Steelers offseason shake-up: Is change a good thing?

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Underground. The steel City Underground, the black
and gold standard for Pittsburgh Steelers coverage. Now here's your hoes.
Joe Kuzma and Bryan E. Rose.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the steel
City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzbain and flying
solo today without any of my colleagues, are cohorts, my
usual partners in crime. It's that, you know, dead time
of summer where there's hardly any news except for you know,
last week where the Pittsburgh Steelers made this blockbuster trade

(00:42):
swapping Mick Fitzpatrick in a draft pick for another draft
pick in tight end Jono Smith and Jalen Ramsey from
the Miami Dolphins. And it got me thinking this week,
as we're about two weeks away from training camp, I
think we're about maybe twenty ish days away from an
actual football game. I know it's not an actual actual

(01:03):
football game, but the Hall of Fame game, the first
preseason game the NFL season is here. For better or
for worse, though, the Pittsburgh Steelers are an entirely different
team than they have been over the last few years,
and myself and Brian went really in depth on the
trade for Jalen Ramsey and John L. Smith and Mike
Fitzpatrick and whatnot in the last episode. So if you

(01:26):
I don't want to be a broken record about that,
this episode's a little more different just because of some
of the things I see people talk about either on
the radio, on the TV, social media, and otherwise. It's
just so it's strange because this isn't your father's or
grandfather's Pittsburgh Steelers. But again, I don't want to be
a broken record on some of the things we just

(01:47):
went over last week. If you miss Brian's voice, go
back to the other episode right before this one, as
we cover a lot of that stuff a little more
in depth. We're gonna have some training camp previews coming
up around the corner, maybe some other fan service things,
as the preseason can be a little bit dry, or
there's just you know, training camp itself can It's going
to be exciting to see when you get everybody on

(02:09):
the field, but not everybody's on the field every single day.
There's you know, I don't think the NFL uses the
word load management. We know that's like an NBA or
a baseball thing, but they definitely do this during training camp.
Some of your stars are not going to be out
there every day. And speaking of one of them, TJ
Watt in his contract, I believe that's going to get done.

(02:29):
People are talking about whether or not he's going to
get like five years two hundred million dollars. Miles Garrett's
in the forty million range. We know some of the
other addressers that are seeking that kind of money. This
guy's been a great generational elite player. I could see
him in that category. I don't know if he's going
to get five years, but you know TJ coulb play

(02:51):
through his mid thirties. I'm sure you know knock on wood.
And that's one of the things that really got me
thinking about the context of this episode. And it's not
his contract and whether there's any squabbles or anything like that.
If you have followed the Pittsburgh Steelers for longer than
an hour or two, you know that they only handle

(03:11):
these contracts around training camp when they already report to
lay Trope. So if you see TJ doing the you know,
sit in so he doesn't get fined or whatever, just
his own little workouts on the site. He did that
before and to be honest, when you're not talking about
his contract, you go back to, you know, the last
couple of years at training camp at Saint Vincent's College,

(03:34):
and sometimes he's just doing his own thing. Anyways, these
guys aren't always on the field every single moment of
every single training camp practice. So when you get out
there for the first one, which you know, the first
week they don't even wear pads. They'll get into pads
of the last week of July, I believe on that Tuesday,
and then that leads into like Friday Night Lights, where

(03:55):
that Friday they'll definitely be in pads. I don't know
if they'll be in pads the Thursday before the Friday
Night Lights at the Memorial Stadium in La Trobe or Saturday,
definitely probably not. And if that, if you've got guys
like Cam Heyward or TJ. Water whatever participating in Friday
Night Lights, they're probably not doing much on Saturday. So

(04:15):
it's kind of hard sometimes to gauge everything all together.
But there's gonna be some new faces at camp and
this is like way different. I saw somebody post and
they're like, well, what did the Steelers look like five
years ago? How many of these players are still around.
They were talking about like the draft, and you know,
I scratched my head because depending on where you're selected

(04:37):
in the draft really depends on how long of a
career you have in the National Football League. I'm going
to go over to somebody completely different who used to
be a former Steeler who's now with the Los Angeles Chargers,
and that's Bud Dupree. And he's been kind of relegated
to a backup who's seen some decent amount of playing time,
not only in rotation but due to injuries in front
of him where he's had to start. And he's still

(04:58):
kind of hanging around in the NFL, but he's an
afterthought for anybody with the when it comes to playing
with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In fact, he was drafted a
few years before TJ. Watt came on the scene, in fact,
the twenty fifteen draft. Whereas TJ. Watt gets selected in
twenty seventeen, it's going to be the eleventh season for

(05:20):
Bud Dupree, his second with the Chargers. You know, he
bounced around. He was with the Steelers until twenty twenty.
That's a year where they put the franchise tag on
him for sixteen million. Seems like a bargain now when
we're talking about the Garretts and the Watts and everybody
in the world becoming the forty million dollar guys that
are almost as much as the quarterbacks. Remember, the league
is all about quarterbacks and who chases the quarterbacks and

(05:44):
of course the quarterback Going back five years, we go
back to twenty twenty one. Dupree's not on this roster, right,
But that doesn't mean he was a bad draft pick.
It doesn't mean he wasn't a contributor with the Steelers
one double digit sacks season, eleven and a half sacks
in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty and twenty one, and all
the COVID stuff and pandemic stuff that kind of played

(06:05):
around with things in the league too. But he got
hurt and he signed a big contract, got hurt when
he was at Tennessee. Bounced back a little bit with Atlanta.
He had six sacks last season, and then statistically he
didn't start a single game for the Chargers and still
kind of hanging around. So these are the kind of
players where a lot of times it's like, what have
you done for me lately? What is the recency bias

(06:26):
when it comes to some of this stuff. And again,
this isn't your grandfather Steelers. This isn't your father Steelers
Kevin Colbert when he was still around as the general manager.
I'm going to look back at this twenty twenty one
draft here in a second. In some of his picks,
there's some criticism to Kevin Colbert, but this is the
way the Steelers. The blueprint had been laid since Chuck
Knowle was the coach, and just thinking about, you know,

(06:48):
nineteen sixty nine and going into the seventies Steelers dynasty.
Steelers is going to be announcing a throwback jersey here
right around another week or so as camp goes to
break their to make this big announcement. Also, and I'm wondering,
did we get to nineteen sixty nine like the white
pants with the black stripe. I believe that was just

(07:08):
that one year that they did it. Some people are
talking about the Batman with the wing and everything on it.
I don't want those junkie jerseys. Bubble Bees, you can
bring them back, just don't break the put color pants.
More than likely it's gonna be that seventy fifth anniversary
jersey because I think they're gonna want to do the
whole alternate helmet thing that everyone else is doing now,
probably a gold helmet, maybe something that kind of looks
like almost like a Pittsburgh Pirate's kind of just one

(07:30):
stripe on the sleeves, if you remember, very similar to
what the Color Rush is that they are wearing now,
minus the gold helmet. And the Color Rush has the
numbers on the shoulder pads as well, but block numbers,
block numbers. The block numbers are sexy, right, But I
digress man thinking about that, I think about Ben Roethlisberger
with both of those the Bubble Bee and those seventy
fifth anniversary uniforms. I know the Color Rush was still

(07:53):
around when Ben was playing. Antonio Brown was still playing
with the Color Rush as well. So we'll see what
they end up doing with the jerseys, and I think
we may do a whole other segment on that, because
just who do you buy who? I've got so many
jerseys now in my closet over the last few years
that are irrelevant, and I think that's where some of

(08:14):
this kind of comes from, because I look at this
twenty twenty one roster and I see like somebody like
Chase Claypool, and I'm like, I forgot I had that
dude's uniform. I actually was one of the suckers who
bought one. Right, he didn't stick around too long. I mean,
those people are feeling that way now with George Pickens.
But it's an eternity in the National Football League. Depending
on where you get drafted, your longevity. A first rounder,

(08:36):
you're going to stick around a little bit longer because
many teams have probably looked at or scouted that player.
They think maybe a lot of times the top picks
are usually going to the teams that were the poor
teams had the worst records in the league the year before.
You look at that this year. You know the Tennessee Titans,
for example, Chicago Bears. Over the last few seasons, and

(08:58):
they change coaching staff, they change front offices, people have
different visions and whatnot. That player's probably good to bounce
around a little bit. Devin Bush is a perfect example,
coming from the Steelers. I mentioned Bud Duprie, but Bud
Dupree had six solid productive years with the Pittsburgh Steelers,
six right, Yeah, I was just looking at the pre stuff.
So he had also had the fifth year option on

(09:20):
him as well, I believe. So you know, the salary
caps and stuff. Sometimes everybody just goes in their free agents.
But the average came back to my point, The average
career in the NFL is about three years. You might
get four if you play through your full rookie contract.
Many of these guys do. Beyond that, you may get
a fifth year option that keeps you with your original team.

(09:41):
If you don't, then you're scouring the free agent market.
You may get picked up somewhere else. If you're like
a fifth, sixth, seventh round pick, and you've just been
kind of a journeyman, a role player, someone who hasn't
gotten playing time, you're probably out entirely. You may be
someone I look at somebody like, and I'm not saying
he's going anywhere anytime soon, but I look at like

(10:02):
a Connor Hayward. He reminds me of a Jaylen Samuels,
if you want to go for a throwback on that name.
And in fact, with Samuels on this roster, he was not.
He was already gone by that time. But Benny Snell
was here in twenty twenty one. It's it's just it's
crazy to be and the Steelers, for better or worse,
if you could get one or two players from a

(10:22):
draft class to become long term solutions. Remember, you've got
about five to ten contracts that are really the top
ones and then everything else. It's always constant change. If
you pop in an old version of Madden and you
go and you're like, holy cow. Ben Roethlisberger was the
quarterback his final year twenty twenty one, right, and the
Steelers that season were an interesting group. Ninety seven and one.

(10:47):
They had to tie against the Detroit Lions at home.
That was the one where Mason Rudolph ends up getting
noticed that he's going to play overnight. Ben is ruled
out due to COVID. It was rainy, it was gross.
Was before the Lions were actually as well thought of
as they are now and a competitor and a potential
Super Bowl contender. Back then, they were still trying to

(11:08):
find their way. They had just gotten Jared goff in
the swap with Matt Stafford and such in all that,
so not to be labored that too much. That game,
I remember it as just Deontay Johnson with a fumble,
Pat Firemuth with a fumble, And that's kind of it's
kind of intriguing too because you look at that draft
class in twenty one. Najee Harris no longer with the

(11:29):
Pittsburgh Steelers, but he was a workhorse. He was an ironman.
He was somebody who played or appeared in every damn there,
every game he was available to be a part of,
and a thousand yards every season. I know, it's still
not the accolade that it used to be. Now with
the seventeen game seasons as we have it, you know

(11:49):
that extra expanded one game. They're looking to kick that
out to eighteen now. Even I wonder just the health
and longevity of players. And that's another thing. Football is
very physical. Guys aren't playing fifteen twenty years like they
are in baseball or basketball, particularly if they're stars. Right
Pat Fryarmuth, the second round pick from that year, obviously
he's still around. And when I get to talking about

(12:10):
other players and how the Steelers build rosters, sometimes that
was kicking the tires on former first round picks themselves.
Eric Ebron was his running mate back then, a very
kind of a low cost option in free agency, which
the Steelers are very much so used to. The way
they're doing this now is they went after and traded

(12:30):
for johnil Smith. They're making trades and they've got a
lot of draft picks. They could have as many as
eleven or twelve next season. But to go out and
get a Pro Bowl tight end. The Steelers have been
trying to do this for as long as I can remember.
And it's nothing against Pat Fryarmuth, but it seems like
they're always trying to have somebody else there as a reserve.
But I'm going to go through some of these positions

(12:52):
on the old team and just kind of reflect to
the new twenty twenty five Steelers. It's gonna be very
interesting to see what these Steelers look like when they
get the training camp. But the rest of the picks
that year, obviously, remember Kendrick Green, a center who did
not last very long outside his rookie season. Corbert was
trying to patch up the offensive line for Ben Roethlisberger,

(13:14):
and you had a lot of your stalwarts already gone,
like Marquise Pouncy, David di Castro ended up hurt and
you know, out of football. Right around this same time
as well, Marcus Gilbert had wound down and then it
ended up getting traded. Alejandro Villa Nueva doesn't end up
returning at some point around this time, so you have
like Dan Moore was also brought in. He wasn't intended

(13:37):
to start that season, but Zach Banner had gotten hurt
and shooks. The core four moved over to a different position.
Buddy Johnson, a fourth round pick and linebacker, didn't last
very long. Isaiah Laudermilk still kind of hanging around there,
and you know as a contributor, role player or whatnot.
So you've got you've got some pretty good production. And
then of course there was Quincy Rochet, Trey Normwood, Presley

(13:58):
Harvin and Presley Harvin Ray Guy Award winner. They were
looking for a good punter and his Steelers have been
looking for a good punter for a long time. I
thought Corliss Weightman did great last year, but he may
be forced out to the contract to Cameron Johnston, who
is now healthy and ready to go. I'm excited to
see him in training camp this year and see if
he does what he did last year, because it's not
often you look at u punter and you go wow,

(14:19):
Like he was doing some wow stuff over on the
far fields at Saint Vincent.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
So h but.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Harris, you know, he got solid four years out of
Najie Harris. Nagie Harris played behind some really bad offensive lines.
Pat Firemouth is still there. He's been extended. You've gotten
or received at least a draft pick for Kendrick Green.
Should receive a compensatory pick because Dan Moore went and
signed that huge contract with the Houston Texans this offseason.

(14:46):
And Dan Moore, for all the faults and for everything
that everyone says about him, that guy was very reliable,
at least in the availability department. He wasn't like often
injured or missed games. Maybe he played with some ding
and dents. Was he above the line where we would
want him to be that type of star somebody they
would have kept. And that's the reason why they brought

(15:08):
on Broderick Jones and even Troy Foutanuo as draft picks
in the last few years. And we'll see how those
guys work out. But the whole point is is, like
you even go to the year before that, Chase Claypool
he was gone and you had Alex high Smith, Anthony McFarlane,
Kevin Dotson, Antoine Brooks, Carlos Davis, and people say, well,

(15:28):
the reason the Steelers are in the position they're in
is because they draft terrible blah blah blah blah blah.
I was going back and looking at like the Eagles
in twenty twenty one, who had a very similar record
to the Steelers in twenty twenty one. And I know
they just won the Super Bowl, but we're talking about
a transition from They went from Doug Peterson and Nick
Sirianni a new coach. They went from Carson Wentz the

(15:48):
Jalen Hurts. They realized that changes needed to be made.
Now they still had some dudes like Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham,
Darius Slay who's now with the Steelers another veteran addition
to Pitt's this year. The Steelers realized they needed to
make changes, and they just the patients might not be
there for somebody like a T. J. Watt or a

(16:08):
Cam Hayward. How many years do they have left primeiers?
I mean, Cam Hayward somehow is still ageless, still playing
at a very high level, maybe the best at his position.
He's definitely in the conversation. I don't care what the
top one hundred says what they rank him like eighty
seven or whatever. I just saw it's Malarkey and not Mike.

(16:29):
Talk about offensive coordinators too. With the Pittsburgh Steelers, Arthur
Smith in his second year, they realized he had to
do something different. There had to be some change. Is
change always.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
A good thing.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Ben Roethlisberger was eventually going to retire. We realized that,
you know, late years, Ben, he still had some of
that magic. He still had that come from behind moxie.
But they changed from Todd Haley as offensive coordinator to
Randy Fickner, Ben's buddy. That worked until it didn't all
of a sudden. Running the football was well. Short passes
are runs in Randy Fittner's book. And then you got

(17:03):
Matt Canada. Enough set about Matt Canada. The best thing
to happen with Matt Canada is when Matt Canada actually
left and Mike Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner did the job
on a co coordinator interim basis until Arthur Smith came.
Last year. Now, Arthur Smith being there with some familiarity,
but the Steelers are still clawing and biting. I got
to get a drink here, my apologies sometimes just by myself.

(17:31):
I've got this. I don't even know what coffee I
got today. Drop into comments. I'm curious Brian doesn't like
the brown hot sludge. I do a lot of k cups.
I have a whole bunch of them. I got from Flavored.
But my daily drivers are the donut shop and it's
no endorsement, just the regular donut shop. It was cheap.
I kind of like it on occasion, and just some

(17:51):
Italian sweet cream. But I believe this is the Oh,
this was Cariboo. I got Caribou today, So let me
know what you like. Get jumping back into this. I
like the cinnamon rolling, the Snickers. As far as the flavored,
there's some very good coffees. Then there's some stuff that's
just like and I don't get too picky. There's some
places I like hotels, where maybe I might be a

(18:13):
little more pickier about my coffee. But Ben Roethlisberger, obviously
it's the biggest The biggest storyline for the Steelers has
been since his retirement and walking away from the team.
The Steelers continue to make significant changes at the position.
When he left, it was Mitch Trubisky and they drafted
Kenny Pickett. Mason Rudolph, to my you know opinion, here

(18:35):
still hasn't been given the most fair shot it ever
proven that he could be the guy coming in as
a second year player, having never taken a snap and
having no quarterbacks coach. But Randy fck nur is your
offensive coordinator and all the other problems that Ben had
to deal with. Dante Montcreep doesn't say that that's your chance.
We saw him in late twenty twenty three. He's back

(18:56):
after a year away. The Steelers wipe the board, wipe
that slate completely clean, because last year they went and
did that too. They went and brought in Russell Wilson,
They brought in Justin Fields and Kyle Allen, and they
found out that Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are often
their own their own worst enemy. They hold onto the
ball forever, don't necessarily make the reads that they need
to make. I guess Russell Wilson maybe changed plays or

(19:18):
did some things off script that weren't that were frowned
upon that might have been to the detriment of this
team having a five game skid at the end of
the year. They found out they needed to change things
on both sides of the football. Everything except for Chris Boswell.
You had a T. J. Watt that was running around,
you know, probably hurt for the last month of the year.

(19:38):
I remember when he got hurt and you're like, oh, geez,
he's not gonna be on the field. I'm not actually
sure if a hurt TJ. Watt was better than maybe
having Nick Krbig or somebody out there. They had some
issues and they're making an overhaul. But the quarterback deal
once again is to retread and have a veteran, a
former Super Bowl winning quarterback once again who was on
the back side of his career at forty one years age,

(20:00):
Aaron Rodgers. I have said plenty throughout all of our
offseason podcasts about Aaron Rodgers. I'm not trying to be
anti Aaron Rodgers. You know, I defended Mason Rudolph because
it's the devil. You don't know the devil. You might
know what Aaron Rodgers is. He was a great player
who doesn't turn the ball over. Four time former MVP.
Does he still have that magic at age forty one?

(20:23):
Don't know? Father times undefeated, that's the main question mark.
He's come in for like a song like thirteen million
dollars and then some incentives. So I don't necessarily I'm
not going to be grudge anything with Aaron Rodgers necessarily
until I get to see him play. He could be
a fit. He could be part of the missing component.

(20:43):
Is he going to get rid of the ball faster
than Wilson er fields? Maybe help an offensive line in development.
Possibly talk about offensive line here in one moment, since
I was already talking about Roger Jones and Troy Fivetanu.
But Mason Rudolph, I think a capable backup. I think
Mason at some point point, he's a smart break guy
that he appears to be. He may have coaching in

(21:04):
his future, like a Kellen Moore and some of these
other dudes that have been around the league as a
backup in a play played under so many different coordinators
and great head coaches and also great quarterbacks. Mason Rudolph,
you know, playing under Ben, playing alongside Aaron Rodgers, probably
just a wealth of knowledge. And I do feel that

(21:25):
Mason is a guy win called upon. You could do worse.
The guy comes in cold and plays pretty good. I
just want to see him warm, like full Week's worth
of practice, full month's worth of prep, a full training camp,
stuff like that. Could his ceiling elevate or is he
just the backup that everybody's just like, well, you're just
relegated to back up. Nothing wrong with being a backup either.
He quarterbacks in the NFL. That's why the Steelers took

(21:47):
Will Howard National champion from Ohio, the Ohio State, the
Ohio State buck guys. Sixth rounder. Everybody just passed on
this guy because he has one year with the Ohio State,
which was a crazy juggernaut of talent. Jeremiah Smith and
all of the other wide receivers, a Mecca Buca, the

(22:09):
running backs Trevion Henderson and oh geez, I just for
a Quinn Shawn Judkins and the offensive line, just all
that talent. You know Ryan Day as a head coach. There,
you have Chip Kelly as an offensive coordinator at the end.
I know Will Howard played at Kansas State before this,
and you know there's mixed thoughts about all this and
transfer portal this and that. You never know, you never know.

(22:32):
I mean there's Tom Brady who went to that other
place up north during his college days. It is very
much a long shot, But you give him a year
to sit behind somebody like, you know, pick the brain
of a Mason Rudolph, who's been around of different systems,
different coaches, different quarterbacks, all Fame level quarterbacks. And then

(22:52):
you've got Aaron Rodgers. And if Aaron Rodgers is very
sincere in what he says about maybe this is his
last year, maybe he's got a chip on his shoulder
and something to prove. Will the change be good for
the Pittsburgh Steelers. If it's a pissed off Aaron Rodgers,
that's like I'm playing my old division. I'm playing my
old my former team from last year to New York Jets.
They're all on this schedule and I'm with my new team.

(23:14):
I'm going to really show them. And if he's also
you know, not this got the same bug up as
ass like I think he did with Green Bay drafting
Jordan Love. Oh geez, they just put an expiration on
my career here with the Packers, I'd you know, I'd
be pissed off too if I have to look over
my shoulder. In fact, you know, if they went to
hire my replacement at a job and they're like, well

(23:35):
train this guy. But you're done in two weeks. Show
them everything you know? No, So, I mean I could
get if Aaron Rodgers has some like diva tendencies like
that where he doesn't want to be a mentor. Yeah,
I mean who does who would want to be put
in that situation? Now it may be a little more different.
He's probably like, I'm forty one. I have a year

(23:57):
left at least depending on how this goes. Maybe I
come back next year. Maybe I don't. But you know what,
it may be a more of a stamp on my legacy.
If this next guy gets developed and learns a few
things for me, maybe he'll show a few things. But
for the most part, there are some things that are
non transferable. Right, You're not going to find the next

(24:19):
big Ben Roethlisberger. Maybe Will Howard watches some video, Maybe
Mike Tomlin tells some stories about how Ben didn't go
down too easily, was hard to tackle, was hard to sack. Okay,
that makes a lot of sense. But you know, Aaron Rodgers,
maybe he could show you these quarterbacks a thing or
two about reading coverages. Is he allowed to make adjustments?

(24:43):
Is Arthur Smith going to impose his system or is
he going to bend to what Rogers is best at
doing or will it be a mix? And does that
transfer over to Howard or Rudolph if they end up
having to play. I think so. I think those guys
will play more from the pocket. I don't think that
Rogers is as elusive as he once was. I mean,

(25:05):
he's not going to be quick, but he's not going
to be maybe plotting around like Ben was either. So change, wow,
I mean we're talking about Ben, we're talking about twenty
twenty one, but I mean just change. Over the years,
has it been good? The Steelers haven't been stuck with trading,
you know, multiple first round draft picks three to be exact,
and some other picks and swaps of physition and to

(25:26):
the Houston Texans for a player that then doesn't really
play Hurt probably isn't going to play this year, but
has settled them with a huge, however, two hundred and
thirty two hundred and fifty million dollar contract with all
the guaranteed money of course talked about to Shaun Watson.
And it's easy to pick on the Browns. They are
another division opponent of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They're in the
AFC North. I love to pick on the Browns, but
they're not the only ones who make these kind of mistakes.

(25:47):
Throw too much money at a quarterback and that it fails.
In fact, I remember speaking of the Texans, remember when
they signed brock Oswiler. They're like four years, seventy some million,
which was a big amount of money back then. Steelers
aren't making those same kind of mistas. I know they
may be looking at the quarterback position again next year,
but for this year, are these changes a good thing?
I feel what was working, what was or wasn't working

(26:10):
last year? It worked until it didn't. Russell Wilson's still
one of my favorite players, but maybe his time's up too.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
You know.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
It's sometimes the bloom just comes off the flower, so
some guys last longer than others. He's just got to
be able to admit that himself. I think he still
got that chip too. And we'll see how he works
up in New York. We'll see if the Steelers were
right or the Steelers were wrong. I don't know. Denver
seems to be pretty vindicated by doing all of that
right now. Change sometimes can be good, sometimes change can

(26:36):
be bad. I know people are going to talk about
Mike Tomlin, the chemistry with this team, all of these
new additions that they're bringing on. I think the reason
you get Aaron Rodgers or you're able to get players
that might have a little more say when it comes
to you know, free agency or trades or whatever, and
you get them to come to Pittsburgh is a large

(26:58):
part because of Mike Tomlin, his personality and his coaching style.
Too many people, you know, Terry Bradshaw has said it.
He's talked about tom and being a cheerleader. He's not there.
He doesn't know one hundred percent of the way. I
don't think everybody can just get in someone's ass and
be a dictator either. That's why Bill Belichick's no longer
in New England, and I know they made that change.

(27:18):
Was that for better or worse? No, it looks like
it's for worse. They used to be competitive in that
league when all the other three teams weren't, with the Jets, Bills,
and Dolphins. Now those teams are at least two of them,
the Bills and you know, the Dolphins whenever they're at
full strength, are competitive in New England. It's like now
a bottom feeder and they're already on their second run
of a different coach after saying goodbye. So some of
these things change is good, some of it's changed bad.

(27:41):
Steelers are going to stay consistent. Does that mean they
stay mediocre? Not necessarily. Some of the problems were on
defense too, and we got that overhaul. But before I
go over to them again, the offensive line, I think
is a big question mark. Is changed good. Roger Jones.
They traded up to get him a couple of years ago,
but he hasn't been able to play left half. He's
been stuck on the right because of various injuries and

(28:04):
things that have been going on with the Steelers offensive line.
If he gets over to the left side, some guys
can't do both. You're specialized or you've just become ingrained
in playing that one role. Maybe Jones is a studded
left tackle. There's a hope that he's at least an
average to above average player. We know that Isaac Saamalo,

(28:25):
Zach Frasier. These guys look like they're very you know,
gonna be good. If they don't have a chance to
be great, they just hold up and they keep their
trajectory going. He's just got to hope that one or
both of these tackles plays at least steady level play.
I'm not sure about the guard. With Mason McCormick, it's
not much of a change, but they drafted him last year.
He got thrown in right away when James Daniels got hurt.

(28:47):
James Daniels now in Miami. It just seems like everybody,
like Miami and Pittsburgh are just playing musical chairs with
some of their players so far this offseason. But Troy
Flattanhu looked very bright for a game and he was
coming in and out. I know Broderick Jones got penalized
a few times. There's a lot of pressure on Projerck Jones.
We'll see what happens with the big man this year.

(29:09):
Maybe just as much pressure maybe Troy Flautadu. But now
you know, he's not necessarily just a first round pick
that's going to be expected to start right out the
gate whatever. He's had a year to kind of sit
and do this all the stuff that was talking about
with Will Howard. But as an offensive tackle, it's gonna
be huge though. And I say, like, if one of
these guys Falters or whatnot, you've got at least two

(29:31):
tight ends. Two tight ends they could catch the football.
Nice targets for Aaron Rodgers. You got John L. Smith here,
I talk about Pat Fryarmuth, who is still a carryover.
I know some people are like, well, if they would
have went with like Create Humphrey instead of Pat Firemuth,
well that pick still would have worked out. It just
would probably be looking for another tight end. St always
been looking for tight ends forever. We'll see if they
use three. They bring out Mount Washington, Darnell Washington. I

(29:54):
think they could use him some more Like half his
catches went for first downs. He's hard to tackle, he's
hard to bring down. He's got to have somebody that
can deliver from the ball, and they got to be
able to give him the opportunities he may be out
there if you need somebody to help chip with Fatanu
or Jones or just you know, your big your jumbo packages.
Just one thing though, like a big guy like that,

(30:15):
you got to have him to have the expectation to
play forward, get your body on somebody, it not be
a pick play, and then release and some of that's
like timing. Aaron Rodgers might put that ball on a
rope and be able to do that better than the
previous quarterbacks. Maybe the change is good. Maybe the change
is good for fire of me. Maybe the change is
good for Darnell Washington. I look at some maybe even

(30:42):
Connor Hayward, who I was talking about earlier, does he
really does he have longer than a four year career
in the NFL? Maybe? Maybe not, depends on he's a
special teams player, He's a utility guy that might fit
into just what Arthur Smith might want to do. But
you got all these tight ends. You got all these
guys I was talking, of course, in the backfield, you
got Jalen Warren. Maybe it change to being more of

(31:04):
a split or a full time workload. Is he a
true three down back? I don't know. I don't know
if he holds up that long. He's had some ball
security issues. As says Kenneth Gainwell in the past. Kemith
Gainwell is not the kind of guy that plods around
and he's gonna break tackles like the Nagiers. So Catin Johnson,
rookie from Iowa, you got some stuff counting on some
draft picks. Some draft picks have to hit, But so

(31:26):
do these other moves. Letting go of George Pickens. You
got to have Calvin Austar Roman Wilson step into this spot.
We don't know Ruman Wilson is a complete unknown. Austin
will starting to extend into a wide receiver two territory,
although I don't know that the Steelers really had wide
receiver one numbers from anyone. Pat Fryarmuth flirts with being

(31:47):
having the most receptions or the most yards or at
least the second most on the team. Same with scoring
with his seven touchdowns I believe it was seven last year.
Six or seven, It's been pretty consistent for him. That's
pretty decent tight end play. It's not fantasy numbers. But
then again, and for those of you who play fantasy football,
most tight ends don't put up fantasy numbers for the
most part. But DK metcalf is the big guy on

(32:08):
campus now coming over from the Seattle Seahawks, twenty eight
years old in his prime. He is a physical specimen,
a bonafide guy that can play a wide receiver one role.
So if any of the other guys can contribute, whether
that comes from Smith and fire me with to help
offset for an Austin or Wilson. You still got Robert Woods.

(32:28):
He's like thirty three years old, probably going to be
a special teams guy, a returner. We'll see how that
works out. I like Robert Woods a lot over the years.
It's probably usually been in health. But if he's not
playing like seventy percent or more of the snaps, that
might bode well for somebody that age. He's still got
the tricks of the trade too. He's going to know

(32:49):
when to come out of certain breaks, certain things with footwork,
certain things that aren't established only by speed, like if
you remember Antonio Brown, not necessarily the fastest guy off
the line of scrimmage, but he could shake you out
of your boots and he could get open, he could
get free, and then once he did, goodbye, see you later.
A little different from Martins Bryant, who was just the flash.

(33:13):
Not Zach Ciladonia, our other co host. So enjoying the
caribou here the receiver overhaul. Is it a good thing?
I don't know. It looked like it was going to
be a good pairing. But when you have with George
Pickens pairing up with DK Metcalf. But I saw this
with Chase Glaypool too in the past. Just give up

(33:35):
on plays. Deontay Johnson, just give up on plays. George
had a little bit of that with within his tendencies too,
as we saw debatable on how serious his injuries were
at at one point last season where he got put
on the bench might have been disciplinary and they were
using that as an excuse. Maybe it was a mix
of ball. But you miss you take one playoff, and

(33:59):
we see a lot of football games are decided in
five plays or fewer. That's what ends up happening. It's
all the more it takes one play goes wrong. Russell
Wilson throws an interception, Aaron Rodgers throws an interception. Maybe
George just might have been better off, you know, not
being with the Steelers and they sell high and they

(34:20):
get something from him again in the running back role,
Noijee Harris gone. You got maybe a larger role for
Jalen Warren. He's a hell of a pass protector. And
we'll see what Caleb Johnson could do. Caleb Johnson appears
to have all the tools to be a three down
back as well. He might have some Leybeon Bell type tendencies.
You're gonna catch the football Also remember Bell used to

(34:42):
be he want a wide receiver to money. Change could
be a good thing. It wasn't maybe post Bell. Although
James Corner, if he could have stayed healthy, James Conner
still he still, dude, we shall see a little different
than Benny Snell is. Looking at that twenty twenty one roster,
Oh my goodness. You look at the wide receivers Deonta
Johnson and Chase Claypool, James Washington, Ray Ray McLeod. It's

(35:07):
not forever. And then Juju was on this team. Also,
Juju came back. He played five games that year. So
I remember everyone was all like up into arms over
Kaitlin Belage. Who saw how many carries? Twelve? It just
goes to show you it's not always what do you
think on paper? Defensively, you know the Steelers they had,

(35:33):
who do I want to all put on here? Obviously
Minka Fitzpatrick in twenty twenty one, if you remember, Joe Shobert,
Terrell Edmonds, Cam was still there, Alex high Smith in
his second year, Devin bush T, j Watt, Robert Splaine,
Cam Sutton who actually came back last year, Chris Warmly,
James Pierre is still hanging out, Arthur Mallett, Joe Hayden,

(35:54):
It's the not Forever League. I forgot Taco Charleston or
Taco Charleston, say his name. Taco Charlton was even a
part of this roster for a short minute. A guy
it's like a Kello Weatherspoon justin Lane. He's just like
to most people that are like, wow, that was just terrible.
You wouldn't have been able to keep all of those

(36:15):
guys to twenty twenty five. Some of them are going
to age out, some of them are just gonna flame out.
Some of them aren't gonna pay him out. You've got
a couple of them that, you know, Alex high Smith
for example, hung around and have done well. So maybe
change is good and if Steelers needed some change on
the defensive side of things this season. We talk about chemistry.

(36:37):
Jalen Ramsey. You've got Darius Slay also in this mix
with Joey Porter. Some people are really getting on Joey Porter. Yeah,
he had his hands full against the Bengals. Aside from
the Bengals, though, I didn't think he had a bad season,
to be honest. Getting somebody like Sligh or Ramsey in

(36:57):
there with a young Porter, He's gonna learn a lot.
And Porter won't just be your only just your number
one guy now in that secondary, he's good enough to
be a number one guy potentially, but he's definitely at
least a two or a one and a half. Holy cow.
The Steelers just got tired of not being able to

(37:19):
stop other teams, and a lot of that was again,
like I say, playing musical chairs, doing all these different
rotations on defense. Jalen Ramsey should be a guy that's
on the field one hundred percent of the time. You're
gonna be able to move him around anywhere. And if
you remember Cam Sutton playing safety, Joe Hayden sometimes would

(37:41):
fill in on the back end of that defense, depending
on the coverages and schemes. Teryl Austin is still the
defensive coordinator. For better or wise, has changed a good thing.
I don't know. I don't think they get to the
quarterback as much as they used to with Keith Butler,
but some of that comes as a risk. More guys
you send after the quarterback, that's the more one on
one coverages, or fewer guys to put a hat on

(38:04):
a hat. You might play some zone, but Jalen Ramsey's
going to be a man, the man guy. He's going
to press. He's going to press at the line of scrimmage.
He's capable of getting his nose in there. He's capable
of helping stop the run. Maybe some stuff that you
couldn't get out of just Daunte Jackson, or you know,
you're stretching Minca around. I don't have a bad thing
to say about Minca other than I think his contract

(38:26):
may have priced him out of Pittsburgh, especially with the
lack of splash plays over the last two seasons, and
some of that is just maybe by assignment too, maybe
just didn't fit what they wanted to do. They bring
in one Thornhill, I thought, maybe just as a reserve
replacing CAZy. Maybe Thornhill is just a guy that you know,
played with the with the Chiefs those Super Bowl teams
there under Andy Reid and Steve Spagnolah great defensive coordinator.

(38:50):
Maybe he's somebody that brings a wealth of knowledge and
experience and won't be a liability on that backside. Of course,
to Sean Elliott gets the brand new contract, you play
them guys up with border with Ramsey, with Sleigh. Ramsey
could even fill in and slide back. He could, he
could go toe to toe with some tight ends. He's
going to help man up. I mean, you saw what

(39:12):
the Ravens are doing in the arms race. They get
Jaiira Alexander right, they add him. Marlon Humphrey has been
playing in the slot. They have Nate Wiggins, who was
a recent draft pick I think maybe two seasons ago
out of Clemson. And then they also have wide receivers also.
They're doing that against the Bengals. They're looking at the Bengals,
They're looking at Jamar Chase, and they're looking at t
Higgins and how can we, you know, line up against that.

(39:35):
But at the same time, the Steelers not only have
to think about the Bengals, have to think about the
Ravens who have Zay Flowers, who have DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown.
I think it's still over there, and trying to think
who else did they have. Hopefully I got that right.
I haven't gone into the deep dive on the AFC
North Rosters yet until they get the camp so, but
this is certainly a move that the Steelers made to
do that. But they also have to stop guys like

(39:55):
Derrick Henry up front. Cleveland Brown's have been running the
football exceptionally well over the last few seasons. You've got
to be able to beat the teams in your division.
Brown's are probably gonna run the ball a lot based
on who they have as their quarterbacks. I know they
got Jerry Judy, maybe not much of anything else, maybe
some other young wide receivers. Maybe it won't give as
much trouble. But when you have that great coverage on

(40:16):
the back side, might not have to double at Jamar Chase.
You might not have to double a DeAndre Hopkins. You
can just put Ramsey on him, put Sleigh on him,
put Porter on him. Porter can get handsy, but you
know what, he gets a flag thrown at him because
he grabs a guy to not give up a touchdown,
and you know, then it's not a decline penalty because
it's not a catch and you give up whatever. I

(40:38):
don't want to see that all the time because it
doesn't mean I don't want to be thinking he's getting
beat all the time. But if it happens here or there,
it's actually a smart play versus just this guy's bad
or something like. So people getting on that horse I
don't like with Porter, but be able to stop the
run game as part of this too. And like I said,
Ramsey will get his nose in there, Elliott definitely does,

(40:58):
thorn Hill will as well. And then you've got the
rest of that front seven. You've got what You've got
high Smith, You've got Cam Hayward, Keanu Benton is a
guy that I have loved since he's come out of Wisconsin,
and I think he's really gonna mature into a role
with the Steelers. We'll see if he's playing any nose tackle.
We'll see if the draft pick from Oregon this year,
Derek Harmon, what his role is going to be. I

(41:20):
believe he's a full five technique as well. Maybe Benton
plays a little nose, but we're not gonna see a
whole lot of nose. We're gonna see that four man
front that's a combo of you know, pretty much the
stalwarts are Watt and high Smith, with Hayward and probably
Benton to start, since he's the elder now in place
of Larry Okujobi, who was just he wasn't getting the
job done. Anybody else they had in there wasn't getting

(41:41):
the job done, Patrick Queen as your linebacker. Cole Holcomb,
may you know he was meant to be a captain
and a play caller two years ago, missed all of
last season, takes a you know, reduced contract, had that
restructured so he could return if he comes back at
full pace. Holy cow. And you still got Peyton Wilson there.
But around this isn't like putting the landon Roberts out

(42:03):
there and then you're like, well, we'll line this guy up.
We know he can't cover him, and you end up
with some mismatches on the field because you have players
that are only specialized in playing on certain downs. And
I'm not just talking about giving somebody a breather. You've
got three legitimate inside linebackers who go sideline the sideline.
You've also got guys who could give Watt Heismith a blow.
You've got Nick Herbig and potentially Jack Sawyer also. We'll

(42:26):
see if Jack how much playing time. Jack Sawyer ends
up getting them excited to see him in training camp
as well. The Steelers defense has got me real excited.
I'm gonna start doing some comparisons to see what they
look like, you know, versus even last year's team, but
just talking about some of the players that were there
twenty twenty. We know the Steelers started eleven and oh
you know, in twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, I was

(42:48):
looking back at that roster. It's it's exciting times. We'll
see what they could do with a veteran quarterback. But
is change a good thing? They had to make some changes.
They haven't wont to play out games since they made
the AFC title game in twenty sixteen. Back then, we
were riding pretty high. We went into twenty seventeen with
like thirteen wins to play the Jacksonville Jaguars hosting a

(43:09):
home game after a bye. Ben Steelers fans are missing that,
and I know I am too, and trust me, it
doesn't mean wipe the slate incredibly clean. We've seen Tom
Brady bring a few guys with him and there's some
small tweets in Tampa Bay and boom. That foundation was
good enough to compete for a Super Bowl. I just
mentioned the Eagles, adding some youth, making some trades, making

(43:32):
a signing here or there, playing with a cheap quarterback.
They were able to do the same thing and compete
and be a very competitive team over the last few seasons,
so let's see if the Pittsburgh Steelers are in that
same category. Folks, thank you for watching or listening wherever
you may be. Don't forget the light, comment and subscribe.
For those of you watching the video version of this podcast,

(43:52):
next day availability on Spotify. Till next time, I'll get
my colleagues back. We'll be talking about some other fun
stealer stuff as well, but until then, as we always
sign off on this show, my name is Joe Kuzma,
and I always encourage our viewers and listeners out there too.
Be safe, be good, and I'll catch you late.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
We would like to thank you for listening and remind
our listeners to follow us on social media and our
website www dot steel City Underground dot com.

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