out of this hell
hole of rotating quarterbacks and rotating head coaches and a
playoff draught, the longest playoff drought in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Save us from that. He's not being.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Asked to do that. Here in Pittsburgh. They have a
seti head coach. They have a trusted front office with
a trusted owner. They have a great team that has
not won a playoff game, but at least has made
the playoffs a handful of times in the last six
or seven years. Right, there is no saving needed here
in Pittsburgh. They have an elite defense. They have good
(14:39):
offensive weapons. He's not being asked to do the same
thing in New York that he's being asked.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
To do here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So maybe the load being lesser on his shoulders maybe
allows him to do more here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
We can be his samwise gamgees. Yeah, but back to
the point about the receivers and that kind of being
the third This lists a good tangent because of what
happened with George, and that's part.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Of the maybe it makes his life a lot easier Rogers.
That's what I think that George isn't there.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
That's what Fowler was getting at. His Steelers kind of
saw that coming. And and back to the professional thing
to just real quick, you never hear his play. His
former teammates say really a bad thing about him, like
Williams who got thrown under the bus, to not say
a bad thing about Aaron as following him, followed him
to New York, Brandon Eckles when he got here and
there was kind of some news rumbling up Rogers come
(15:31):
here number eight. He was like that guy was great,
Like he made everybody better, Like he's a good leader.
So all the teammates say he's a pro he and
and here's the thing, like everybody basically in media outlets
like an Aaron Rodgers story, and they like a juicy
negative Aaron Rodgers story, like you see this here they're
running now with that he is not actually married, like
(15:51):
there's some some investigating stuff about being married. Who the
freg cares? Like, why are you worried? Who? First of all,
what does it say about you? Where you hear a
quarterback who's been wearing a ring all of a sudden,
just that in an anocuous comment during his intro where
he's like, yeah, I got married, it's also regrets and
where you go, I don't believe that for a second,
(16:12):
and you start frantically doing results, So what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
It's so hypocritical for those same people who were saying,
who were groaning at every mention of Travis Kelson and
Taylor Swift, they are chopping at the bit to talk
about anything Aaron Rodgers, not football wise, right, like all
those people who say, get Taylor Swift off my TV.
Stop talking about Taylor Swift. Well now they can't stop
talking about is Aaron Rodgers married or not?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So if you can. If there were players that would
want to come out and say some bad things, even anonymously,
oh my god, people would absolutely run with it. They'd
love to get those clicks on that. They'd love to
say ex teammate blast Aaron Rodgers. But it doesn't exist,
and that speaks, I think volumes. And again, like Mike
Williams got thrown under the bus a little publicly comes
(16:55):
to Pittsburgh, I'm not going to speak about my past team.
I mean, he didn't really gas up Rogers like Eckles did,
but haven't heard an ill thing said about him right yet,
and I mean honestly, Like, he's also one of those
guys where, even if you know you don't get along
with him personality wise in a locker room for the
entirety of his career, he steps on the field and
you're like, but he's the best player on our team,
(17:16):
So like, I just respect him from that aspect anyway,
and he makes this better just through being a four
time MVP. The other thing about the wide receiver now
that Pickens is gone, though, I have more faith in
Rodgers than anybody since big men to elevate some of
the lesser receivers that they have, So I don't think
it's good enough to have just Robert Woods as your
number two. I think Austin's good enough to be a three,
(17:38):
and I like Rowan Wilson getting sprinkled in there too.
I think Pat can finally break through. I think that's possible.
But I do think that in Aaron Rodgers, if he
plays decently well, we'll get more out of a Robert
Woods than previous quarterbacks had gotten out of a Van
Jefferson or some receivers that were kind of like Robert Woods. Yeah,
(17:58):
like an Alan Robinson. I think that you can see
like we never really saw. I know Van Jefferson caught
some touchdowns when Rusk finally came in. We never saw
like a Van Jefferson game, like a seven catch, He's
play here and there in a touchdown. I think that
there's a likelihood, and again I would rather have a
better receiver than this as an option, but I think
there's a likelihood that we get maybe a Robert Woods
(18:21):
game where like DK metcalf is kind of pedestrian, a
lot of coverage is flowing towards him, and maybe Calvin's
had a couple of nice weeks too, So there's a
lot of attention being paid to him or Pat or whatever,
and Robert Woods kind of it's against the team that
maybe is thin in their secondary and Robert Woods just
kind of finds a nice little groove in a game,
and all of a sudden you look at the box
scord and it's like, Wow, eight catches for ninety six
(18:42):
yards in a touchdown for Robert Woods, Like he's been
averaging thirty yards a game for the past couple of weeks.
That kind of came out of nowhere. Never really saw
that out of nowhere performance with those other guys in
the past. I think Rogers gives you the ability to
get that from the wide receiver room. So I want
to get it better. I want to upgrade it, But
I also think it's going to be better because A
it's upgraded at number one with DK and B it's
(19:03):
upgraded with the guy who's throwing the ball to those guys. Yeah,
I think you're absolutely right. I think Robert Woods will
stay a wide receiver. Two, he won't.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
He won't become like the next Mike Evans or Chris
Godwin kind of second fiddle to a great wide receiver.
I guess Chris Godwin to the Mike Evans kind of thing,
or Tyler Lockett to a DK Metcalf. But like you said,
Tom Russe, Russell Wilson was not capable of of of
making a guy like a Robert Woods better than he
(19:35):
actually was. Like I think Russell Wilson did well in
his final years in Seattle because he had guys like
DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett DK who is a top
ten receiver in the league, and Tyler locketto's probably arguably
a top twenty receiver in the league. Robert Woods is
not close to being a top cal with Austin and
Robert Woods both not close to being a top twenty
(19:57):
receiver in the league.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Right, they're not.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
That they're probably not even sniffing, to be honest, and
it's a little harsh, but they're probably not even sniffing
top thirty receivers in the league. I guess you could
say Calvin is closer just because he's younger, but still
they're not close to the top thirty. And so that's saying,
like you know, going around, every team has three guys,
they're not better than another team's three guys on any
(20:24):
given Sunday. But Aaron Rodgers, even though they're not close
to being a top thirty guy, has the ability to
elevate them, like I can't even remember. Like guys like
Marcus Wheaton probably wasn't a top twenty or a top
thirty receiver.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
In the NFL.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
But Big Ben got Marcus Wheaton, got him on the
map two hundred yards against of all teams. The Legion
of Boom in Seattle.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Got him on the map too, right. He was a
guy that you knew if you were an NFL fan.
It wasn't a star, but like if you were someone
that actually watched NFL football, you were like, I have
I know Mark Swheaton. Yeah, he's like the third option
for the Steelers, but sometimes he pops off.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
This is a me depending on how you look at it,
a better or worse example. Martavis Bryant, who never found
his stride outside of Pittsburgh, always made it work with
Big Ben, always, always, always, even after his initial suspensions
multiple in Pittsburgh where he missed significant time, when he
would come back, he was still Martavis Bryant here in
(21:20):
Pittsburgh because Ben was able to elevate him and get
him the ball Aaron Rodgers has that capability to do
that with not to get the production that you got
out Martavis Bryant, but to elevate the production from Robert
Woods in Calvin, Austin that you would have gotten with
Justin Fields or Russell.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Wilson if they would have just let him smoke weed.
It's a shame, it's all. It is a damn shame.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I blame stephen A for making such a big deal
out of the weed stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Even though we all know Stephen A is blaze marijuana.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I mean, come I mean he's playing solitaire during a Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Like, come on, Bud. But yeah, great quarterbacks can elevate
wide receivers and I expect Rogers to do that to
some degree. Running Backs is the second thing on this list.
You gotta have a strong running game if you're the Steelers.
I don't think there needs to be really much analysis
for this really quick.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Do you think the running back room is better or
worse or about the same as last year?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I think at the very worst it'll be about the same.
Does that make sense? Yeah, it's minimum. I'm optimistic for
it to be better. Sure, I am wondering if they're
going to start with Jalen Warren as kind of the
guy at the beginning of the year. I find that
hard to believe. I think it's easier almost in a way,
to make Johnson the guy who's on first and second downs,
(22:40):
because you're running on those downs and everybody is saying
that the thing that's going to be the learning curve
for him is pass protection. He never passed proden in Iowa.
They never did. They never threw the ball, So I
mean it's just almost natural that you would want Warren
out there in those third downs and those obvious passing situations.
It's kind of that spellback like he's been and have
(23:00):
Johnson in there as you know, the early down rundown player.
Now you can't just have it where if Johnson's out there,
it's always going to be a run. We've seen that
kind of predictability with them before, where certain players are
on the field and it's like this is always, always,
always a run play and other defenses. We've heard soundbites
from players that are like, yeah, we know what they're doing,
(23:20):
like we picked up on stuff. But I think that
it almost just fits, even though he's a third round pick,
more organically to keep Warren in that similar role that
he's been in because he's great at it himself. And
also I think it helps Rogers in the team out
as far as pass downs are concerned. And then Caleb
Johnson just kind of you know, even if it's obvious
(23:42):
that it's a rundown, you ran into heavy boxes your
entire life at Iowa. Be the starter quote unquote, but
it's really a one A, one B this year with
those two more even more so than I think it
was because.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Naji was a first round draft pick and Mooarren was
an undrafted guy. Warren still an undrafted guy, but he's
much more proven now.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
He's an undrafted guy, but he's made a career at it,
and he's kind of been assigned to second round tag.
He was given the second round tag, so that kind
of gives the inclination that, hey, he was undrafted. But
we view this guy as if you picked him in
the second round, people would be like, that's a great
draft pick.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
He he can retire today and consider his NFL career success.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
I mean, honestly, guy like that, I think you could
say that you make the team, right, you know what
I mean? Just now in a team and you got
that second round valuation mil which is huge for him
to what he was making.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
And now you remember, do you remember he was in
his rookie or second season. It was both seasons when
he was getting penalized.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I don't know who's getting penalized. Wasn't getting penalized. He
was getting fined after the game. He wasn't getting penalized.
It was a lot of pass protection, a lot of
like boom right online find.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
After the game for some hell with the helmet blocks,
and he was setting up and it was like his
entire playing for three.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
He was playing for free. So finally got your finances.
But that's another guy. We were talking about this earlier
in the week, like with Calvin Austin and Deshaun Elliott. Yeah, younger,
it's another guy. You get a nice little team friendly
deal in front of his face. I know he's making
like four or five million this year, but maybe another
like two years making four or five million per year.
Like you throw that in his face, he's going to
be hungry to sign that. Plus he loves the Steelers. Anyway,
(25:21):
he gave him their.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Chance exactly, and not just gave him the chance, but
then recognized the production and then gave him real money
as a as a reward for what you did in
your first three years of your career.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
It's like a reward. I don't know. I think about
that with Django Unchained when he's talking about what a
bound with the I'll even do the drink. I can't
even It's like every reward. What's Christoph Waltz's I can't
really even do his. It's a doctor King Schultz, Yes, Schultz,
despite that cuts, I haven't practiced, that's his laughter. He's like,
(25:56):
ah God, he's such a That run that he was
on with j is that the best actor at all?
That was Jordan esque stuff from acting right there? Those
are two dynasties, Like you know, Daniel da Lewis is
like the best actor and he always retires and he
comes back. He's coming back again, do you know? Yeah,
I know it's ridiculous, but he's kind of like the
Brady right where he's got the early era in the
(26:16):
middle and then the late area. He's almost got like
three dynasties that run. Yeah, like that early teens, who's
he like? Who's that like short span of just burning
bright and being such a badass? But then kind of
like not fading away, but just kind of step taking
a step back.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I don't know why this hit me like this. I
thought of LT was the first name that came to mind,
because LT and like the just like the the middle
of the two thousands, was better than anyone that touched
the football field. But he kind of exploded when Rivers
got there. He has the faded like right when he
like right before he got to the game.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Here's the problem, though, It's such a tough analogy to draw,
because he never won a championship and won two oscars.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Who was like really good, maybe like a Detroit Pistons
of the NBA, like they had their little window in between.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Now signs like a team to them. I don't know.
I was thinking quarterback doesn't make sense because quarterbacks win championships,
they stay forever, and they play on teams forever. It's
like like Andrew lux one that had the talent that
just walked away. If Luck would have won a Super
Bowl and then walked away, I think it would have
been like the perfect kind of comp Anyway, Yeah, it's hard,
(27:30):
great hard from Christoph Waltz. And now we're out of time.
So we're gonna pick up on offensive line is obviously
number one, that's most important. We'll pick up a little
bit there, and then we'll get into that quarter century
list by ESPN, and then in the last episode something
very fun. I've put together the Steelers quarter Century List
based off of that template. That is all I want
(27:51):
to talk about. So we'll get to that last episode.
Can we just fast bound some things off of Jacob
from my list? I'm sure I left off maybe some names.
It was tough to do. I mean, there's a lot
of people that you got to fit in and you
only got from two thousand to twenty twenty five. So
we will do all of that. We will have a
lot of fun on a Thursday edition of The Steeler
Standard on Steelers Nation Radio and the Steelers Audio Network.
We've got lists and disrespect that we have to get
to today. When it comes to the Steelers ESPN, the
crosshairs will be set on you in the next episode
in your little quarter century lists. Yeah, and your little
tongue in cheek practice spad. But before we get there,
(00:31):
I want to start with ROGI. I'm really starting to
grow on this guy because listen, you have the four
time MVP. I'm getting bombarded with nothing but propaganda on
my social media feeds of highlight packages of him in
Green Bay and a little bit of sometimes I'm in
New York, usually to Davante, like some nice little connections
(00:51):
with his old pal Adams. But I'm just getting bombarded
with nothing. But wow, I didn't forget. But it's nice
to see it in front of my face again. How
freaking good this guy was. And you know what I
was thinking, it's really weird that the Steelers not only
(01:12):
have two Hall of Fame quarterbacks that are franchise icon
cornerstones jersey numbers should be retired. I think if Terry
was a little bit more receptive to the organization and
coming back, I think that might have been done already
or would be in the process. Are it is right, No,
it can wear it. I mean Rogers was the litmus
test for that, right. I mean, he's the only one
that could actually even say I'm a Hall of Famer too,
(01:34):
Why not wear it? But yeah, I mean they're retired
without being retired. But still, I kind of I don't
mind seeing that number up there, still, you know what
I mean, like going to the stadium and looking up
and seeing twelve or seeing seven hang him from the rafter.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
But I think it kind of also adds to the
allure of guys like Franco and me and Joe that
they're only two.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Of three guys that just statner, I'm just asking for
two more. Okay, I'm thinking Ben and here And here's
the thing, because you you make the argument right where,
well two more. Everybody's in, right. I think it works
really well if you do two quarterbacks. It's the defensive
face of the franchise, and then it's the offensive. They
(02:14):
didn't start winning, everybody says until Franco got here and
changed himself.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes, yes, the only other guy or I'm sorry, the
only other guy from that era of seventies football whose
number is retired as the one that said we didn't
start winning.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So I think you get away with it by being like,
what about all the other great players that you're not
gonna have the numbers? These are quarterbacks, Okay, it's different,
and these are two Hall of Fame Super Bowl champion quarterbacks.
Franchises don't even have one of those, and we have two.
So you have that in your history. You kind of
have four aout it. This is where I'm going, how
dare you jump in front of my port? Not only
(02:50):
do you have the two franchise icons, but you have
four others that are just either franchise adjacent or dip
their toe in the water Russ Aaron Rodgers, Len Dawson,
and then you go all the way back to Johnny
freaking Unitis had a little bit of just a brush
with the Pittsburgh steel So I mean those are four
(03:11):
Hall of Fame quarterbacks in their own right, who again
just kind of our Steelers adjacent slash have played for
a short amount of time. So it is wild when
you think about that, that like in totally six green
or gold green jacket gold jackets that have been around,
or played for, or been franchise icons for the Steelers
and Rogers. Is the latest in that line, and honestly,
(03:32):
post big ban era. Man, if you would have gone
back and talked to me in college and said you're
gonna get Russell Wilson and then a year later you're
gonna get Aaron Rodgers, I would be like, okayiot, what
do you smoke? Give me some of it, first of all,
and second of all, Wilson and Rodgers are gonna be
Seahawks and Packers for life, you dummy from those cities.
(03:57):
I mean, you might as well say that the Penguins
are gonna trade for McDavid and sounds stupid that way.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
People are saying, though, I think you're forgetting a quarterback.
Though it might be seven, this guy isn't a locked
locked on mainly because of what he.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Did off the field. Remember Mike Vick was here for
a couple Okay he was. That is a little bit
of a kind of like a technicality. Yeah, you're right,
he's not gonna get in the Hall of Fame, though
you don't think so. I don't think so because of
the dog stuff. And also he's not the best rushing
quarterback ever anymore. I know he was he was, but
(04:31):
I'm saying now that he went MVP. I don't believe,
like I feel like he didn't. That would have been
one of the more shocking snubs. He was never MVP.
You know what, he did win in twenty ten the
Comeback Player of the Year with the Philadelphia Eagles. Watch
it was a pretty cool thing when he came back
with film.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Also too, you're getting into the nitty gritty of did
he come back from a career he's raining injury or
did he come back from being a.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Terrible human being? He did not. But back back then,
the rules weren't, you know, injury related. It was just
you could even have played in the NFL and just
been bad and then come back just a down year.
Mike Vic another Let's not say he's in that class
of the other guys, the Dawson, the Uniteds, the Rogers
of the Wilson, the Ben, the Bradshaw, because I've no doubt.
I mean, three of those guys that I listed have
(05:19):
their gold jackets already, and the other three are getting them.
Rogers on the first ballot, Ben on the first ballot.
They're gonna make Russy wait maybe a little bit. I
don't think.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
It could go either way. I could see him being
a first ballot guy. If it's a weak year, maybe
he gets in, right.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
But yeah, I don't. I mean, look, they're on the
same path, right. What if Rogers and him retire at
the same time and Rogers is going in for I mean, yeah,
they're both It's crazy they're both still in. So yeah, yeah,
Mike Vica another interesting one to throw in there. But
what just a kind of a I don't even know
what you call. That is just like a fun little
tidbit about the Steelers history that they have. They have
all these kind of quarterbacks. I mean, Wowson and Johnny
(06:01):
you are the big ones. Yeah, they He's a chief
in Uniteds as a cult, I get it. But like
you go to their per football Evans, but three years
for Len Dawson's his pit right there. I mean he
started a couple of games for him. Johnny, you never played, Johnny,
you never played a game.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Just got drafted on like the eleventh round back when
they have like twenty rounds in the draft back in
the day.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You look at pictures of Johnny Unitis from when he
was supposedly like twenty five years old.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
He looks huh, it looks like eighty yeah, it looks
like seventy years old, forty five, he's even older.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Believe Why do people just look older? Right? Man? It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Must have had something to do with smoking a pack
of cigarettes for like breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
It made having terrible air quality. Yeah, made their well
that's a great point, Like they were just smoking packs
of cigarettes even if they didn't want to smoke walking outside.
It made them look like Kramer in that signs on it. Yeah, yeah,
old beat up my money maker, Jared. Yes. So just
really crazy that that has been a part of Steeler's history,
(07:02):
which is just such a rich history in its own right.
But that brings me to how do you get the
most out of this one? How do you get the
most out of this latest hall of fame quarterback that
has made his way through Steeler hallways? And I got
it narrowed done to the three obvious ones, but I
want to rank them in the order of importance when
it comes to the offense's contributions to helping Rogers, and
(07:23):
at number three will do this in ascending order. Okay,
at number three, I know I've been pounding the table
to get that number two wide receiver, but I think
number three wide receivers stepping up, and as far as
their current room is concerned, that's the least of my
worries out of the three that I have on this list,
because a DK Metcalf is an upgrade from anything that
you've had in the past couple of years, even more
(07:43):
so than George Pickens. And you heard that report from
Jeremy Fowler. That part of the motivation. I don't know
if you talked about this on the Morning Show or not,
but part of the motivation apparently to getting Pickens out
of here was looking ahead to Rogers coming in and
kind of getting a I don't know if there was
so many words spoken betwe Rodgers and the Steelers and
their meetings in conversation, but maybe it was more just
reading the tea leaves, like George Pickens is kind of
(08:06):
a clown and unprofessional. I don't think Rogers is gonna
really jive with that, because as much as you can
say that Rogers is an attention guy, a diva, all
that stuff about him and some of the off the
field stuff, you know, he likes to be a celebrity
on top of being an athlete. Of course, all that's valid.
He's a professional, like when he shows up to the
(08:27):
building and plays like he's a professional quarterback. And I
know sometimes the media, Oh he goes to Egypt and
Mini Caamp for the Jets. I can't believe he did that.
That's so unprofessional. Yeah, that was kind of unprofessional. He
showed up to harm Ani camp and he didn't even
have to sign the contract. So maybe that's a Jets problem.
Maybe that's a solid problem. Maybe that's a I don't
respect you as much, probably with Johnson probe that's in
this Organization's kind of a joke. I think I can
(08:49):
get away with going to Egypt, because what am I
gonna do at Jets freaking Mini Caamp? Steelers Minichamp. Though
the Pittsburgh Steelers say, hey, we kind of like you
to show up to Mini camp if you can, and
we handled this situation. I don't want to say blase a,
but we've been a little hands off and let you
do your thing Rogers, and he said in his intro,
I appreciated that from Mike Tomlin, how he handled this.
But then he then extends a little bit back and says,
(09:12):
you guys want me there, I can go. I can
go for three days in Pittsburgh and really become a
Pittsburgh stealer officially. So like you know, when he shows up,
he is the he is professional, and I know that
Mike Williams redline thing comes up and I sometimes he
can throw a teammate under the bus, and yeah, I
don't like that. I think sometimes that is better done
in private. But Rogers knows a lot more than me,
(09:34):
and maybe he thinks it's better with certain guys to
say it in public. But regardless of that, the guy's
gonna show up and he's gonna give you an absolute
Hall of Fame professional quarterback effort. He's gonna conduct himself
in such a professional way that I just think that
not only would he kind of roll his eyes and
(09:56):
get a little frustrated with a player on the team
acting the way that George had at acted, but a
player that's so important to his success and so reliant
on with the wide receiver room too, Like, look, no
one else has shown up the games late like George
Pickens was, Like, no one on the team wasn't like
minutes before. No one's saying anything because the Steelers are
(10:17):
really really just such a really well run ship when
it comes to keeping kind of things tight and stuff,
and all the players are trained really well to just
not really let your feelings shown. Deshaun Elliott might be
the only one that kind of strays from that path
a little bit, but like a lot of stuff is
kind of tight lipped. I mean, so Cam Hayward will
say something sometimes, C that's okay, it's a b He's
(10:40):
not a part of the team anymore. But like I'm
just saying, like they're smart in handling the pr and
keeping kind of things under the tent, keeping things in house.
That Steelers organization is so you know, I know that,
Like I said, some players can sometimes stray off from that,
but for the most part, like they get it. They
(11:01):
get how it's supposed to be. They get that it's
supposed to just be kind of like, you know what,
what happens in here stays in here are feelings. We're
not going to really let them know.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I I go back and forth on the professional thing
for Rogers because I think we can make any excuse
for him now that he's on the team. But let's
be honest, Tom, you and I and many many many
others have kind of flipped the script.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Since he's arrived, we were That's kind of what I'm
getting at, Like I'm more playing under a spell kind
of right.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
But here's the thing, Tom, I'd rather be under the
spell of Aaron Rodgers being here than under the spell
of Russell Wilson a year ago, because Russell Wilson one
is a lesser version of a product than Aaron Rodgers,
and two, Russell Wilson just fed you the quotes and
(11:57):
what you thought was bs and you just had to
buy into wait, even though when he was in Seattle,
when he was in Deavor doing Broncos Country, let's ride,
like you were making fun of it. And then when
he was in Pittsburgh you said, Okay, not you specifically,
we as a collective said okay, sure, Steels Country, let's ride.
Let's let's try this thing out. He's a professional quarterback.
He's a potential Hall of Famer, or he's probably he's
(12:19):
probably a Hall of Famer, maybe second ballot. He's a
Super Bowl champion. He led the league in passing yards
once or at least at least once, maybe twice in
his career. Like you had to buy into it. I'm
much happier drinking the kool aid of Aaron Rodgers for
a season. Right, again, this isn't a blockbuster, you know,
(12:39):
Peyton Manning to the Denver Broncos kind of deal, or
Tom Brady, I mean Tom Brady to the Bucks wasn't
even that big of a contract. But this isn't a
franchise altering acquisition for you. But again, in the short term,
it's gonna be bumpy, Like he didn't do great in
his time in New York and he caused problems, and
(13:02):
this year is probably gonna cause some headaches. He's not
going to be perfect. He's not going to be twenty
eleven Aaron Rodgers. This is twenty twenty five. It's fourteen.
We are fourteen years past his first MVP season. He's
not gonna be that same guy. But it's gonna be
worth it for a year to put up with those headaches,
is what I'm trying to get at, right, exactly what
you're gonna do exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
No one in this draft class tickled your fancy exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It was easy to look at the Jets, who are,
like you said earlier, a joke to begin with a.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Joke like this whole Rogers ruined the Jets ruined the Jets.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The Jets for years, it was easy to look at
the Jets and the Aaron Rodgers situation and laugh at
and say, geez, the Jets can't catch a break. Aaron
Rodgers is clearly crumbling in his post Green Bay era.
But here in Pittsburgh it's a different story. And you're
just gonna have to suck it up if you don't
(13:54):
like Aaron Rodgers. And I think you brought this point
up before. In the past, when Aaron went to the Jets,
he was looked at as like.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
The savior of the franchise.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Come to New York, get us out of this hell
hole of rotating quarterbacks and rotating head coaches and a
playoff draught, the longest playoff drought in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Save us from that. He's not being.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Asked to do that. Here in Pittsburgh. They have a
seti head coach. They have a trusted front office with
a trusted owner. They have a great team that has
not won a playoff game, but at least has made
the playoffs a handful of times in the last six
or seven years. Right, there is no saving needed here
in Pittsburgh. They have an elite defense. They have good
(14:39):
offensive weapons. He's not being asked to do the same
thing in New York that he's being asked.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
To do here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So maybe the load being lesser on his shoulders maybe
allows him to do more here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
We can be his samwise gamgees. Yeah, but back to
the point about the receivers and that kind of being
the third This lists a good tangent because of what
happened with George, and that's part.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Of the maybe it makes his life a lot easier Rogers.
That's what I think that George isn't there.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
That's what Fowler was getting at. His Steelers kind of
saw that coming. And and back to the professional thing
to just real quick, you never hear his play. His
former teammates say really a bad thing about him, like
Williams who got thrown under the bus, to not say
a bad thing about Aaron as following him, followed him
to New York, Brandon Eckles when he got here and
there was kind of some news rumbling up Rogers come
(15:31):
here number eight. He was like that guy was great,
Like he made everybody better, Like he's a good leader.
So all the teammates say he's a pro he and
and here's the thing, like everybody basically in media outlets
like an Aaron Rodgers story, and they like a juicy
negative Aaron Rodgers story, like you see this here they're
running now with that he is not actually married, like
(15:51):
there's some some investigating stuff about being married. Who the
freg cares? Like, why are you worried? Who? First of all,
what does it say about you? Where you hear a
quarterback who's been wearing a ring all of a sudden,
just that in an anocuous comment during his intro where
he's like, yeah, I got married, it's also regrets and
where you go, I don't believe that for a second,
(16:12):
and you start frantically doing results, So what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
It's so hypocritical for those same people who were saying,
who were groaning at every mention of Travis Kelson and
Taylor Swift, they are chopping at the bit to talk
about anything Aaron Rodgers, not football wise, right, like all
those people who say, get Taylor Swift off my TV.
Stop talking about Taylor Swift. Well now they can't stop
talking about is Aaron Rodgers married or not?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So if you can. If there were players that would
want to come out and say some bad things, even anonymously,
oh my god, people would absolutely run with it. They'd
love to get those clicks on that. They'd love to
say ex teammate blast Aaron Rodgers. But it doesn't exist,
and that speaks, I think volumes. And again, like Mike
Williams got thrown under the bus a little publicly comes
(16:55):
to Pittsburgh, I'm not going to speak about my past team.
I mean, he didn't really gas up Rogers like Eckles did,
but haven't heard an ill thing said about him right yet,
and I mean honestly, Like, he's also one of those
guys where, even if you know you don't get along
with him personality wise in a locker room for the
entirety of his career, he steps on the field and
you're like, but he's the best player on our team,
(17:16):
So like, I just respect him from that aspect anyway,
and he makes this better just through being a four
time MVP. The other thing about the wide receiver now
that Pickens is gone, though, I have more faith in
Rodgers than anybody since big men to elevate some of
the lesser receivers that they have, So I don't think
it's good enough to have just Robert Woods as your
number two. I think Austin's good enough to be a three,
(17:38):
and I like Rowan Wilson getting sprinkled in there too.
I think Pat can finally break through. I think that's possible.
But I do think that in Aaron Rodgers, if he
plays decently well, we'll get more out of a Robert
Woods than previous quarterbacks had gotten out of a Van
Jefferson or some receivers that were kind of like Robert Woods. Yeah,
(17:58):
like an Alan Robinson. I think that you can see
like we never really saw. I know Van Jefferson caught
some touchdowns when Rusk finally came in. We never saw
like a Van Jefferson game, like a seven catch, He's
play here and there in a touchdown. I think that
there's a likelihood, and again I would rather have a
better receiver than this as an option, but I think
there's a likelihood that we get maybe a Robert Woods
(18:21):
game where like DK metcalf is kind of pedestrian, a
lot of coverage is flowing towards him, and maybe Calvin's
had a couple of nice weeks too, So there's a
lot of attention being paid to him or Pat or whatever,
and Robert Woods kind of it's against the team that
maybe is thin in their secondary and Robert Woods just
kind of finds a nice little groove in a game,
and all of a sudden you look at the box
scord and it's like, Wow, eight catches for ninety six
(18:42):
yards in a touchdown for Robert Woods, Like he's been
averaging thirty yards a game for the past couple of weeks.
That kind of came out of nowhere. Never really saw
that out of nowhere performance with those other guys in
the past. I think Rogers gives you the ability to
get that from the wide receiver room. So I want
to get it better. I want to upgrade it, But
I also think it's going to be better because A
it's upgraded at number one with DK and B it's
(19:03):
upgraded with the guy who's throwing the ball to those guys. Yeah,
I think you're absolutely right. I think Robert Woods will
stay a wide receiver. Two, he won't.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
He won't become like the next Mike Evans or Chris
Godwin kind of second fiddle to a great wide receiver.
I guess Chris Godwin to the Mike Evans kind of thing,
or Tyler Lockett to a DK Metcalf. But like you said,
Tom Russe, Russell Wilson was not capable of of of
making a guy like a Robert Woods better than he
(19:35):
actually was. Like I think Russell Wilson did well in
his final years in Seattle because he had guys like
DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett DK who is a top
ten receiver in the league, and Tyler locketto's probably arguably
a top twenty receiver in the league. Robert Woods is
not close to being a top cal with Austin and
Robert Woods both not close to being a top twenty
(19:57):
receiver in the league.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Right, they're not.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
That they're probably not even sniffing, to be honest, and
it's a little harsh, but they're probably not even sniffing
top thirty receivers in the league. I guess you could
say Calvin is closer just because he's younger, but still
they're not close to the top thirty. And so that's saying,
like you know, going around, every team has three guys,
they're not better than another team's three guys on any
(20:24):
given Sunday. But Aaron Rodgers, even though they're not close
to being a top thirty guy, has the ability to
elevate them, like I can't even remember. Like guys like
Marcus Wheaton probably wasn't a top twenty or a top
thirty receiver.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
In the NFL.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
But Big Ben got Marcus Wheaton, got him on the
map two hundred yards against of all teams. The Legion
of Boom in Seattle.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Got him on the map too, right. He was a
guy that you knew if you were an NFL fan.
It wasn't a star, but like if you were someone
that actually watched NFL football, you were like, I have
I know Mark Swheaton. Yeah, he's like the third option
for the Steelers, but sometimes he pops off.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
This is a me depending on how you look at it,
a better or worse example. Martavis Bryant, who never found
his stride outside of Pittsburgh, always made it work with
Big Ben, always, always, always, even after his initial suspensions
multiple in Pittsburgh where he missed significant time, when he
would come back, he was still Martavis Bryant here in
(21:20):
Pittsburgh because Ben was able to elevate him and get
him the ball Aaron Rodgers has that capability to do
that with not to get the production that you got
out Martavis Bryant, but to elevate the production from Robert
Woods in Calvin, Austin that you would have gotten with
Justin Fields or Russell.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Wilson if they would have just let him smoke weed.
It's a shame, it's all. It is a damn shame.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I blame stephen A for making such a big deal
out of the weed stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Even though we all know Stephen A is blaze marijuana.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I mean, come I mean he's playing solitaire during a Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Like, come on, Bud. But yeah, great quarterbacks can elevate
wide receivers and I expect Rogers to do that to
some degree. Running Backs is the second thing on this list.
You gotta have a strong running game if you're the Steelers.
I don't think there needs to be really much analysis
for this really quick.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Do you think the running back room is better or
worse or about the same as last year?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I think at the very worst it'll be about the same.
Does that make sense? Yeah, it's minimum. I'm optimistic for
it to be better. Sure, I am wondering if they're
going to start with Jalen Warren as kind of the
guy at the beginning of the year. I find that
hard to believe. I think it's easier almost in a way,
to make Johnson the guy who's on first and second downs,
(22:40):
because you're running on those downs and everybody is saying
that the thing that's going to be the learning curve
for him is pass protection. He never passed proden in Iowa.
They never did. They never threw the ball, So I
mean it's just almost natural that you would want Warren
out there in those third downs and those obvious passing situations.
It's kind of that spellback like he's been and have
(23:00):
Johnson in there as you know, the early down rundown player.
Now you can't just have it where if Johnson's out there,
it's always going to be a run. We've seen that
kind of predictability with them before, where certain players are
on the field and it's like this is always, always,
always a run play and other defenses. We've heard soundbites
from players that are like, yeah, we know what they're doing,
(23:20):
like we picked up on stuff. But I think that
it almost just fits, even though he's a third round pick,
more organically to keep Warren in that similar role that
he's been in because he's great at it himself. And
also I think it helps Rogers in the team out
as far as pass downs are concerned. And then Caleb
Johnson just kind of you know, even if it's obvious
(23:42):
that it's a rundown, you ran into heavy boxes your
entire life at Iowa. Be the starter quote unquote, but
it's really a one A, one B this year with
those two more even more so than I think it
was because.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Naji was a first round draft pick and Mooarren was
an undrafted guy. Warren still an undrafted guy, but he's
much more proven now.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
He's an undrafted guy, but he's made a career at it,
and he's kind of been assigned to second round tag.
He was given the second round tag, so that kind
of gives the inclination that, hey, he was undrafted. But
we view this guy as if you picked him in
the second round, people would be like, that's a great
draft pick.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
He he can retire today and consider his NFL career success.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
I mean, honestly, guy like that, I think you could
say that you make the team, right, you know what
I mean? Just now in a team and you got
that second round valuation mil which is huge for him
to what he was making.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
And now you remember, do you remember he was in
his rookie or second season. It was both seasons when
he was getting penalized.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I don't know who's getting penalized. Wasn't getting penalized. He
was getting fined after the game. He wasn't getting penalized.
It was a lot of pass protection, a lot of
like boom right online find.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
After the game for some hell with the helmet blocks,
and he was setting up and it was like his
entire playing for three.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
He was playing for free. So finally got your finances.
But that's another guy. We were talking about this earlier
in the week, like with Calvin Austin and Deshaun Elliott. Yeah, younger,
it's another guy. You get a nice little team friendly
deal in front of his face. I know he's making
like four or five million this year, but maybe another
like two years making four or five million per year.
Like you throw that in his face, he's going to
be hungry to sign that. Plus he loves the Steelers. Anyway,
(25:21):
he gave him their.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Chance exactly, and not just gave him the chance, but
then recognized the production and then gave him real money
as a as a reward for what you did in
your first three years of your career.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
It's like a reward. I don't know. I think about
that with Django Unchained when he's talking about what a
bound with the I'll even do the drink. I can't
even It's like every reward. What's Christoph Waltz's I can't
really even do his. It's a doctor King Schultz, Yes, Schultz,
despite that cuts, I haven't practiced, that's his laughter. He's like,
(25:56):
ah God, he's such a That run that he was
on with j is that the best actor at all?
That was Jordan esque stuff from acting right there? Those
are two dynasties, Like you know, Daniel da Lewis is
like the best actor and he always retires and he
comes back. He's coming back again, do you know? Yeah,
I know it's ridiculous, but he's kind of like the
Brady right where he's got the early era in the
(26:16):
middle and then the late area. He's almost got like
three dynasties that run. Yeah, like that early teens, who's
he like? Who's that like short span of just burning
bright and being such a badass? But then kind of
like not fading away, but just kind of step taking
a step back.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I don't know why this hit me like this. I
thought of LT was the first name that came to mind,
because LT and like the just like the the middle
of the two thousands, was better than anyone that touched
the football field. But he kind of exploded when Rivers
got there. He has the faded like right when he
like right before he got to the game.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Here's the problem, though, It's such a tough analogy to draw,
because he never won a championship and won two oscars.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Who was like really good, maybe like a Detroit Pistons
of the NBA, like they had their little window in between.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Now signs like a team to them. I don't know.
I was thinking quarterback doesn't make sense because quarterbacks win championships,
they stay forever, and they play on teams forever. It's
like like Andrew lux one that had the talent that
just walked away. If Luck would have won a Super
Bowl and then walked away, I think it would have
been like the perfect kind of comp Anyway, Yeah, it's hard,
(27:30):
great hard from Christoph Waltz. And now we're out of time.
So we're gonna pick up on offensive line is obviously
number one, that's most important. We'll pick up a little
bit there, and then we'll get into that quarter century
list by ESPN, and then in the last episode something
very fun. I've put together the Steelers quarter Century List
based off of that template. That is all I want
(27:51):
to talk about. So we'll get to that last episode.
Can we just fast bound some things off of Jacob
from my list? I'm sure I left off maybe some names.
It was tough to do. I mean, there's a lot
of people that you got to fit in and you
only got from two thousand to twenty twenty five. So
we will do all of that. We will have a
lot of fun on a Thursday edition of The Steeler
Standard on Steelers Nation Radio and the Steelers Audio Network.
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