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It’s DRAFT WEEK in Pittsburgh! · The Irish Steelers Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Folks, it's Draft week.
0:08
Speaker 2: The NFL Draft is this week, and this year it's
0:10
Speaker 2: different than any over for the first time in the
0:13
Speaker 2: modern year of the NFL, because it happened in the forties.
0:15
Speaker 2: The NFL Draft is coming to Pittsburgh with upwards of
0:19
Speaker 2: seven hundred and fifty thousand people expected to descend upon
0:24
Speaker 2: the city in an incredible weekend that promises so much
0:27
Speaker 2: not just for Steelers fans, but for NFL fans and hopefully,
0:31
Speaker 2: of course his podcast is for Steelers fans and you're
0:32
Speaker 2: all very welcome, but hopefully we fans from other teams
0:35
Speaker 2: in Ireland joining us. And if you are a fan
0:36
Speaker 2: of a different team or a Steelers fan, would certainly
0:40
Speaker 2: encourage you to get down to Kennedy's on Saturday evening
0:43
Speaker 2: for an NFL Draft party with the Steelers. It's going
0:46
Speaker 2: to be fantastic in the home of the Steelers in Ireland. Kennedies,
0:50
Speaker 2: get down there, folks. A really really big week ahead
0:53
Speaker 2: of us here. We're actually going to be over in
0:54
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh later on this week for Steels Ireland and we're
0:57
Speaker 2: pumped to get out because this week means so much
1:01
Speaker 2: more for the any family in the Pittsburgh Staters. It's
1:03
Speaker 2: one thing having a historic game in Dublin which is
1:06
Speaker 2: incredible and will look back in it and hopefully look
1:08
Speaker 2: forward as well with so many memories and so many
1:11
Speaker 2: different things to look out, but certainly to have a
1:14
Speaker 2: draft in Pittsburgh is just going to be incredible. Michael
1:17
Speaker 2: mcreat here, delighted to welcome back to this podcast. I
1:21
Speaker 2: believe for the second or third time. It might be
1:23
Speaker 2: the third time. But a guy that's going to be
1:25
Speaker 2: a very very busy man this week in many different forms.
1:28
Speaker 2: Hopefully he can jump on this podcast and shot to
1:30
Speaker 2: us at the end of the week. Jeff Ryan Bold,
1:32
Speaker 2: Jeff my mom, very right, Welcome to the Irish Theaters Podcast.
1:35
Speaker 2: Falsha and how are you doing. What's the crack that
1:38
Speaker 2: twee said?
1:38
Speaker 3: I'm doing outstanding, Michael, and I am excited. It is
1:42
Speaker 3: Draft week. It's hard, it's hard really to explain about
1:47
Speaker 3: just how big this week is for so many people.
1:50
Speaker 3: And I'm talking about when you go inside an NFL organization,
1:54
Speaker 3: any pro football organization, when it's Draft week. This is
1:58
Speaker 3: the culmination of years. And I'm not this is not
2:02
Speaker 3: I'm not overstateing it. This is years of preparation, years
2:07
Speaker 3: of work, hours and hours and hours of detail, and
2:12
Speaker 3: you know, a ton of money has gone in to
2:16
Speaker 3: these picks, and because this is your livelihood. If you
2:20
Speaker 3: don't have players, you're not going to succeed. And you know, Mike,
2:25
Speaker 3: we're talking. We're talking about the Steelers because this is
2:27
Speaker 3: a Steeler centric podcast, but certainly the Pittsburgh Steelers. You know,
2:34
Speaker 3: after we got into the seventies, you know, they have
2:39
Speaker 3: been really one of the top teams in the National
2:42
Speaker 3: Football League in terms of acquiring talent through the draft.
2:46
Speaker 3: The Steelers historically have not been a big free agency
2:50
Speaker 3: draft or a free agency team. They've been a draft
2:53
Speaker 3: and developed team all the way from Chuck Knowle on,
2:56
Speaker 3: you know, through Mike and the whole And now now
3:01
Speaker 3: you got a new regime from a coaching standpoint in
3:04
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh and Omar Cohn's going into his fourth draft in Pittsburgh.
3:09
Speaker 3: So I think this is a really, really interesting time
3:11
Speaker 3: for the Pittsburgh Stewards.
3:13
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about coach McCarthy in a week second,
3:15
Speaker 2: but you know, you're quite different, Jeff in a positive
3:19
Speaker 2: way in regards to some of the people that we've
3:21
Speaker 2: been lucky to have in this podcast. You have actually
3:23
Speaker 2: been to the spiritual home of the Rooney family. I
3:28
Speaker 2: believe it might have been like the first time we
3:29
Speaker 2: were on the podcast. So you've been the newre so
3:32
Speaker 2: you've seen how it works, and I know you've me
3:34
Speaker 2: had a number of different Steelers fans in Ireland whenever
3:37
Speaker 2: you're over here a few weeks ago. It's one thing
3:40
Speaker 2: seeing it online and seeing all the hype and seeing
3:42
Speaker 2: the pictures that it shock you, maybe post doubling game,
3:46
Speaker 2: when you've seen all these guys and girls and their
3:48
Speaker 2: love for this team because it is it's really cool
3:51
Speaker 2: and you can really see a growth as well, Mike.
3:53
Speaker 3: In some ways it in some ways it did. In
3:55
Speaker 3: some ways it didn't. Like I understood, you know, just
3:59
Speaker 3: because as I've been around the game as much as
4:02
Speaker 3: I've been around the game, I understood, you know, the
4:07
Speaker 3: closeness of the Rooney family to to the to the
4:10
Speaker 3: nation of Ireland and the the closeness that they felt
4:17
Speaker 3: and you know from all the way from you know,
4:21
Speaker 3: Dan and and mister Rooney and everybody that has invested
4:27
Speaker 3: so much time and energy and love into into you know,
4:31
Speaker 3: the Emerald Isle and and to see that love giving
4:34
Speaker 3: back to the Steelers was really really special. I was
4:39
Speaker 3: sitting in my office in Honolulu, Hawaii at whatever time
4:44
Speaker 3: and I can't even remember what time it was in
4:46
Speaker 3: the morning, and I'm watching the game and you see
4:53
Speaker 3: the you know, the the amount of electricity that was
4:59
Speaker 3: in that stadium, and then all of a sudden we
5:02
Speaker 3: hear renegade and it's just like it's I mean, I
5:07
Speaker 3: got I got emotional watching it, right because the Steelers,
5:14
Speaker 3: the Steelers are a different They're a different thing. The
5:17
Speaker 3: Steelers are a different organization. They're there. You know, there
5:21
Speaker 3: are a lot of organizations that have great histories in
5:24
Speaker 3: the National Football League, but the Steelers are particularly of
5:29
Speaker 3: particularly strong history. And you know that that history, you know,
5:34
Speaker 3: transcends Pittsburgh. You look at when they go on the road.
5:38
Speaker 3: I don't care where they go. They travel as good
5:41
Speaker 3: as anybody in the National Football League. There's terrible tiles
5:44
Speaker 3: wavin in every stadium that they play in. And certainly
5:47
Speaker 3: that was the case, you know last year when they
5:51
Speaker 3: went to Ireland, and I'm sure they'll be back again.
5:54
Speaker 3: I don't have any question about that. I mean, that's
5:56
Speaker 3: we could have a whole podcast on that discussion. But
6:00
Speaker 3: you know, you look at this organization and you talk
6:04
Speaker 3: to people who have played there, you talk to guys
6:06
Speaker 3: who have coached there. Yeah, and the deep reverence that
6:12
Speaker 3: they have for the Steeler tradition, you know, like you
6:16
Speaker 3: look at the Steeler uniforms, and Mike, I think this
6:18
Speaker 3: is really we were taught having this conversation on another podcast,
6:23
Speaker 3: you know, last week, and about the uniforms. And I'm
6:25
Speaker 3: a big uniform guy. And it's the only team in
6:29
Speaker 3: the National Football League that has its logo on only
6:31
Speaker 3: one side of its helmet. And those uniforms, for the
6:36
Speaker 3: most part, are the same uniforms that you know, as
6:41
Speaker 3: a young kid in the seventies, I watched Mel Blunt
6:45
Speaker 3: and Jack Hamm and Andy Russell and you know, Mike
6:49
Speaker 3: Webster and you know Terry Bradshaw and all of those guys.
6:54
Speaker 3: You know, when the Steelers became who they were, you know,
6:56
Speaker 3: it became the dynasty, you know, and even further back
7:00
Speaker 3: than that, Terry Hanraddy and Rocky Blyer. I mean, those
7:04
Speaker 3: are those are iconic, iconic names. And I hope that
7:08
Speaker 3: the organization and I'm sure it will because they have
7:13
Speaker 3: stayed true to their roots. They've stayed true to their heritage,
7:16
Speaker 3: They've stayed true to you know, what has made the
7:18
Speaker 3: Steelers the Steelers, and that's consistency, right alignment of thought
7:25
Speaker 3: in terms of what they do from an organizational standpoint,
7:29
Speaker 3: and you know, they play the game at a at
7:33
Speaker 3: a different kind of in a different kind of way.
7:36
Speaker 3: You know, there's a thing you know, Steeler football is
7:39
Speaker 3: Steeler football, and it's been that way for a long time,
7:42
Speaker 3: and I'm sure it'll continue.
7:44
Speaker 2: You talk, so I'll come back to that on the
7:46
Speaker 2: way second. But you know, I guess we're not saying
7:48
Speaker 2: it's never going toppen. But in the modern NFL, it's
7:52
Speaker 2: difficult for a city like Pittsburgh to host the Super
7:54
Speaker 2: Bowl from many different factors. I was the weather in February.
7:57
Speaker 2: By the way, have you seen for people from art
7:59
Speaker 2: and listen to this twenty six degrees appartly Jeff in
8:02
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh on Friday, Bring the Hawaiian shirts, bring the shorts.
8:07
Speaker 2: It could be incredible, But like, look, it's realistically, it's
8:12
Speaker 2: hard in February unless you've got a dumb stadium. And
8:14
Speaker 2: I certainly don't know that that's gonna happen anytime soon,
8:16
Speaker 2: but that will area with the different teams. Obviously there
8:20
Speaker 2: is such a sports arena city area which will be
8:24
Speaker 2: incredible to see what ever happened. And I guess this
8:26
Speaker 2: is why this makes this weekend for the Steelers jet
8:30
Speaker 2: so important. You know, the opportunity to host the NFL Draft.
8:32
Speaker 2: They said about it at the start of the podcast.
8:34
Speaker 2: In the modern era because back in the day, guys
8:36
Speaker 2: used to you know, meet in hotel rooms and close
8:38
Speaker 2: the door and Picksford announced and all before all this happened.
8:41
Speaker 2: But in the modern era to have this and you know,
8:44
Speaker 2: I've seen pictures were recording this on Monday Draft week
8:48
Speaker 2: and I seen the pictures of the stage being set up,
8:51
Speaker 2: and it just it just looks phenomenal. But it must
8:55
Speaker 2: mean so much to the team, the Rooney family and Jeff.
8:59
Speaker 2: I'm not just saying this because we're on this podcast.
9:02
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be very, very very cool
9:06
Speaker 2: to see.
9:07
Speaker 3: I mean, Michael, think about it, right, I mean, the
9:09
Speaker 3: draft is just an extension of the season, That's what
9:12
Speaker 3: it is. Right. And is there any you've been you know,
9:17
Speaker 3: you've been in that stadium on game day? Yeah, you've
9:21
Speaker 3: you've felt the electricity in that stadium on game day.
9:24
Speaker 3: Now this this entire city. They're not even there. They've
9:29
Speaker 3: canceled school for the draft. That's how that's how deeply
9:36
Speaker 3: embedded this If I can use the local you know,
9:40
Speaker 3: the local slang, the Stillers, that's how just how embedded
9:45
Speaker 3: the Stillers are into that community. There is a if
9:50
Speaker 3: you ever get a chance, there is a priceless and
9:55
Speaker 3: I mean it is really really well done. There is
9:58
Speaker 3: a show that I can't remember if it was HBO
10:02
Speaker 3: or Disney or one of those, one of those deals,
10:06
Speaker 3: and it's called This Is Us. And it's a story
10:10
Speaker 3: of a Pittsburgh family. And woven inside this story is
10:17
Speaker 3: the Pittsburgh Steelers. And you know how much the Steelers
10:23
Speaker 3: meet Pittsburgh to the people in the community, how how
10:28
Speaker 3: big a star h the Pittsburgh Steeler players are in
10:33
Speaker 3: that town. You know, the Steelers play that they're a
10:37
Speaker 3: small market team. You know you say small market team.
10:40
Speaker 3: What does that mean? Well, you know, Pittsburgh's not a
10:43
Speaker 3: major city. It's a big city in the United States,
10:45
Speaker 3: but you know it's behind you know, Boston, New York, Houston,
10:51
Speaker 3: La Chicago. You know, you've got to get down around
10:55
Speaker 3: seven or eight nine maybe for the you know, for
10:58
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh to show up.
11:00
Speaker 4: But when you talk about the intensity of the passion
11:05
Speaker 4: of the fan base, they don't take a backseat to anybody,
11:10
Speaker 4: and I mean to nobody.
11:12
Speaker 3: And let's give some credit to the commissioner for taking
11:17
Speaker 3: the draft, which is really a tremendous one day event
11:22
Speaker 3: that'll bring a million people into the city to places
11:26
Speaker 3: where the Draft had no chance of ever going really
11:30
Speaker 3: in the old days. It's been at lambeau Field in
11:34
Speaker 3: Green Bay, Wisconsin, a city of two hundred and fifty
11:36
Speaker 3: thousand people. It's been in Detroit, right, It's been in Chicago,
11:42
Speaker 3: it's been in Last Way, and now it's going to Pittsburgh.
11:45
Speaker 3: And I think that's a fantastic thing.
11:48
Speaker 2: And you you mentioned a really good point, like a
11:50
Speaker 2: really interesting point as well. It's went from a one
11:52
Speaker 2: day event dive through the years now to a multi
11:54
Speaker 2: day event. And I just sort of think I was
11:56
Speaker 2: sort of saying to you before we had the bumpon
11:57
Speaker 2: the record this podcast, your crack that I think everyone's
12:01
Speaker 2: going to have, including us, touch would please God even
12:05
Speaker 2: the Friday Saturday, I think and that's what it brings
12:07
Speaker 2: us into it, Jeff. You know, you think about what's
12:09
Speaker 2: going to happen on the Friday and Saturday, and sometimes
12:11
Speaker 2: it's easy to sort of get not get involved as
12:13
Speaker 2: much when your team is one or two picks left.
12:15
Speaker 2: But for Steeers fans listening to this podcast, twelve picks
12:19
Speaker 2: the most picks of any team. Ironically there hosting the
12:22
Speaker 2: draft themselves. They pick at the time of recording. Of course,
12:26
Speaker 2: who knows what will happen overnight, but they pick at
12:28
Speaker 2: twenty one on Thursday night, just from you know, and look, Jeff,
12:32
Speaker 2: for people that you know may or may not know you.
12:35
Speaker 2: You obviously do so much scouting and have done throughout
12:38
Speaker 2: the years and have put an awful awful amount of
12:40
Speaker 2: work into not just coaching guys, but analyzing what their.
12:43
Speaker 1: Path can be. How how helpful.
12:49
Speaker 2: Is it that the Sailors have twelve picks on Thursday,
12:51
Speaker 2: Because it's one thing saying, but to actually have twelve
12:53
Speaker 2: picks from Thursday to Saturday is a huge deal, not
12:56
Speaker 2: just for now, but also down in the stretch as well.
12:59
Speaker 1: Well.
12:59
Speaker 3: I think I think it's big. It's gigantic for the
13:02
Speaker 3: Steelers because the Steelers have historically done well in the draft.
13:06
Speaker 3: They're a team that does a great job of analyzing talent.
13:10
Speaker 3: You know, there were a couple of guys that when
13:12
Speaker 3: I was a college coach and I was a pro
13:14
Speaker 3: pro liaison, And what a pro liaisons job is is
13:17
Speaker 3: when when you have a pro prospect and the NFL
13:20
Speaker 3: teams come in, you are the liaison between the organization
13:25
Speaker 3: that you belong to, whether that's the University of Wire
13:28
Speaker 3: or SMU or wherever, and the pro and the pro
13:32
Speaker 3: talent evaluators. And then you ran the pro day at
13:36
Speaker 3: our at your school. So like I remember Mark Gorshak
13:40
Speaker 3: and you know, alleged I walk. I'm in my office
13:45
Speaker 3: one day. This is kind of a cute story. I'm
13:48
Speaker 3: in my office one day and all of a sudden,
13:50
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm not looking at my door, but
13:53
Speaker 3: I feel like there's some something in my door, right,
13:57
Speaker 3: because all of a sudden it got dark in my office, right,
14:01
Speaker 3: and it was mean Joe Green. And Joe Green, who
14:05
Speaker 3: was a Steeler Hall of Famer, was doing player evaluation
14:10
Speaker 3: for the Steelers and was in to look at Emmanuel Sanders,
14:14
Speaker 3: who would go on and get drafted by the Steelers
14:16
Speaker 3: and be a really really good player for the Steelers.
14:19
Speaker 3: And I remember Joe sitting in my office. Now, Mike,
14:23
Speaker 3: you got to understand, like, this is Joe Green, right,
14:28
Speaker 3: mean Joe Green. And there's an iconic Coca Cola commercial
14:33
Speaker 3: that Joe Green did as a player where he takes
14:37
Speaker 3: off his jersey and he throws it to a kid
14:39
Speaker 3: walking out of the you know, walking up the tunnel
14:42
Speaker 3: at at h at the Three River Stadium, I think,
14:46
Speaker 3: or whatever it was called back in the back in
14:48
Speaker 3: the day.
14:49
Speaker 5: And I I just like, I'm like, I'm on pinching
14:55
Speaker 5: myself thinking this is Joe creaking and he's asking me questions.
15:00
Speaker 3: It's like, what in the heck is going on in
15:02
Speaker 3: this world? But that's just kind of the mystique of
15:07
Speaker 3: the Steelers, right, And you know, my other most favorite
15:14
Speaker 3: Steeler memory is being at the Super Bowl and I
15:20
Speaker 3: look over. I'm in it's radio row and I look
15:24
Speaker 3: over and we're just getting ready to do a shot
15:29
Speaker 3: back to London for Sky Sports. And I look over
15:33
Speaker 3: there and I see sitting all by himself, Rocky Blier,
15:39
Speaker 3: eating a cheeseburger. Right, So I said, I say to
15:45
Speaker 3: Neil Reynolds, my partner, I said, Neil, I'll be right
15:48
Speaker 3: back right and he gets a little mythed at me
15:51
Speaker 3: because we're supposed to go live right fact, And I
15:56
Speaker 3: take off and I go over and I grab Rocky
16:00
Speaker 3: and I bring him over. He puts his cheeseburger down
16:05
Speaker 3: and he comes over and he sits down next to us,
16:07
Speaker 3: and we start talking. And what a great guy, what
16:11
Speaker 3: a gentleman, what a really, really fantastic story about his
16:15
Speaker 3: time in Vietnam and coming back and and Art Runey,
16:21
Speaker 3: you know, the godfather. Rocky had had that part of
16:25
Speaker 3: his foot shot off in Vietnam and he came back.
16:29
Speaker 3: He had been running back at Notre Day and he
16:30
Speaker 3: comes back for training camp and he can't run, right.
16:34
Speaker 3: I mean, he can run, but he limps. He's you know,
16:37
Speaker 3: he's not ready to play on an NFL Rostler. Most
16:41
Speaker 3: places are gonna cut that guy and move on. Mister
16:46
Speaker 3: Rooney called him in and said, will put you on
16:51
Speaker 3: injured for the year and you get healthy. And Rocky
16:56
Speaker 3: never forgot that, and that's why he's still such just
17:00
Speaker 3: you know, if you ask Rocky Blayer where he played,
17:03
Speaker 3: he's gonna say Pittsburgh Steelers's not gonna say no to
17:05
Speaker 3: day right, and in the middle, Mike, We're in the
17:10
Speaker 3: middle of the interview.
17:12
Speaker 4: And Rocky digs into his pocket like this.
17:14
Speaker 3: And I swear to God pulls out his Super Bowl
17:17
Speaker 3: rings right there and right there on the show, and
17:21
Speaker 3: it's just an amazing, amazing experience.
17:26
Speaker 1: I feel like we could talk for about two or
17:28
Speaker 1: three hours.
17:28
Speaker 2: But so what I'm gonna do is this, I'm gonna
17:30
Speaker 2: we are up at the draft here, but for people listening,
17:32
Speaker 2: let's try and regroup because we're both gonna be in
17:34
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh this week, so let let's try and regroup maybe
17:38
Speaker 2: at Akroucher and talk about more things like that, because
17:41
Speaker 2: I think if we maybe I think, you know, we
17:45
Speaker 2: obviously have a different media plan for different for different
17:47
Speaker 2: podcasts and stuff, but if we maybe jump on after
17:50
Speaker 2: Saturday for twenty thirty minutes at Acrature and just and
17:52
Speaker 2: just look around and see everything and and maybe.
17:54
Speaker 1: Go with there.
17:55
Speaker 2: Jeff, I know Steelers fans want to hear what you
18:00
Speaker 2: potentially if you were Omar Khan on Thursday and Friday,
18:03
Speaker 2: you know What's It's easy to say, what would you do?
18:08
Speaker 2: But when you have such capital and we sort of
18:12
Speaker 2: talked about it off camera. There are a number of
18:15
Speaker 2: needs of different positions. Can you give us me one
18:18
Speaker 2: or two or sleet positions? And I guess maybe just
18:20
Speaker 2: like a reinjured guys like and I'm not trying to think.
18:23
Speaker 3: I think really, what's what's fascinating about the Steelers draft, right,
18:27
Speaker 3: is that this is CON's fourth draft with the Steelers.
18:33
Speaker 1: Right.
18:34
Speaker 3: Kevin Colbert was the GM for years, right, And one
18:37
Speaker 3: of the things that is the greatest strength of the
18:41
Speaker 3: Steelers is continuity, right people. I mean they have I
18:47
Speaker 3: don't know whether they have four head coaches in thirty
18:49
Speaker 3: years or some crazy number like that. I mean they
18:53
Speaker 3: believe in continuity, They believe in alignment, They believe everybody
18:56
Speaker 3: being on the same page. This is really a unique one.
18:58
Speaker 3: Now this is CON's but now he's dealing with an
19:02
Speaker 3: entirely new staff. He came in under Mike right, and
19:08
Speaker 3: so this is going to be really interesting because where
19:12
Speaker 3: the Steelers need to be the Steelers the most in
19:16
Speaker 3: this draft to me is in terms of alignment. When
19:20
Speaker 3: I talk about alignment, I'm talking about the personnel people,
19:24
Speaker 3: the coaching staff, the front office people. Everybody's in alignment.
19:29
Speaker 3: On how they want to build this team, because the
19:32
Speaker 3: Steelers are a good football team. The Steelers have been
19:36
Speaker 3: a playoff team for I don't know how many years
19:38
Speaker 3: in a row. Mike never had a losing season. So
19:41
Speaker 3: when you talk about that, and I'm talking about Mike Tomlin,
19:44
Speaker 3: when you talk about that kind of sustained success, that
19:49
Speaker 3: comes at a price because typically what happens is you're
19:53
Speaker 3: drafting in the middle to the end of every round. Right,
20:00
Speaker 3: this year, it's different. They have twelve picks, right, and
20:06
Speaker 3: there's a number of there's a number of ways that
20:09
Speaker 3: this could go with the Steelers. I think, you know,
20:14
Speaker 3: if you look at where their need areas are, everybody's
20:16
Speaker 3: gonna talk about quarterback because everybody needs a quarterback. I mean,
20:19
Speaker 3: even if you got one, you're talking about the next
20:21
Speaker 3: one that you need, right, Okay, So but I do
20:25
Speaker 3: think they need some juice at wide receiver. You know,
20:28
Speaker 3: is Roman Wilson gonna gonna you know, is he gonna
20:31
Speaker 3: get to that next step? I don't know. I you
20:35
Speaker 3: and this is the fascination of the draft. We can't
20:37
Speaker 3: know because we're not in the building, we're not in
20:40
Speaker 3: the OTAs, we're not in the coaching sessions. We're not
20:43
Speaker 3: with the Trainers, We're not with the strength coaches, right,
20:46
Speaker 3: but the Steelers have that they have a feel right now.
20:50
Speaker 3: I'm sure on Roman Wilson, what's he gonna be. They
20:54
Speaker 3: could use juice at wide receiver. They could use some
20:57
Speaker 3: help in the offensive line. You can never have enough
20:59
Speaker 3: good offense suppliment. Go back to the days when the
21:02
Speaker 3: Steelers were quote the Steelers, right, and and there's a
21:07
Speaker 3: lot of you know, Terry Bradshaw, There's Lynn Swan, There's
21:11
Speaker 3: John Stalworth, there's all. But you know what they always were, Mike.
21:15
Speaker 3: They were always the most physical football team on the field.
21:19
Speaker 3: And you can never have enough good big guys. And
21:23
Speaker 3: so I think that's another area where they really could
21:27
Speaker 3: help themselves, because this is a draft deep in good
21:31
Speaker 3: big guys, right, So I think that's an area.
21:35
Speaker 2: Is there any big guys that standout if we had
21:37
Speaker 2: to look at your free because you obviously done your
21:38
Speaker 2: draft this week, Andrew Mack last week, Jet, is there
21:42
Speaker 2: is there anybody that stands out to you, even a
21:44
Speaker 2: couple of guys that Staters fans could look out for.
21:46
Speaker 1: If they're sitting the twenty one and thirty so.
21:47
Speaker 3: I think I think it depends on whether they want
21:49
Speaker 3: to go for a tackle or whether they want to
21:51
Speaker 3: go for a guard. I think the there there's a
21:55
Speaker 3: kid that would be a no brainer. A kid named
21:57
Speaker 3: Ione from from Penn State would be an absolute no brainer.
22:03
Speaker 3: He played at Penn State. He's from right up the
22:06
Speaker 3: road in Happy Valley. He is extremely physical, He's got
22:11
Speaker 3: great lower body strength, he's got great balance, He's nasty.
22:16
Speaker 3: He could be a centerpiece kind of guy. You put
22:19
Speaker 3: him on the other side of say Amalo, I think
22:21
Speaker 3: you're going to be really pleased with what you get.
22:24
Speaker 3: You know, because because again Isaac is at the second
22:29
Speaker 3: half of his career now, so you know again you're
22:32
Speaker 3: constantly trying to replenish your offensive line group. And Mike
22:36
Speaker 3: the thing as you look at the Steelers, like everybody
22:40
Speaker 3: wants that splash guy. They want that guy that catches
22:43
Speaker 3: all the touchdown passing on and there's there's some really
22:46
Speaker 3: good receivers. Omar Cooper I think is a stealer. Like
22:51
Speaker 3: I think about that kid in Indiana, that wide receiver
22:54
Speaker 3: in Indiana, and I just go, man, oh man. He
22:57
Speaker 3: would be a perfect fit. Tough, big play potential, long strong,
23:04
Speaker 3: great person. I mean, he he has all the earmarks
23:09
Speaker 3: and he might be available to him at one point.
23:12
Speaker 3: Now beyond that, you know, you look at this draft
23:16
Speaker 3: and where is this draft heavy? It's heavy in edge rushers.
23:20
Speaker 3: That's another area where I think the Steelers could use
23:23
Speaker 3: help me. You say, well, wait a second. Now you
23:25
Speaker 3: got you got T. J. Watt, and you've got high
23:29
Speaker 3: Smith and you got you know, you know, but I'm
23:33
Speaker 3: gonna tell you something. You can never have enough good
23:35
Speaker 3: pass rushers ever. Ever, the other area, the other area
23:41
Speaker 3: where it's where I think the Steelers could use some
23:44
Speaker 3: young and then you know some young talent is you know,
23:48
Speaker 3: Hayward's getting a little long in the tooth inside, you know,
23:51
Speaker 3: and and I still think he's got a lot of
23:54
Speaker 3: tread on his tires. But you're always trying to think
23:56
Speaker 3: about Okay, the draft's an interesting thing. You're drafting for today,
24:01
Speaker 3: but you're also drafting for the future, right And that's
24:04
Speaker 3: where again Omar Khan is going to earn his money,
24:08
Speaker 3: you know, as we go through this.
24:11
Speaker 2: Just finally, I've never heard of that freeze before, by
24:13
Speaker 2: the way, tooth tooth and I haven't heard of that
24:20
Speaker 2: before from a coach. So I love it, and I
24:22
Speaker 2: fully agree with you in terms of like for like,
24:24
Speaker 2: in terms of like sort of forgetting about names, but
24:26
Speaker 2: those positions I think fans can expect to, you know,
24:29
Speaker 2: see some editions there in the early first couple of days.
24:32
Speaker 3: So I see, here's what I would do if and
24:34
Speaker 3: if again, I'm gonna throw out some easy advice for it.
24:39
Speaker 3: I do not think that there is a draft guru
24:44
Speaker 3: right any better than Bucky Brooks. And I say that
24:49
Speaker 3: because Bucky made his living in scouting, right. He played
24:53
Speaker 3: in the NFL, got drafted in the NFL. You know,
24:56
Speaker 3: he played a number of years in the NFL and
24:58
Speaker 3: then went into scouting and rows up the chain. You know,
25:05
Speaker 3: he and Daniel Jeremiah do the best job I think
25:08
Speaker 3: of any any of these guys that are on TV
25:11
Speaker 3: talking about the draft. And he puts Buck puts together
25:14
Speaker 3: every year a list of his top five prospects at
25:18
Speaker 3: every position. And if you go if you're a Steeler
25:21
Speaker 3: fan and you go in there and you look at
25:24
Speaker 3: Bucky's top five players, you're going to have a real
25:27
Speaker 3: good handle on who is legit and who's a pretender.
25:36
Speaker 2: Just finally, Jeff is there any position in this draft
25:39
Speaker 2: for Stears fans where you think, you know, it probably
25:42
Speaker 2: isn't as heavy. Like in terms of position where you're
25:44
Speaker 2: thinking about there's not a lot of value. There is
25:47
Speaker 2: there a position that Stan's it. As we are closer
25:48
Speaker 2: to Thursday, well, I.
25:49
Speaker 3: Think the I think the skinniest positions are. I think
25:54
Speaker 3: there you know, when I did my mock Matt Mike
25:57
Speaker 3: and I did my stacking on my board and all
26:00
Speaker 3: that stuff that I do every year just because I
26:02
Speaker 3: enjoyed doing it, I had fifty it was fifty one
26:08
Speaker 3: or fifty two guys graded with first round grades that
26:12
Speaker 3: I thought maybe they would go in the first round.
26:15
Speaker 3: Right now, there's only thirty two picks in the first round,
26:18
Speaker 3: so that means twenty some other guys will fall to
26:21
Speaker 3: the second round. I think when you when I looked
26:25
Speaker 3: at the positions, I couldn't come up with five running
26:28
Speaker 3: backs that I felt were guys I'd say, yeah, I'm
26:32
Speaker 3: gonna invest a pick in that. Now there's some guys
26:35
Speaker 3: later in the draft you'd say, Okay, we need a
26:37
Speaker 3: running back. You know, he's a camp guy, would be
26:39
Speaker 3: a good special teams guy or whatever that area was.
26:42
Speaker 3: I thought then obviously tight end is always you know,
26:46
Speaker 3: the tight ends are power forwards in the NBA. You know,
26:49
Speaker 3: they're freaks in nature a little bit. There's a kid,
26:52
Speaker 3: Sadiq from Oregon who's a freak, but you know, and
26:56
Speaker 3: Ohio State's got a really good tight end. But again,
27:00
Speaker 3: there's not a ton of those guys for the Steelers.
27:04
Speaker 3: The good thing is it's a it's a line. There's
27:08
Speaker 3: good value in the offensive line. There's good value I
27:15
Speaker 3: think frankly at receiver, and I think when you combine
27:21
Speaker 3: those two areas, those are two of Pittsburgh's big kneed areas,
27:24
Speaker 3: and so they should be able to get quality players
27:28
Speaker 3: at those two positions.
27:30
Speaker 2: Time will tell's going to happen. One thing is for sure,
27:32
Speaker 2: it's going to be historic on Thursday night. The NFL
27:34
Speaker 2: announce today and a press release that former Steelers players
27:38
Speaker 2: and current Steelers players will help open the NFL drafts
27:42
Speaker 2: on Fursday night with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. We're like,
27:45
Speaker 2: we're going to be there.
27:46
Speaker 1: Jeff.
27:46
Speaker 2: I'm obviously in a Steelers arling capacity. You're in a
27:49
Speaker 2: number of different capacities and you can listen to Jeff
27:51
Speaker 2: and on inside the huddle on Sky Sports this week.
27:54
Speaker 2: He's also going to be a Profouble art In as well,
27:56
Speaker 2: and he may or may not jump on this podcast
27:58
Speaker 2: before the week is out. Just a quick reminder to
28:01
Speaker 2: let everybody know about the big Stears Draft party happening
28:04
Speaker 2: in Kennedy's this week. It's gonna be fantastic. Virgin Media
28:09
Speaker 2: is Tommy Martin and Profoble Islands Mark Cogan are among
28:13
Speaker 2: the hosts. Mossy Quinn, Stephanie's Ambra and look, if you
28:17
Speaker 2: want to be around the NFL fans, if you want
28:18
Speaker 2: to be around Steters fans, take us for ten year
28:20
Speaker 2: od there's not too many left to take. A link
28:22
Speaker 2: is in the bio. I'm sure we'll might zoom into that,
28:24
Speaker 2: Jeff and say a few people of that on Saturday.
28:26
Speaker 2: But for now, Man, thank you so much, not just
28:28
Speaker 2: for coming on talking about the draft, but also talking
28:31
Speaker 2: about some really cool football memories which will now be
28:33
Speaker 2: immortalized in this podcast.
28:35
Speaker 1: Thanks very much for coming on.
28:37
Speaker 3: All right, man, It's always a pleasure to be with you. Michael.
28:40
Speaker 1: Thanks everybody, and we will see you in the berg later.
28:44
Speaker 1: This week was long the m