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Transcript

HR1: We're Back! · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

0:07
Speaker 1: This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
0:11
Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
0:16
Speaker 1: The F one point fifty is the official truck of
0:18
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
0:21
Speaker 1: direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
0:24
Speaker 1: shop dot Steelers dot com.
0:29
Speaker 2: And a happy Monday to you as we return from
0:32
Speaker 2: a brief hiatus and drop into the slot in which
0:36
Speaker 2: you will hear us all season long from twelve o'clock
0:38
Speaker 2: to two o'clock in the locker room. I'm Rob King
0:42
Speaker 2: and my friend Max Starks is on the other end.
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Speaker 3: Max, how are you, my friend? I'm just peachy, Rob.
0:49
Speaker 3: How are we doing today? We are doing wonderfully. It
0:52
Speaker 3: is a cool, lovely Pittsburgh day.
0:55
Speaker 2: It's a perfect day for in the locker room because
0:57
Speaker 2: it's one of those days it makes you remember that
0:59
Speaker 2: fall was coming.
1:01
Speaker 4: You know.
1:02
Speaker 2: It is like cool and crisp and beautiful outside. There's
1:05
Speaker 2: a ton of Steelers news going on today. You know.
1:09
Speaker 2: We want to break down obviously what we saw on
1:12
Speaker 2: Friday night and the pros and cons we saw from that,
1:15
Speaker 2: but a lot of stuff going on before we jump
1:17
Speaker 2: into that all well with you. How is things in Arizona?
1:19
Speaker 2: Ninety eight degrees and sunny?
1:22
Speaker 3: I wish it was just ninety eight degrees, rob, Oh
1:25
Speaker 3: it was.
1:25
Speaker 4: It was one.
1:26
Speaker 3: It was one fifteen yesterday. So yeah, so you talking
1:31
Speaker 3: about fall and Cristmas and all that kind of stuff.
1:35
Speaker 4: I'm like, yeah, no, I can't.
1:37
Speaker 3: I can't wait till it just drops down to normal
1:39
Speaker 3: double digits in the foreseeable future.
1:43
Speaker 4: It is hot, it is.
1:44
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, once again, I'll take it as
1:47
Speaker 3: clear no humidity, so there is a positive to that.
1:51
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's definitely it's still a scorcher down here,
1:54
Speaker 3: down south.
1:55
Speaker 2: Okay, so lots to get to. Let's do some some
2:00
Speaker 2: administrative stuff, get some stuff out of the way here.
2:02
Speaker 2: Steve has made a couple of roster moves. Jaylon Guibo,
2:06
Speaker 2: I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. I'd have to figure
2:08
Speaker 2: that out, and Alex Tesca Texa who is from Mount
2:11
Speaker 2: Lebanon are both signed by the team. The team release
2:15
Speaker 2: kicker Leith margin you know what, headline news, The job
2:20
Speaker 2: belongs to Chris Boswell. What a shocker, we knew what
2:24
Speaker 2: wait wait wait when did this happen? Yeah? It was
2:29
Speaker 2: a I mean Leith Margin. Look, you come in you
2:31
Speaker 2: hope to try to impress some teams. He missed the
2:33
Speaker 2: field goal obviously this week, but you know, you try
2:36
Speaker 2: to rest the leg of the great Chris Boswell. It's
2:39
Speaker 2: not a camp competition. It is an opportunity for somebody
2:42
Speaker 2: else to excel. They know that coming in here. You know,
2:44
Speaker 2: if you're Leith Margin or another kicker, you know the
2:47
Speaker 2: barring injury, you are not going to be kicking for
2:49
Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh Steelers this year.
2:50
Speaker 3: So well, I mean you'll be kicking in the preseason
2:54
Speaker 3: only for the pittsback.
2:54
Speaker 2: Right, That's right, That's exactly right. So such is the
2:58
Speaker 2: case here, and so a couple of guys signed to
3:02
Speaker 2: roster spots. Now, Max, do you think those moves? You know,
3:08
Speaker 2: different moves are being made right now for different purposes.
3:11
Speaker 2: We're seeing some veterans, like we saw Land and Roberts
3:14
Speaker 2: get signed, other teams that have injury issues signing veterans.
3:17
Speaker 2: In your think, I'm thinking to myself, huh, I didn't
3:20
Speaker 2: know that guy was out there. How nice is that?
3:21
Speaker 2: By the way, if you're a veteran, all of a sudden,
3:23
Speaker 2: you're out of a job, and now you sign a
3:25
Speaker 2: one year, five and a half million dollar deal or something,
3:28
Speaker 2: and you're back in the employment line, off the unemployment line,
3:31
Speaker 2: in the employment line, a pretty good position for veterans.
3:34
Speaker 2: But these aren't those kind of moves. It's the Olers
3:37
Speaker 2: made that kind of a move. I think with the
3:39
Speaker 2: Land and Roberts. It doesn't sound to me like sounds
3:42
Speaker 2: more like these guys will have an opportunity to play
3:44
Speaker 2: a preseason game, perhaps rest some other guys, and you know,
3:49
Speaker 2: see if they can put something on tape that would
3:51
Speaker 2: interest the Steelers into putting them on the practice squad
3:54
Speaker 2: or maybe another team's practice squad or active roster.
3:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what this is, is chance for somebody else
4:01
Speaker 3: to get some tape and it just so happens. It's
4:03
Speaker 3: a fortunate situation to where you know there is a
4:06
Speaker 3: move to be made. Like you said, you know, anytime
4:08
Speaker 3: you're cutting a kicker and creating a space for a
4:11
Speaker 3: guy who can compete offensively or defensively, that that that's
4:16
Speaker 3: ultimately what they're looking for and just that opportunity, and
4:19
Speaker 3: whether it's one game or whether it's a practice squad opportunity,
4:23
Speaker 3: you know, just getting more tape out there never hurts.
4:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, and by the way, Izzy Macuomo went on injured
4:29
Speaker 2: reserve as well. That was the other rosters part. I
4:31
Speaker 2: certainly should have mentioned that he was the guy that
4:34
Speaker 2: you know, came in and was noticeable, I thought, particularly
4:37
Speaker 2: the first preseason game. So yeah, that those are not
4:42
Speaker 2: look at they're they're earth shattering for those young men, right.
4:44
Speaker 2: They want to come in and get an opportunity to
4:46
Speaker 2: show that they can play. But yeah, it wouldn't seem
4:48
Speaker 2: to me that this is going to tip the roster
4:50
Speaker 2: one way or another for the Steelers these moves.
4:53
Speaker 4: No, No, I'm right there with you, Rob.
4:55
Speaker 3: I think you know, these are just corresponding moves, and
4:58
Speaker 3: you still need bodies for prec in games because the
5:00
Speaker 3: guys who are starting in those positions. You want to
5:03
Speaker 3: try and preserve those guys as much as possible. So
5:06
Speaker 3: these are just simply, you know, rep opportunities for guys
5:10
Speaker 3: that ordinarily would not have had that chance and they
5:13
Speaker 3: just happen to be available, so you know, kind of
5:16
Speaker 3: and listen, one guy comes in and starts making like
5:18
Speaker 3: thirteen tackles, right, No, that's a different conversation. But yeah,
5:22
Speaker 3: if they were making thirteen tackles, they probably wouldn't be available.
5:24
Speaker 3: So the air on the side of cautious optimism, but
5:28
Speaker 3: reality does kick in, yeah, and you're like, Okay, these
5:31
Speaker 3: guys are you know, developmental projects. Maybe guys they want
5:34
Speaker 3: to take a look at to see if you potentially
5:36
Speaker 3: add them to your practice squad and see if they
5:39
Speaker 3: can eventually build out for your team. But it's not
5:43
Speaker 3: You're not finding a starter right now at this point
5:45
Speaker 3: on the streets.
5:46
Speaker 2: Right unless again, it's one of those veteran guys that
5:49
Speaker 2: you're signing. You know, when these guys are signed, it
5:53
Speaker 2: usually comes with millions on the on the price tack, right,
5:56
Speaker 2: So that's there. Those are different cases. Oh uh, that
6:01
Speaker 2: is a little bit of house cleaning. Now let's get
6:04
Speaker 2: to some of the bigger news of the day. So
6:06
Speaker 2: Jalen Ramsey off the pup and back of practice on
6:10
Speaker 2: the South side.
6:12
Speaker 4: Always a good sign.
6:13
Speaker 3: None that I was actually holding my breath about or
6:16
Speaker 3: worried about, but always happy when Vet comes off that
6:19
Speaker 3: list and puts himself in prime starting position for the season.
6:23
Speaker 2: I think it is it is nice that you know,
6:27
Speaker 2: as I look at the defense as a whole and
6:31
Speaker 2: you think about. You know, again, you can look at
6:35
Speaker 2: preseason games any way you want to, but when you
6:38
Speaker 2: have this was this was one thing I would have
6:41
Speaker 2: preferred not to see, Max, is that in the opening
6:44
Speaker 2: drives of the first two games, the opposing team went
6:49
Speaker 2: down and scored. And you know, that was something that
6:53
Speaker 2: you know, the Steelers coaching staff said, Okay, that's that's
6:57
Speaker 2: that's my bad, defense coordinator, Patrick, that's my bad. I
7:00
Speaker 2: gotta get these guys more ready to play. But you're
7:04
Speaker 2: going against their ones, and you're going against their ones
7:08
Speaker 2: with some younger guys who you were hoping are going
7:13
Speaker 2: to you know, be part of your future. And I'm
7:16
Speaker 2: not going to make any snap judgments on two drives
7:19
Speaker 2: in the preseason. But there's no Cam Heyward. There's no TJ. Watt,
7:23
Speaker 2: there's no Jakwan Brisker, you know there, there's no Jalen Ramsey,
7:29
Speaker 2: there's no Julie Porter Jr. So you're down five starters.
7:32
Speaker 2: I understand that I would have liked to have seen.
7:37
Speaker 4: That.
7:38
Speaker 2: You know, Okay, so you're down five starters. So what
7:42
Speaker 2: let's get out there with some young guys and some
7:44
Speaker 2: other some other veteran guys and shut them down. Didn't happen.
7:48
Speaker 2: So again, I'm not trying to read too much into that. Max.
7:52
Speaker 2: I would have liked to have seen it. I didn't
7:53
Speaker 2: see it.
7:54
Speaker 4: Move on, Yeah, exactly. I mean I think that's the
7:58
Speaker 4: biggest thing.
7:59
Speaker 3: You know, four guys who have been there, done that,
8:02
Speaker 3: and have excelled at that in regular season games and
8:06
Speaker 3: playoff games and et cetera. The resume speaks for itself.
8:09
Speaker 3: So you know, those guys had nothing to prove. On
8:12
Speaker 3: our side, the Jets team had everything to prove, right,
8:15
Speaker 3: They had the number two overall pick. They had David
8:18
Speaker 3: Bailey out there, their number two pick, and he looked
8:20
Speaker 3: to be as advertised as the number two overall pick.
8:23
Speaker 3: Team that was terrible defensively, did not have a single interception,
8:27
Speaker 3: was super low.
8:28
Speaker 4: I want to say.
8:28
Speaker 3: I want to say they were like number twenty eight
8:30
Speaker 3: or something in sacks a year ago. So they had
8:33
Speaker 3: a lot to prove, and they had a lot of
8:35
Speaker 3: new faces that they needed to get an opportunity and
8:38
Speaker 3: work out because they had they'd cleaned the team out
8:42
Speaker 3: and Aaron Glynn after Aaron Glynn's first season. During its
8:44
Speaker 3: first season, right, you trade Sauce Gardner and Quinn Williams
8:47
Speaker 3: in seasons, so you know, from that perspective, they had
8:50
Speaker 3: a lot more to prove, So therefore they needed to
8:52
Speaker 3: come out and looked like that, you know, against our
8:55
Speaker 3: twos essentially and some of our ones built in there.
8:58
Speaker 3: So you know, I take would have grained salt. I
9:00
Speaker 3: would have loved to have seen more offensive production. I
9:03
Speaker 3: thought there was a step back offensively, but defensively, I mean,
9:06
Speaker 3: they did the job for the majority of the game
9:10
Speaker 3: and gave up two touchdowns and one of two field goals,
9:13
Speaker 3: so you know, they were fighting with negative field position
9:16
Speaker 3: a lot. And you know, the Jets were pinned back
9:20
Speaker 3: a couple of times deep and they made them stall.
9:23
Speaker 3: But there's a couple times where the drives went longer
9:24
Speaker 3: than they should have. So there's still a lot of
9:27
Speaker 3: work to do defensively for the team as far as
9:31
Speaker 3: who your backups and your support players are. But considering
9:34
Speaker 3: what your starting lineup would have looked like if you
9:36
Speaker 3: had all your guys available to you, I wouldn't sit there.
9:39
Speaker 4: And worry too much.
9:40
Speaker 2: No, And the reason I'm bringing that up is something
9:43
Speaker 2: that we are going to get to either later today
9:48
Speaker 2: or tomorrow or possibly next week and that is ESPN.
9:54
Speaker 2: And again, a lot of this stuff is clickbait stuff,
9:58
Speaker 2: but it's also fun stuff to look at. It's fun
10:01
Speaker 2: to see how your team is perceived nationally. But they
10:06
Speaker 2: did the Steelers, they did all the NFL teams sort
10:10
Speaker 2: of in the future. What does their future look like?
10:13
Speaker 2: Where does where do these teams stand? And it's the
10:17
Speaker 2: twenty seven through twenty nine projections, the future Power rankings
10:23
Speaker 2: and the Steelers, so thirty two teams max. How do
10:30
Speaker 2: you think, just I don't know if you saw this
10:33
Speaker 2: this poll or not, off the top of your head,
10:36
Speaker 2: where do you think the Steelers would rank as far
10:38
Speaker 2: as future Power rankings? Where do they stand twenty seven,
10:41
Speaker 2: twenty eight, twenty nine. I know there's uncertainly at the
10:44
Speaker 2: quarterback position beyond this year. I get that, and that's
10:46
Speaker 2: a big, big, you know, factor in where a team
10:52
Speaker 2: is going to rank in these polls. However, just in general,
10:55
Speaker 2: where do you think the Steers Just off the top
10:57
Speaker 2: of your head, whereould they rank?
11:02
Speaker 4: I feel gettywhere from twenty to twenty four?
11:05
Speaker 2: Okay, they haven't ranked thirtieth. What I know because of quarterback, Well,
11:12
Speaker 2: it's the whole roster really so you know they talk
11:15
Speaker 2: about okay, all right, I wasn't gonna do this. I
11:17
Speaker 2: was gonna save this. But this is this is why
11:20
Speaker 2: I was eager to see the sort of younger guys
11:24
Speaker 2: and backups, you know, come out and do something. Reasons
11:29
Speaker 2: for hope. Steelers are treading water quarterback with forty two
11:34
Speaker 2: year old Aaron Rodgers Swan songing under new but former
11:38
Speaker 2: coach Mike McCarthy. The defense is also built around aging
11:41
Speaker 2: stars Jalen Ramsey, Cameron Heyward, TJ. Watt. That was really
11:45
Speaker 2: the line that made me wanted them to come out
11:47
Speaker 2: and dominate. The good news is that gm Omar Khan
11:51
Speaker 2: is drafted well and there are exciting young players on
11:54
Speaker 2: both sides of the trenches that should soften the inevitable transition.
11:58
Speaker 2: Awaiting this to you, there's after consistent mediocrity in recent years.
12:04
Speaker 2: So I think that's kind of a tough summation. You know, Uh,
12:10
Speaker 2: they've been by definition better than mediocre mediocre. There's been
12:15
Speaker 2: better than mediocre. You get to, you make the playoffs,
12:18
Speaker 2: you win a division title as they did last year.
12:21
Speaker 2: That's better than mediocrity. I understand, it's not. It's not.
12:25
Speaker 2: Maybe people will think I'm splitting hairs here. It's not
12:28
Speaker 2: competing for Super Bowl, it's not competing for an AFC championship.
12:31
Speaker 2: I get that. I understand it. They've been saying they've
12:34
Speaker 2: been beating the same drum for like five years now, Max,
12:38
Speaker 2: same drum, and the Steelers just keep going back to
12:40
Speaker 2: the playoffs. So reasons for concern Kenny Pickett, Justin Fields,
12:47
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson, Rogers, Will Howard, Drew Aller. For of these
12:50
Speaker 2: players have proven they were not the long term manser QB.
12:53
Speaker 2: The other two have not attempted to pass in a
12:54
Speaker 2: regular season game. There seems to be no end in
12:57
Speaker 2: sight when it comes to an answer. For the steel
13:00
Speaker 2: there's quarterback situation. So here's how they rank this year.
13:04
Speaker 2: There's overall roster excluding quarterback twentieth. I think it's better
13:12
Speaker 2: than that. Max That okay, but all right, yeah, quarterbacks,
13:16
Speaker 2: I'm like quarterback thirty second from twenty seven through twenty nine,
13:22
Speaker 2: Coaching thirty first, front office twenty seventh. They just praised
13:29
Speaker 2: the drafting as he'd done and they got him as
13:31
Speaker 2: twenty seventh. Anyway, we're gonna get We're gonna We're not
13:34
Speaker 2: gonna talk about that, Max, I I brought it out
13:37
Speaker 2: even though even though I didn't necessarily want to get
13:39
Speaker 2: to that out of the shoot because there's so much
13:41
Speaker 2: news today. It's why I wanted this defense to come
13:44
Speaker 2: out in the in the first two weeks and stonewall
13:48
Speaker 2: the team cause a couple of three and outs against
13:50
Speaker 2: their number ones didn't happen. It's not the ultimate litmus test,
13:54
Speaker 2: but that's why I said what I said about wishing
13:57
Speaker 2: to come out and done something, and that was with
14:00
Speaker 2: the background of Jalen Ramsey coming off the pup. And look,
14:05
Speaker 2: we there is some accuracy in that article in that
14:08
Speaker 2: we know how important the veterans are to this Steelers.
14:12
Speaker 2: We know how important Cam Hayward is. He hasn't played TJ. Watt,
14:17
Speaker 2: he hasn't played Jalen Ramsey, he hasn't played We know
14:20
Speaker 2: how important those guys are. So in light of the
14:23
Speaker 2: news that Jalen Ramsey is coming off the pup, that
14:26
Speaker 2: is exciting news for Steelers fans. It's not unexpected, Max,
14:30
Speaker 2: It's not like we didn't expect him to be able
14:33
Speaker 2: to be out there. You know, hopefully stays healthy, gets
14:36
Speaker 2: some practice time in and is ready to go. For
14:39
Speaker 2: the opener. It still doesn't. It doesn't mean it's not
14:41
Speaker 2: good news to hear it.
14:44
Speaker 3: No, it's always good news to hear because you always
14:46
Speaker 3: speculate and wonder.
14:48
Speaker 4: How can a guy come back?
14:49
Speaker 3: How could a guy be ready when when it's time
14:52
Speaker 3: for it, when it counts for real, right, So you know,
14:56
Speaker 3: always good to hear news in a positive direction.
15:00
Speaker 2: So he's back and he's gonna solidify the corner position,
15:05
Speaker 2: which brings us to another bit of big news today,
15:09
Speaker 2: which is that Mike McCarthy said, look, we're at an
15:11
Speaker 2: impass with Joey Porter Junior in contract negotiations. He was asked,
15:16
Speaker 2: is there any progress? The answer is there is no progress.
15:19
Speaker 2: And you know that's something that I'm sure every Steelers fan,
15:23
Speaker 2: Joey Porter, and the Steelers organization would like to see resolved.
15:27
Speaker 2: But right now the word is it's an at an impass.
15:31
Speaker 2: He remains on the pup list, and I don't know
15:34
Speaker 2: how that's gonna unfold. I mean, he has to get
15:36
Speaker 2: healthy first to return from the pup list, and then
15:40
Speaker 2: he has to you have to get him into game
15:42
Speaker 2: shape and ready to go. And I'm assuming he's not
15:44
Speaker 2: going to hold out for the seat. Well, I don't know.
15:46
Speaker 2: I shouldn't assume anything. I don't know what's gonna happen.
15:48
Speaker 2: It's it's fraught with some uncertainty right now, Max.
15:53
Speaker 4: It is uncertain.
15:53
Speaker 3: It's unfortunate that they can't come to an agreement of
15:57
Speaker 3: some sort, you know, because he is a super talented guy.
16:02
Speaker 3: But that is also the reason why you go and
16:04
Speaker 3: you get a guy like It's Sante Samuel Junior ready
16:07
Speaker 3: to go as well, because you never know, and listen
16:11
Speaker 3: in season, it might not be this type of situation
16:14
Speaker 3: could be an entry situation, So you always have to
16:16
Speaker 3: prepare as though you're going to be missing some of
16:19
Speaker 3: your key starters at some point. It's not a matter
16:22
Speaker 3: of if, it's just a matter of when. And right
16:25
Speaker 3: now you know that win is more structurally based than
16:29
Speaker 3: anything else. But at the same time, you know you
16:32
Speaker 3: can't cry over spilled milk. You either have to clean
16:34
Speaker 3: it up or move on, right you know, And I
16:37
Speaker 3: think that's where you know. They're going to figure that
16:39
Speaker 3: out as time passes, when it becomes untenable for either side.
16:44
Speaker 3: But as it stands right now, you know, it's just
16:47
Speaker 3: a tough situation.
16:48
Speaker 4: That's unfortunate.
16:49
Speaker 3: You know, you'd like to see it resolve, but apparently
16:51
Speaker 3: the numbers don't match.
16:53
Speaker 4: What he feels he's worth.
16:55
Speaker 3: So that's where we're at right now, is waiting to
16:57
Speaker 3: see what you know, what comes that.
17:00
Speaker 4: You know, if you.
17:01
Speaker 3: Know he cracks or the Steelers crack, one side is
17:05
Speaker 3: going to have to acquiesce at some point, but you
17:07
Speaker 3: don't you don't know which it is. And I'm sure
17:09
Speaker 3: the Steelers are definitely not in the habit of acquiescing
17:14
Speaker 3: most of most of the time. So you know, they
17:17
Speaker 3: have to figure out what can we deal with how
17:19
Speaker 3: far can we go and how long can we can
17:22
Speaker 3: we manage without him? Or is it or is it
17:25
Speaker 3: something where you know, greener passers breed new new life
17:28
Speaker 3: into guys.
17:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, obviously, in a perfect world, Joey Porter Jr.
17:34
Speaker 2: Is signed and he's part of your team and you're
17:37
Speaker 2: moving forward and you've got a good, a really good
17:41
Speaker 2: ascending young player. Now, I guess the question he's twenty
17:44
Speaker 2: six years old, by the way. I guess the question
17:46
Speaker 2: is is he you know, is he a really good
17:49
Speaker 2: young ascending player or is he a superstar? And I
17:52
Speaker 2: think that maybe that's maybe that perception of where he
17:55
Speaker 2: is is the difference between I would imagine that's got
17:59
Speaker 2: to be difference between where they stand in terms of dollars.
18:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly where it is. It's okay, what is
18:08
Speaker 3: what is Joey worth to us? Not now, but in
18:12
Speaker 3: the future, and how does he project for the next
18:16
Speaker 3: I'd imagine four years, right, I think contract probably end
18:19
Speaker 3: up being a four year contract. Where do we expect
18:21
Speaker 3: him to be in the next four years? You know,
18:24
Speaker 3: is he a Pro Bowl All Pro candidate? Is he
18:28
Speaker 3: just a solid contributor? And that value is based upon
18:31
Speaker 3: that because we've seen some of these other larger contracts
18:34
Speaker 3: have come as of light and we know the Steelers
18:36
Speaker 3: like to get things done before the season starts, so
18:39
Speaker 3: you have to think that they're they're willing to work.
18:42
Speaker 3: But once we hit game week of week one, right
18:45
Speaker 3: after Labor Day that Tuesday, you have to think that
18:47
Speaker 3: these things will probably shut down if they don't get
18:50
Speaker 3: it resolved by then.
18:52
Speaker 2: And okay, so I'll tell you what. Let's let's go
18:55
Speaker 2: through the alternatives of what could happen with this Joey
18:59
Speaker 2: Porter junior in past. Because it's a big it's a
19:01
Speaker 2: big item for the Steelers. Without question. They've extended some
19:04
Speaker 2: guys in the off season, but he was clearly a
19:06
Speaker 2: guy that you know, the Steelers and their fans were
19:10
Speaker 2: looking to to sign to an extension. So what's up next?
19:14
Speaker 2: What could happen with Joey Porter Junior. We're going to
19:15
Speaker 2: talk about that, some other big news with another guy
19:18
Speaker 2: returning to practice, a look back at what happened on
19:21
Speaker 2: Friday night. Who solidified themselves for roster position, who may
19:25
Speaker 2: have hurt themselves for a roster position. We'll get to
19:27
Speaker 2: all that when we continue in the locker room here
19:30
Speaker 2: on the Steelers Audio Network.
19:41
Speaker 1: This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
19:45
Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
19:50
Speaker 1: The F one point fifty is the official truck of
19:52
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
19:56
Speaker 1: direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
19:59
Speaker 1: Shop dot Steel.
20:01
Speaker 2: Go back inside the locker room with Max, Starks and
20:04
Speaker 2: Rockton coming to you during our new time. This is
20:08
Speaker 2: going to be our time for the remainder of the year,
20:10
Speaker 2: from twelve o'clock to two o'clock. We have some exciting
20:12
Speaker 2: announcements about the show, which we will share with you
20:15
Speaker 2: next week. We're not going to share it this week.
20:17
Speaker 2: We're not going to share now, Max are We're not
20:18
Speaker 2: in sharing mood. Max. Max is not in a sharing mood.
20:25
Speaker 2: He's not going to share his thoughts with us right now.
20:28
Speaker 2: He's going on to the silent treatment, and I don't
20:30
Speaker 2: blame him. So here is where we are with Joey
20:33
Speaker 2: Porter Junior, and here's what can happen between now and
20:42
Speaker 2: opening day with a contract extension. The Steelers policy team
20:47
Speaker 2: policy has been to not negotiate with players once the
20:50
Speaker 2: season has begun. That is that that's been there, but
20:53
Speaker 2: it's not a league policy. That is a team policy
20:56
Speaker 2: that they will not negotiate when the season begins. So
21:01
Speaker 2: there seems to be a deadline, artificial deadline, but a
21:06
Speaker 2: deadline nonetheless to get Joey Porter Junior signed to a
21:09
Speaker 2: new contract by the beginning of the year. If that
21:12
Speaker 2: does not happen, Joey Porter Junior can either elect to
21:17
Speaker 2: play with the Steelers or he can sit out. Now
21:21
Speaker 2: he is. When he sits out, then their financial ramifications.
21:27
Speaker 2: He doesn't get paid. I think he might be subject
21:33
Speaker 2: to fines as well, but yeah, the key yeah, the
21:38
Speaker 2: key date for them for a player who holds out
21:41
Speaker 2: max after that is week ten of the season, so
21:44
Speaker 2: they have to play. It's the final six games, so
21:49
Speaker 2: they have to be under contract and available to play
21:53
Speaker 2: in the last six games to the season. Otherwise they
21:56
Speaker 2: fourfeit a year of football and they come back and
21:59
Speaker 2: they're right back in the same situation next year. So
22:02
Speaker 2: I think that that's basically to me. And I'll go
22:08
Speaker 2: through one more time here to just kind of sum
22:10
Speaker 2: it up, and you can tell me whether you think
22:12
Speaker 2: whether I've missed anything either one the two teams, the
22:16
Speaker 2: two sides come to a new contract before this year.
22:19
Speaker 2: There's you know deadline the team in post deadline of
22:23
Speaker 2: the opening game. One. Two Joey Porter Jr. Plays the
22:28
Speaker 2: season without a new contract and becomes a free agent
22:30
Speaker 2: next year. Or three he waits until later in the season,
22:35
Speaker 2: plays the final six games, or ifits the game checks
22:39
Speaker 2: for those first ten to eleven weeks of the season,
22:43
Speaker 2: plays the final half a dozen games, and becomes a
22:46
Speaker 2: free agent. Am I missing any other alternative that might
22:50
Speaker 2: not be open for either side?
22:56
Speaker 4: I think that is all of it.
22:57
Speaker 3: I mean, you can't well I mean you could always retag,
23:03
Speaker 3: but yeah, that's the only other thing.
23:05
Speaker 2: Well, so after this year, uh, and then you get
23:09
Speaker 2: into what could happen next, And what could happen next is,
23:13
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, you could put a transition tag on them.
23:16
Speaker 2: Now transition tag, you know, other teams can swoop in
23:21
Speaker 2: and uh and uh so that you don't see the
23:25
Speaker 2: transition tag as much anymore. It's the average of the
23:28
Speaker 2: top ten contracts.
23:29
Speaker 4: But other teams.
23:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's ramifications. Yeah, rite at first refusal.
23:34
Speaker 3: As a guy who's played under that transition tag, that
23:37
Speaker 3: doesn't get used that often.
23:38
Speaker 2: Ah, acutely aware, so you know, and you know when
23:44
Speaker 2: it comes to franchise tag too, which you can do
23:48
Speaker 2: three times, but it's only been done a couple of times.
23:51
Speaker 2: Walter Jones was most famous one. Yeah, there aren't. There
23:55
Speaker 2: aren't many that have been franchise tag three times. Orlando Pace,
23:59
Speaker 2: I think back in the day was a guy you know,
24:01
Speaker 2: left tackles, So you could do that as opposed to
24:06
Speaker 2: signing a new contract extension. So that that's what could
24:09
Speaker 2: happen after this season. And players don't like the franchise
24:15
Speaker 2: and transition tag, do they? Max?
24:17
Speaker 4: No, No, we do not.
24:21
Speaker 2: So let me ask you this because from a from
24:23
Speaker 2: a fans perspective, So you sign this, you sign a
24:28
Speaker 2: franchise tag and you get paid a ton of money, right,
24:31
Speaker 2: You get a lot of money, and fans are like, well,
24:34
Speaker 2: why would he care? That's a lot of money. And
24:37
Speaker 2: not only that, contracts never go down. Maybe plays as
24:40
Speaker 2: another great year and the contract goes up the following year.
24:43
Speaker 2: Of course, you could be franchise tagged again, which which
24:46
Speaker 2: is a little more common to the two time franchise tag.
24:49
Speaker 2: So clearly I don't think either side really wants to
24:54
Speaker 2: do that, but that seems to be something that is
24:59
Speaker 2: a little more the favor, you know, if there's gonna
25:01
Speaker 2: be a sort of damocles that wielded by one side
25:05
Speaker 2: or the other, it would seem that the teams have
25:08
Speaker 2: a little more clout because of the fact that they
25:11
Speaker 2: can go to the franchise tag, which the players don't like,
25:13
Speaker 2: and the players don't like y max A.
25:19
Speaker 3: You have no assurances outside of that one year, so
25:22
Speaker 3: there's no future protections, no signing bonus. It's all paid
25:27
Speaker 3: out through salary. So taxes definitely play a huge thing,
25:31
Speaker 3: and you're taking huge hits everywhere you play that year,
25:36
Speaker 3: and you know, it's yeah, and like I said, I mean,
25:39
Speaker 3: I think those are the probably the two top bullet points.
25:41
Speaker 4: Is you don't have any security.
25:45
Speaker 3: There's no signing boats to kind of pro rate and
25:47
Speaker 3: kind of help the team out in that perspective. And
25:50
Speaker 3: it's all salary. So everywhere you play, you pay taxes
25:53
Speaker 3: in each of those cities, and you know, God forbid
25:57
Speaker 3: you go to New York and California, it's it's you
25:59
Speaker 3: might you might as well just go ahead and drill
26:01
Speaker 3: a hole in your head and just empty the contents
26:03
Speaker 3: of your brain matter, because that's what it feels like.
26:05
Speaker 3: You're just getting drained. You know, you're happy about Florida games.
26:09
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, got to this year, Jacksonville and Tampa.
26:13
Speaker 3: I mean, you have that going for you. But yeah,
26:16
Speaker 3: it's just it's a it's a huge weight and like
26:18
Speaker 3: you said, it doesn't give the player security. You know,
26:20
Speaker 3: you don't feel wanted. Uh if you're getting these one
26:23
Speaker 3: year deals and you don't get a long term deal
26:27
Speaker 3: in place, you know, I mean, the difference obviously is
26:31
Speaker 3: for Joey is that you know, it's a dollar thing,
26:35
Speaker 3: you know, for the team and what they what they
26:37
Speaker 3: value him as is valued against what the league is.
26:41
Speaker 3: So you know, the Steelers are probably asking for some
26:43
Speaker 3: type of hometown discount to a degree to make this
26:47
Speaker 3: deal work and fit neatly under the under the salary
26:49
Speaker 3: cap without having to go and kind of rework a
26:51
Speaker 3: couple of other contracts to free up additional money. So
26:55
Speaker 3: you know, that's less work on their side. But you know,
26:59
Speaker 3: if you want this guy and you feel like he's
27:00
Speaker 3: a difference maker, like we said talk about if he
27:03
Speaker 3: has superstar level talent that can help your team for
27:06
Speaker 3: the next four or five years, then you know you
27:09
Speaker 3: want to try and reward him accordingly and also catch
27:11
Speaker 3: him before an upswinging value because when you get into
27:14
Speaker 3: the transition tag, that first rude of refusal, right, you know,
27:17
Speaker 3: teams are gonna come with these crazy contracts and then
27:20
Speaker 3: can the Steelers match those contracts. That's the fear. If
27:22
Speaker 3: you can't match the contract, you can't refuse it. But
27:24
Speaker 3: if you could match or add a dollar to it, essentially,
27:28
Speaker 3: then you get to retain that player's rights, but you
27:30
Speaker 3: could lose them potentially for a team that's desperate that
27:33
Speaker 3: needs a corner, has a lot of cap room. That's
27:36
Speaker 3: where it can really hurt you as a team. So
27:39
Speaker 3: very tricky popposition going into the transition tag. And like
27:41
Speaker 3: you said, franchise tag is a franchise tag and that
27:44
Speaker 3: number is all one year hit on the team's salary cap,
27:48
Speaker 3: So that hurts your ability for some of your future negotiations.
27:51
Speaker 3: You got three offensive linemen that are coming up very soon, right,
27:55
Speaker 3: how does that free up that money for Zach Frazier
27:58
Speaker 3: and a Mason McCormick and potentially a Troy Fatanu who
28:01
Speaker 3: you have to make a fifty year option decision on,
28:04
Speaker 3: you know, and then a host of others. So, I mean,
28:06
Speaker 3: there's just a lot of things to to consider when
28:09
Speaker 3: doing that. It's not just a blunt kind of it
28:12
Speaker 3: is what it is one one person, one situation in
28:16
Speaker 3: a silo. It affects the entire team economics. So how
28:20
Speaker 3: does it all fit in and how does it work together?
28:22
Speaker 3: Is what they're is what they're looking at.
28:23
Speaker 2: So the other thing, the students have rarely used the
28:27
Speaker 2: transition tag. Lev bell I believe was the last to
28:32
Speaker 2: receive a transition tag for this teetherers.
28:34
Speaker 4: And that and that went well.
28:35
Speaker 2: Yes, that and well you know, Lev decided to hold out,
28:39
Speaker 2: and I'm sure I think he's come out and finally
28:41
Speaker 2: said that he regretted that sitting out the year. Sorry
28:45
Speaker 2: he did that? Uh you uh did you get it twice? Max?
28:50
Speaker 3: Now I got you can only get transitioned once I got,
28:52
Speaker 3: I got.
28:53
Speaker 2: You got transition, but then you got but then you
28:55
Speaker 2: got tendered.
28:56
Speaker 3: First, then transitioned, and then franchised.
28:59
Speaker 2: Then franchise. But before that franchise tag hit, you were
29:02
Speaker 2: able to negotiate a new contract.
29:04
Speaker 3: We're able to negotiate a new deal. And it happened
29:06
Speaker 3: like I won a couple of weeks before camp started.
29:09
Speaker 3: We had hammered it out because that was actually the
29:11
Speaker 3: year I got married. So yeah, that's exactly when that happened. Yes,
29:16
Speaker 3: And then I believe Casey Hampton. I think it was
29:19
Speaker 3: the same thing.
29:20
Speaker 2: They put the franchise tag on it, but then they
29:22
Speaker 2: were able to come up with the negotiation with Casey
29:26
Speaker 2: and sign him to a contract extension. Then they put
29:28
Speaker 2: the franchise tag on you, and then they were also
29:31
Speaker 2: able to get you to it to sign a contract extension.
29:33
Speaker 2: So but again, and that's.
29:35
Speaker 3: The idea of it, right, Like you put that there
29:37
Speaker 3: with the hopes of coming to it just gives them
29:41
Speaker 3: an extended window to negotiate, right, because you don't go
29:44
Speaker 3: to free agency, and then it's kind of an accelerated
29:46
Speaker 3: window you're trying to figure it out. The franchise tag
29:49
Speaker 3: is normally used to be a buffer to create space
29:54
Speaker 3: for you to figure it out, get some other guys signed,
29:56
Speaker 3: and then put the pieces of the pie together, so
29:59
Speaker 3: to speak, but all always operating under the auspice that
30:02
Speaker 3: you're going to get a deal done with said player.
30:06
Speaker 2: Right, And I think that so those are the those
30:09
Speaker 2: are the situations clearly to Steelers and Joey Porter Junior
30:13
Speaker 2: would love to come to a new contract extension before
30:16
Speaker 2: the season begins. That would be I think the most
30:19
Speaker 2: satisfactory outcome for both sides. Number two is if you're
30:24
Speaker 2: the Steelers and a Steelers fan, you're hoping Joey Porter
30:27
Speaker 2: is going to play the entire season for you and
30:29
Speaker 2: not do that hold out till later in the season
30:33
Speaker 2: and come out and play those last you know, half
30:36
Speaker 2: a dozen games or so, just to protect that season
30:38
Speaker 2: and allow yourself to become a free agent. But that is,
30:41
Speaker 2: you know, if if the franchise tag is the cudgel
30:45
Speaker 2: that the team holds over a player. Then that holdout
30:48
Speaker 2: until late in the season is the cudgel the player
30:51
Speaker 2: holds over the team. Saying Okay, well I could now
30:54
Speaker 2: I'm not saying I'm not suggesting Joey Porter would do that.
30:57
Speaker 2: I'm just saying it is a for both side. Os
31:00
Speaker 2: are the possible, you know, sort of negotiating ploys or
31:04
Speaker 2: something in the background that's understood. It doesn't even have
31:06
Speaker 2: to be said that that gives that that either the
31:10
Speaker 2: player or the team a little bit of a power
31:14
Speaker 2: shorter term for the player, a little bit longer term
31:16
Speaker 2: for the team.
31:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, it does.
31:19
Speaker 3: It does, and that and that that's the whole object
31:21
Speaker 3: of it is to do that and keep it in
31:24
Speaker 3: that type of frame of mind.
31:26
Speaker 2: So, uh, we certainly hope it doesn't come to that
31:30
Speaker 2: with Joey Porter Junior.
31:33
Speaker 3: Yes, that is the goal that the goal is to
31:36
Speaker 3: is to get him signed, make sure that he feels
31:38
Speaker 3: comfortable with it, and you have him for the next
31:41
Speaker 3: four five, you know, umpteen years on this team and
31:45
Speaker 3: hopefully he retires as a one helmet guy. That's the
31:48
Speaker 3: that's the goals that teams like to operate under YEP.
31:51
Speaker 2: And that is certainly the one for him, because you know,
31:53
Speaker 2: he's been a he's been a real success story for
31:56
Speaker 2: the Steelers and appears to be on the cusp of stardom.
32:01
Speaker 2: And so you know, I think Joey Porter Junior thinks
32:03
Speaker 2: he's already a star, and so I think he said
32:06
Speaker 2: that last year. He should have made the All Pro
32:08
Speaker 2: team last year. So look, this is gonna be a
32:11
Speaker 2: big item to watch for the couple of weeks he
32:14
Speaker 2: remains on the pup list, so health first, and then
32:18
Speaker 2: hopefully the contract. Well again I doesn't care which happens,
32:21
Speaker 2: but hopefully he's ready to go by week one and
32:23
Speaker 2: playing for the Steelers. The other good news again to
32:26
Speaker 2: reiterate Jalen Ramsey off the pup list at practice. That
32:30
Speaker 2: is encouraging by all means, should be ready to go
32:34
Speaker 2: for opening day barring any other setbacks. One other bit
32:37
Speaker 2: of news, a big returner to practice today, important news.
32:41
Speaker 2: We're going to wrap that up into our discussion of
32:44
Speaker 2: what happened, what went right, what went wrong with the
32:46
Speaker 2: Steelers on Friday night and the loss against the Jets.
32:49
Speaker 2: When we continue in the locker room here on the
32:51
Speaker 2: Steelers Audio Network is.
33:00
Speaker 1: In the locker room with Kingon Starks on Steelers Nation Radio,
33:05
Speaker 1: presented by your neighborhood Forward Store. The F one fifty
33:09
Speaker 1: is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by
33:12
Speaker 1: Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the team at
33:15
Speaker 1: the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
33:20
Speaker 2: And we welcome you back into the program as we
33:23
Speaker 2: are going through a very newsworthy day today with the
33:27
Speaker 2: roster moves that we told you about at the beginning
33:30
Speaker 2: of the show, and again just in case you're joining
33:32
Speaker 2: us now to recap. Jalen Quibo, a cornerback added to
33:38
Speaker 2: the team. Alex Texa from Libo guy who'd been here
33:42
Speaker 2: earlier on a tryout running back. He has been signed
33:46
Speaker 2: to the team. Leaf Margin, the kicker has been released. Izzymcuomo,
33:49
Speaker 2: defensive back has been placed on the pup list. Mike
33:54
Speaker 2: McCarthy saying earlier today at the news conference that he
33:57
Speaker 2: had with the media prior to practice that the contractgotiations
34:00
Speaker 2: with Joey Porter Junior at an impass, so we're trying
34:03
Speaker 2: to figure out what that means for the Steelers team
34:05
Speaker 2: moving forward. And Jalen Ramsey off the pup and backup practice.
34:10
Speaker 2: The other guy back at practice. So that's all big
34:13
Speaker 2: news stuff. And this is a big one to me
34:16
Speaker 2: is Maxahnachour. So he has not practiced since August sixth,
34:20
Speaker 2: has had a shoulder and neck issue. Mike McCarthy did
34:24
Speaker 2: not rule out the fact Max would rule out the
34:27
Speaker 2: possibility that he could play in the exhibition game on Thursday.
34:32
Speaker 2: And I think it's an important opportunity for Max to
34:35
Speaker 2: get on the field, get a couple of practices under
34:37
Speaker 2: his belt, and play some real football on Thursday night. Yay, Yes,
34:44
Speaker 2: I may agree.
34:46
Speaker 4: Yay.
34:46
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, not only for you and I,
34:50
Speaker 3: but I think for all the steel A nation. We
34:52
Speaker 3: want to see the first round draft pick out there, right,
34:54
Speaker 3: a young guy that has shown tremendous upside from what
34:58
Speaker 3: we saw before he was injured. But you know, there's
35:03
Speaker 3: an open battle going on and you want to see
35:04
Speaker 3: how he mixes into this rotation. Can he pick up
35:09
Speaker 3: immediately and is one preseason game plenty of time to
35:12
Speaker 3: get him ready for the first game of the season.
35:14
Speaker 3: If in fact, he can show some good progress in
35:18
Speaker 3: the Buffalo game, that leaves the coaches, you know, coach
35:21
Speaker 3: camp in and coach Evans excited about what he can
35:24
Speaker 3: bring to the table. I think he has a fascinating
35:27
Speaker 3: skill set that can only get better. And then one
35:29
Speaker 3: thing that's hurt him is when you are a younger guy,
35:33
Speaker 3: a i e. Rookie, but also when you haven't played
35:36
Speaker 3: football that long, you don't have that deep of a
35:39
Speaker 3: library to draw on experience wise. So every practice, every
35:44
Speaker 3: rep is an opportunity to put that information into your
35:49
Speaker 3: brain and store it away and your little dictionary, encyclopedia,
35:52
Speaker 3: polypocket notebook, whatever you want to call it of playing
35:58
Speaker 3: at the professional level.
35:59
Speaker 4: So that is promising.
36:01
Speaker 3: If there is an opportunity for him to be able
36:03
Speaker 3: to come in and play and get some significant reps.
36:07
Speaker 2: That is a huge deal.
36:09
Speaker 3: And especially when you're looking at let's just face it,
36:11
Speaker 3: you know, the right tackle composition still open. We haven't
36:14
Speaker 3: seen anything or anyone really capture our attention to say, man, okay,
36:20
Speaker 3: we're good to go.
36:21
Speaker 4: I don't think that has been the case.
36:23
Speaker 3: And you know, for Dylan Cook, you know, it's it's
36:26
Speaker 3: been a struggle at that right side. I mean, he
36:28
Speaker 3: was fantastic at left tackle a year ago, but that's
36:31
Speaker 3: Troy Fautanaus spot now and Troy looked a lot better
36:34
Speaker 3: from week one to week two over there, Mason McCormick's
36:37
Speaker 3: looks solid. Spencer Anderson I felt like is kind of
36:39
Speaker 3: leading the clubhouse for the right for the right guard
36:42
Speaker 3: job and right tackle. You saw it happened in the
36:47
Speaker 3: game on Friday night. You know, Dylan, Dylan and Spencer
36:50
Speaker 3: went in series one, brock Hoffin and Project Jones went
36:53
Speaker 3: in Series two and they alternated to see which one
36:56
Speaker 3: could have a rhythm, and Project didn't have the best
36:58
Speaker 3: day at right tackle. Had had a solid day I
37:00
Speaker 3: felt at left tackle last week, but you know, definitely
37:04
Speaker 3: did not do himself any favors for the right tackle position.
37:08
Speaker 3: So that's gonna be one that's gonna be a struggle.
37:10
Speaker 3: So Max Yantra still has a realistic shot here if
37:14
Speaker 3: he can get healthy and he can suit up come
37:16
Speaker 3: Thursday night against Buffalo.
37:19
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree more. I totally everything you said, I
37:23
Speaker 2: completely agree with. And you know, normally I think we
37:28
Speaker 2: would say, okay, well it's a rookie. You know, let's
37:32
Speaker 2: let him get some preseason time under his belt. If
37:36
Speaker 2: he's unbelievable, yes, you leave open the possibility. But most
37:40
Speaker 2: rookies need a little bit of time. You know, Max
37:43
Speaker 2: played plenty of college football, not a ton of high
37:46
Speaker 2: school football, So you know, is he gonna be developing
37:49
Speaker 2: a little bit later to that sort of thing. Well,
37:51
Speaker 2: that's certainly I think the sort of normal route. You
37:55
Speaker 2: would say, maybe at some point, oh in the first
37:58
Speaker 2: you know, third of the way through this he's in,
38:00
Speaker 2: or halfway through the season, maybe you get him in
38:02
Speaker 2: there after he's you know, you know, had some good, solid,
38:06
Speaker 2: more solid practices under his pelt, that kind of thing.
38:08
Speaker 2: But I agree with you, Max, I think that you know,
38:11
Speaker 2: ana chore, there's a combination of factors. One, he looked
38:13
Speaker 2: good before he got hurt. Unfortunately, he got hurt back
38:17
Speaker 2: on August sixth, so we didn't get to see him
38:19
Speaker 2: a lot, and we didn't get to see him a
38:21
Speaker 2: lot with when the practices began to get a little
38:24
Speaker 2: more physical. We did not see a lot of Max
38:26
Speaker 2: start Max shore. We saw plenty of Max starks, not
38:30
Speaker 2: enough Max starts either.
38:31
Speaker 4: You could just call it, I mean Max other Max
38:35
Speaker 4: for now, So.
38:36
Speaker 2: Anachre look good, But then I think you brought up
38:39
Speaker 2: a good point. Max. Look, nobody seized that right tackle
38:43
Speaker 2: spot and so, And in fact, I would say it's
38:47
Speaker 2: been the opposite. I think that you know, I believe
38:52
Speaker 2: Cook gave up one sack and Jones gave up two sacks,
38:56
Speaker 2: and that came to backups on Saturday Night. Now, will
38:59
Speaker 2: McDonald this, I mean, he's a high quality backup, former
39:02
Speaker 2: first round pick. I get that, But I mean that's
39:06
Speaker 2: that's not what you want when you're competing for a job.
39:08
Speaker 2: I think the door is wide open. And you know
39:13
Speaker 2: that that says something one about the way Max was
39:16
Speaker 2: performing before he got hurt, but also too about the
39:18
Speaker 2: way the other guys had been performing in their first
39:20
Speaker 2: two preseason games.
39:23
Speaker 3: It is and but that's also the differentiator. Right when
39:26
Speaker 3: we do this evaluation, we're basing Eanochor's upside off of
39:31
Speaker 3: practice reps, and Broderick and.
39:33
Speaker 4: Dylan have game tape.
39:35
Speaker 3: So they are two different, very different algorithms that you're
39:40
Speaker 3: trying to, you know, trying to strapulate information from. Right,
39:45
Speaker 3: you know, you're trying to trying to pull information on
39:48
Speaker 3: assumption versus what stone cold facts are. And I think
39:52
Speaker 3: that's where you know, you need Max to get into
39:55
Speaker 3: a game so you can actually have an apples to
39:57
Speaker 3: apples comparison as opposed to speating and trying and trying
40:02
Speaker 3: to figure if this could possibly yield this if done right.
40:08
Speaker 3: It was like, no, let's just turn on the Buffalo film.
40:10
Speaker 3: How did his reps look next to the next guy,
40:12
Speaker 3: next to the next guy, and let's stack them up
40:15
Speaker 3: against each other. And that's how you get the best evaluation.
40:18
Speaker 3: That's what you want, That's why you do the practice
40:20
Speaker 3: that you do. You want to put guys up against
40:22
Speaker 3: similar competition. But once again, a practice rep and a
40:25
Speaker 3: game rep's totally different. Guys aren't going to the whistle,
40:27
Speaker 3: they're not trying to take a guy down. You know,
40:29
Speaker 3: if they get if they get close to a sack,
40:31
Speaker 3: it's not a tag off, it's actually a sack itself.
40:34
Speaker 3: So you need full speed competition to really get a
40:37
Speaker 3: good idea on what is capable for you know, for
40:41
Speaker 3: your tackle position and the evaluation process.
40:44
Speaker 2: I said this weekend talking to friends of mine and said,
40:49
Speaker 2: you know, the big news, the biggest news I'm hoping
40:53
Speaker 2: for in camp on Monday, and I was really pleased
40:56
Speaker 2: to see Jail and Ramsey back. But I didn't have
40:58
Speaker 2: any real fear that Jail and Ramsey wasn't going to
41:02
Speaker 2: be back and at practice at some point. So yes,
41:06
Speaker 2: that's really good news obviously, But to me, the biggest
41:10
Speaker 2: news was Maxahnachour is going to be at practice on Monday.
41:14
Speaker 2: I really wanted to hear that news. I thought it
41:16
Speaker 2: was the best thing I could hear today. As far
41:19
Speaker 2: as the Steelers are concerned, Maxahnachour is back to practice.
41:22
Speaker 2: I think it's great news. And I because I agree
41:24
Speaker 2: with you, Max, He's got to get you know, got
41:28
Speaker 2: too is maybe too strong. You would certainly like him
41:32
Speaker 2: to get strong, hope strong, Yes, some game tape action
41:37
Speaker 2: in and prove that he's he is up to the
41:44
Speaker 2: task and ready to go. Can you prove that him
41:46
Speaker 2: one week? No? Can you give a strong indication you hope?
41:49
Speaker 2: So you know, you don't want to win a You
41:51
Speaker 2: don't want to win a job because you're the only
41:54
Speaker 2: man standing, you know what I mean. You don't want
41:56
Speaker 2: to win the job because others haven't performed up to expectations.
42:00
Speaker 2: You want to go out and seize the job and
42:01
Speaker 2: prove that you're the best man for the job. Now
42:04
Speaker 2: other guys have not, in my opinion, sees the opportunity
42:07
Speaker 2: yet to be the starting right tackle. We haven't seen
42:10
Speaker 2: anybody say, see, it's my job, and so I think
42:14
Speaker 2: that that makes this It makes him a hugely important guy. Look,
42:17
Speaker 2: he's an important guy anyway. The Steelers use their first
42:21
Speaker 2: round pick on him. They have first round tackles on
42:24
Speaker 2: both sides. These guys. We talked about that twenty seven through.
42:28
Speaker 2: We just made fleeting mention of that twenty seven through
42:31
Speaker 2: twenty nine. You know where do the Steelers stand? Well?
42:34
Speaker 2: I think they stand a lot better than national prognosticators think,
42:39
Speaker 2: because I think the offensive line is going to be good.
42:42
Speaker 2: But you need those guys to be out there. You
42:44
Speaker 2: need your first round pick, Maxahnachar to be out there,
42:48
Speaker 2: and the best way to do that is to see
42:50
Speaker 2: him in action. Again, I don't want to overstate this,
42:53
Speaker 2: but to me, he's the number one guy I want
42:55
Speaker 2: to see play on Thursday night. I want to see
42:57
Speaker 2: what he can do. I want to see him out
42:58
Speaker 2: there getting live reps against other teams that have bad
43:01
Speaker 2: intentions at your quarterback or bad intentions towards your running back.
43:05
Speaker 2: And I want to see what he does because I
43:07
Speaker 2: think he could be part of a very imposing offensive
43:12
Speaker 2: line in the not very distant future.
43:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you're absolutely right.
43:16
Speaker 3: Like when I look at that that that ranking, I'm like,
43:21
Speaker 3: you do not take into account a young offensive line
43:24
Speaker 3: that is continue to gel with a lot of high
43:26
Speaker 3: draft picks in it. You didn't take into account the
43:28
Speaker 3: defensive line that's gotten younger and has a lot of
43:31
Speaker 3: talents still left in. I mean you think about you
43:33
Speaker 3: just signed keanum Benton, you have Ya Black, Derek Harmon
43:36
Speaker 3: as well. You know, you hope to see what you
43:39
Speaker 3: have with gab Rubio into that mix of Kevin Jobidi,
43:44
Speaker 3: you know, a host of guys there. And then like
43:46
Speaker 3: you said, the secondary, I mean, you've got a Sante
43:48
Speaker 3: Samuel Junior coming back into form. You have contracts with
43:53
Speaker 3: Jamel Dean and Jakwan Brisker, and you have a young
43:57
Speaker 3: guy in Robert Spears, Jennings, Dalen Everett. I mean, there's
43:59
Speaker 3: just the list keeps going on and I'm like, there's
44:01
Speaker 3: so many good things, so for them to come on
44:03
Speaker 3: be thirtieth, I'm like, I mean I love when teams,
44:07
Speaker 3: you know, put doubt and create a chip for you,
44:10
Speaker 3: but sometimes make do not make a rock into a boulder,
44:14
Speaker 3: And I think that's what you're trying to do as
44:16
Speaker 3: far as as far as the chips are concerned.
44:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we'll get to that. I'm eager to get
44:21
Speaker 2: to that conversation. But to me, I think you just
44:23
Speaker 2: hit on the two biggest units that have to perform.
44:27
Speaker 2: And we've said this before in the locker room, and
44:30
Speaker 2: I'll say this again. I'll say this on any any
44:32
Speaker 2: platform where I'm on and they ask me about, you know,
44:35
Speaker 2: the Steelers future and that sort of thing. Look, they
44:39
Speaker 2: have obviously put resources into the trenches. They've got two
44:46
Speaker 2: first round tackles. They've got a second round center, which
44:51
Speaker 2: is market value for a guy you think is going
44:54
Speaker 2: to be as far as draft is concerned, who you
44:56
Speaker 2: think is going to be a really good center. And
44:57
Speaker 2: Zach Frazier has showed those signs. Those guys need to
45:00
Speaker 2: be guys. And Derek Harmon needs to be a guy.
45:03
Speaker 2: And Keanu Benton you just signed to be. So Harmon's
45:06
Speaker 2: a first round pick, Benton's a second round pick. What
45:08
Speaker 2: do you think about him? What you just signed to do?
45:10
Speaker 2: A contract extension that tells you what you think about him.
45:13
Speaker 2: But draft picks and being used and contracts being extended
45:21
Speaker 2: isn't quite the same. Really isn't at all the same
45:25
Speaker 2: as being dominant on the field. And my hope is
45:27
Speaker 2: that in the trenches at some point, hopefully this year,
45:33
Speaker 2: because you're talking about guys making leaps from year one
45:35
Speaker 2: to year two. Really, for Troy Faltano, even though this
45:38
Speaker 2: is his third year, he missed the first year with injury,
45:41
Speaker 2: this is year one to year two, I don't see
45:45
Speaker 2: any reason why he's not going to make a leap forward.
45:47
Speaker 2: I would like to hope that at some point this
45:50
Speaker 2: season that we are seeing the manifestation of certainly what
45:54
Speaker 2: I believe in what I think you believe. And that
45:57
Speaker 2: is a national pun to saying, you know what, that's
46:00
Speaker 2: those Steelers' offensive and defensive lines are. They're pretty darn dominant.
46:05
Speaker 4: Well, I mean that is that is it.
46:07
Speaker 3: But here, here's just a little nugget before we go
46:09
Speaker 3: to break robin, No, we're up against it question for you, Yes,
46:14
Speaker 3: don't take too long to think about it. Last time,
46:17
Speaker 3: the Steelers drafted in the top five because obviously if
46:19
Speaker 3: we're ranked thirtieth, we're drafting in the top five. Correct,
46:23
Speaker 3: potentially because your team.
46:24
Speaker 4: Is that bad? Uh? Where do where do you think
46:28
Speaker 4: that was?
46:29
Speaker 2: What year. I'm going to say it was nineteen seventy
46:37
Speaker 2: or seventy one.
46:40
Speaker 3: Seventy was the last time they seventy top five?
46:42
Speaker 2: Yeah?
46:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's been fifty six years, right, and they
46:46
Speaker 3: had the nerve to put us in thirtieth.
46:49
Speaker 2: Right. Yes, I'm just I agree after that, I'm done
46:52
Speaker 2: after that.
46:53
Speaker 3: But I'm just I'm just simply pointing that out that
46:56
Speaker 3: literally since Chuck Noll second years of coach, since the
47:03
Speaker 3: second year he was a coach, and we've only had
47:05
Speaker 3: how many coaches since since then?
47:08
Speaker 2: All? Right?
47:09
Speaker 3: Now three others? Right, but in fifty six years, one
47:14
Speaker 3: top five.
47:15
Speaker 2: Pick yep, yep, and how many Lombardies.
47:21
Speaker 3: Uh huh yeah, only only six of those outs?
47:23
Speaker 2: That's right.
47:23
Speaker 4: That's exactly my appearance is in total.
47:25
Speaker 2: That's right. That's right. So I think we both feel
47:29
Speaker 2: the same way about that, and so we are going
47:31
Speaker 2: to you know, eventually, we're going to get to that, right,
47:34
Speaker 2: We will definitely get to that at some point, but
47:37
Speaker 2: we still have a lot to get to. We have
47:39
Speaker 2: not broken down what we saw on Friday, not in total. Obviously,
47:43
Speaker 2: We've just addressed the right tackle position. We're going to
47:45
Speaker 2: get to that Risers and Fallers got some strong opinions
47:49
Speaker 2: on where we stand with the roster after that game. Max,
47:51
Speaker 2: I'm sure you do as well. We're going to get
47:53
Speaker 2: to those when we continue here on the Locker Room.
47:56
Speaker 2: In the Locker Room on the Steere's Audio Network