The pick is in! Steelers select Oregon DT Derrick Harmon

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 hose.
Joe Kuzma and Brian E. Rose.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Steel
City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzma, joining me
here one morning after the first round of the twenty
twenty five NFL Draft one, Mister Brian E Roach, Brian,
my friend, how is it going. How are you feeling relieved?

Speaker 3 (00:44):
I feel I feel like I was I was definitely
doing one of the memes last night.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Whew.

Speaker 4 (00:51):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
I feel like a bullet was dodged, a disaster was averted,
a hurricane went off in the other direction, an earthquake
was stilled. I don't know, I just I feel much relieved.
Oh man, the tornado that would have been back. I
actually there's a lot of texts flying back and forth,

(01:14):
even between me and you. I've got a group text
with my two cousins. I talk about them a lot,
especially Brad. He likes to complain and moan and this
that and the other thing, and he's like, you know,
very pro. Aaron Rodgers as his flash, who seemed to
take the news very well this morning.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
He seems to have come to his senses a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
The Chador thing. It was like, I was laughing. There
were people that were in the comments sections all over
the place, whether you were like on AX, whether you're
on Facebook, and the folks were somebody said, of course
I should have picked the guy with the big, you know,
diamond filled chain around his neck, and I was just laughing.
One of the things I texted out to people was,

(01:57):
did you imagine if this team drafts Shador Sanders and
still signs Aaron Rodgers the circus if you thought Mike
Tomlin was dealing with stuff and there's still a chance
that Sanders is there. We may have said this on
this show. I'm not sure if it did. I'm not
sure if it was in a text or something like that.
I'd love to take credit for thinking of this ahead
of time, but there what exactly happened last night, Not

(02:20):
that we knew exactly what was going to happen, but
I said, what's the chances that Jackson Dart get selected
ahead of Shador Sanders and lo and behold the New
York Giants. A little bit of peer pressure there on
what happened at the beginning of the very beginning of
the draft. Jump back in the first round and grab

(02:43):
Jackson Dart over Sanders, and everybody's sitting there with their
shock faces as though we haven't seen this story play
out a few times.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
And I thought the Giants trade backup was not a
bad one at all. They didn't give up that much capital.
It wasn't It ain't like the Atlanta one. Right that
was to me? Which was that was insand or Jacksonville
with Cleveland. Man, Look, I'll be honest with you. The
real reason I hate that pick is not because I

(03:11):
think Jacksonville overpaid.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
It's because they overpaid to Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, sir, that's an additional second rounder and next year's
first to move up three spots for a player they
never even met with. They met with him at the Combine,
they never had him in for a visit. They didn't
do like he didn't say pro days or anything.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
I don't follow Jacksonville's visits enough to you know them,
just going by Travis Hunter saying, I don't know what
they want me to do. I've never talked to anybody
since the Combine, and I'm like and they they gave
up all of this for you. But it is in
one way, it's kind of like, well, the Cleveland fumble
this because now they don't have Travis Hunter, and that
could be a good thing, to be completely honest, Whether

(03:50):
or not he played on both sides of the field
for them a whole other story. But that's the first
rounder that Jacksonville just gave away. I'm just sitting there thinking,
oh my goodness, it's gonna be an their top ten
pick next year.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Up quit very possibly.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Quit bailing the Cleveland Browns out from their terrible Deshaun
Watson trade by allowing them to get top cheaper talent
in the draft. Stop doing this, folks. They hadn't had
they weren't able to pick forever. They had like the
last three years or so, that was all given to
the Houston Texans and then they had a really crap year.
So they end up with the second overall pick. I

(04:25):
was hoping they took Shador. I'm not gonna lie, and
I'll look like a fool if Shador has a good
pro career, obviously, but I just think that there is
an immense gamble, especially at the top of the first round,
but anywhere in the first round. I don't know that
his body of work. And we're talking about the quarterback
position and we're talking about a big swing in a
miss when you're trying to swing for the fences. I

(04:48):
just I was okay. I mean, I was sweating like
you were. I was like, oh oh oh. And I'm like,
would they take Dart over Sanders is what I was thinking.
But I'm like, Derek Harmon's here. I think I was
watching primarily NFL network. Daniel Aeremayah. He says, well, Derek
Carmon's here, and after Kenneth Grant had already gone, and
Kenneth Grant gone, went pretty like what eighteenth or something

(05:09):
pretty close to the Steelers pick. But I was like, okay,
there's some breathing room here. And the Bengals went with
Stuart right. I think they went with Shamar Stewart. So
I was feeling pretty good about the Harmon pick. You
were banging your fist for it. The professor Zach Meckler,
behind the scenes, that was his guy a month ago.
As soon as they said he was meeting with the Steelers,

(05:30):
he said, that's the pick. Give him his flowers for
that he had convinced me and one of my two
mock drafts, because my other one that I published ahead
of time over in the website was Amaro and Hampton
who goes one pick later to the LA Chargers. So
I feel like the kind of the smartest guy in
the room. But if you didn't see this going see
this happening, at least like our watchers and viewers had

(05:50):
to have known that this was a very strong possibility
that Harmon was to pick, but we still didn't know
exactly where they were going to go, right, you know,
I got asked to guess on another show that she
told you about it right yesterday.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, And that's the bottom line.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
This is the This was a draft where I just
didn't know what the heck they were gonna do. There
were too many options. And to be honest, this draft
class is just not chock full of guaranteed studs.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Right.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
It's got a It has a halfway decent D line
draft depth and pretty good running back depth depth. Outside
of that, man, you know, there's just not that much
standout stuff. So it's really hard. Look, they they pulled
in every running back in pre draft visits. They pulled
in a lot of D lines in pre depth roads.
We knew D line was was going to be a

(06:39):
priority and it had to be. They signaled that when
they when they let Larry Ogunjobi go right, and you know,
I know, I know Keanu Benton is there, but Cam's
thirty six or thirty five gonna be thirty.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
Six, Yeah next month. There's there is a.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Need for depth along the defensive line, and they have
to get better at stopping the run. So, like, it's
not really a surprise. I've been We've been saying this
all along. D line, D line, D line, D line,
D line. I've been That's that's what I wanted them
to do. So I'm I'm quite content with the with
the pick, you know, I Outside of that, it'll be

(07:16):
interesting to see.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
You know.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
I stayed up last night simply to find out did
they do something crazy and try and come back? I know,
I know that, and I didn't expect them to, but
I I do. I expect, like I have no knowledge
of this, I expect them to somehow end up with
a second draft round.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Draft pick tonight.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
I know, I know that's what I expect to have happened.
Doesn't mean it will but that's what I expect.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well, we'll jump there real quick before I get the harmon,
before we talk about some of these other picks. We
were trouncing on Cleveland a little bit. That's the one
that really just grinded my gears and just talking with
about the Giants, like, yeah, they didn't give up a
whole lot to get back into the first round. It
was the following year, it was a two, it was
the two this year, and then something else. I got

(08:05):
to go back and look. But it wasn't like super
expensive to get back to where they got a quarterback
that's going to be under a fifty year option. I
didn't hate that move at all. They had to get
in front of Cleveland because Cleveland literally has like two
of the first five picks tonight, right, So they had
to get in front of Cleveland assuming that Cleveland might
look at quarterback. I mean, it's obviously a big hole

(08:26):
when you look at that roster. The teams that are
left right now is like the Steelers, the Browns, and
probably the Saints because they don't know what's going on
with Derek Carr. And then you've got some outliers that
may may kick the tires on the quarterback position. It's like,
you know, there's talk of whether the Raiders, you know,
even though they gave the deal Gino Smith, they say,
look what the Falcons did last year, they're maybe they're

(08:48):
not one hundred percent settled on Gino Smith for the future.
And if Sanders is there, maybe they take Sanders. And
it's got to be in the back of the mind,
like Cleveland can't like miss on this, you know what
I mean, Like the Giants had to think about that too.
If the Raiders go to the jump over or the
Saints are still in that top ten like area of
the draft, uh in each round. So for the ones

(09:08):
that you know, I'm just kind of generically speaking here.
I know there's been trades and some of these picks
have moved around. But for there the Giants, I thought
that was a good move. The Falcons, it's just like whoo,
and they're going after you know, pass rushers galore, so
they need some help on that on that front. But wow,
I'm like they did all of that for Pierce. I mean,
that was and gave up another first round pick. You know,

(09:31):
It's like I don't remember what they were where they
did they give up their second too, Is that what
they did? Second, I'll get it for I will get
it for you here in a second, so I have
all of it.

Speaker 4 (09:42):
There was somebody had to move way up, you know,
to get.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well, and Cleveland made and Cleveland made a trade with
the Texans like like an hour before the draft even
kicked off. So there was, you know, some other other
stuff going.

Speaker 4 (09:54):
On the fifth and sixth or something. Yeah, so Cleveland
there was.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
They had their first round pick, and there was a
fourth and in sixth round selections to Jacksonville that then swapped
round for a first, second, and fourth and then next
year's first rounder. It was just that one was just
a complete gigantic mess. So you got Cleveland at thirty
three and thirty six this evening as we head into

(10:24):
Friday's portion of the draft. In the second round, let's
see here just at the top. Then it's the Houston Texans.
They have a pick from the Giants. But the Giants
they moved around and they gave up let me see,
first round selection in exchange for second and third rounders
and then third the following year. So it kind of

(10:46):
goes with the math, you know what I mean. If
you're giving up a two and give it up and
then two threes, and the threes might be they might
be in the comp category like the Steelers and stuff too.
I'm not one hundred percent sure, so it's kind of wise.
But man, Atlanta, let's see, the Rams gave up their
first and a third in Atlanta got second and seventh
and then a first round next year. So yeah, that one,

(11:11):
that one feels like an overpay to me. It was
next year is what kills it.

Speaker 4 (11:16):
Right to me?

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Having to give up another first rounder to come back up.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
That's tough.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
And we talked about this, like do you want to
give up this much collateral such as what Jacksonville did?
I mean, if if you Hunter as this generational player.
But we're gonna do that for Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart
to me, as I've been saying, pretty much, you're just
getting another justin Fields, maybe another Kenny Pickett. And that

(11:43):
was said in the broadcast to the analysis. The people
that were talking throughout the evening said the same thing
that we've been saying. The Steelers had already taken this
swing in a miss with Picket and that was still
Kevin Colbert that wasn't Omar Khan, but Omar Khan is
in the room, and I think that they may have
learned their life, and that if you put him in there,
and then we're hurting somewhere else and you can't stop

(12:04):
Derrick Henry from running for almost three hundred yards on
your defense, that's where the Harmon pick makes the most sense.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
So I'm gonna jump.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Into Harmon here, because I mean, Sanders is still on
the board. We'll talk about that in a moment if
they're truly interested, or whether they would get another second
try and get another second round pick. But a lot
of people they're like, oh, this is a wasted pick,
Oh this and that, Like, you know, he played in
a Big Ten. He had his biggest year obviously after
moving out of the Big Ten and going to Michigan State.

(12:34):
People are looking at sacks and you're looking at it
the wrong way when you're looking at a three to
four defensive tackle, basically a guy that's gonna shift along
the line and be playing the same kind of role
as Cam Hayward does. Cam gets some sacks, don't get
me wrong. But the entire thought process here is that
Harmon kind of jumps in he's gonna get his feet wet.

(12:56):
He's gonna learn from an elite player that we feel
should probably be a future Hall of Famer, and he's
got to eat up he's got to clog gaps, he's
got to eat up blockers, and that is what he's
poised to do. He had eleven tackles for loss last
season at Oregon. Oregon was definitely one of the best

(13:18):
teams in all of college football, and you know, he
was a tackling machine. He still got to the quarterback
five times. We're not looking for that kind of motor, though.
In a three to four defensive tackle, we might get
Betten to play a little nose. I know that was
something we were talking about when Betton came out of college.
Maybe he's the guy who knows. Maybe they just find

(13:39):
somebody they've had everybody's talking about, like Casey Hampton, right
the next Casey Hampton. We haven't been good since Casey Hampton.
And Mike Tomlin comes straight out in this pregame or
pre draft presser with Omar Cohn and says that position
is a dying breed. And I'm thinking to myself, dying breed.
It was dead back when Casey was, you know in

(14:00):
his final seasons, look at what happens when you've got
to cover a third wide receiver on the field or
a mobile quarterback Tim Tebow. It was like the only
thing Tim Tebow had to his resume is that he
was you know, he was a shifty guy. I think
he wasn't the best passer, but let's not kid ourselves.
You had to take Casey off the field more often

(14:23):
than not. And then who they replaced him with after
that guy's like Steve McClendon. You may have had Javon
Hargrave the grave digger, but that wasn't necessarily his intended role.
That's where he started as a rookie, and he was
meant to kind of bounce around the same way that
we're talking about. So when you're talking about a traditional
nose tackle with the Steelers defense with the three to four,

(14:44):
we're not it's a guy that's playing maybe twenty to
thirty percent of the game.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
Tops.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
They can get like an arma On Watts like they
had before and just have somebody there. Ideally, though, it'd
be nice if they found like another Tyson Alululu, a
veteran player. He did more than serviceable when they had
to use the three four, they'll have to use against
teams that like to run the ball, like the Ravens,
like the Browns. But ultimately you want the guy it's
probably gonna be out there more frequently, and is you

(15:12):
know that's versatile. You need the versatility of a Derek
Harmon on this defense. So you get some youth. You
got Cam turning thirty six. You didn't have Larry Ogajobi.
I think Larry was they got to win that he
might get suspended. That's another reason he was let go.
It was a salary cap. Was he the most effective?
Was he always healthy? None of those things seemed to

(15:34):
check certain boxes. So I like the Benton pick and
you know, four year college player. What else I got
to say about him? I mean, it's a guy that
could play all over all over the defensive front, and
I think it's a player that helps the Steelers now
Versus if you took a Shador Sanders or Jackson Dart

(15:56):
you're probably not starting the season with those guys, and
long term you.

Speaker 4 (15:59):
Still don't know.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
So if they're the answer, hopefully in this case, you've
got Harmon as a long term answer for the days
at beyond Hayward's retirement.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, I mean, Harmon is a player that can contribute
immediately and for the future. You know, at least that's
the projection. You know, I'll go back and say it
over and over again. Any one of these guys is
a crapshoot. You don't know, but look at you know.
Let's go back to what we talked about several shows ago.
The second worst success rate or any position as quarterback

(16:32):
when drafted in the top ten second worst wide receiver
is the worst. The top success rates are offensive and
defensive line.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
So you know you've got.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
A better shot at this guy being a successful, productive
pick overall. And I'm just being honest. This is not
the year to take the big swing at some potential quarterback,
especially when it feels so familiar to the year they
took Kenny pickt. It's better to solidify the ranks and

(17:05):
then take that swing later when you have the capitol
to maybe move around and do some other things.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
Yeah, I'm with you on that.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
I got some Pro Football Focus stuff the twenty twenty
two grade first year starter as let me make sure
I got this right. As a sophomore, they haven't marked
his sophomore twice and then senior. I hate the way
sometimes the eligibility things go when I'm trying to look
up stats. So he's a four year player, they played
in four games as a freshman. Pro Football Focus and

(17:36):
who knows what they're looking at here, but they did
not like Harmon in twenty twenty two fifty nine point
eight grade. Then he jumped to seventy eight point four
while he was still at Michigan State. That season he
had eighteen quarterback hurries and he had just one hit
on the quarterback. That jumps the seven when he goes
to Oregon last year with forty three hurries, the most

(18:00):
pressures in college football of any defensive linemen. So in
twenty twenty four he had eighty three point nine grade
by Pro Football Focus. And where he lined up primarily
last season a gap twenty eight. Not playing nose tackle.
You can get an over B gap three hundred and
fifty three and then over tackle one hundred and eighty eight.

(18:21):
You only lined up outside the tackle twenty one times
once off the ball. Those are kind of maybe some anomalies,
maybe some special packages, maybe there's extra defensive linemen in
if they're in a goal line stance, so I kind
of take those with a grain of salt. I'd liking
to pick. I don't have to convince myself. It may
sound like I'm trying to convince myself. I don't really
want to convince anybody else either. We've been sitting here,

(18:42):
You've been talking about defensive lineman forever. And I said,
if they passed on Harmon, you know, God forbid he
lands with the Philadelphia Eagles or something, because it would
be such a pick that the Eagles would make.

Speaker 4 (18:53):
And they moved up too.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
They moved up like one spot probably, so the Chiefs
went in trade out of that spot to take you know,
I forgot who they grabbed. They grabbed Matt Max, didn't
they or No, that was Buffalo, never mind Max Harriston.

Speaker 4 (19:07):
Eagles grab Jahad Cammell the linebacker. Backer.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yes, linebacker, So that's interesting. That's an interesting pick too.
And I said, wow, I'm like for Buffalo to get
like Maxwell Harrison at the bottom of the draft. That
was pretty good. Chiefs get their tackle. They get Josh
Simmons from Ohio State. So let's go from the top
here and then we'll talk about some of the players
that are still available. And let's you got anything else
to say about Harmon. And I know it's not that
when you take the Steelers draft picks over the last

(19:33):
couple of seasons have not been the most sexiest picks.
Roderick Jones, Troy Flatanu, Derek Harmon, you don't get, you know,
the same kind of highlight reels, the same kind of
you're not excited to maybe purchase the jersey, whatever number
Harmon's gonna wear.

Speaker 4 (19:46):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
I think all of nineties are like taking. So I
think ninety nine is what Okajobi had right. That one's
probably still available. But people don't maybe get as excited
about this as you know, you try and get excited
to talk about Sam And I don't think I would
be excited to talk about Sanders. If they make some
kind of move and end up back in the second
round and take Sanders, that's a whole different story. But

(20:07):
let's see who's available and se who's taken. I think
there was no surprise with cam Ward number one over
all of the Titans, Travis Hunter and the Jaguars, the Giants,
Dan Pat Abdul Carter, we kind of knew that was
coming Will Cammell. A lot of these were like the
usual suspects before it started to get a little crazy.
You're like, Okay, who did the Cleveland Browns get? And
I'm glad they didn't get Will Cammel. I'll be honest.

(20:31):
They go with Mason Graham, defensive tackle Michigan. That's a
very good pick for them. They could use that. So
you know, as much as I poo poo on the
Browns and they should be this was good, This was okay.
I'm fine with that as a safe pick. They didn't
go swing for Ashton Genty. I have no idea what
he's gonna be like a pro. He looks great. I'd
like to say, a good fit for the Raiders. Maybe

(20:53):
armand Membo. Another tackle goes to the Jets. McMillan roa McMillan.
I think I finally said that right to the Panthers.
That's the one that got me because when you look
at the mock drafts, almost everybody's wrong, right, And I
know we're over here, like you know, pat in our
backs and saying yeah, harmon, harmon, harmon. And it's easy
when you have the draft visits and everything like that,

(21:15):
but they looked at a whole bunch of other people
in the draft, a lot of other positions. They definitely
looked at Dart It definitely looked they had Schador Sanders in.
So he didn't know this necessarily for certain that he
was going to be the pick. Let's see who else
we've got here. Okay, so Calvin Banks to the Saints

(21:36):
tackle from Texas though three tackles in our four tackle
no three tackles in the top ten. You've got Michael
Williams edge rusher San Francisco forty nine ers, Tyler Booker
guard to the Dallas Cowboys. Kenneth Grant then goes the
other Michigan defensive lineman. He heads on over to the

(21:59):
Miami Dolphins, and that one I didn't have a pulse on,
Tyler Warren kind of surprisingly over to the Indianapolis Colts,
and let's see Atlanta Falcons went for Jalen Walker. Oh
I skipped over the Bears with Colston Loveland tight end
picked there too. Sorry, I skipped one that was at ten,
So you had to two of the tight ends.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Go.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
I was like, wow, Okay, I mean I guess it's.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
Who and two running backs go in the top in
the first round.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
That's that's quite a bit. That is.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
It's a it's it's a very strange draft because you're
looking around this draft and you're like, okay, where where's
Derek Stingley right Where's where's these top corners at that
you've always got? Uh why does his name escape me
right now? They guy it went to the Jets a
year or two ago. I can't think of his name
right now, but he was drafted very highly too. You

(22:50):
didn't have anybody like that with this one, even like
the talk with Joey Porter's class. There was a couple
of corners that went ahead and Joey was still there
at like thirty two and every there's a lot of
buzz and it was like, you've got Travis Hunter and
that's about it, you know what I mean? I know
Baron goes here shortly, but they had him listed as
dB as a safety maybe a little bit more of
what's knife So okay, Tyler Warren at fourteen to the Colts.

(23:13):
Jalen Walker the first edge that goes to the Falcons.
Another George guy. Lots of George players, lots of Ohio
State players, some Bama guys mixed in. Walter Nolan goes
to the Cardinals that said, oh oh, here we go run.
Shamar Stewart then goes to the Bengals sigh of relief
because now I'm like, okay, okay, we have Grant off

(23:34):
the board, we have Nolan off the board. But Shamar
Stewart going to the Bengals means that Harmon doesn't line
up against Steelers, He's still going to be there.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
You know.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
The Seahawks went with offensive Linmon of North Dakota State
kid Gray zabel or Zobel a Meca Buca the Buccaneers.
So a lot of people had McMillan penciled in there
that's a fine pick. That's a real fine pick. And
he could learn. And they've got like a stable of
receivers too. So the one that surprised me was the
Broncos because a lot of people thought that the Broncos

(24:04):
were gonna go running back, but Omrion Hampton was gonna
be gone. So Brian once Johny Barron goes to the Broncos,
they haven't listed his corner. I'm sitting there, it's Harmon
a Marion Hampton's there and then you've got Sanders and
you've got Dart, and it's like, where are they gonna go?
Because it's got to be one of these four, I think,

(24:25):
And I'm good with it, you know what I mean.
So I don't know that the same way you were
kind of feeling while you were sitting there.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
I had this moment of dread, thinking, oh, they're gonna
draft Sanders.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
Oh my god, it's gonna be a nightmare.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
And then I stopped myself and like, you know, we
were texting back forth and I said, it's gonna be
harm It's gonna be Harmon.

Speaker 4 (24:48):
I'm calling it. And then I sent you the fingers
crossed emoji.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
Because I'm like, you know, I would have been fine
if they got Omaron Hampton. I would have been fine
if they traded back. I'm fine with drafting Derek Harmon.
That is where I've been saying I wanted them to
go since the beginning of the process.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
So how can I complain?

Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah, well you can complain because it's not a quarterback.
A lot of people still feel it could be Aaron Rodgerson.
A lot of people think it's because Aaron Rodgers is
just sitting there. Again, I have to keep remembering Aaron
Rodgers was released. He doesn't impact the comp pick stuff.
He's just playing his own games, whether he has real
personal stuff going on, whether he's contemplating retirement or trying
to go somewhere other than Pittsburgh.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
I said this yesterday as I was talking, and I
think this is true what Davante Adams said. I think
is probably very likely. Aaron Rodgers wants somebody. He's got
a hero complex. Aaron Rodgers wants somebody to roll the
red carpet out for him and proclaim him the savior
of your team. Yeah, the Steelers met with him, but

(25:53):
they're not gonna do that. They're not gonna be like.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
Oh please, oh the joys of Aaron Rodgers have come
to us. Oh all about down.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
And worship the mighty Aaron Rodgers. You know, he wants
to go in like a night on a white horse
to save everyone. And I'm sorry, first of all, I
don't know that you were ever that guy. But you're
not that guy.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
Now for sure, and you're not going to be that
guy here.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
And yeah, maybe, you know, maybe somebody goes down, and
if somebody goes down later in the season as an
injury and you come in to give them some hope.
But that you know, I look, I know they've made that.
This is what I said a long time ago. They
made their offer to Aaron Rodgers. That's it. I don't
think they'll pull it. I think they understand they still

(26:40):
need to fill out that room. But they're basically, here's
what we're willing to do. Thank you very much. Please
let us know if you're interested. And then they went
about their business.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, and I still think part of their plan was
they were going to look at They really looked at
this quarterback class. We'll talk about who else is available
from there. But yeah, the Rogers thing again, I'm still
shooting my shot on this. You're right, being a hero somebody.
It's gonna be very difficult if someone gets hurt and
he jumps in in like week three, having no off
season with whatever team, unless it's somebody somebody's system he

(27:13):
was already in, or somebody that branches from said system.
So and you know, for the last few years, I
wouldn't think Nathaniel Hackett system is something that's really worked
out well for mister Rogers. And then he's older and
has to jump in, right, away, and you know, get
the calluses and the football shape and everything else, and
then I think that's gonna be a whole circus itself.
I still keep saying that guy wants to play for

(27:35):
the Vikings. He doesn't have to play in the inclement weather.
He gets to play his old team twice a year.
He gets to throw the Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ. Hawkinson.
They got a good line, they got a good defense,
they got an offensive minded coach. But that team is
not looking to do that just yet. But they have
Brett Rippon Rippin as their backup quarterback there like and

(27:55):
at JJ McCarthy that's coming off of a major injury
that they don't know if he's any good or not,
or if he's the guy. And this is a team
that just won fourteen games. They may get desperate enough
to throw a little extra money in a starting role
to Aaron Rodgers. And that's se Levie. And everybody's gonna say,
Omar Khn screwed this up. Omar Khan did not screw
this up. Screwing this up, Brian, is all of the

(28:16):
picks you give up to swap with the Chicago Bears
to take Bryce Young. Screwing this up is all of
the picks and guaranteed money that you give way to
the Houston Texans to acquire Deshan Watson. That's screwing up
your draft if you take a swing. And I mean
it didn't screw up the forty nine ers too bad,
but it might have because now they gotta have a
lot of players that are struggling to re sign. There's

(28:38):
some holes that they're filling. But they took that swing
for Trey Lance and he never ended up playing. The
only reason you didn't notice it is because brock Party
was more than serviceable and he's about to be a
fifty million a year quarterback. You gotta look at that too.
There's a lot of teams that are copycatting. They're looking
there like, wow, if we find our brock Perty Steelers
gotta be thinking about that too. If they don't, if
they're not in love with some of these other players

(28:59):
and Derek Harmon and help you better and make the
defense better, and then he's your missing piece. You could
probably win with anybody back there. Don't forget the Ravens
were winning with what Frank Delfer, Elvis Gerback, Joe Flacco.
I know I'd be smirching the good name of Joe
Flacco and the Steelers were kicking the tires on him.

(29:19):
As far as being a guy that could be back there,
I think they feel they could win with Mason Rudolph
for just some other younger guy that they develop, and
there's guys still out there now. They don't have a
second round pick, but that second round pick was also
used to help whoever that player ends up being, which
is DK metcalf I. Will Omar Cohn said it. I
totally love trading that second round pick and getting the
DK metcalf I do too. Let me continue real quick

(29:40):
wide receiver off the board of the Packers to a
great hometown of vation there. Matthew Golden out of Texas.
Vikings take Donovan Jackson, the guard out of Ohio State
Jackson Dart as we mentioned earlier, twenty fifth overall to
the New York Giants who traded back in to the
first round. James Pierce also from the Falcons trading back
into the first round. Malchai starks like a defensive back,

(30:03):
corner safety that that tracks for them. Rich Eisen was
saying the tracks a lot yesterday at tracks that. Yeah,
But this year I'm not as upset about the Ravens
pick as I would have been in previous years. I'm
not like, oh, that's the guy that the Steelers. Absolutely
I would have loved to have that pick because we.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
Weren't gonna get him, and no, obviously we did. That's
not where we had our need. No, but it annoys
me that, you know.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
They got it, and annoys me they drafted all Yes, exactly,
I think they should just they should just be forced
to play with scraps from the you know, practice.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
Squads the UFL.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
Sorry, you can only you can only use people who
are unrestricted free agents from the You've lost all your
draft picks.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
You could you could only take players from like the
Arlington Renegades.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
This the you go perfect closing this out.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Josh Connory, Tyler Williams to the Lions, Josh Connorley to
the Commander, mad Max Harriston to the Buffalo Bills, GDD
Campbell to the Eagles, Josh Simmons to the Kansas City Chiefs.
We know who's all sitting out there. Steelers don't pick
again until eighty three. Eighty three, that's a long time.
It starts with thirty three tonight, and I'll tell you

(31:17):
the player I would love to have fall in their
lap at eighty three. It's not Jalen Milroe, although I
wouldn't be as upset with that if that happened at
eighty three as I would if it happened at forty eight,
fifty one second round or twenty one. So I don't
know if he's gonna last got to make it through
a whole second or I got to get through fifty picks,

(31:39):
but Trivion Henderson is the guy I want.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
I would running back is what I want.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
At eighty three, that is right, and if they can't,
if they feel like there's a run going on, like
I think there's a good chance that with one of
those second round picks, the Browns take Shadar Sanderd. I
think that there's a reasonable likelihood of that right and
take the risk. It's a much more reasonable risk and
the second round than it would have been with the

(32:03):
second pick. So I actually, you know, I know we
hate to talk good say good things about the Browns,
but I'm less less inclined.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
To be annoyed by doing that than you are. I
like what they did.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
It annoys me that I like what they did, but
I think they put themselves in a good position to
have a successful draft because of it and make up
for the mistakes of the past to a certain extent.
All Right, that being said, I don't think I do
think the Steelers are going to pick before eighty three.
I think they're going to get a pick. I think
that that pick could very well be a running back,

(32:39):
and then in either the third or the fourth rounds,
I expect them to take a quarterback, somebody they can
that is a developmental, potential, backup, maybe with starter potential
kind of guy.

Speaker 4 (32:51):
I'd love to see them double dip at d line,
to be.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
Honest with you, but I think that is probably going
to be unlikely, you know, at this point, unless unless
they pull something to trade George Pickens. I don't see
them taking a wide receiver until.

Speaker 4 (33:07):
Late or at all.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Even though you got two guys on rookie deals, I
mean you got still like on the last year of
the rookie deals, you still got Roman Wilson from last year,
and he brought back like Ben Skronick and Scottie Miller,
and he've got six guys in the room. When you
count Metcalf, Pickens, Austin Wilson, and then Skeronic and Miller.
I don't see that as I don't see them reaching,
especially when they don't have that many picks. But Omar

(33:30):
Omar also said that, you know, they weren't necessarily they
didn't have the picks or the ammunition to move around,
so it kind of I was looking at the looking
at the charts here, and I mean, let's just say
it was the the Browns value their picke at thirty
three is value to five eighty. It drops out of
five hundred after the Saints at picked forty. So when

(33:52):
the Steelers are back on the clock again with eighty three,
their picks only are worth one seventy five. And if
it's worth the same kind of value next year, to
give up another three to get back into the second round,
they're probably not going to jump in until round fifty ish,
and then that means they have to give up eighty
three this year and another three next year, and then
they won't have another picked until the fourth round, which

(34:13):
could very well be Tyler Shugg, Will Howard, Kyle McCord.
I think those guys last that far. Melroe probably will
not Milroll. I expect him just based on his You know,
I've said I didn't necessarily care for Milroe and watching
him play, the accuracy and some of that, but there's

(34:34):
no denying the physical talents that he has. He is
an athlete, and somebody might be able to take and
do what they did with Jalen Hurts or Lamar Jackson
or somebody like that, and Taylor make your offense to
work around that. And if he doesn't turn the ball
over a whole lot, I could see him do it.
But there's still the struggle bus that was justin fields

(34:55):
and not being able to get one yard even with
a mobile quarterback, that still scares me. With taking Milroe,
move an up, giving up a pick and taking him
in the second round, giving me Trevion Anderson's that's the
beast that I want. I didn't look at necessarily needs
for a lot of the teams picking right now. The
Browns might be in the market for a running back too,
since they've got multiple picks. The Giants and Titans, the

(35:18):
teams like that just they need a whole team, so
like they need like lots of good players. Patriots, Bears, Saints, No,
maybe not so much the Jets forty nine ers, you
know that, then we start to dwindle off Cowboys sitting there.
That would be a Jerry move. But you got Luther

(35:38):
Burden there too, So you never know when of these
teams had an extra wide receiver. But they all need players, right.
You start to get into some teams like the Falcons.
I don't know about the Broncos too, But running back's
so weird anymore because you had this kind of like
renaissance for it with the free agent class last year

(35:59):
and a few belt Cows. But I still don't think
we're fully all the way there. But the Steelers definitely
needs somebody because Jayleen Warren I don't think is able
to carry the towards the full way. I still have
ball security questions about Warren. More so for Kenneth Gainwell.
At least you have a veteran player that you could
plug in. But if Warren gets banged up, I don't
want Gainwell to be the primary option. He might not
be the primary option at all. So and I think

(36:21):
Henderson would be an upgrade over Nagie Harris, who now
has to contend with Omari and Hampton and backfield annoyed.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
I'm telling you, he's like, what what you just signed me?
I have incentives in my contract? What the hell?

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Yeah, demon sentives aren't going to get met if But
you never know, Harbaugh, they might just run the ball,
even with Herbert run the ball a bazillion times.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
You never know.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
But but more or less, I'm looking at trade partners,
teams that might be more inclined to swap out of
that pick, maybe like a Tampa Bay uh, Tampa Bay,
Green Bay Chargers, Bills, Panthers.

Speaker 4 (37:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
I've got to remember where the Panthers are because they
just gave up some of this stuff. So this list
might be a little old, but that's going to be
about it.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
And then you're at the very bottom of round two
with the Lions, Commanders, Bills, Chiefs, and Eagles. They could
all be trade partners perhaps if they try and like
just jump up a few picks.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
So that's where I'm apt this way. Yep.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
Is there a wide receiver left in this draft right
that you think can be had in the second round
that's better than George Pickens? Hmm?

Speaker 2 (37:35):
You know, I like Iowa States Jayden Higgins, but I
don't know better than Pickens, and would you take them in?
Is he a second rounder? Perhaps Jalen Nowel also from
Iowa State. If I have them both in here, I
get those guys conflated sometimes and then who else I'm
looking at their draft, at their draft visions, Uh, Saveon
Williams out of TCU, like might be.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
As wide receivers. No, it's not no.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
And so my like, I asked that question knowing that
my answer is probably not.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
Maybe Luther Burden and maybe not even him. Right.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
And so if you're a team that is in need
of a study kind of wide receiver and you've got
to pick and the Steelers come knocking, maybe you listen.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
I don't. I don't think the Steelers are.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Shopping George Pickens, but I do think they're listening to offers.
And so if I'm a team and I'm like, wide
receiver is the need I want, I've got a second
round pick. I know the Steelers want to get back
into the second round because they want to do something.
Let me call them and see what I can do.
This is where you might get better value than you
would normally get for somebody like George Pickens. Honestly, don't

(38:43):
think they would get it to if it wasn't you know,
a need at the time for some team, right some
team is in desperation mode and it's like, we got
to get a wide receiver. Maybe you get a two,
but other than that, you're probably looking at a three,
which I don't.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
I don't, I don't think. I'm no, no.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
My hope honestly is I mean, we've got with the
wide receivers. That's basically the guys that they've visited with.
There's a few others that haven't been drafted yet, but
they're kind of depending on the big boards you look at,
they're kind of like you start to get into the
hundreds of where they're ranked on a big board, they're
they're just most of your so called draft experts, who

(39:22):
aren't always experts, you know what I mean, but oftentimes
but there's consensus. And what I like about the consensus
of Henderson maybe falling. You got Cam Scattapo from Arizona State.
I like him, but Steelers didn't. I don't believe the
Steelers met with Scatabo. Dylan Sampson they did meet with

(39:43):
out of Tennessee. He's just a little maybe smaller, lighter. Well,
I don't know. Yeah, he's almost the same Henderson. I
don't know Henderson to me, Anderson to me feels like
a guy who breaks tackles, you know what I mean,
Like he feels like a guy they could go north south, right.
Caleb Johnson, maybe he's a little bit heavier of a guy. Uh,

(40:04):
that's another one that they met with. Ben Shawn Judkins
out of Ohio State was not a guy that they
looked at. Uh, he's still available out there. I mean
we like him because we're Buckeyes fans. I don't know
what the Steelers interesting they were that. You know, there's
there's some you know they were at the broday, so
there you go.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
They still yeah, they still were able to do their
homework on him. Right. R. J.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Harvey five nine two o eight out of UCF. So
he's a little bit older of a player. He's about
twenty four years old. When you're looking at like Dylan Sampson,
he's not twenty one yet. Caleb Johnson's like twenty one
and a half. Henderson's twenty two and a half. Judkins
is twenty one and a half. Harvey's twenty four years old.

(40:48):
Already as a running back five nine two o eight
did they know they They didn't take a peek at
Damian Martinez out of Miami either. Jayden Blue Texas guid
it might be there a little bit later. If they
jump the gun and do the quarterback thing, then Jayden
Blue is probably there in the fourth round, and we'll
be talking about that later some of the you know,

(41:10):
further stuff. So I don't want to get too much
meat off this bone. Brian, thanks for joining me once again.
I think we're we're happy what so far the Picks,
what it's gotten the Steelers, Derek Harmon, Bek Metcalf think
we're good with that.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
Yeah, so far, so good. And Jaylen Melroe watch maybe
maybe not. We'll find out. But that's all it's gonna
be discussed. You know.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
The talking heads are gonna be talking about who are
the Browns gonna try and take?

Speaker 4 (41:36):
Who are the Steelers going to try and.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Take as a quarterback, And that might go past this show,
into our next show and into Day three on Saturday.
Until then, folks, don't forget the like comment subscribe. My
name's Joe, his name's Brian. Until next time. Encourage everyone
out there to be safe, be good, and we'll catch.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Late we would liked it.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
Thank you for listening, and remind our listeners to follow
us on social.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Media and our website www. Dot steel City Underground dot
com

Speaker 3 (42:08):
M HM

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