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HR2: Live from Training Camp 2026 Day 12 · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
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  Speaker 1: Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
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• 1:00
  Speaker 2: And welcome back in the locker room here on the
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Seeos Audio Network alongside Max Starks. I'm rob king, Thank
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: you for listening to us. Thank you for listening to us,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: hopefully often, and hopefully on Thursday night when we're bringing
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: you the game action from Akroscher Stadium, which I'm fired
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: up about. And you know, we haven't even talked about
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: like Mike McCarthy first game and all that other stuff,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: and yeah, so we are. We are diving into the
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: position battles as we see them vis a vis the
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: most important players on Thursday night, as we see them
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the guys we think are have the most to gain
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: or lose, you know. Just again, we've gone through the
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: entirety of the offense, and just to run down that quickly,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I think we're both really looking forward to seeing what
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Roman Wilson look. Of course we want to see what
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Jeremy Bernard does, right, but I think Roman Wilson is
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: a guy we're really looking forward to. Can he carry
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: through from what he's done and OTAs in the practice
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: squad out onto some game action. Caleb Johnson third round,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: picky year ago? How does he fit in? Where where
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: is his position going to be? Can jeem Bell or
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: you know mccreer Mason, But we're looking at Bell right now.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Mounted challenge to Robert Tanyan, who appears to have the
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: inside track now at the third tight end position. But
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: let's see what happens so and and then on the
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: offensive line, it's Anderson and Cook, right, those are the
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: two guys starting in and can they prove that they
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: are worthy of, you know, being more than valuable backups.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Can they be starting NFL players? And so they're going
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: to get first crack. Yeah, there's it's going to be
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: a jam packed.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: You know, I think offensive kind of who's who for
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: this first game to figure out who, yep, slots where
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: and how it falls in. But like you said, the
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: offensive line one is an actual two starting jobs, two
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: of the eleven three, you know, two fifths of your
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: offensive line.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: That's a big deal. That's a big deal. It's a
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: full side.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: It's not like we need a left guard and a
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: right tackle or you know some other we need a
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: center and a tackle like.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: It's the right side is available. Who wants to take it? So? Yes, absolutely,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: and I think it's I think it's that's a good review, Max,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: and that how strongly we feel about this, certainly, how
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: strongly I feel, And I think you do the same.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy said the same. This is a good roster. Yeah,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: we're talking about third receiver, maybe maybe the third running
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: back with Caleb Johnson. Yeah, and maybe the third receiver
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: with Roman Wilson if he can save off Jeremy Bernard.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: You know, we're talking about the third tight end. We're
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: talking about the third quarterback. The offensive line. You're talking
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: about two starters, you know what.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: The starters, and then that affects your second team. Got
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: that's right, right, your swings change.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: I think it. You know, Mike McCarthy, he's just got
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: a really interesting way of looking at the game. And
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: it's a little bit different perspective. Look, a lot of
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: it is you know, uh, you're you're maybe you're looking
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: over the same ground describing it differently. I don't know,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: you know, I think there's there's certainly different ways to
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: do things, so I don't want to you know, look,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: this guy looks at the game differently, quantifies it. I mean,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: you know, every time he says something, I'm like, really,
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  Speaker 2: there's thirty six big plays a game. Really, that's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of big plays a game, and you know that's
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: an important part of what they're trying to do. Eight
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  Speaker 2: times a game a quarterback needs to slip out of
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  Speaker 2: the pocket and make a play in the run. Eight
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  Speaker 2: he's quantifying. Yeah, it's it's it's phenomenal and it's fantastic
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  Speaker 2: to look at it. And he has talked about these
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: player groupings and so combos, combos, it really combinations, right, combinations,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: it really it got those things are good. They are good.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Oh oh pizzeria. Oh, I like the classic. I also
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: like rooting around in the bottom of the bag to
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: get those pieces of salt that fell off the.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and then the combo that doesn't quite have
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: the crust on it is to got the cheese and
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: like a little bit of around it.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Here's what you don't want to do in any uh
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: package of any food that you get out of a
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: you know, a vending machine, is look at the contents. Yeah,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: don't like, don't who decided what this really needed was
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: some soy lekatin or whatever that is. Boy, that's what
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: this is missing. If we only had some soy leketon.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: We only had soum carbonate, because it's it's got.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, if your field a little shy the rival flavor. Yeah,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: that's what I say when I go when I get
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: those when I go go get those pop tarts out
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: of the machine, it's I'm looking for that thiamine and
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: that thiamin. Yeaham diamon and riba flavor. Anyway, So combinations,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: that's what we looking at como. So I guess my
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: question to you is I'm gonna pick just pick two
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: names out if Brock Hoffman and Brodbrick Jones look better
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: as a combination then Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook. Is
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: that what they're looking for? Or would they say? Okay, listen, uh,
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  Speaker 2: And again I'm just throwing things out here. Hey, listen,
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  Speaker 2: Spencer Anderson looks better than brock Hoffman. Broderick Jones looks
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: better than Dylan Cook. So let's try Anderson and Jones.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: But maybe just doesn't have that same combination or the
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: chemistry is Hoffman and Jones? And I'm just again, I'm
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: just using real names with throwing out you're throwing out combinations?
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: R Is that really what you're Is that what you're
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Is that what that means?
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: I think that's what it means. Okay, how well is
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: this pair going to communicate? And how do they fit
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: with the other three?
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 3: That's the other thing. So it's a game of telephone. Right,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: does brock Hoffman work better with Zach Frazier and Broderick
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  Speaker 3: Jones or does he work better with, like you said,
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Dylan Cook and then Broderick Jones with brock Hoffin in
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: the middle, right? Or no, I'm sorry, Zach Frasier.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Did you feel that way when you were playing like
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: it was a combination thing or was it more it
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: was more individualized because we never had a side that
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: was a vail.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Like the closest we got was that rookie Yero was
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: telling you about right the open battle at tackle and
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Kendall Simmons coming off of injury, because you knew Kendall
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: was the starter, but it was like, okay, well, who
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: fits best with Kendall? And even though he wasn't the
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: starter a year ago, he was still the slatest starter
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: until until he had a health issue that that sidelined
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: him for the year. So it was more so, hey,
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: how does this tackle fit in with everybody else?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? You know?
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  Speaker 3: How does how does Max being at the right tackle
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: position differ from Tree Essex or Bert Brooks being at
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  Speaker 3: the right tackle position next to Kendall Simmons, which is
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: next to Jeff Hardings, which is next to Alafanicaith.
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  Speaker 2: How does this five man unit look together?
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  Speaker 3: And can we get through and can they communicate and
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  Speaker 3: play at a high level as one?
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  Speaker 2: This is a different way.
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  Speaker 3: This is saying essentially, because I always use the five
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  Speaker 3: fingers make a fist, right, your offensive line has to
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: be a fist.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Well, I've never worried does the pinky fit with the thumb? Right?
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, where you're thinking about the fist, and now
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: he's saying, no, the ring and the pinky have to
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: match what the thumb index and middle finger are doing
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: right right, So it's a different approach. You're looking at
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  Speaker 3: still trying to get to the same fist, but they
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: care about the independent or group nature of how you
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: ball that fist.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think that when I think of combinations,
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  Speaker 2: I think that there are two that popped to mind,
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  Speaker 2: like a quarterback receiver combination. I can see sometimes they
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: just have a chemistry, a sixth sense, a feel, you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe that can becomeverbal communication, right. Maybe that came because
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: they were both third stringers for a while and elevated
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: themselves and they roomed together a camp. Whatever the reasons are,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: or there's just chemistry for whatever reason. The one I
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: always think of is those the safety because the safeties,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: to me, are true tandems. Like you said, the cornerbacks
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: can be in some ways like the finger and the
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: thumb and that fist you're talking about, they're on opposite
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: sides of the field. I always thought that operate on
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: an Island. So Ryan Clark was a really good player
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: in his own right, right, but he was the perfect
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: compliment to tro Troy polamal and and Troy Polamalu was
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: gonna play. That's that's what I'm getting with a combination, right, Like, yeah,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: like you're looking for we're looking for a combination of
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: offensive linemen. But that combination might mean how do you
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: fit with Alan Fanica? Not how does Alan fanicat fit
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: with you? Absolutely so and and by the way, I
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: also thought, I think the same sort of way about
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: the Shawn Elliott. I thought, okay, well he is going
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: to help Minka Fitzpatrick was in in the team, bring
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: out the best in Minca, allow Minca to do more
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Minca things. Ryan Clark allowed Troy polamal to do more
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Troy polam all the things. By the way, Ryan Clark
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: and Deshaun Elliott could have started on any team. They're
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: both really good players, but they're also complementary, the best
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: complimentary components too. Great players.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And you also think for the safeties, you're
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: an extension of what that middle backer is doing. Right,
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: you have to have a good flow with him as well.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: So just as good as you had to remember that.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: But then James Ferrier had to feel comfortable with communicating
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: with combination within combination.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, inside now yeah, exact wheels are turning around
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: because you're saying you're saying James controls the interior line
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: of scrimmage.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: He controls the front seven, that Safety controls the back
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: four or five, depending on how it goes. They have
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: to be able to communicate the place to each other
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: because only one guy gets gets the helmet green dot.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Safety doesn't get a green dot. So he gets information
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: relayed like a guard. If a sinner has his head
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: between his legs and waiting for the quarterback to snap.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: He's that auxiliary quote unquote captain that has to manage
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: the field. So there's a lot of different elements. And
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: like you said, if him and Troy didn't vibe, well
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: that was going to be first strike, just forget about it,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: just non starter. But he's like, Okay, Troy and him
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: get get the deal, But how does he get how
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: do they relay the information from the middle backer to him?
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: How's their communication.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Because there's gonna be fills and Troy's gonna fill the
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: gap on whatever communicated to him.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: That's what made Troy Palamolo so special. He was able
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: to see the gap and then he would fill that
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: gap and then make something special happen, right because he
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: saw it. But he also has to get the Q
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: to be able to be unleashed or not.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Right. Okay, So the the linebacker position, let's go outside,
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: quick game, let's go high Smith, t J. Watt, Nick Kurbick, Yeah,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: set it and forget it. John and Davis, Jack Sawyer,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Julius Welschoff, Mmm, intriguing. Who's going to be the fourth?
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: That's an interesting battle to watch. Who's the set?
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Who is the extra spare to make a pair? That's
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: gonna be very interesting because, like you said, Julius Welshoff,
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: as as Wolf would say, the German knife Maker has
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: been here and shown flashes and it has had game experience.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: He really has. He has. He's a guy that you're
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: looking at.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Jamon Davis has some pop to him, has a little
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: bit of wiggle to him. But like you said, Jack Sawyer,
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Jack Sawyer played a lot of ball last year as
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: a rook and comes in highly touted from Ohio State
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: and is a guy that they've been looking at. And
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: you wonder can he make that next jump to be
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: the next T. J. Watt type in that rotation. So
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: you're looking at trying to figure out, Okay, who's that
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: going to be? And then like you said, and then
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: you throw in who's the who's the third guy?
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Uh? Wellshoff Sawyer? That's it? Oh? That was it three
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: David Sawyer? Oh? Because you know why?
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Because I saw Milie Carrisen doing some rushing on the outside,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: so and I think we saw Sawyer working with the
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: first team rep so that wheah.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: So does that mean that he gave and Welshoff have
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: to catch him?
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they have to. I think I think he's the rabbit.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: I think he's the rabbit. Here are the carrot, and
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: they're the rabbits chasing him, right.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: I think he's gonna get first shot because us. Again,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: he also has more NFL experience than the other guys
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: on the Steelers.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Hard to think of them keeping more than four. I think.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Very tough, very tough.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: But that's why I said it's interesting because Malik Harrison's
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: done some rushing. So you wonder, is Harrison you're kind
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: of hybrid guy who can be outside inside capable. That's
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: my question because I've seen him take reps out here,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: so that's an interesting fourth to consider. But like you said,
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: three guys competing for.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: One spot, right, do we have time? Yes? Okay, so
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: let's uh. I think those are I think that's kind
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: and I think the inside linebacker position. You got Queen
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: and Wilson they're going nowhere, right, yeah, and then it's Brunner, Holcomb, Winman, Harrison.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Right now they have Bruner and Holcm listed as the
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: twos as the twos and then and then Harrison and
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: WindMan listed as the third tea.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Which is funny because Jacoby when he first came here women,
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: because remember he left, they tried to get him on
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: practic squad and couldn't.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: He went down to Carolina.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: So he's a guy that's shown that he has some
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: some wiggle to him. But he was an outside pass
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: rusher that they converted the inside he started he started
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: out as an outside edge rusher.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Where we Caroliner right, cal right when we saw
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: him and look.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Pretty solid, yeah, look solid and look very very competent.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: So you wonder how you know who can who can be?
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Who can who can be the thunderhead? That's what That's
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: what I call the a gap fillers thunderheads, right, because
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: you've got you got to create that that loud clap
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: when when a running back to side, a runn a
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: dive play in the middle, who is going to meet
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: him at the gates and kick him out the club?
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: That's that guy right now, that's Cole Hulkum. So you
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: know you have that guy. And Christian Bruner is gonna
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: get his first shot to prove versatility because.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: We know what he is.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: A specialty that's right, did it all year, but can
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: he be a front line capable starter if injury happens
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: mm hmm with his youth, So he's going to get
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: the first shot at that. Malik Harris said, we know
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: what he is, and we know what he's done and
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: a little bit of like I said, liability when it
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: comes to coverage, but a guy who can fill the gap.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: So I'm playing a lot against the Ravens, a lot
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: against the Ravens, a lot against the Raves, and he's
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: a former raven so you know you're battling that. And
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: then like you said, Jacobe Winman had him, lost him
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: came back and so it's going to be a really
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: good challenge about who's that number two squad for for
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: the inside backing group.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: So if I'm going to pick one guy, then I'm
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: really watching. I think it's going to be Carson Brunery.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: We both said the same thing for four match here
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: on radio. I know, but I was like, you know
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: before you.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Said it, so that you could then relay that we
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: were on the same page.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to talk over you in that moment.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: I got off the fence. I got off my little Yeah,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: you picked actually picked a side. Mac, I got it.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: You got a podcast and courage the carriage.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: There it is.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: So we both agree, Yeah, he's the guy to watch,
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: okay if he can take that third slash fourth inside
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: linebacker position.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: So it's it's bruner And then did we make a
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: selection at the safety position? You know what we said,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: we want to see all of them. Because we want
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: to see all of them, I'm gonna throw Jack Henderson
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: out there. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna pick a guy.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Okay, I'm gonna say Sebastian Cask to see if he
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: can compete against that field.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: We picked guys. Yeah, yeah, once again, because we don't
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: get on the fence even though we sit in chairs.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: I was looking around for my grown up pants. I
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: found him and found and I found one at a time.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: All right, stick around, We're gonna come back and look
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: at I picked the two, the two really most interesting units.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: And again no no offense anything else. But I cannot
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: wait to see this cornerback unit and the defensive line configuration.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: We'll get to that, and we continue in the locker
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: room here on this stee There's Audio Network.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Is live covera shop dot twenty twenty six Steelers Training
• 17:04
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• 17:41
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• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and Drafthouse.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: We are feeling the excitement. Are we feeling the excitement?
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: We're feeling the excite. I think it's brilliant. It's gay.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: You know, it's a game week. Isn't that kind of cool? Man?
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: It is? It really is? It really is. We're really
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: excited about about what's coming up, and we've been going
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: through the players that we most want to see in
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: preseason game number one for a variety of different reasons.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: You know, starting spots open on the offensive line. Are
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: you a third receiver, Roman Wilson? Are you on the roster,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Caleb Johnson? And when you look just look at the
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: number game, you know, same thing with the safety position
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: or inside linebacker position. There's room for guys to make
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: a move. There's just not a lot of it right
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: now because it's an awfully deep, awfully good roster. I
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: think we're talking about that during the break too. I
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: think we're both bullish on what this roster is. So
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: let's take a look at the corner back position and
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: we could say immediately who is not playing. Joey Porter Jr.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Is not playing, Jalen Ramsey is not playing. And Dante Kent,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Poor Dante Kent he needs to get healthy and get
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: out there. He does because there's a lot lot of
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: competition that he's.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Going up against, not only guys in our also on
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: that kind of pupp list, but guys who are making
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: a name for themselves right out here and stacking good days.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: He's one of those classic guys too to me that
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: you know he could stitch together some value for a team,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: like if he shows that he could be a slot corner,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: right and maybe a top two or three slot corner. Okay,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: is that enough to keep you on a roster? But
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: guess what hand in the air. I also can return punts,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: So if you needed me in a pinch to return punts,
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: but you got it. You have to be out in
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: the field, and Dante had some injury issues last year.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Hopefully can get out there and start proving his worth.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: But those guys aren't out there. So who Here's who
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: is out there? Jamel Dean. Okay, he's a really good
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: pickup and he's making the roster right easily.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: He has been a dominator out here every day of practice.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: He's got that oh wow coverage and he makes that
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: play every day right, So safe.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Yep, by the way, at the safety position. Robert Spears Jennings.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: I kind of want to see him too. I want
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: to we want to see you guys. I mean we
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: want to see I want to see two guys. We
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: did say all the guys, and we picked one out
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: and now Robert Spears j Now I'm peeling off my
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: man pants and now I'm going back to my short
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: pants down. James Brown the short pants on. I got
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: the shirt, I got the short pants on. I took
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: two guys. I didn't man up. Okay, so let's take
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: a look at uh. But but I am interested in
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: both those guys, and I think, uh for for different reasons.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: You know, again, young guys, A talented athletic guys. So
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: we look at the cornerback position. You know, Brandon Eckles
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: I think proved his worth last year in the slot.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Right now you'd be You'd say, it's it's got to
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: be Ramsey and Eccles in the slot. Right on the outside,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be Jamel Dean, Joey Porter Jr. You know,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Sante Samuel Jr. He he might be number one on
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: my list, but I just think he is. So they've
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: been really Mike McCarthy's really raved about him, and with
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: good reason. He's looked really sharp. What what neck injury? Right?
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: What neck injury?
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: He is fully removed from that injury and playing at
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: a high level.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: And when you talk about Joey Porter Jr.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: Not Being available, Jayalen Ramsey not being available, I have
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: zero concerns or worries if it was a lineup of
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: Jamel Dean and a Sante Samuel on your edges, yep,
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: and he is pushing, you know, like we talked about,
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: if something were to happen at the safety position, he
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: might be your slot.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's competing with Brandon Echols there, he's really been.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: He can be outside or inside. He can be assignment worthy.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Like you track this guy like you track Puka Nakula
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: right right, because Puka is gonna play more slot and
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: obviously want to keep Joey on the outside.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: But he's he's the traveling man. Yeah, he could very
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: well be. You know, if you go to a four
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: corn or a look, go to dime, Yeah, you go
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: to dime. And in the past, I think there's been
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: a lot of three safety looks from Mike Tomlin. Are
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: you going four corner more? Four corner traditional NFL. I
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: think there's more teams that probably play four corner than
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: three safety. Yeah, more teams that do it.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: And like I said, little bit well and Patrick Graham also,
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: what's his appetite right in those situations going to really
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: matter how he looks like because he might not value
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: the third safety as much as he values the fourth corner. Yes,
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: and right now we have four top flight corners. Why
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: would I not once you get that fourth corner out there?
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: As it stands, if we're already talking about who's the
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: second string safeties, yes, third and fourth, and we just
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: got through the two deep plus one and we're still
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: talking about our top flight corners.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, I agree. And then you know, I mean it
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: might be it might be Brandon Echols, who was very
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: good for the Steelers last year in a Sante Samuel Junior,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: battling to get on the field, battling to be the guy.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: Who's gonna fight because Jyleen Ramsey could then pop to
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: that third corner of the third safety as a corner.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Right. So yeah, so I'm really eager to see him,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: but I think that the guy I'm gonna you And
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: then we have Deniko Slaughter who's gotten some opportunity. So
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: you know, when when people get hurt and you hate
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: to see it, you know, sometimes guys get an opportunity,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: you know, and sometimes somebody can really benefit from that opportunity.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: And I think Denico Slaughter might be a guy benefiting
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: from that opportunity. He's been jumping out there and getting
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: some reps. Uh. You know, you have timan line them.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Who's going to be out there, the Pitt guy, Devon Boykin,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Darryl Porter, is DeShawn Jamison, Uh going to be out there?
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: I think he might get a shot. Yeah, Okay, so
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: he's gonna be out there. You still haven't said the
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: draft pick and Daleen Everett. Yeah, I was saving. I
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: was saving you saving that you you want it for this.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: I was circling because he's a guy that He's a
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: guy that very very much interests me. I think he's
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: he's flashed really positive out here, and I'm just telling
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: you I'm taking him as my work. Okay, So just
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: we're hands off. We are, no, I think we're agreeing.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: We both agreed on Carson Bruner. We got we had
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: a little bit different on the safety. But I think
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: we're both. I'm really looking forward to him because one,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: I think he is a guy who's capable of playing,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: of getting you know, getting not only on the fifty
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: three man roster, which I fully expect him to make,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: but on the active game day roster. He can contribute
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: on special teams six dB, right, and that's our sixth
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: corner style. That is what you want to do. And
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: I think that they they are looking you know, they
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: draft him, they draft a guy like Daleen. Ever, they're
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: drafting him with the idea that he could be a
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: future starter. Yeah, and I don't think early early, early
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: days Max, But I don't think there's any thing to
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: have disabused the Steelers of that notion. Yeah.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: No, I mean, and he's gotten the opportunity. He's he's
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: taking the big boy jobs too. He's had to cover DK,
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: he's had to cover Pittman, he's had to cover Roman.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: So they're seeing what his appetite and his skill level
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: and recovery is to be in those moments. So big
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: moments aren't so big right to him, yep. And he's
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: getting a lot of reps out here. That's the one
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: thing I will say, if we're looking at kind of
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: a key emphasis of what a McCarthy camp is it's volume, volumes,
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: and he's got a lot of volume. Yeah, he's already amassed.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: So they they might have so for people that have
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: been out of camp in the past, they might have
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: some drills on this. On the second field, you might
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: be working out with your positional group or whatever. But
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: they're running like scrimmage type of stuff and they're running
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: it on both fields and it is simultaneously simultaneously, so
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: makes it harder to watch, Yeah, does, but it is
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: it is you are getting your volume of.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: Snaps the Saturday night lights practice sixty two team reps
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: of competitive team reps. That was never the case back
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: when Mike Davila was there and even Bill Kauer was there.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: That's how efficient these it. When there's a when there's
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: the the mock game walkthroughs seventy plays per field, what's
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: one hundred and forty reps. Wow, that's a that's a lot.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: That's a lot of body of work. As I said,
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: the volume is there so that when you get in
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: stadiums you have zero excuses, you have zero places to
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: hide behind, words to hide behind, because it's like you
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: can't say you didn't know what to do.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Can't say that you got a limited amount of red.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: You've got a lot of reps out here.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: Show me what that looks like in game time situations.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: I think it's a you're probably probably keeping six corners.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Got to not seven, no, not seven, but six for sure.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Six for sure.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: You got to have two deep across your three cornerback
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: looks right, and so that's in the nickel. That's your
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: nickel guy. So it's three across the front, right, yeah,
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: right now, Dean Porter Ramsey is your front line three.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: Then then then you get behind it, and that's where
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: it gets a little Harry.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: You feel good about two of them, Samuel Eckles and Everett, right,
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: I think, and Everett has to be your sixth. So
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: is Everett competing against line them slaughters slaughter, Yeah, all
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: those guys. You're competing against those guys the field for
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: that sixth cornerback position. Let's let's briefly delve into at
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: least start, because I also want to talk about what
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: we're expecting to see on a on a large macro
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: look from the team. So you know, I apologize for this.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: We're gonna run a little bit over because we have
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: to talk about the defensive lineman here and then we're
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: going to talk about that coming up to the next block. Stations. Beware,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: we might be running a little bit over so right now,
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: the too deep on the defensive line is listed as
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Hayward Black Harmon. Very interesting that they've moved Black inside
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: and they've kicked Benton outside. The body types would tell
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: you they should have put Black in the inside on
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: the outside. And Keanu, you and he did a great
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: job rushing the pastor last year, great job rushing the pastor,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: so uh, you know, you'd like him a little bit
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: wider and maybe in that that sub four look where
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: you have two down linemen and you're outside to side right,
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: so Heyward Harmon obvious locks Black and obvious lock Benton.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Sebastian Joseph Day. This is where it gets interesting. So
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: I think those guys are locks right there. Locks and
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Sebastian Joseph Day. Good football player, great attitude, plays inside,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: plays out whatever you need and that's right willingly happily, yeah, happily,
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: great attitude. So the kind of guy you want in
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: your team. And and by the way, really good football player,
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: like sometimes yell great attitude. Well, okay, little Johnny Trier. No, No,
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: he's a good football player. Yeah, he's an upgrade over
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: to me some of the veterans that they brought in
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: to try to round out the rosters because there's less
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: rounding that needs to be done because the roster has
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: gotten better. That allows you to to to sort of
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: target a Pittman. I know that was a trade, target
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: a Jamel Dean, target a Sebastian Day, right, yeah, and
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: target Rico Daubdle, right, Joseph Day rather target a Rico
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Dattle exactly exactly. Be very surgical versus whole sweeping changes.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: So they'll keep either six or seven, right, yeah, I think,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: I think. Okay, So now you have Gabriel Rubio. Mike
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: McCarthy was asked about him to say, hey, you get
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: him in pad. You want to see what he looks like.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: He looks the part, young guy, still learning. Yeah, Logan
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: Lee injured right now, potential, but he's and he's been healthy.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: He's flash potential, right and former teammate of Black so
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: when they had that combination and they look pretty good.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: Healthy has been a problem and hope you hope he
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: can get that Essesea told me Woll came in last
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: year and played meaningful minutes into nothing but absolutely his job.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Anthony Goodlow. Yeah, also on the roster, and now we're
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: getting to the net. This is just the depth chart.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: Now we're getting Nick Dean Lowry, veteran guy.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: That's where he's alid right now, solid and like you said,
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: he's back there.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Injuries has also been an issue, older guy. Injuries has
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: been his big issue. Kyler Ball has flashed some things. Yep,
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Bass shown it and played in games. And we talked
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: about relative athletic score as it related to Jack Henderson earlier.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Kevin Jobii a great relative athletics square. Joaquin Davis, by
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: the way, wide receiver, another one of those guys really
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: really athletic kind of guy. Djobidi's are really really athletic.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: We forgot to mention him. He's got a lot of
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: attention at wide receiver. Yeah, I think he was. I
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: don't know if he's back on the roster. Is he
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: back on the roster right I think? Yeah. You don't
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: want to wear twenty seven right now. Yeah, that's very
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: twenty seven because he was one early in camp. I mean, oh,
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: I agree. I agreeing all the tosses it must have been.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: I agree, so uh Jobiiti, so that that is a
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: crowded group, man, I mean you can easily again easily
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: make a case for nine easily. Yeah, and we're talking
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: about the five that are that are no brainers. Rubio
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: is a pick, a draft pick this year. Loganly, a
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: draft pick a couple of years ago, told me, well,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: came in and did a good job for you. Dean
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: Lowry is a good, solid veteran guy. And that's not
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: even counting bad Jobidi and goodlow So that is going
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: to be really interesting. And I am going to say
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: the guy that I really want to see is the
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: rookie from this year. I really want to see why
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: Black because I'm interested to see what he does at
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: the nose, right. Yeah, So I'm taking two guys, but
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: I'm taking him for different reasons, like you know, can well,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: I guess if I have to take one, I think
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: I might take why a Black. I really want to
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: see Gabriel Rubio the rookie and see what he can do.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: But I think I might take why a Black because
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: he's changing positions, he's moving in and you want him
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: to be that anchor sort of guy. So with all
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: these other position battles, even though he's listed his first
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: team Max, I think my eyes are going to be
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: on why a Black. That's my choice.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: I mean, listen, I am right there with you and
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: and I am going to go gave Rubio okay, all right,
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: because I just want to see what the young guy
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: can do.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: I agree, he injured a lot last year.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: At Notre damese. I didn't really get to see him.
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: So I want to see what does that look like
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: now healthy with big boy training. I want to see
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: what gay Rubio can do, and you know, show us
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: because we've heard about the potential. Now it's about actually
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: putting that into practical application.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I put my pants back on. I want you to
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: know that I got my big boy pants back on.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: I only chose one guy I wanted to choose to.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: I want to reasons. I mean, there are there are
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: there are more than one guy we're all looking at.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, and we are we are saying one. But
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: I do think that they're we've identified, you know, over
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: the course of the two days that we've been looking
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: at this, maybe a dozen actually probably closer to ten.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: It's probably not up to a dozen guys. Yeah, probably
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: ten guys that were really targeting and think that this
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: game is important for for a couple of guys that's starting.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: I think the two guys in the offensive line, I
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: think y a Black at the nose tackle position. For
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: the others, it's are you going to make this roster?
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: You know? Are you going to make the fifty three?
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: I think a lot of these guys we've mentioned are
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: going to make the sixty eight, but are you going
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: to make the fifty three? So that's the way we
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: see that. But then there's a larger picture. Mike McCarthy
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: coming in and coaching his first game, you know, based
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: on what we've seen in camp, based on the things
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: that he's said, what kind of a Steers team are
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: we expecting to see here? Because you want to put
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: that best foot forward first right away, You want to
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: put it first game. This is what we're all about. Now.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: It may not happen, It doesn't mean this guy is falling,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: But what kind of blue printer we're looking for? Max
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: and I are going to discuss that and we continue
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: This is live coverage up the twenty twenty six Steelers
• 34:11
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• 34:49
  Speaker 2: And welcome back inside the locker room here on the
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Steelers Audio Network. Along with Max Starks, I'm Rock King.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: We are looking forward to greatly, just a little over
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: forty eight hours from now, bringing you some Steelers football
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: in these year. Waves. Can't wait.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Max.
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: It's going to be glorious. It is going to be
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: glorious to be back in our perch and the back
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: for sure stadium.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: That pregame show will be getting ready to go. I
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: think I want to hope. I don't know. Tim Benz
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: is so firing it up this year. Haven't seen this
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: seen getting everything fired up? I know Matt Williams to
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: be part of that. Wes you learn these guys.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: Help my inside the Trenches segment is ready to rock
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: and roll with du Lac and Pursuda.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: So yeah, now I'm looking forward to It's gonna be fun.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: And like you said, it's a good preseason for everybody.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: It's also for us, right, you know, we've been kind
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: of out of out of the loop and we've been
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: coming to you guys, so we feel great about it.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: But once again, when you get into it, it's still
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: a different thing to the flow and everything, so you
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: got to get back into it. So it's good to
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: have these preseason games to get back on course.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: We're warming up for in the locker room. But I
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: always think, I think play by play and I don't
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: know if you feel the same way about color as
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: opposed to radio. Radio is like okay, you know ten
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: seconds in your you're back in it, right, yeah, but
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: played by players like Max. We haven't called the game
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: since January. Yeah, it's been nine months since we call
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: the game. You're like, hey, we're on the air. Here
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: we go, let's go and mid season four.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: But it's like if you haven't been jump roping and
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: you decide you want to jump in that double Dutch line.
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: You know, you're trying to figure out the tempo and
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: the pace and when to jump in, when to jump out.
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: So it is an exercise that we do have to practice.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: It's strange, it's a little different than it's also a
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: sudden a lot of non verbal communication. Right, you met
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: you me? Okay, got it? Yep. So you know, Mike
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: McCarthy wants to put the best foot for it. Every
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: coach does. The question is, how is this football team
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: gonna look different than Mike Tomlins teams? How did Mike
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: Tomlins teams look different than Bill Cowers teams? How to
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: Bill Cowards teams look different than Chuck Nor teams. I
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: think one of the things I think about with Bill
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Cower early on in his career was he was a gambler,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: you know, on side kicks and going forward and doing
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: things with a special team or right right, doing things
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: that were a little bit different. And then you know,
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: it felt like we saw a little bit of that
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: at the beginning of Mike Tomlins screw then he evolved
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: as a coach. I think that, you know, Mike McCarthy
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: emphasizes a lot the pre snap portion of the play,
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: and that doesn't just mean pre snap penalties, although of
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: course it also includes pre snap penalties. Correct. So I
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: think a lot of people and a lot of people
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: think a pre snap they think of is it a
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: pre snap penalty. It's kind of like, you know, a
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square, right, Yes,
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: so the square is part of the rectangle family. Well,
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: the pre snap penalty is part of the pre snap family,
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: but it isn't the only thing in the In the
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: pre snap that's important, especially to Mike McCarthy. He wants
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: the plays called in quickly. He wants the defensive plays
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: called in quickly. He wants guys in place quickly. He
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: wants to be able to put pressure on the other
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: team by disguising things, moving guys, showing things. He does
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: not want this indecision. That's a big part of the
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: pre snap thing. Too clean and varied play. Maybe that's
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: an oversimplification of it, but I don't know. You tell me, Max,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: clean and varied play before the whistle, before the ball
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: is snapped is what he wants on both sides. Efficiency. Efficiency.
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: He wants efficiency, he wants he and he also wants
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: verbal economy. He doesn't want to He's in this shows yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: And that's why he that's why his headset is connected
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: to other coaches on game day.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: Why we have the headsets that we have right because
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: we are not in a verbal economy business. No, we're
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: not verbal economy. But for him, it's all about the efficiency.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: It's all about the verbal economy. I want to let
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: guys know what I want. I'm very transparent, and I
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: want you to go play. That's essentially what it is.
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: But you got to know what to do before you
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: can go out and do it. And so that's why
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: we talk about these practices, how high paced, how efficient
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: he is with his time management, and why everything's scheduled
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: down to the minute.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: On what you have to do, because he wants it
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: Boom boom boom boom boom, and he doesn't want boom
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: boom boom boom boom boom right boom, which is a
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: great beat to a start of any rhythm section. But
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: for this he wants to quick. He wants the very play.
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: He wants to be able to speed up, slow down
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: play as he so fits because at the end of
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: the day, it's.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: About time of possession. Yeah, that's right, it's about time,
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: says I want more of it than you than you have. Yes,
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: I think he wants to and again we're going to
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: see here, but I think he wants to dictate pace.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: And that doesn't just mean oh man, who's the guy
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: that went to the Eagles the former college coach and
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: it was just go Kelly, Chip Kelly. Yeah. Yeah, And
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: we're not talking Chip Kelly. You're talking ninety five players.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: It's not it's not pell mell uh loyal maror Mount
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: basketball back in the day, Mike Leach. Yeah right, it's
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: it is dictate the pace in a way of our choosing.
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: And that's not you know, that's not trick them football.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: It's organized physical football. That's yeah. Maybe it's down to
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: an identity. Maybe if I had to go with an
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: economy of words, it would be organized, disciplined, hard hitting
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: football to two more syllables to make a hiker. Just joking,
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: but but I think you're right. At Hackshire Stadium, Yeah,
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: Thursday night, lily pad, yep, that's for the day. And
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: I'm going to change lily pad with methodical Okay, I
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: like it, So, yeah, I think that we are he
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: I think that's what we want to see. But we're
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: going to see it right on Thursday night. It's going
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: to be the first to watch this.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: And you know, people talk, Oh, it's just vanilla football.
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: Plays are called, plays have to be stopped right, and
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: plays have to be made.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: At the end of the day, I don't care if
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: it's vanilla or whatever. You think it's done.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: You're not scouting the opponent outright, but you are looking
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: for efficiency in and out of the huddle, how the
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: play is called, how you execute that play, and how
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: do you finish that play consistently per play, per drive,
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: per quarter, per half, per finish perfection, perfection, a lot
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: of person no cats.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: So I think that's what that's what you're looking for.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: That's all you can hope for, right and you can
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: only hope for.
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: My guys know what to do, when to do it,
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: and they know when to be on the field and
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: when to be off the field. Because that's the worst
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: thing that a coach will hate. You had that special
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: team's mid third quarter they call the punt return unit
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: and a guy doesn't run out there, right, Oh, you
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: had to burn that time out.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: You want to talk.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: About burning into somebody's soul if a coach has to
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: call it because he only has ten men on the field,
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: or they got twelve guys on the field because one
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: guy didn't.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: Know he was subbed out. A specialty.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, that is going to chap the rear end of
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: any head coach, and especially one that's well established as
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: Mike McCarthy, because they work this.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: That's why you do the mock game, that's right, That's
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: why you.
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: Do the walkthroughs and talk throughs and jog throughs and
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: everything else that he is to prevent that, like, give
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: me ultimate autonomy on these things, an efficiency that I
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: can save these timeouts and use them for critical down situations,
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: save them for the mojo and the Frank go moments,
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: right that might come in the game, Right, the thirty
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: six big plays. I don't want to draw up the
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: perfect play and I can't call a time out to
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: set it up.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: Yep. The highly organized he's in, highly organized, detailed guy
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: very and I think he wants a highly organized, detailed team.
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: He does not want to look like a rookie head coach. No, No,
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: he's not where you don't know where the challenge flag is.
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: You don't know when to use your timeouts, and you're
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: worried about what group is where you start micromanaging. Like
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: he gives his coaches a lot of leeway, a lot
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: of autonomy within their groups to make sure that everything's
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: on the right page. And the second he has to
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: micro manage that I think could be a problem. And
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: we haven't seen Mike McCarthy crack or anything, because he
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: is a veteran coach. He's been through every known scenario
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: that you can go through in a game, and he
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: knows what it is to walk around with the target
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: on your back because he's done it a two other
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: storied franchise.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: I think the other thing too, that it's going to
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: be more interesting to see this on DEFIL with Patrick
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: Graham and what he wants to do. But you know,
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy's talked a lot about, hey, you know what
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: I don't want, And we talked about like you have
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: a Melvin Turpin out there, like for the Cowboys. You
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: know if if Cayden Weeden's that kind of guy, he
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: doesn't want. He wants guys that can play all three downs. Yeah,
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: Darnel Washington, Pat Frin, I don't want to have to
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: substitute for you, receivers. I don't have to want a
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: substitute for you. You know. I'll be interested to ask him
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: about this, But I think part of that is because
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: you know, he's talked about I don't want to worry
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: about that when I'm calling plays and and getting the
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: you know. But that's part of pace too, Like all
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: of a sudden, you know, you don't have the right
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: personnel out there and the quarterbacks, you know, looking over
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: and waving his hand. Now I'm on the radio waving
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: my hand, George, and imagine your side. Come on out here, everybody.
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: You know, we don't have to tap the helmet, right,
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: I can't hear you and the hands up.
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: But I mean even the substitution part. Okay, well wait
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: a minute, we're in this pack. We're in this package.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: That means this guy's got to go here, and this
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: guy's got to come out, and this guy's got to
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: move to the that guy's got it what. He doesn't
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: want to do any of that stuff. Now. He wants
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: you to be able to play so that they can.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: And that's part of dictating pace. You're not waiting. You know,
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: eight seconds left, seven seconds left. Here comes somebody out
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: to the huddle. Now you're disorganized. That is not what
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: he wants to see. You do not want to see that.
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: Once again, you don't want a penalty.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: We talked about how big the pre stap is and
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: you do not want to burn a timeout.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: Can't wait, Yeah, can't wait. He is Max Starks. I'm
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: Rob King. We will come your way on Thursday night.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: Coming up next The Drive with Matt Williamson and Wes Euler.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: So for Max, for Justin Miller and our iHeart Controls.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: I'm Rob King. We thank you for listening to this
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: edition of Inside the Locker Room and the Steel. There's
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: Audio Network