May 15, 2023 • 21 mins
Dale and Matt debate if the Steelers are being underrated by people when discussing the league
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven home of the Black and
Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale LOLLI he is Matt Williamson,
and it is a beautiful Monday here in Pittsburgh. And Uh, well, Matt,
if you believe reports Kuan Alexander visiting the Steelers tonight,
we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I've heard that, Okay, but he.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Need to get in the loop.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Uh you get bring me in.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So, Kawan Alexander spent last year with the New York Jets,
has bounced around a little bit after he started to
his career in Tampa Bay. But he's a guy that
the Steelers had talked about in the past as potential
bringing him in. A former Pro Bowl linebacker twenty nine
years old. We'll see what comes to fruition, but probably
(01:01):
not a full time player at this point in his career.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
No, I don't think so either, But I mean I
think again, it's the first I've heard this. He was
a very I think he's a good poster boy. Actually
for a conversation, we've had a lot of you know,
highly athletic he went in the fourth round. I remember
thinking he'd probably go in the second or so. He
(01:25):
ran a four or five five coming out of LSU
at a little under two hundred and thirty pounds, and
it took him a little while to acclimate for sure,
you know. I mean he was kind of an all
over the place athlete more than linebacker, and he's bumped
around a little bit. I don't know his special teams
background off the top of my head, but I would
think that would be an important component if he were
(01:45):
to join this team at this stage of the game.
I do think that there is a I don't say
an opening, but I would have a desire to bring
in someone of that ILK to compete with Atlanta Roberts
or backup or ensure on the second level of the defense.
So this makes some sense to me.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, I'm just looking up his stature. He hasn't played
a lot of special teams in his career.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah. His his career high for special team snaps is
sixty nine and that came back in twenty sixteen. Played
just ten special team snaps last year for the Jets.
But it's a it would be another one and we
don't know, you know, they maybe just be kicking at
tires to see how healthy he is.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, what health situation is.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
But at this point, you know, his career again suited
more as a part time player. I think he played
forty nine percent of the snaps last year for the Jets.
In fact, I'm looking right here at it.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I'm looking right now. Actually, in the last three years
he's been between five thirty five and six sixty eight,
which is generally a little over fifty percent. I don't
know how many snaps each of these teams played.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well. In twenty twenty, he played ninety seven percent of
the snaps in his five games with the forty nine ers.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Okay, because but I'm looking at the combination of Saints
and Niners.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, he played seventy four percent of his snaps for
the Saints that year, ninety seven percent for the for
the forty nine ers. So uh, But earlier in his
career he was a high percentage snap guy. Ninety eight percent,
ninety six percent, ninety four percent, ninety percent. Those was
four years in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
He was a rookie starter, and second year he started
to really step up. And he's been a household name
but has bumped around a little bit over the last
couple of years.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
The signing, if it did come to fruition, would be
another steal. You could typify the Steelers twenty twenty three
offseason as going out and acquiring a bunch of been there,
done that guys.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, right right, I mean I think that a couple
themes obviously show up. I think he doesn't fit this
one as much, not these lacking in that area, but
big and physical and nasty. I think at all positions
has been a point of emphasis for sure. I mean
even corner and Alan Robinson and positions you don't think about,
you know, let alone the Herbigs of the world, but
(04:13):
certainly some dudes that have been around the block that
you can trust, that have had success, that have, as
coach likes to say, pedigree.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, this is it. It's very similar in some fashions
to what the Houston Texans did a couple of years ago,
where they went out and signed a bunch of NFL players,
maybe not stars, to bring them in, and you know,
the Texans that year wound up winning more games than
(04:41):
anybody expected. Yeah, because the guys they're bringing off the bench,
they're the guys that they're playing, or all NFL players.
They didn't go young, they didn't go young. Yeah, I
think that, you know, I think there's some value to
adding those kind of guys. And for a team like
the Steelers, unlike that Texans team from a couple of
(05:02):
years ago, you have stars on this roster.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, there's a different mindset. I mean that Texans team,
I think was trying to just get rid of all
the old and they brought in a million cheap free
agents to establish a culture and a competitiveness, and they
hoped twenty five percent of them would be keepers, you know,
and just not be have a bunch of depth guys
(05:25):
fighting for starting jobs, where the Steelers already have the culture,
already are a winning organization, and you have the depth
guys fighting for depth jobs as opposed to you know,
see Cam Hayward, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Right right? So, you know, I look at this at
the Steelers roster. I mean, you still have TJ. Watt,
you still have Cam Hayward, you still have micka Fitzpatrick
on defense, you still have you know, Alex high Smith
is a is a guy that that you know, established
himself a bit last year. You know, Larry Ogan, Jobi's
not one of these journeyman type guys. Know, He's He's
(06:00):
a guy that is an established starter in the NFL.
Patrick Peterson has been a star. And that's just on
the defense. The offense is a different animal. It's a
lot younger and up and coming, you know, potentially with
a lot of those guys.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But I mean, they were the youngest offense in the
league last year. Football siders put this out recently, just
per snap and one of the youngest that they've ever seen.
But you go at her, big simlu Robinson, you know
you did bring a little bit of agent experience to
that group too.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I think, you know, the expectation for
the Steelers is that group continues to grow together and
continues to get better. And that leads me to my
next The next thing I wanted to talk about, Matt
and that would be I look at this Steelers team
(06:57):
and I think that to me, there seems to be
disconnect between everything that's happened this offseason and the national
expectations for this football team.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Agree. And let's get to that in one minute. So
I want to make one more point about age and whatnot. Like,
I fear that some people are listening going, well, I
don't want this team to get old, you know, signing
guys like Alexander and that doesn't make you old. That's
gonna be a one year deal.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You're signing these guys one year deals. And you know
if they if they go somewhere, let's say they have
a good year and they go sign somewhere else, Okay,
they now they help you, and now they help your
comp formula. You you're basically this is what the NFL
has turned into in many respects, is you have your
star players. Again, we've just rolled through all those guys.
(07:52):
That's your core. Those are the guys that formed the
basis of your team and your draft picks, right, That's
that's the core of your team. Then you fill in
around it with these guys on one year deals.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, and while you're developing the young guys. Like this
approach if gone wrong or not, this approach, but I mean,
if you're gonna put a lot of big signing bonuses,
multi year deals into veterans, they can quickly become roster cloggers,
you know, where you can't quick get out of it.
(08:27):
You know, where you know you're you're paying this guy
a decent amount. You may end up cutting them, and
it has cap ramifications. But adding veterans on one year
deals this time of year, when you're not competing against
anybody else, I mean, you could probably even get out
of the contract if he stinks in training camp, and
I wouldn't hurt you that bad.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
This is largely what team. You know, the Eagles have
done this, you know, renting these guys for a year.
The Patriots have done this, you know, quite a bit, renting.
You know, hey, let's just sign these veteran guys and
have them instead of having twelve rookies on your roster
or twelve you know, rookies and first year players. Now
we're going to have We're gonna have our six rookies,
(09:10):
but that other you know, six guys that would have
been rookies at major roster are now veteran guys who again, yeah,
they know what they're doing. I don't. I don't have
to teach these guys the stadiums. Yeah, what it's like
to play in Baltimore in December, they've already done it.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Or how to maintain their body throughout the course of
the year, or don't worry about them hitting a rookie wall. Yeah,
you know how to practice, know all those things. And
they probably have friends. I mean, I know that he's younger,
but does he have a relationship with Patrick Peterson vougin
for him? I'm just you know, going to the LSU
route or you know. I mean a lot of these
guys have played with each other or against each other,
(09:52):
have respect for one another. Is this takes a lot
of doubt out of it without losing the upside, because
if you're Mark Robbinson's better than them, he's gonna play.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The other factor is they know how to study. I don't.
I don't have to win it when we're when we're
doing film study in a given week, or we're looking
ahead at the next opponent and I start explaining something,
I don't have to slow it down. I don't have
to dumb it down for these veteran guys because they
know what they're looking at. They know how to study film,
(10:21):
or they wouldn't have been in the league this long.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, they know how to practice, they know how to
prepare themselves all the professional stuff, or you wouldn't have
lasted this long. You're right, I mean, unless you're the
rarest of talents. But that's on what we're talking about here.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
No, no, absolutely not. But getting back to that to that,
what I believe is a disconnect a lot of the
stuff that you've seen this offseason. Steelers have one of
the best off seasons of any team. The draft, Steelers
have one of the best drafts of any team, right,
and yet when you talk when people talk about, hey,
(10:57):
who's the you know, who's the sleeper I was listened
to it scias in this morning on Sirius FM XM
NFL and he was asked, hey, who's your sleeper team
in the AFC? In the AFC, you know whose sleeper
team was Miami. He's not a sleeper team.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
No, they really aren't.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I mean, and I get it. So the thing that
he was talking about, he's, oh, the AFC is so
stacked this year with the quarterbacks, and he starts rattling
off a bunch of quarterbacks in the AFC. And absolutely,
the AFC is stacked with quarterbacks. But guess what team
doesn't have to play ninety percent of those quarterbacks in
(11:39):
the AFC.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, that's that was Actually my next point is Okay,
so as you mentioned winning the officer, you're winning free agency.
Great job. Everyone's given him good numbers. Which for us
folks that put out grades or analysis, we don't have
a crystal ball. We don't know that all these draft
picks are going to hit or you free agent signs,
but consensuously are getting good responses by those of us
(12:03):
that do this for a living. Even better for the
draft cap management. I mentioned the youngest offense in the league, Well,
they're all a year older now and presumably better, certainly
more experienced, and then you add a lot of little
pieces in between, and then the schedule sets up so
so well. And oh, by the way, this coaching staff
(12:25):
has a pretty good track record of winning games in
this league. Now, if you want to say they're not
a contender in the AFC, okay, I mean to me,
that's perfectly fine, because it is a ridiculous slate of
quarterbacks and good teams. But to say that they're not
vastly improved or aren't a sleeper or man, I can't
(12:48):
see them winning eight and a half games, I just
strongly disagree.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, I do as well, and I you know, when
you look at teams, you know we talked a lot
about the Giants last year, how they were kind of
they haven't played anybody, blah blah, blah, blah blah. I
don't think they're that good. And yet they made the
playoffs and they won a playoff game basically largely on
the matchup. Would they have won a playoff game in
(13:15):
the AFC, maybe not, but they won their NFC playoff game.
I don't see. First of all, I think this Steelers
team is a better team than that Giants team.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think so does about to say the same thing, right, And.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
If you win enough games in the AFC, much like
what happened with the Giants, Let's like, okay, let's say
you win ten or eleven games this year. You win ten, A,
you're going to be in the playoffs. You win eleven,
there's a good chance you're the number one wildcard team
or maybe win the division or maybe win the division.
(13:50):
But if you're the number one wildcard team in the AFC,
who are you playing? You're going to play the AFC.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
South, probably playing in Jacksonville or yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And yeah, and then you might win that play You've
got a good shot to win that playoff game. It's
not all about hell, you gotta beat Patrick Mahomes, How
you gonna beat Joe Burrow. Well, first of all, they
only they don't play Patrick Mahomes this year in the
regular season. They don't play Josh Allen. They do play
Burrow twice. But you know that going into it. They
do play Lamar twice. You know that going into it.
(14:21):
But I would put their track record up against Lamar
against anybody's track record against Lamar. And I'm not sold
at de Shaun Watson. Is Deshaun Watson anymore?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Right, I have not either. And even bigger picture, not
even talking about twenty twenty three, you know, you win
ten to eleven games with a second year quarterback, and
then you have another offseason where you're not you know,
paying through the nose for people and add through the
draft and have a similar offseason to this one. You know,
I'm not saying you're pick in the top ten. Yeah,
you pick twenty third something like that. You may really
(14:54):
have something. And you start winning double digit games eight, nine,
ten years in a row, you know, right right, the
chips fall.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
You know, I think everybody what they're getting caught up
in is looking just at the quarterback position. Right, when
we talked about the Steelers roster as a whole, it's
a top ten roster in the league. Agree, if you
take the quarterback out of the equation. If Kenny Pickett
(15:25):
is league average at quarterback this year, league average, yeah,
this is a pretty good football team.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Very good football team. I mean probably it's a top
ten team, probably, right, I mean that's what they shouldn't
lose Watt and Pickings and you know.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Right, yeah, assuming you'll have a massive amount of injuries.
But even at that, you know, even if you have
some injuries, because of what they've done this offseason, they've
got better depth than any team in their division.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Without question.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
They might have the best depth in the AFC.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
And they should have the best that's depth and division
for the foreseeable future. Again, back to quarterback contracts, you know,
I mean, like that's gonna be the formula for a while.
Is you know, people competing for starting spots that aren't stars.
No one's competing with Watton Hayward, obviously, but when you
lose a water Hayward, it doesn't cripple you either. You know,
like we can still withstand this. It's not ideal, but
(16:21):
every team has to deal with it, but we can
overcome it and still stay competitive.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah. I just think that there's there's there are surprise
teams every year, right And though the Miami Dolphins do
not count as you know, when you when you go
out and you're paying the kind of money that they're
paying to a lot of their guys, they don't count
us it. They're not a sleeper.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Like the Jets don't count after you.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
The Jets aren't a sleeper. They went. You know, if
you're if your team's over under win total is like
nine and a half or ten, you're not a sleeper,
right right, right, Vegas knows all about you.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
I mean everybody knows about everybody. I mean, the term
sleeper in general to me rubs me wrong because like
when I was a kid, Oh that I'm gonna pick
that sleeper in the fifth round. Well now everybody knows
those people. There's the internet, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
But it's like calling this year's Lions a sleeper. Nobody's
calling the Lions. If the Lions win the NFC North,
nobody's going to be surprised by that.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
So a side note, who are a who counts in
the AFC as sleepers like I think the Patriots now do.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
The Patriots are a sleeper. There's no doubt the Steelers
are a sleeper. And those are two franchises you can't
call on that. Indianapolis, if it were to somehow win
the win the South, would be an absolute sleeper. Denver
counts absolutely. Denver's a year late to the party last year.
They weren't sleepers, you know, the obviously the Raid. The
(17:50):
Raiders would be a sleeper if they somehow want you know,
if they are if your expectations are low, Cleveland is
somewhat of a sleeper. But they're they always They're always
a sleeper and they are always asleep.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
That's the yeah, the thing the Raiders Titans Texans and
said they're too bad to even be a sleeper if
they were to make the playoffs. Good for them. Wow,
that's a story. That's coach of the year stuff man
Will Levis's rookie of the year. You know, those things
happen in this league. That's absolutely But Denver, the Colts,
(18:26):
the Steelers, the Pats, and the Browns were on the
fringe for me because their high profile and to Shawn
and YadA YadA, if they're a playoff team, they're a sleeper.
But I'll think the Steelers over all those Oh.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, yeah, Well that's the other The other part of
the equation to this matter is that all the teams
that you just mentioned, a lot of them, the Steelers
play this year and they don't and they don't play
the teams that you consider the non sleepers.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, high wind totals and right, no, they should be
favored in a lot of games.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
So I don't know, it just struck me as odd
that you know, you're going to talk about sleepers in
the a f C and you're going to say the
Miami Dolphins or sorry, Boomer, get your head out of
New York for about five seconds. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
You're trading for Aaron Rodgers and Jalen Ramsey and Bradley Chubb,
and you know.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
You're not a sleeper. Yeah right, you're not a sleeper
at that point.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Expectation, it's it's more again, these are all expectations and
every owner is different. But if you're Miami's owner now
or the Jets owner and you don't make the.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Play playoffs, are bust? Exactly with what I've spent Are
you kidding?
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Me right, right, Giants making the playoffs last year, Wow,
we're ahead of schedule.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Way to go.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Jets not making the playoffs this year?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
What are we doing here, Fellows? Yeah, hey, we should
we blow it up? You know, Right, That's that's where
you're at with those with those teams. So no, it's
and I get it, you know, I just don't think
enough people are talking about the Steelers after the offseason
that they had in free agency and after what they
did in the draft, like you can't do as well
(20:11):
as And this isn't just us saying this, this is universal. Oh,
the Steelers really did well in free agency. Oh, the
Steelers really did well in the draft, and they were
a nine win team last year, right, but they're somehow
going to win fewer games this year.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And rookie quarterback struggle. I mean, I know there's people
with have mixed opinions on Picket out there. Everyone's entitled
to them. I mean, I've heard people say Steelers might
be in a quarterback market a year from now, or
people saying I think Picket's gonna be a star. Of
course all vary. I bet he's better this year than
last year.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, no, no doubt about it in.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Your quarterback he knows what things all about.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Well, we'll talk about that in the next segment. Matt,
he is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lulie. You're listening
to the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. Hey, Matt,
did you know you can listen to Steelers Nation Radio
anytime anywhere through your smart speaker. Just say Alexa, play
Steelers Nation Radio from my heart and Alexa will take
care of the rest. We're gonna talk about some of
those expectations for Kenny Pickett and Nausea Harris and some
(21:09):
of those guys on that offense. We come back on
the Drive right after this
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven home of the Black and
Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale LOLLI he is Matt Williamson,
and it is a beautiful Monday here in Pittsburgh. And Uh, well, Matt,
if you believe reports Kuan Alexander visiting the Steelers tonight,
we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I've heard that, Okay, but he.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Need to get in the loop.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Uh you get bring me in.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So, Kawan Alexander spent last year with the New York Jets,
has bounced around a little bit after he started to
his career in Tampa Bay. But he's a guy that
the Steelers had talked about in the past as potential
bringing him in. A former Pro Bowl linebacker twenty nine
years old. We'll see what comes to fruition, but probably
(01:01):
not a full time player at this point in his career.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
No, I don't think so either, But I mean I
think again, it's the first I've heard this. He was
a very I think he's a good poster boy. Actually
for a conversation, we've had a lot of you know,
highly athletic he went in the fourth round. I remember
thinking he'd probably go in the second or so. He
(01:25):
ran a four or five five coming out of LSU
at a little under two hundred and thirty pounds, and
it took him a little while to acclimate for sure,
you know. I mean he was kind of an all
over the place athlete more than linebacker, and he's bumped
around a little bit. I don't know his special teams
background off the top of my head, but I would
think that would be an important component if he were
(01:45):
to join this team at this stage of the game.
I do think that there is a I don't say
an opening, but I would have a desire to bring
in someone of that ILK to compete with Atlanta Roberts
or backup or ensure on the second level of the defense.
So this makes some sense to me.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, I'm just looking up his stature. He hasn't played
a lot of special teams in his career.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah. His his career high for special team snaps is
sixty nine and that came back in twenty sixteen. Played
just ten special team snaps last year for the Jets.
But it's a it would be another one and we
don't know, you know, they maybe just be kicking at
tires to see how healthy he is.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, what health situation is.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
But at this point, you know, his career again suited
more as a part time player. I think he played
forty nine percent of the snaps last year for the Jets.
In fact, I'm looking right here at it.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I'm looking right now. Actually, in the last three years
he's been between five thirty five and six sixty eight,
which is generally a little over fifty percent. I don't
know how many snaps each of these teams played.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well. In twenty twenty, he played ninety seven percent of
the snaps in his five games with the forty nine ers.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Okay, because but I'm looking at the combination of Saints
and Niners.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, he played seventy four percent of his snaps for
the Saints that year, ninety seven percent for the for
the forty nine ers. So uh, But earlier in his
career he was a high percentage snap guy. Ninety eight percent,
ninety six percent, ninety four percent, ninety percent. Those was
four years in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
He was a rookie starter, and second year he started
to really step up. And he's been a household name
but has bumped around a little bit over the last
couple of years.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
The signing, if it did come to fruition, would be
another steal. You could typify the Steelers twenty twenty three
offseason as going out and acquiring a bunch of been there,
done that guys.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, right right, I mean I think that a couple
themes obviously show up. I think he doesn't fit this
one as much, not these lacking in that area, but
big and physical and nasty. I think at all positions
has been a point of emphasis for sure. I mean
even corner and Alan Robinson and positions you don't think about,
you know, let alone the Herbigs of the world, but
(04:13):
certainly some dudes that have been around the block that
you can trust, that have had success, that have, as
coach likes to say, pedigree.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, this is it. It's very similar in some fashions
to what the Houston Texans did a couple of years ago,
where they went out and signed a bunch of NFL players,
maybe not stars, to bring them in, and you know,
the Texans that year wound up winning more games than
(04:41):
anybody expected. Yeah, because the guys they're bringing off the bench,
they're the guys that they're playing, or all NFL players.
They didn't go young, they didn't go young. Yeah, I
think that, you know, I think there's some value to
adding those kind of guys. And for a team like
the Steelers, unlike that Texans team from a couple of
(05:02):
years ago, you have stars on this roster.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, there's a different mindset. I mean that Texans team,
I think was trying to just get rid of all
the old and they brought in a million cheap free
agents to establish a culture and a competitiveness, and they
hoped twenty five percent of them would be keepers, you know,
and just not be have a bunch of depth guys
(05:25):
fighting for starting jobs, where the Steelers already have the culture,
already are a winning organization, and you have the depth
guys fighting for depth jobs as opposed to you know,
see Cam Hayward, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Right right? So, you know, I look at this at
the Steelers roster. I mean, you still have TJ. Watt,
you still have Cam Hayward, you still have micka Fitzpatrick
on defense, you still have you know, Alex high Smith
is a is a guy that that you know, established
himself a bit last year. You know, Larry Ogan, Jobi's
not one of these journeyman type guys. Know, He's He's
(06:00):
a guy that is an established starter in the NFL.
Patrick Peterson has been a star. And that's just on
the defense. The offense is a different animal. It's a
lot younger and up and coming, you know, potentially with
a lot of those guys.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But I mean, they were the youngest offense in the
league last year. Football siders put this out recently, just
per snap and one of the youngest that they've ever seen.
But you go at her, big simlu Robinson, you know
you did bring a little bit of agent experience to
that group too.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I think, you know, the expectation for
the Steelers is that group continues to grow together and
continues to get better. And that leads me to my
next The next thing I wanted to talk about, Matt
and that would be I look at this Steelers team
(06:57):
and I think that to me, there seems to be
disconnect between everything that's happened this offseason and the national
expectations for this football team.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Agree. And let's get to that in one minute. So
I want to make one more point about age and whatnot. Like,
I fear that some people are listening going, well, I
don't want this team to get old, you know, signing
guys like Alexander and that doesn't make you old. That's
gonna be a one year deal.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You're signing these guys one year deals. And you know
if they if they go somewhere, let's say they have
a good year and they go sign somewhere else, Okay,
they now they help you, and now they help your
comp formula. You you're basically this is what the NFL
has turned into in many respects, is you have your
star players. Again, we've just rolled through all those guys.
(07:52):
That's your core. Those are the guys that formed the
basis of your team and your draft picks, right, That's
that's the core of your team. Then you fill in
around it with these guys on one year deals.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, and while you're developing the young guys. Like this
approach if gone wrong or not, this approach, but I mean,
if you're gonna put a lot of big signing bonuses,
multi year deals into veterans, they can quickly become roster cloggers,
you know, where you can't quick get out of it.
(08:27):
You know, where you know you're you're paying this guy
a decent amount. You may end up cutting them, and
it has cap ramifications. But adding veterans on one year
deals this time of year, when you're not competing against
anybody else, I mean, you could probably even get out
of the contract if he stinks in training camp, and
I wouldn't hurt you that bad.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
This is largely what team. You know, the Eagles have
done this, you know, renting these guys for a year.
The Patriots have done this, you know, quite a bit, renting.
You know, hey, let's just sign these veteran guys and
have them instead of having twelve rookies on your roster
or twelve you know, rookies and first year players. Now
we're going to have We're gonna have our six rookies,
(09:10):
but that other you know, six guys that would have
been rookies at major roster are now veteran guys who again, yeah,
they know what they're doing. I don't. I don't have
to teach these guys the stadiums. Yeah, what it's like
to play in Baltimore in December, they've already done it.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Or how to maintain their body throughout the course of
the year, or don't worry about them hitting a rookie wall. Yeah,
you know how to practice, know all those things. And
they probably have friends. I mean, I know that he's younger,
but does he have a relationship with Patrick Peterson vougin
for him? I'm just you know, going to the LSU
route or you know. I mean a lot of these
guys have played with each other or against each other,
(09:52):
have respect for one another. Is this takes a lot
of doubt out of it without losing the upside, because
if you're Mark Robbinson's better than them, he's gonna play.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The other factor is they know how to study. I don't.
I don't have to win it when we're when we're
doing film study in a given week, or we're looking
ahead at the next opponent and I start explaining something,
I don't have to slow it down. I don't have
to dumb it down for these veteran guys because they
know what they're looking at. They know how to study film,
(10:21):
or they wouldn't have been in the league this long.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, they know how to practice, they know how to
prepare themselves all the professional stuff, or you wouldn't have
lasted this long. You're right, I mean, unless you're the
rarest of talents. But that's on what we're talking about here.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
No, no, absolutely not. But getting back to that to that,
what I believe is a disconnect a lot of the
stuff that you've seen this offseason. Steelers have one of
the best off seasons of any team. The draft, Steelers
have one of the best drafts of any team, right,
and yet when you talk when people talk about, hey,
(10:57):
who's the you know, who's the sleeper I was listened
to it scias in this morning on Sirius FM XM
NFL and he was asked, hey, who's your sleeper team
in the AFC? In the AFC, you know whose sleeper
team was Miami. He's not a sleeper team.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
No, they really aren't.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I mean, and I get it. So the thing that
he was talking about, he's, oh, the AFC is so
stacked this year with the quarterbacks, and he starts rattling
off a bunch of quarterbacks in the AFC. And absolutely,
the AFC is stacked with quarterbacks. But guess what team
doesn't have to play ninety percent of those quarterbacks in
(11:39):
the AFC.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, that's that was Actually my next point is Okay,
so as you mentioned winning the officer, you're winning free agency.
Great job. Everyone's given him good numbers. Which for us
folks that put out grades or analysis, we don't have
a crystal ball. We don't know that all these draft
picks are going to hit or you free agent signs,
but consensuously are getting good responses by those of us
(12:03):
that do this for a living. Even better for the
draft cap management. I mentioned the youngest offense in the league, Well,
they're all a year older now and presumably better, certainly
more experienced, and then you add a lot of little
pieces in between, and then the schedule sets up so
so well. And oh, by the way, this coaching staff
(12:25):
has a pretty good track record of winning games in
this league. Now, if you want to say they're not
a contender in the AFC, okay, I mean to me,
that's perfectly fine, because it is a ridiculous slate of
quarterbacks and good teams. But to say that they're not
vastly improved or aren't a sleeper or man, I can't
(12:48):
see them winning eight and a half games, I just
strongly disagree.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, I do as well, and I you know, when
you look at teams, you know we talked a lot
about the Giants last year, how they were kind of
they haven't played anybody, blah blah, blah, blah blah. I
don't think they're that good. And yet they made the
playoffs and they won a playoff game basically largely on
the matchup. Would they have won a playoff game in
(13:15):
the AFC, maybe not, but they won their NFC playoff game.
I don't see. First of all, I think this Steelers
team is a better team than that Giants team.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think so does about to say the same thing, right, And.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
If you win enough games in the AFC, much like
what happened with the Giants, Let's like, okay, let's say
you win ten or eleven games this year. You win ten, A,
you're going to be in the playoffs. You win eleven,
there's a good chance you're the number one wildcard team
or maybe win the division or maybe win the division.
(13:50):
But if you're the number one wildcard team in the AFC,
who are you playing? You're going to play the AFC.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
South, probably playing in Jacksonville or yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And yeah, and then you might win that play You've
got a good shot to win that playoff game. It's
not all about hell, you gotta beat Patrick Mahomes, How
you gonna beat Joe Burrow. Well, first of all, they
only they don't play Patrick Mahomes this year in the
regular season. They don't play Josh Allen. They do play
Burrow twice. But you know that going into it. They
do play Lamar twice. You know that going into it.
(14:21):
But I would put their track record up against Lamar
against anybody's track record against Lamar. And I'm not sold
at de Shaun Watson. Is Deshaun Watson anymore?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Right, I have not either. And even bigger picture, not
even talking about twenty twenty three, you know, you win
ten to eleven games with a second year quarterback, and
then you have another offseason where you're not you know,
paying through the nose for people and add through the
draft and have a similar offseason to this one. You know,
I'm not saying you're pick in the top ten. Yeah,
you pick twenty third something like that. You may really
(14:54):
have something. And you start winning double digit games eight, nine,
ten years in a row, you know, right right, the
chips fall.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
You know, I think everybody what they're getting caught up
in is looking just at the quarterback position. Right, when
we talked about the Steelers roster as a whole, it's
a top ten roster in the league. Agree, if you
take the quarterback out of the equation. If Kenny Pickett
(15:25):
is league average at quarterback this year, league average, yeah,
this is a pretty good football team.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Very good football team. I mean probably it's a top
ten team, probably, right, I mean that's what they shouldn't
lose Watt and Pickings and you know.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Right, yeah, assuming you'll have a massive amount of injuries.
But even at that, you know, even if you have
some injuries, because of what they've done this offseason, they've
got better depth than any team in their division.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Without question.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
They might have the best depth in the AFC.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
And they should have the best that's depth and division
for the foreseeable future. Again, back to quarterback contracts, you know,
I mean, like that's gonna be the formula for a while.
Is you know, people competing for starting spots that aren't stars.
No one's competing with Watton Hayward, obviously, but when you
lose a water Hayward, it doesn't cripple you either. You know,
like we can still withstand this. It's not ideal, but
(16:21):
every team has to deal with it, but we can
overcome it and still stay competitive.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah. I just think that there's there's there are surprise
teams every year, right And though the Miami Dolphins do
not count as you know, when you when you go
out and you're paying the kind of money that they're
paying to a lot of their guys, they don't count
us it. They're not a sleeper.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Like the Jets don't count after you.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
The Jets aren't a sleeper. They went. You know, if
you're if your team's over under win total is like
nine and a half or ten, you're not a sleeper,
right right, right, Vegas knows all about you.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
I mean everybody knows about everybody. I mean, the term
sleeper in general to me rubs me wrong because like
when I was a kid, Oh that I'm gonna pick
that sleeper in the fifth round. Well now everybody knows
those people. There's the internet, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
But it's like calling this year's Lions a sleeper. Nobody's
calling the Lions. If the Lions win the NFC North,
nobody's going to be surprised by that.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
So a side note, who are a who counts in
the AFC as sleepers like I think the Patriots now do.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
The Patriots are a sleeper. There's no doubt the Steelers
are a sleeper. And those are two franchises you can't
call on that. Indianapolis, if it were to somehow win
the win the South, would be an absolute sleeper. Denver
counts absolutely. Denver's a year late to the party last year.
They weren't sleepers, you know, the obviously the Raid. The
(17:50):
Raiders would be a sleeper if they somehow want you know,
if they are if your expectations are low, Cleveland is
somewhat of a sleeper. But they're they always They're always
a sleeper and they are always asleep.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
That's the yeah, the thing the Raiders Titans Texans and
said they're too bad to even be a sleeper if
they were to make the playoffs. Good for them. Wow,
that's a story. That's coach of the year stuff man
Will Levis's rookie of the year. You know, those things
happen in this league. That's absolutely But Denver, the Colts,
(18:26):
the Steelers, the Pats, and the Browns were on the
fringe for me because their high profile and to Shawn
and YadA YadA, if they're a playoff team, they're a sleeper.
But I'll think the Steelers over all those Oh.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, yeah, Well that's the other The other part of
the equation to this matter is that all the teams
that you just mentioned, a lot of them, the Steelers
play this year and they don't and they don't play
the teams that you consider the non sleepers.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, high wind totals and right, no, they should be
favored in a lot of games.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
So I don't know, it just struck me as odd
that you know, you're going to talk about sleepers in
the a f C and you're going to say the
Miami Dolphins or sorry, Boomer, get your head out of
New York for about five seconds. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
You're trading for Aaron Rodgers and Jalen Ramsey and Bradley Chubb,
and you know.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
You're not a sleeper. Yeah right, you're not a sleeper
at that point.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Expectation, it's it's more again, these are all expectations and
every owner is different. But if you're Miami's owner now
or the Jets owner and you don't make the.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Play playoffs, are bust? Exactly with what I've spent Are
you kidding?
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Me right, right, Giants making the playoffs last year, Wow,
we're ahead of schedule.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Way to go.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Jets not making the playoffs this year?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
What are we doing here, Fellows? Yeah, hey, we should
we blow it up? You know, Right, That's that's where
you're at with those with those teams. So no, it's
and I get it, you know, I just don't think
enough people are talking about the Steelers after the offseason
that they had in free agency and after what they
did in the draft, like you can't do as well
(20:11):
as And this isn't just us saying this, this is universal. Oh,
the Steelers really did well in free agency. Oh, the
Steelers really did well in the draft, and they were
a nine win team last year, right, but they're somehow
going to win fewer games this year.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And rookie quarterback struggle. I mean, I know there's people
with have mixed opinions on Picket out there. Everyone's entitled
to them. I mean, I've heard people say Steelers might
be in a quarterback market a year from now, or
people saying I think Picket's gonna be a star. Of
course all vary. I bet he's better this year than
last year.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, no, no doubt about it in.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Your quarterback he knows what things all about.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Well, we'll talk about that in the next segment. Matt,
he is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lulie. You're listening
to the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. Hey, Matt,
did you know you can listen to Steelers Nation Radio
anytime anywhere through your smart speaker. Just say Alexa, play
Steelers Nation Radio from my heart and Alexa will take
care of the rest. We're gonna talk about some of
those expectations for Kenny Pickett and Nausea Harris and some
(21:09):
of those guys on that offense. We come back on
the Drive right after this
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