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Steelers Draft Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

0:00
Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we bring you our twenty
0:04
Speaker 1: twenty five mock draft and keep you updated on everything
0:08
Speaker 1: that's happened in the Steelers off season so far. I'm
0:11
Speaker 1: Nick Detulio, and as always I'm joined by the world
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Speaker 1: famous accountant Eric Vamin showten. Eric. How's it going tonight? Oh?
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Speaker 2: Not too shabby, just uh, says The last time we
0:23
Speaker 2: talked at a new addition to the household with a
0:27
Speaker 2: baby daughter about three weeks ago, so not as well
0:32
Speaker 2: rested as usual.
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Speaker 3: But you know what, life is pretty rich right now.
0:38
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, I totally understand that feeling and congratulations again.
0:44
Speaker 1: I know it's kind of a blur right now, but
0:46
Speaker 1: these are those are the nights that you're always gonna
0:50
Speaker 1: remember and you're always gonna think back fondly of So
0:54
Speaker 1: my kids still like me, so I'm still enjoying it,
0:56
Speaker 1: and I know you still love you too. So we'll
0:58
Speaker 1: go through a little bit of a rough patch once
1:01
Speaker 1: they're teenagers, and then they'll come back around, right.
1:05
Speaker 3: Exactly.
1:07
Speaker 1: So, speaking of big life milestones, just a blip on
1:12
Speaker 1: the radar compared to the raising of children for both
1:15
Speaker 1: of us. But one last thing I checked before I
1:18
Speaker 1: hit the record button. Was I think I alluded to
1:21
Speaker 1: this in one of our last episodes, but I did
1:24
Speaker 1: confirm this is actually the start of our tenth season
1:30
Speaker 1: recording Stealers Country Weekly. The first draft class that we did,
1:37
Speaker 1: and actually I think our very first episode was a
1:40
Speaker 1: draft preview was twenty sixteen, So got a little retrospective
1:49
Speaker 1: there while I was thinking about that today before we're recording. Definitely,
1:55
Speaker 1: some days it feels like ten years. Other days it
1:57
Speaker 1: really doesn't feel like ten years because I'm talking with
1:59
Speaker 1: one of my best friend about the Pittsburgh Steelers and
2:04
Speaker 1: just kind of part of getting older, right, I'm like, well,
2:06
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen was just three years ago, right, That wasn't that? No,
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Speaker 1: it's twenty twenty five, So.
2:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny. That was the first year I met
2:15
Speaker 3: my wife, Tip.
2:17
Speaker 1: So Steelers Country Weekly is quite possibly the thing that
2:20
Speaker 1: really brought you together. She was just enamored with your
2:24
Speaker 1: media personality and your larger than life presence, right exactly.
2:31
Speaker 1: All right. Let me ask you though, and I know
2:35
Speaker 1: I'm catching you when you're sleep deprived and putting you
2:38
Speaker 1: on the spot here, but do you remember who the
2:40
Speaker 1: very first pick that year was?
2:44
Speaker 3: Twenty sixteen, was it already?
2:46
Speaker 1: It was already Burns nice, So I was looking at
2:49
Speaker 1: that list. You have already who's a free agent right now.
2:54
Speaker 1: Sean Davis was a safety. He played for the Steelers
2:57
Speaker 1: for a while. He did come back eventually to the
3:02
Speaker 1: Steelers for one year, but he's in the XFL right now.
3:07
Speaker 1: You have Javon Hargrave, who is still in the league
3:14
Speaker 1: and playing well. I believe he signed with the forty
3:17
Speaker 1: nine Ers if I'm not mistaken. But then we've got
3:21
Speaker 1: Gerald Hawkins, Travis Feeney, DeMarcus Ayers, and Tyler Matakaevich. Tyler
3:30
Speaker 1: Madikaevitch actually seventh round pick pick number two forty six.
3:35
Speaker 1: I think there's two fifty three total in the draft
3:39
Speaker 1: are right around there somewhat. So the guy who has
3:42
Speaker 1: picked towards the very end is actually still in the
3:44
Speaker 1: NFL too. He's with the Bills. So kind of crazy,
3:50
Speaker 1: but it's always fun to look at those draft classes
3:52
Speaker 1: and think, like, well, what actually happened? And in this class,
3:56
Speaker 1: the Steelers drafted one solid player and he stuck with
3:59
Speaker 1: the Steelers for four years and he did his best
4:01
Speaker 1: playing elsewhere. So yeah, well we can give some quick
4:08
Speaker 1: updates on what's been going on in the Steelers world
4:11
Speaker 1: since the end of the season. The big thing that's
4:16
Speaker 1: really been on everyone's minds is who's going to be
4:18
Speaker 1: playing quarterback. As we all know, none of the quarterbacks
4:22
Speaker 1: from last year were on the books for this year,
4:26
Speaker 1: which meant everyone was going to be a free agent.
4:29
Speaker 1: Didn't know if any of the starters, and when I
4:32
Speaker 1: say starters because both started it for significant periods of
4:35
Speaker 1: time for the Steelers. Didn't know if Justin Fields or
4:38
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson would proactively sign a deal with the Steelers.
4:44
Speaker 1: Turns out that didn't happen. Justin Fields went to the
4:47
Speaker 1: New York Jets, Russell Wilson went to the New York Giants.
4:51
Speaker 1: The Steelers did re sign Mason Rudolph to come back
4:55
Speaker 1: to the team on a two year deal. But now
4:59
Speaker 1: because of all the other dominoes falling, the Steelers are
5:03
Speaker 1: at the center of the Aaron Rogers annual drama. There
5:08
Speaker 1: really hasn't been much noise surrounding the drama, but it's
5:12
Speaker 1: really just a matter of the Steelers are the only
5:15
Speaker 1: team right now that are interested in Aaron Rodgers, and
5:19
Speaker 1: he has to decide if he wants to play for
5:21
Speaker 1: the Steelers or retire. And we are recording this on
5:27
Speaker 1: April fifteenth. The draft is next week, and the Steelers,
5:33
Speaker 1: at least publicly, don't know what's going to happen at
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Speaker 1: the quarterback position. So we can talk about this for
5:41
Speaker 1: a little bit. I don't know what your immediate thoughts are, Eric,
5:44
Speaker 1: but at this point, I'm just kind of over the drama.
5:49
Speaker 1: I just want to know what's going to happen one
5:51
Speaker 1: way or the other so we can plan accordingly.
5:54
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, for sure. Now.
5:58
Speaker 2: I think Cam Hayward even said that as much, which
6:04
Speaker 2: I think that, you know, like when you kind of
6:07
Speaker 2: looked at it people, I think that I think it
6:12
Speaker 2: was a different tune last year. But I think probably
6:16
Speaker 2: there's a little bit of frustration within the.
6:18
Speaker 3: Team in the locker room of like, well, last.
6:23
Speaker 2: Year was supposed to be kind of we're pushing the
6:25
Speaker 2: chips in. Now it's kind of like we don't even
6:30
Speaker 2: have an idea of like right now, Mason Rudolph is
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Speaker 2: our starting quarterback for guys like Cam that might have
6:38
Speaker 2: only a couple of years left or TJ.
6:41
Speaker 3: Watt, who doesn't.
6:42
Speaker 2: Know how many more contracts he's going to have under
6:46
Speaker 2: his belt, or you know, the offense has not been
6:52
Speaker 2: very good, so is that ever going to turn around?
6:54
Speaker 3: And is Aaron Rodgers even the answer for that?
6:58
Speaker 2: You know, this success rate of over forty year old
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Speaker 2: quarterbacks is pretty low, so it's kind of interesting to
7:08
Speaker 2: see how this would turn out.
7:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think obviously a long term it might
7:14
Speaker 1: not make a difference whether Aaron Rodgers signs or not.
7:16
Speaker 1: I guess maybe it could impact draft in the in
7:20
Speaker 1: the future. But we have talked about this a lot
7:27
Speaker 1: leading up to you know, this episode, that we don't
7:32
Speaker 1: think that the Steelers' next franchise quarterback is necessarily in
7:38
Speaker 1: this draft. And that's not to say that there's some
7:41
Speaker 1: good not good quarterbacks at the top. It's just less.
7:45
Speaker 1: Unless your opinion is drastically changed. Mine hasn't. I don't
7:48
Speaker 1: think the Steelers are going to go out and swing,
7:52
Speaker 1: you know, for the fences and try to trade into
7:54
Speaker 1: the top five or anything like that. Nor do I
7:56
Speaker 1: think any of those top five, maybe not top five,
7:59
Speaker 1: but those top two to three quarterbacks are going to
8:02
Speaker 1: drop down to twenty one. I don't think it's gonna happen.
8:07
Speaker 1: To be fair, the Steelers have been a lot more
8:09
Speaker 1: aggressive in the last couple of years. It's just I
8:13
Speaker 1: don't know. I just still don't see that happening. So anyways,
8:16
Speaker 1: if Aaron Rodgers signs a one to two year deal,
8:20
Speaker 1: that's still not franchise quarterback. You still have to see
8:23
Speaker 1: what happens in the future years. But again, we still
8:26
Speaker 1: have a season to play, and it might be nice
8:29
Speaker 1: to know for sure whether it's gonna be Aaron Rodgers
8:33
Speaker 1: or whether it's gonna be Mason Rudolph, so at least
8:37
Speaker 1: the rest of the team can figure out what they're doing.
8:41
Speaker 1: So the big news that kind of confused a lot
8:47
Speaker 1: of people, particularly surrounding the quarterback situation, is the Steelers
8:51
Speaker 1: did go out and get a big wide receiver, literally
8:54
Speaker 1: a big wide receiver. They made a big trade. They
8:57
Speaker 1: traded their second round pin this year for, among other picks,
9:05
Speaker 1: for DK Metcalf out of Seattle, and then they signed
9:10
Speaker 1: him to a five year, one hundred and fifty million
9:12
Speaker 1: dollar extension, which is great because as it stands right now,
9:16
Speaker 1: that means the Steelers will have George Pickens and DK Metcalf.
9:21
Speaker 1: You would hope that they'd get some other guys like
9:23
Speaker 1: Rowman Wilson from last year's draft to get to see
9:25
Speaker 1: the field too or something. But again, it all goes
9:29
Speaker 1: back to we don't know who's going to be throwing
9:31
Speaker 1: either one of those guys the ball. So part of
9:36
Speaker 1: that does lead me to believe, Okay, maybe the Steelers
9:38
Speaker 1: have some sort of handshake agreement with Aaron Rodgers then
9:41
Speaker 1: they know that he's coming. I don't know, but I
9:45
Speaker 1: don't know. On one hand, I'm happy the Steelers have
9:49
Speaker 1: once again shown that they are willing to take a
9:52
Speaker 1: swing at certain things to get the right pieces. On
9:55
Speaker 1: the other hand, I feel like you got to get
9:58
Speaker 1: the quarterback set before you go out making these big trades.
10:02
Speaker 1: But again, maybe I'm just talking out my rear end.
10:05
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know the whole picture, but it certainly
10:08
Speaker 1: was confusing to see a name like DK Metcalf come
10:12
Speaker 1: to the Steelers this offseason.
10:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is Yeah, they have been bringing it up lately.
10:19
Speaker 2: And I mean they need a shot in the arm
10:22
Speaker 2: for or oftense, so I think that they obviously hope
10:29
Speaker 2: it works. But at the same time, I'm just nervous
10:33
Speaker 2: about who's gonna throw it to.
10:34
Speaker 3: Him, you know, so.
10:38
Speaker 1: Quite possibly Mason Rudolph at this point. And I mean
10:43
Speaker 1: to be fair, there's certainly worse options out there, but
10:47
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone expected Mason Rudolph to be the
10:51
Speaker 1: full time starter at this time in history. Yeah, all right, Well,
10:58
Speaker 1: let's see if our mock drafts are going to save
11:02
Speaker 1: the franchise this year. I can tell you right now
11:06
Speaker 1: I like my draft. I just don't think it's going
11:09
Speaker 1: to be accurate at all. It contradicts quite literally everything
11:12
Speaker 1: I just said, But we'll get into it. Are you
11:17
Speaker 1: ready to go with your mock draft?
11:19
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I'm ready, all right.
11:21
Speaker 1: So why don't we just do this one at a time.
11:25
Speaker 1: I'll go first, read my pick, give a little bit
11:29
Speaker 1: of breakdown, and we can go to years and do
11:31
Speaker 1: the same thing and kind of talk about them both together.
11:33
Speaker 1: So I don't know how you ran your draft. When
11:38
Speaker 1: I did mine, I didn't do any trades, just because
11:40
Speaker 1: I think it's too much to try to figure that out.
11:45
Speaker 1: And I also picked as if this is what I
11:50
Speaker 1: thought the Steelers would do, if this is how the
11:53
Speaker 1: board came to them at this point in the draft,
11:55
Speaker 1: this wasn't what I would want the Steelers to do,
11:59
Speaker 1: So keep that in mind send your hate mail somewhere else.
12:04
Speaker 1: With pick twenty one in the draft, I did have
12:08
Speaker 1: the Steelers take Shador Sanders. I don't think he's going
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Speaker 1: to fall to them, but if if that was to happen,
12:14
Speaker 1: I do think they would pull the trigger on him.
12:16
Speaker 1: I think that I just got a funky mock draft
12:19
Speaker 1: this particular.
12:20
Speaker 2: Time, So yeah, I'm gonna say that doesn't seem like
12:23
Speaker 2: he would be available.
12:25
Speaker 1: That's the only time that has ever happened. And I've
12:28
Speaker 1: done a lot of mock drafts just kind of when
12:30
Speaker 1: I'm bored I don't have anything to do, so believe me,
12:34
Speaker 1: that has never happened except for when we are, of
12:36
Speaker 1: course recording the show. So I don't think it will happen,
12:39
Speaker 1: But if by some miracle or crazy happenstance it does,
12:46
Speaker 1: I do think the Steelers would take him if he fail. Yeah,
12:50
Speaker 1: all right, what about you, sir? Yeah? Who did you take?
12:57
Speaker 3: Yeah?
12:57
Speaker 2: So you know, like you, I at least did one
13:01
Speaker 2: where it was just like I did one where it
13:05
Speaker 2: was just no trades, and then the next one I
13:07
Speaker 2: did go trade heavy, which I always like trading down
13:10
Speaker 2: to shoot all my bases.
13:14
Speaker 3: But if we hold still.
13:16
Speaker 2: I went for Amikauka, wide receiver from Ohio State.
13:23
Speaker 3: He just seems like a solid guy, like a guy
13:27
Speaker 3: who's not gonna like.
13:30
Speaker 2: He seems like he's gonna be Brandon Cooks to me,
13:32
Speaker 2: which is, you know, for some people.
13:35
Speaker 3: Not enough, right. But at the same time, I.
13:38
Speaker 2: See like eight straight years of one hundred yards. You know,
13:43
Speaker 2: maybe never leading the league and wide receiver in yards.
13:46
Speaker 3: And never leading the league in touchdowns. That's totally fine.
13:51
Speaker 2: But a guy like that is gonna in this market
13:56
Speaker 2: cook a man thirty million dollars.
13:58
Speaker 3: So for me, I think it's a valuable.
14:01
Speaker 2: Pick for some and that we can wrap up for
14:04
Speaker 2: a fifth round option. You know, if he lives up
14:07
Speaker 2: to that bill wide receiver, I think you might say, well,
14:12
Speaker 2: we just trained for wide receiver, why would we need
14:14
Speaker 2: another one. I'm not sold that we're going to actually
14:17
Speaker 2: keep Pickens, so at least for another contract, So I
14:22
Speaker 2: think it kind of edges our bet there.
14:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a fair pick. And coming from
14:28
Speaker 1: Ohio State, you know, he's used to being a wide receive,
14:31
Speaker 1: you you know, wide receiver by committee room. Ohio State,
14:35
Speaker 1: particularly over the last three to four years, has had
14:38
Speaker 1: four to five deep wide receivers in their in their
14:42
Speaker 1: wide receiver room. So assuming the Steelers do hold on
14:47
Speaker 1: to Pickens at least for this year, he would be
14:50
Speaker 1: asked to be no more than the number three receiver.
14:53
Speaker 1: He'd be coming into a room with a lot of personalities,
14:56
Speaker 1: which I'm sure he's used to, and I I agree
15:01
Speaker 1: with everything you said about his dependability. So that would
15:04
Speaker 1: be that would be great. We would still get to
15:06
Speaker 1: the question of who's going to be throwing him the ball,
15:10
Speaker 1: But whoever's gonna do it is going to be that meme,
15:12
Speaker 1: you know, the fit just throw it up there. Someone's
15:14
Speaker 1: got to be opened down there, all right. Well, I
15:19
Speaker 1: wasn't too far behind you with the next pick for
15:23
Speaker 1: the Steelers. This was in round three, pick eighty three.
15:28
Speaker 1: I picked Jack Beck, a wide receiver out of TCU.
15:31
Speaker 1: Really for all the same reasons you listed. I mean,
15:33
Speaker 1: the Steelers still need receiver help. I don't think they're
15:37
Speaker 1: gonna start throwing another, you know, more picks at the
15:40
Speaker 1: offensive line quite yet, just because they've spent a lot
15:43
Speaker 1: of picks the last couple of years there, particularly with
15:45
Speaker 1: their last two first round picks. And I do still
15:48
Speaker 1: have hope that Broderick Jones is gonna turn things around
15:51
Speaker 1: this year, probably playing on the correct side of the
15:53
Speaker 1: ball help him out. But no, I think that whoever
15:58
Speaker 1: the Steelers get at quarterback, well, in my draft, I
16:04
Speaker 1: guess it's Shadoor Sanders. So Shadoor Sanders is gonna have
16:08
Speaker 1: a lot of weapons when he comes into the Steelers'
16:10
Speaker 1: locker room this year in my draft. But let's just
16:14
Speaker 1: assume that it's it's not Shadoor Sanders. Whoever it is
16:17
Speaker 1: is going to need some weapons. I would like to
16:20
Speaker 1: think that the line is gonna take a leap up
16:23
Speaker 1: this year because you've got two rookies returning from last year,
16:26
Speaker 1: and Zach Frasier at offensive at center, and then you've
16:30
Speaker 1: got Troy Faltano returning hopefully from injury at tackle. Then
16:35
Speaker 1: you'll have Broderick Jones again. You'd really like to think
16:39
Speaker 1: it's gonna get short up there. I think they still
16:44
Speaker 1: need those weapons. I think that even the second round
16:47
Speaker 1: might be too early to start going after a running back,
16:50
Speaker 1: particularly when you still have Jail and Warren under contract
16:53
Speaker 1: to We did lose Naugy, keep in mind, but I
16:57
Speaker 1: think I think the way the draft board falls at
17:01
Speaker 1: least in mind, a wide receiver is a good pick
17:02
Speaker 1: in the second round.
17:05
Speaker 3: Yeah no, but we don't have a second round.
17:11
Speaker 1: Pick, I'm sorry, third our second pick in the third correct?
17:16
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, yeah, I landed with Marcus.
17:25
Speaker 3: Mobile MBO.
17:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, he has an offensive tackle from Purdue. Okay, so
17:35
Speaker 2: I might say that's pretty high rich, considering we got
17:39
Speaker 2: two first rounders.
17:40
Speaker 3: On the on the team.
17:43
Speaker 2: Well you kind of what you just mentioned though you
17:46
Speaker 2: were not ready to pull the plug on him. But
17:49
Speaker 2: I don't really know if we have like a good
17:52
Speaker 2: swing tackle in general, So to me, third round for
17:57
Speaker 2: swing tackle might sound But.
18:01
Speaker 3: You know, do we know.
18:03
Speaker 2: That Troy is gonna come back and be as strong
18:07
Speaker 2: as the prospect that he came out to be, or
18:11
Speaker 2: is Broderick.
18:11
Speaker 3: Actually gonna get his act together? Because yeah, he kind.
18:15
Speaker 2: Of looks like Dan Moore was Dan Moore three years ago.
18:19
Speaker 2: So but yeah, I think a little bit healthy competition
18:25
Speaker 2: and depth wouldn't.
18:26
Speaker 1: Be a bad thing there, All right, Fair enough, Moving
18:31
Speaker 1: on to pick one twenty three, I picked CJ. West,
18:35
Speaker 1: defensive tackle out of Indiana. No secret, the Steelers are
18:39
Speaker 1: going to need some help on the defensive line this year.
18:41
Speaker 1: We saw a lot of games this year or this
18:44
Speaker 1: past season, rather where we ran out with our highly touted,
18:49
Speaker 1: highest paid defense in the league, supposedly one of the best,
18:53
Speaker 1: and it felt like at times, particularly when we played
18:56
Speaker 1: the elite teams, the other elite teams at the defense
18:59
Speaker 1: got pushed around a little bit. So we need some
19:02
Speaker 1: help in the trenches. And I think that if the
19:07
Speaker 1: board falls to them this way, they may even take
19:09
Speaker 1: a defensive tackle or defensive lineman even earlier if they can.
19:14
Speaker 1: But for what I had, I thought this was the
19:16
Speaker 1: appropriate time to take one.
19:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, actually I have the exact same pick. There you go,
19:22
Speaker 3: So you're great, Mindstufflake all right? For me, that means
19:28
Speaker 3: my third big ten.
19:30
Speaker 1: Pick, Well, who is it? Michigan? And it's Michigan. Well
19:38
Speaker 1: more so Wisconsin and Georgia. They're two picks. But yeah,
19:41
Speaker 1: you're right. They do love to pick from the big
19:43
Speaker 1: ten in the SEC. So what is it? Tomlin said,
19:47
Speaker 1: this isn't There aren't any MAC games on the schedule,
19:50
Speaker 1: so they love their big programs, all right, pick one
19:55
Speaker 1: fifty six. I finally did go into the running back.
19:58
Speaker 1: Well here, I figure at this point in the draft,
20:02
Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about you know, it's too
20:06
Speaker 1: it's too high of around to draft this position or whatnot.
20:09
Speaker 1: So I took R. J. Harvey or running back out
20:12
Speaker 1: of UCF. Frankly, I'm not going to know anything about
20:17
Speaker 1: anyone else that we talk about. I just know the
20:20
Speaker 1: Steelers do still need a running back, and at this
20:24
Speaker 1: point in the draft, this is where I'm comfortable starting
20:26
Speaker 1: to look at that position.
20:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good pick. So I went Quinn Hooers,
20:38
Speaker 3: Texas quarterback.
20:40
Speaker 2: You know, I just think that, you know, he's a
20:43
Speaker 2: guy that like came out of high school.
20:45
Speaker 3: He he had the.
20:47
Speaker 2: Pedigree, right, Yeah, went to Texas and didn't play bad,
20:53
Speaker 2: but he was inconsistent.
20:55
Speaker 3: I just think that, like, you know, maybe.
21:00
Speaker 2: If we ever brought in appropriate quarterback coach, maybe he
21:04
Speaker 2: could be a competent quarterback. Doesn't mean that he would bad,
21:08
Speaker 2: But the worst case scenario, if we ever go fishing
21:11
Speaker 2: for a quarterback, he could be offloaded for saying he
21:17
Speaker 2: gets like a spot start, plays good in like four
21:19
Speaker 2: or five games, and we trade him for a future
21:22
Speaker 2: third rounder. That's fine, or he's a backup quarterback. So
21:29
Speaker 2: for me, the value was there.
21:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I probably would have made the same
21:35
Speaker 1: pick if I didn't have the what do you want
21:38
Speaker 1: to call it, the the luck of the draw and
21:43
Speaker 1: in getting a Shador in the first round, I think
21:46
Speaker 1: I think this spot in the draft is good for
21:50
Speaker 1: the Steelers to take a quarterback like yours. There's probably
21:53
Speaker 1: other guys available around the same time, probably like Dylan
21:56
Speaker 1: Gabriel who the guy from Notre Dame was it? Riley Leonard.
22:05
Speaker 1: Yours is probably the best of that bunch. But I
22:08
Speaker 1: just mean that that's when those guys are probably gonna
22:10
Speaker 1: start all coming off the board, and if the Steelers
22:13
Speaker 1: want to take a flyer on one of them at
22:14
Speaker 1: this point in the draft, I'm fine with that for
22:16
Speaker 1: all the reasons you mentioned. Maybe you get a spot start,
22:19
Speaker 1: maybe just show up and you're a little bit better
22:22
Speaker 1: than everyone expects. Plus the team does still need I
22:26
Speaker 1: think we've got Mason Rudolph and I don't even know
22:28
Speaker 1: who the other guy is, another quarterback, Skyler on the
22:32
Speaker 1: on the roster, so they need a third one for sure.
22:37
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think that's a fair spot to start
22:40
Speaker 1: looking at quarterbacks, especially if we're assuming that we don't
22:43
Speaker 1: have a guy like Aaron Rodgers by this time. So cool,
22:52
Speaker 1: pick one, eight five, I went back into the tackle
22:55
Speaker 1: defensive tackle. Well, I went with Simeon Barrow out of
22:58
Speaker 1: Miami Miami, Florida. I should say again just actually for
23:03
Speaker 1: kind of the same reasons you mentioned on the offensive
23:06
Speaker 1: side of the ball, and because I didn't see an
23:08
Speaker 1: offensive line prospect at this point worth taking. I'm just
23:13
Speaker 1: gonna need that depth there, need to shore up the
23:17
Speaker 1: defensive line, need to make sure we're good in the trenches,
23:20
Speaker 1: and based on what was available at this at this slot,
23:24
Speaker 1: that's why I took this guy.
23:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, makes sense.
23:30
Speaker 2: And did Catan Crawford safety from Nevada yep. To be honest,
23:37
Speaker 2: like my thing that I did, there weren't many stats
23:41
Speaker 2: when I was drafting people. I was just looking at
23:44
Speaker 2: the raw athletic score and these people later in the draft,
23:49
Speaker 2: I was like the highest athletic person in an area.
23:52
Speaker 3: I thought we might need depth that and to be.
23:56
Speaker 2: Quite honest, I don't know who or other safety is
23:59
Speaker 2: outside of me.
24:00
Speaker 1: So well Deshaun Elliott, but after him, I'm not either
24:10
Speaker 1: no fair enough And again another position where you're gonna
24:12
Speaker 1: need some depth. Granted, you need depth all over the roster,
24:15
Speaker 1: but there are certain positions where you've got less flexibility
24:18
Speaker 1: than others.
24:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.
24:20
Speaker 1: So, and with the final pick of the draft at
24:23
Speaker 1: kick number two twenty nine, this is one where I
24:28
Speaker 1: just picked by a position because I hadn't addressed cornerback
24:30
Speaker 1: at all yet, so I just took Mac McWilliams. He
24:33
Speaker 1: was the highest rated cornerback in the class. Left it's
24:37
Speaker 1: another position the Steelers need to address, and they've taken
24:41
Speaker 1: a few steps to address it here and there. But really,
24:46
Speaker 1: losing Dante Jackson I think has been a little bit
24:48
Speaker 1: bigger than some people have realized. Yes, they got Darius Slay,
24:52
Speaker 1: but he seems kind of like a Patrick Peterson esque
24:55
Speaker 1: signing to me. I hope I'm wrong. Maybe maybe things
25:01
Speaker 1: will be different with him, but I feel like we've
25:04
Speaker 1: gotten a little worse at cornerback. So I don't know
25:07
Speaker 1: what this guy's gonna do it pick number two twenty
25:09
Speaker 1: nine for us this year, But welcome aboard.
25:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I went cornerback as well, Jason Marshall, junior from Florida.
25:20
Speaker 2: So again, I think you just had a really good
25:24
Speaker 2: athletics score.
25:27
Speaker 3: There you go.
25:28
Speaker 1: Did you have anything interesting from your other draft that
25:32
Speaker 1: you thought might be worth sharing?
25:34
Speaker 3: I did I liked it better?
25:36
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, yeah, so I ended up with eleven picks, okay,
25:41
Speaker 2: two in the second two and the third, two and
25:44
Speaker 2: the fourth and then you know, like a good amount
25:49
Speaker 2: I think in like the sixth round and two seventh,
25:52
Speaker 2: So what I thought was interesting. I really liked my
25:57
Speaker 2: first two picks.
25:58
Speaker 3: So JT some the Edge from Ohio State.
26:04
Speaker 2: I honestly think the edge is a sneaky need for us. Look,
26:10
Speaker 2: it's not because like of our outside linebackers, but like
26:13
Speaker 2: I just don't know, like JT could slide in at
26:18
Speaker 2: our defensive end, and I don't really think we have
26:22
Speaker 2: great defensive ends at this point. Like we lost Jobu
26:30
Speaker 2: what was his name?
26:33
Speaker 1: I think, so, yeah, we don't even remember. That's how it.
26:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, he wasn't all that great.
26:40
Speaker 2: I think it's been like kind of a hole for us.
26:43
Speaker 3: For for a little bit of time.
26:45
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna say sense to it, but like you know,
26:49
Speaker 2: we've tried to get some guys later in the draft,
26:52
Speaker 2: and I think that it's definitely a position worth investing in.
26:57
Speaker 3: And the next was Judkins from Ohio State.
27:01
Speaker 2: Also he played it little miss prior to that, but
27:04
Speaker 2: I think he's explosive. I mean, he came in and
27:09
Speaker 2: I think he outplayed Travvion Henderson at the Ohio State
27:14
Speaker 2: and it was one of the main reasons they won
27:16
Speaker 2: a national title.
27:17
Speaker 3: So I thought he went great, you know.
27:23
Speaker 2: Other than that, like other positions that hit were detackle,
27:28
Speaker 2: you know, big offensive tackle, speedy wide receiver with a
27:32
Speaker 2: six to four frame from Tennessee.
27:36
Speaker 3: I got Luke Candra, he's an older boy. And then.
27:45
Speaker 2: I had a cornerback with a tight end in the
27:49
Speaker 2: later drafts. And I took a flyer on the quarterback
27:52
Speaker 2: from Indiana in the seventh round as our backup quarterback
27:56
Speaker 2: to Mason Rudolph.
27:58
Speaker 1: So that wouldn't be bad.
28:00
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, So overall I hit, yeah, pretty much all
28:07
Speaker 3: of our.
28:07
Speaker 2: Holes pretty even keeled on the offense defensive mix, but
28:14
Speaker 2: mostly I would say was an investment in the trenches.
28:19
Speaker 2: You know, I think it's a two linemen on both
28:24
Speaker 2: sides of the ball.
28:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. Maybe there'll be some truth to
28:29
Speaker 1: one of our drafts come next come next Thursday. But
28:35
Speaker 1: one of our favorite traditions here is, now that we've
28:38
Speaker 1: done a mock draft, let's each give our pick for
28:41
Speaker 1: who we think the Steelers will actually pick in the
28:44
Speaker 1: first round. I think we've missed the last couple of years,
28:48
Speaker 1: so our accuracy is dipped below fifty percent by now.
28:51
Speaker 1: So we really got to get this one right again.
28:55
Speaker 1: So let me ask you. I know this is kind
28:56
Speaker 1: of a crap shoot, especially this year, not knowing who
29:00
Speaker 1: under center, knowing that there's a higher likelihood then in
29:04
Speaker 1: some previous years, that the Steelers might be inclined to trade.
29:08
Speaker 1: Let me put you on the spot. Can you give
29:10
Speaker 1: me a pick for who you think will be the
29:12
Speaker 1: Steelers first pick?
29:14
Speaker 2: Gosh, Actually, it's one of those things. I'm like, I
29:20
Speaker 2: have no idea. Let's just go with someone that I am.
29:28
Speaker 3: Well, Okay, I hate to like again, I'm gonna cop out.
29:39
Speaker 2: Can I say who I think it's gonna be, but
29:41
Speaker 2: who like I wanted to be?
29:45
Speaker 1: Well, you know, we've always been really big on the
29:47
Speaker 1: rules here, so I guess we can. Yeah, let's hear it.
29:51
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I'm gonna go with my wide receiver from
29:54
Speaker 2: Ohio State. Okay, Oh, Buka, I think he's he will
29:58
Speaker 2: be the pick.
30:00
Speaker 3: In terms of who I wanted to be.
30:03
Speaker 2: I think Will Johnson cornerback from Michigan seems like a
30:07
Speaker 2: pretty polished guy.
30:08
Speaker 3: Quarterback seems to be a need for us.
30:14
Speaker 2: But you know, if we addressed either of those, I'd
30:17
Speaker 2: be pretty pumped.
30:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking at the I rebooted a new mock
30:23
Speaker 1: draft just so I could see who was at the
30:24
Speaker 1: top of the list overall. Will Johnson went number five
30:29
Speaker 1: and Maya in this one. I don't know that he'll
30:32
Speaker 1: dip Amika buca Is. I think he'll probably be there.
30:40
Speaker 1: I don't know that they're going to take another receiver
30:43
Speaker 1: that early unless and he was the big if if
30:48
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers does sign with the Steelers or they do
30:55
Speaker 1: some other trade magic to get some quarterback before draft day,
31:02
Speaker 1: and the only one I can think of right now
31:04
Speaker 1: is like Kirk Cousins. I don't know how realistic that
31:09
Speaker 1: is or not. If that was the case, then I
31:14
Speaker 1: could see them going for the wide receiver just to
31:17
Speaker 1: really go all in on whoever this bridge quarterback is
31:22
Speaker 1: for the next couple of years, because why not, why
31:25
Speaker 1: not at that point, right if they if they weren't
31:29
Speaker 1: concerned with winning right now, they just ride with Mason
31:31
Speaker 1: Rudolph right and just let what happens happened, so I
31:36
Speaker 1: could see that. Heck, I could also see them taking
31:41
Speaker 1: someone like Jalen Miller in the first round. I hope
31:46
Speaker 1: they don't. I'm gonna put I'm gonna put Derek Harmon
31:50
Speaker 1: as the number one overall pick, defensive tackle out of Oregon.
31:55
Speaker 1: Omar Khan has drafted only linemen in the first round
31:58
Speaker 1: so far. They've been offensive lineman. But I think, like
32:02
Speaker 1: we've talked about you in particular, you gotta focus on
32:06
Speaker 1: the trenches and everything else can fall in after that.
32:09
Speaker 1: So if he's there, I think that's just what I'm
32:15
Speaker 1: picking for the Steelers to pick. So there you go.
32:19
Speaker 1: Just not Jalen Milroe.
32:20
Speaker 3: Please, yeah.
32:23
Speaker 2: Now, And this thing is I really hope we don't
32:26
Speaker 2: reach for a Quarac. There's mention of like Jackson Dart
32:33
Speaker 2: you mentioned mill Roe, like even Quinn Newers.
32:38
Speaker 3: I picked him in the fifth round. But I don't.
32:41
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be I wouldn't want him to be our
32:44
Speaker 3: second pick in you know, round three. You know, I
32:48
Speaker 3: think that like we learned, well I hope we learned
32:52
Speaker 3: from the Kenny trade.
32:53
Speaker 2: Is like, this isn't a super deep quarterback draft anyway,
32:57
Speaker 2: So let's punt.
33:01
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, maybe Kenny won a Super Bowl.
33:03
Speaker 1: So and now he's on to Cleveland. So that's another
33:12
Speaker 1: quarterback the Steelers missed out on was it was confirmed
33:15
Speaker 1: they had talks with Joe Flacco. He also signed with
33:17
Speaker 1: the Browns too, So the Browns now have Flacco, Kenny,
33:22
Speaker 1: and Deshaun Watson, who I don't think is gonna play
33:25
Speaker 1: this year anyway. But yeah, yeah, yeah, So there you
33:32
Speaker 1: have it. The mock drafts are in from Nick and Eric.
33:36
Speaker 1: We've given you our picks for who we think the
33:40
Speaker 1: Steelers will take in the first round, I said Derek Harmon.
33:43
Speaker 1: Eric said Emika Buca out of Ohio State. So yeah,
33:47
Speaker 1: we've only got a week left. I really wanted to
33:51
Speaker 1: wait until the Aaron Rodgers saga ended, but frankly, at
33:56
Speaker 1: this rate he might not sign till like August or something.
34:01
Speaker 1: But it's just kind of kind of weird not really
34:05
Speaker 1: knowing what the plan is and what's going to happen.
34:08
Speaker 1: I mean, Art Rooney said, oh, I've got a good
34:11
Speaker 1: feeling he's gonna sign with us, And I'm like, well,
34:13
Speaker 1: that's I'm glad you've got a good feeling. You're the
34:17
Speaker 1: most important person to be having that feeling. But I'd
34:22
Speaker 1: like to have some kind of clue about what to
34:24
Speaker 1: expect with this year because the Steelers are at a
34:26
Speaker 1: really interesting point right now. This they're just kind of
34:30
Speaker 1: teetering on are they actually going to be competitors or
34:35
Speaker 1: do we need to start looking at a real rebuild? Right?
34:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think if we don't land a quarterback,
34:45
Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't matter how much are we trying
34:48
Speaker 2: to like actually make this work.
34:52
Speaker 1: And it's and I know I've talked about this before
34:55
Speaker 1: and you've probably mentioned it too. Normally, I wouldn't be
34:59
Speaker 1: opposed for just, you know, throwing Mason out there this
35:02
Speaker 1: year and if he does, great, fine, and if not, well,
35:04
Speaker 1: oh darn, we'll have a top five pick next year.
35:06
Speaker 1: But when we're talking about guys like Cam Hayward at
35:10
Speaker 1: the end of their career, TJ. Watt toward the end
35:13
Speaker 1: of his prime, but also in a contract year, you
35:18
Speaker 1: have to start making those decisions of how many more
35:21
Speaker 1: years can we just kind of waste? Right?
35:26
Speaker 3: Yeah? Exactly?
35:28
Speaker 1: So all right, was there anything else you wanted to
35:31
Speaker 1: hit on before we signed off for the night?
35:37
Speaker 3: Yeah? I guess should do.
35:38
Speaker 1: It I'm with you. I do love talking about the draft.
35:42
Speaker 1: I wish we had a better idea of what our
35:45
Speaker 1: roster was so we could give a more accurate draft,
35:48
Speaker 1: but I think we did the best given the circumstances,
35:50
Speaker 1: and it'll be fun. We'll know more next week. We'll
35:53
Speaker 1: have some good discussion around who the Stealers end up taking,
35:58
Speaker 1: ideally with some other offseason movie happening between now and then,
36:02
Speaker 1: and we'll be back in a few weeks to give
36:04
Speaker 1: the draft recap and and go from there. So for
36:08
Speaker 1: the world famous accountants Eric Vamminschowtin, I'm Nick Detulio, and
36:12
Speaker 1: this has been another episode of the GameHouse dot COM's
36:15
Speaker 1: Steelers Country Weekly