Latest / In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers) / HR2: Live from Training Camp 2026 Day 13

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HR2: Live from Training Camp 2026 Day 13 · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is live coverage of twenty twenty six Steelers training
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Camp on the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
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• 0:31
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• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Number three. We don't go to the office, We build.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: It and welcome back inside the locker room here in
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: the Steelers Audio Network, hard at work here, Hi as
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: op to Chuck Nolfield.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: We're spread out over it. Man a lot of room here.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of room up in the press back
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: when your practice is eleven fifteen it is, there's a
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: lot of room. So we're spread out a little bit.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: We're enjoying ourselves and we're looking back about on the
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: first game, and I got to tell you just you know,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I didn't give an overview. We were talking about some
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: of the things we didn't like. That was a very
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: short segment, and now we've been going over the things
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: that we do like. And we want to talk about
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: the you know, Land and Roberts re signing with the
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: with the Steelers, and we want to talk about the
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: counter Benton contract extension, and now what this week of
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: practice is going to look like heading into the game
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: on Friday. So with just a few days left in camp,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I'm sure are the guys starting to get itchy or
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: or still when do you start to get itchy? Is
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: it Sunday, Monday tomorrow, and Monday.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: Tomorrow and Monday. You know, you're just like man. Tuesday's
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: a closed practice, close practice for the team.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Get in your car and the trope five five hundred.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: They will line up outside the locker room and they
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: will have the cars in pole position and it's ranked
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: by veteranship, who gets to who gets who gets the
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: lead pole position? Is that right? Yeah? So Cam Hayward
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: will be at the front of that of that group,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers will be at the front of that group,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: and then t. J. Watt will probably be in the
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: number two position because you're gonna go two lanes. Oh
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: I can't. I see, I got you, so t J. Watt.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: That's the only time you'll see him being second fiddle
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: is that he doesn't have the years of the first
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: two on this Dame and then ago and then after that.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: It kind of fills in after that. But those are
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: those are your lead pacers. Okay.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Very interesting. When do you start to get anty? And
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: maybe it depends upon where you are, And if you're
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Cam Hayward, you might already be thinking about it. If
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: you're I don't know, Haley, probably thought about it last week, okay.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: And if you're a young guy, you just you're just
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: worried about.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: The next practice. You're like, I just need to make
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: it through. I need to make it, stay healthy, worry
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: about it. I mean a lot of your mid level
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: veterans thinking about fourth, fifth year guys in that range
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: and beyond. Yeah, today will be that day that the
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: home run derby later on today, Okay, So uh, that's
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: usually what it's like. Okay, we're on we're on the
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: down we're on the down shift. You know, it's a
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: steep grade on the way down the hill that is
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: training camp. So today is usually that day that they
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: start to Okay, tomorrow, you'll start to pack some stuff
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: up if you're a veteran, and that's when you start.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: That's where you really start to kind of down shift
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: and get ready for the day. Who he thinking wins
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: the home run derby any clue? Oh man, there's not
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: as many former baseball players you know before, because you
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: had justin fields. You had Russell Wilson, you know. Yeah, yeah,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Kenny was good and we had the one guy, the
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: kicker that was really good, Christian Coons really really wants
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: to win it. Okay Coons. Coons is like, you know,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: he played baseball and he'll bring his own bat and
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: he'll he'll he'll have batting gloves, you know, and he'll
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: be he'll be ready to rock and roll and really
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: good guy. Look, I just think that I look at
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: the kickers. You know, Cam's Australian, so kind of knocks
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: him out. Could care less. Although you know, hey listen,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: cricket background, maybe cricket maybe maybe I think I think
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: he was more Auzie rules football. But okay, that's right yet, yeah,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: that's right. Yeah, So I don't I don't think he'll
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: have that. But I'm trying to think, I don't know
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: who would be that slurt I guess now, and none
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: of the linebackers. Huh, I'm hat to go with Coon's.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I might have to go at Christian Okay, all right,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: So we talked about the defense, and we talked about
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: the guys that we really liked. Sante, Samuel Dale and
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Everett I thought was noticeable. Robert Spears Jennings I think
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: gets a gold star along with Samuel Rubio I think
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: we both thought was really good. Jamon Davis, Kyler Baugh.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: We ready to move on to offense. Let's see here
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: we said good low.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: We said, we didn't say good low. Oh good low,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: good Low. Yes, another guy, you got to get to
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: that list. I thought he did some really good things disruptive,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: especially in some of the run in the pass rushing game,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: like moving Kyle McCord off of his off of his
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: point a lot and and even last kit was the drones.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: I think was the yeah Kyen drones kyon Drones I
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: meant I thought, I thought he showed up on tape.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: I thought he popped good the opportunities given. So yeah,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: that would be the only other one.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, let's get onto offense, and we can probably
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: spend plenty of time talking about the quarterback position, So
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: let's let's wait on that for a moment and talk
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: about other guys. The guy that immediately popped to me
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: early in the game was Jeremy Bernard.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely got a lot of throws, a lot of plays.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, sticky hands, sticky hand, anything that was thrown
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: at his facinity, he was going to catch it. And
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: I thought that was something that was really good to
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: see the relationship between him and Mason early on is
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: that he was he was a guy that made some
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: plays and I really like to see that, especially at
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: the bride receivers. But you know, he got a second
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: round pick. I want to see what he can do,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: and they gave him every opportunity to be successful, and
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: he was.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: I think the know I was talking to Mike de
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: fabo at and I think Mike wrote this. I'm okay
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: mentioning this. You know, we were just talking.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: I was stuffing another cookie at halftime, a little halftime chat,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: right he was, he was abstaining, he was having I
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: think he had a piece of fruit and I'm like, okay,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: next game, I'm.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Having a piece of fruit, having a piece of good Man,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: they were good, I mean good, they were good. But
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: I looked at you know, you know what made me
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: so upset the carving station that that that primary was
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: too rare. Oh are you kidding me? Oh? It was
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: it was too Oh no, it's perfect, absolutely perfect. I
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: mean mood when I ate it another minute on each side, No,
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: disagree with you their partner. Well, the carving guy already knew.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: He was like maxis saint for you to say, okay, yeah,
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: so well he had to go down.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: He had to go down and start cutting on the
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: small endure was really not even that.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: That's that's how it was. It was perfect. It was
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: more than mooing. It was. It was it was still
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: actually circulating. But I thought it was so h Jeremy Bernard.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: But the point he was making was look as a
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: physical guy, as a physical receiver.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: And this is something that you know, we've talked about
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: with Matt Williams and on different shows too. There are
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: certain guys who are going to look really good in
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: OTAs when you're in T shirts and shorts.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the smaller, quicker guys or you know, don't touch
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: me guys. Right.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: You know, look Roman Wilson, who I think has has
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: done nothing to hurt himself. I think he's been very
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: good throughout camp. But he's a guy who should look
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: good when it's quickness and speed and there's not Joscelyn
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: and hitting open space, he should look good.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: He's continued to look good by the way.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Jeremy Bernard is a guy that, when the pads are on,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: is probably a better player. He's physical, and those things.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: In your fifty to fifty balls, right.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Those things aren't going to show up quite as much
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: in practice. When all of a sudden, you know, everybody,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: everybody catches a ball and runs down the field, right,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: the defenders are touching them and okay, well now now
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: now that guy's not touching you on on Thursday night.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: He's trying to drive you into the ground. He's trying
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: to grab you and and.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Suddenly you know you're running down the field and everybody's
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: cheering at La trobe. Well, that would have been a
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: four yard gain in the real world. Well, with Jeremy Bernard,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: that actually is a longer gain because he's breaking through tackles,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: showing that strength.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: I thought it was a really good. I thought it
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: was a good point. I thought it was a really
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: good point by Mike, that twenty five yarder when he
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: took it down the sidelines and yeah, that's right, tackles,
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: that's right, and made a big play, I mean, because
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: he went four or five you know. The fifth one
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: was it was a throwaway by by Will Howard running
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: out to the right. He had nothing left. I remember
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: that's about in broadcast about the short side of the
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: field rollouts and the risk you run. That was. So
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: that's not really him. But for the four for four
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: that were realistic throws, yeah, man look good. Yes, he
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: and he was a guy that was like, okay, this
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: might be our player of the game. But of course
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: the two minut drill happened and Rob Kanye and then
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: and then Kate Weeden said hold my cleats and then
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: had that seventy five yard you know. So it was
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: good to see guys building on it. And and like
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: you said, he stuck out. He stuck out early in
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: the game and given the opportunity to DK out, Michael
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: Pittman out him allowed to be the outside receiver. I
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: thought he really did a really good job in that
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: and got involved in the run game too, and some
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: of the things popped the outside. I saw some nice
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: blocking by him, So you're right. Once the pads came on,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: he became a different guy. Yep. He became the guy
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: that this is why you drafted him in the second round.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: And he said, oh, okay, yes, this is this is
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: this is what Superman looks like. He's been Clark Kent
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: out here. Yeah, because like you said, it's shells is pad.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: It's not tackling. It's the thudd and goes, the touch
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: and go type of play. But that guy, you know,
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: he he he gets he gets better and better the
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: more contact and the more adversity he has to he
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: has to go through and it and it makes you
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: feel good because again, so just we talked about this
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: a lot.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I've felt very strongly that over the last three years,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: certainly that I've been that I've been doing the games.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: This being our third year, my third year and our
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: second year together, Max, is that the roster's gotten stronger
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: and stronger. And we just talked about five corners that
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: we felt good about. You know, you talked about, boy,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: you really want to have four good corners. I think
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: this teader's have five and a rookie and who's good.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: And we talked about the defensive line, and I think
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: there's gonna be a real battle if they only keep
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: six man, there's gonna be some some good players who
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: aren't gonna make the team. Well, think about the wide
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: receiver position. Who are you gonna pair with DK Metcalf
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: And again we didn't see DK Metcalf. Well, then you
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: go out and you get Michael Pittman, and then you
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: go out and use a second round pick on Jeremy
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Bernard and it's almost like they're getting a third round
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: pick in Roman Wilson because frankly, he just you know,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: he lost his first year with injury. Last year wasn't
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: utilized very much. So it's like, hey, you had DK
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Metcalf and not you know, you know Calvin Austin, Who's
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: who's moved on? I love Calvin uh Loveman as a
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: player is one of my favorite favorite players in the team.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: You know, did a did a lot of good things
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: for this team.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: But now you add Michael Pittman and then you had
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: a second round pick, and you had a third round pick.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: I think Dave and by the way, wegen had a
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: nice little reception. He's going to be the one of
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: the guys I want to talk about. But you know
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: that that is a that's a sizeable upgrade at the
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: wide receiver position.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: It literally size literally in size and the figuretively sizeable.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: And we also had to throwing Ben Skeronik in there.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: He also he also had the first reception of.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: The first touchdown past fire Rodgers last year, first reception
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: of the game this year.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so so, and we know Ben Scarron is going
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: to be here, got so we know that he's going
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: to be on the roster as well. Special teams ACE
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: that can also get you in a pinch and can
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: be wide receiving. So we have a lot of guys
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: at that. That's a very deep group. Our edges of
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: our team defensively and offensively are stocked full of talent.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Cayden Wegien I thought, you know again, I thought, one
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: of the things that I'm going to continue to look
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: at is I think he's very aggressive in the punt
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: game on making sure he gets his hands in the ball, yes,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: and not letting the ball roll. That drives me, It
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: drives me bananas, you know. And everyone's hey, get out
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: of the way. You know, the last thing you want
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: to do is see a guy mishandle one there and
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: you wind up turning it over. But you know it
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: lands at the at the thirty two and it's a
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: bad pun and now it now it trickles and rolls
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and then it rolls dead at the eight yard line,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: and you know, they picked up an extra twenty yards.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: And I thought he did a really good job of
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: getting to those balls. We didn't see anything break in
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: the return game, but then we saw him take a
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: short and Alan.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Was talking about this Manda man coverage.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: He's able to beat his man, make the reception and
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: scoot even with the stumble.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: I think it was with seventy four yards on that
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: seventy four yards while looking like he's galloping for like
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: thirty five, but showed quick and fast. He was both.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: He was both and even with the gallop stumble that
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: he had going, still able to stay on his feet
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: and guy still couldn't catch him. That's how fast he was.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, he was as fast as a hiccup and
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: I got I got distracted, squirrel call it high on
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: the hog barbecues here? What yeah? Where that was a trailer.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: If you look, you're you're blocked. You're blocked by the
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: by the beam here, but move a little word going.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Oh that that's for that's for Home Run Derby. Oh
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: you can be watching Home Derby. Oh I was always
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: gonna watch okay, yeah, yeah, all right, yeah, it's just
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: it was like, okay, we're gonna get brewsters, ice cream,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: high on the high, barbecue, high on the hard, barberine,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: and and when you see high on the hog, that
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: means other food trucks to come. A ha.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Okay, it's gonna be a food truck festival. All right, Okay,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: good stuff, which I can't wait for. Squirrel h Sowegian, Yes, yes, right.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Twenty receptions last year hadn't really been utilized in the
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: passing game.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: They used for some gas it plays. But you know,
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: he's got to be a receiver. Right, team that did
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: not throw the football? Right, Excuse me? You can't have
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: him be the gadget guy, just the special teams guy.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: You gotta be able to go in and he wasn't.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: And he was okay in practice. He's okay in practice,
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: but the game that really highlighted. So he's another guy
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: we talk about gamers, right, and that's what you want
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: to see end game. How does this guy respond when
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: thrown into the game. Seventy four yards is not a
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: bad way to have your first step. Yep, I agree.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: So that's that's a real positive because you know, barring
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: anything unforeseen, and again, all these things are the caveat
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: of staying healthy. And you know, Mike McCarthy's talked about
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: that how important that is to stay healthy through camp
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: and in preseason games.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: There's only so much you can control.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: But he's gonna be on the team because he's your
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: top return guy, so you can put right. You don't
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: want to be a fourth specialist. You want to be
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: able to help somewhere else, you can help in the
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: passing game and not be just a gadget guy because
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: guess what people, why don't they use that guy some
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: reverses or try some trick players?
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: You know, what are you gonna do? Yell to the
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: other team weegensin the game, trick play coming. You can't
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: do that. You can't do that. He has to be
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: able to be integrated into the offense. And that's why
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Mark McCarthy has harped on this so much in camp.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Receivers have to know every position, not just one. I
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: don't want predictability. I want anonymity, and I want to
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: be able to and we saw this in the game,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: be able to dictate pace of play. Hurry up just
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: for one time, just to throw the other team off ye,
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: slow it down when you need to grind it to
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: a hole. You need to be able to change the
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: temperature like a DJ switching between tracks. Right. You know
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: he's trying to overlay. You need that versatility, and so
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: that's what Cayden Weigen will continue to see that. We
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: saw that. It was a good start. But you're right,
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: what more can you do? I know you're a returner.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: We got all the film in the world of you
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: taking to the house at punt and kick return. What
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: else do you got? What else is in the bag?
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Could you better be Devin Hester? Yeah? If you can't
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: add something else exactly return man, Yeah, Dante Hall, Devin
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Hester like all that. You have to be X factor,
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: But in today's NFL you don't get really those opportunities anymore.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: There's not there's not that type of guy in this league.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: So you've got to be able to be a multi
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: versaal multi faceted guy.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: So last, I'm gonna take you back to the last spring.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Robert Tanyan was a late ad during the Ota period
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: for the Steelers, whether it was Ota Mini Camp. You know,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: they've all got different names when it was in that period.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Is that they sign team stuff right exactly?
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Ots Yeah, so uh yeah, let's keep it at stuff.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: So the you know, you bring in a guy like
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Tanya and everyone's like, there's your number three tight end. Okay,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: So he comes out here, he's done nothing to show
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: that he's not. I guess Aaron Rodgers calls him Bobby.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that Bobby Tanyan, who's had a couple of fifty
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: yard receiving years in his career. Can't be that good
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: third tight end. But there's guys battling, right Jahem. Bell
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: was a guy we talked about late is on this roster.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Guy's fighting for a spot, and and I thought Tanyan
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: was really good. And if you were going to try
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: to let everybody know, hey, the fight is over, of course,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: the fight's never over. But I'm the guy, let's put
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: it that way. I'm the guy, I think Robert Tanyan said,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: I'm the guy on Thursday Night two.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Minute draw, two minutes. Yea, he was absolutely phenomenal. See
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: seem middle of the field, dumped up. He was all
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: over the place as a security blanket. That's what you want,
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: leading receipt. I got hiccups now, Yes, I'm trying to
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: work through this leading receiver on the team too. Okay,
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: so yeah, that would say case open, case.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Closed, speaking quickly between hiccups, Max starts, Uh.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: You know what I should mention too.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Riley Nokowski loved the way he was used full back position.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Uh just not if you agree, Okay, Okay, all right,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: we're gonna clear out the hiccups. You're gonna get to
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: the quarterback position. Of course, we're saving that. We're saving
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: that for last and the signing and the contract extension,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: all still to come in the locker room.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: Here on the Steeler's Audio Network.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
• 18:23
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• 18:25
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• 19:02
  Speaker 2: And welcome back inside the locker room here in this
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: to The's Audio network and Max, was there any other
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: offensive guys that I failed to mention that you wanted.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: To give a gold star to? Let's see here Uegian,
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Bernard Tanyan, Lou Nichols ran Hard. I thought lou Nichols
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: ran hard leading Rushier on the team. I thought he
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: did a really good job of working with what he had.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just a piece there. Let's get to
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: the quarterback, the resist.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: You know, you get the sense from uh and and
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: just some of the things. Mike McCarthy said that he's
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: really bullish on Mason Rudolph and thinks, there I get
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: this sense.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: And again sometimes I.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Don't know whether I you just sort of, you know,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: get it out of thin air. Have you heard some
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: things or what. I get the sense that he thinks
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: there's more to me, and then then we've probably seen
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: from Mason that there's still some upside there left with
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: him even though he's a veteran guy.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: I thought he looked terrific, I mean, really really good.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Down on him about the oh well, you know, he
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: didn't have you know, he didn't make this play or that.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: I'm like, he was going up against the ones and
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: they were in his face and they didn't like, they
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: didn't like his performance on Thursday. Yeah, people were like,
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: why is he even in there? We're here to see
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: the two, you know once again, you know, I mean
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: they didn't like, they didn't like ten for eleven. They
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: didn't like it because it wasn't spectacular, and everybody was
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: kind of, I think over overjoyed with Drew Aller's first performance.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: But Mason looked really good, really good.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Should crisp operation That touchdown right, should have been ten
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: for ten, Yeah, because he wouldn't have had the one
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: other pass to pat firem without in the flat that
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: came up just short would have been ten for ten,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: would have been a touchdown yeah, and would have had
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: a probably a perfect quarterback rating yeah right, I mean
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: that's that's where he would have been. And Jeremy, I
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: mean again, he leapt up for the ball. I thought
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Mason made a heck of a play on that too.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: Because he was he was getting he was He shook
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: a guy who had him dead to rights in the
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: middle of the pocket, dead to rights, spins out of it, works,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: climbs the ladder and finds Jerry Bernard in the middle
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: of all that trash and put him in a perfect place.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: But Jeremy, when he went up combat catch, was only
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: able to get one foot in. But I'm like that
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: that's strength and resolve, Like like, that's something that you
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: don't get to do. It's easy to sit in the
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: pocket and seven on seven, no pass rush, make your
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: plays and live off or be in a quick position.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: But to have things collapse and him start to create
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: and move, that's a veteran move. That was a veteran move.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: He was absolutely solid.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Yes, I thought he was. I thought he was more
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: than I thought he was outstanding. Yeah, really did. I
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: thought he was excellent. He would have gotten an A
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: grade for me.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: No, absolutely, I was like, he did exactly what you
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: need him to do, and he command. He commanded, he
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: commanded the offense. Everything looked clean, Chris, the operation was there,
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: everything you want to see. So I'm absolutely right there
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: with you. I thought, I thought he, I thought you
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: did an excellent job.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Okay, so let's get to the two young guys, shall
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: we Yes, I thought Will Howard was also excellent.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Listen. I thought that two minutes drill, that's the best
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: two minute drill I've seen in a while, especially in
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: the preseason game. Execution was perfect, timing was excellent, and
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: they took some shots that fourth down to start the
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: two minute drill. Yes, yeah, see yeah, breath for a second,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: but it was.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: It was awesome some of the things that we saw,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: just to take a step back from the player evaluation
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: and look at the quote unquote team evaluation from a
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: from a wider view than what the players did. Organization,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: you know, crispness, pacing like you talked about, you know,
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: we're gonna hurry up here. You did that perfectly. He
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: didn't hurry up and have a guy jump off side
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: or ha have an illegal procedure penalty.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: You know. All that stuff I thought was.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Was really good. And then, hey man, it's a new era.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Fourth in inches from your own thirty yard line and
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: you roll out and throw it fifteen yards downfield. Ye Now,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: good luck defending that.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: That's that's and they and they got into the goal line.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: They were expecting, you know, a dive play. I mean, heck,
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: I was taking remember were talking about maybe quarterback sneak. Yeah,
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: we were with meyow, We're like, is this Steel City shove?
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Is this gonna be the
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: sneak play? Or are they going to run a dive?
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: And no, I mean naked boot out. Loved it, loved it.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: That was like, Okay, this is different. This is an
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: offensive minded coach looking at this and not a defensive
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: minded coach trying to just slog through it. It's innovative,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: it's creative, and you're also getting good teaching tape, right.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: And then after that, it was all big plays. And
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: that's when Robert Tanyan got his gold star. He earned
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: a gold star for the rest of that drive, being
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: available and making plays in the middle of the field.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: You know, I thought, uh so I thought again, just
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: to recap quickly, I thought, Mason Rudolph, I can't believe anybody.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: I can't believe there would be criticism. I thought it
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: was excellent, you know, should have had the again, should
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: have had the perfect passer rating.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: I thought Will Howard was very, very good, and.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: It was interesting that he mentioned something in his postgame
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: press conference, and Mike McCarthy mentioned something in the postgame
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: press conference about organization or something pre snap that I
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: didn't see and I didn't get and it didn't register
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: with me. But it's one of those things behind the scenes.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: It goes to show you why coaches watch tape and
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: there's different grades on things than we have, and.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: So, you know, people not the uznahs that so people
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: will be watching after the game.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: And I think we both thought one of the personal
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: fouls and I don't remember. I certainly thought one of
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: the personal fouls was questionable. But you know, that's why
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy was asked about that, and hey, what about
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: you know, is he mcuamo and the hits after the place?
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: I got to see the tape.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, and so, but there are also things that
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: are happening in real live action that are not up
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: to his snuff, and both he and Will Howard recognize that.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: And I didn't see it because what I saw from
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Will Howard was seven of nine for eighty six yards
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: and a beautifully run two minute drill. That's what I saw.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: So I didn't see that. Whatever they were talking about,
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: I didn't see it.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: I didn't see it either. And once again that's where
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: we're not privileged to know some of the things. Right,
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: that's right, because that that's the inner workings. Like nobody
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: buys a rolex and says I can't wait to open
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: up and see every movement, and they're no, they look
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: at the outside of it, right, And that's how I
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: enjoy the beauty. Right, buy a skeleton if you want
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: to do that, you know, if you want to see
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: the inner workings, but you don't buy it to take
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: it apart in those moments. So you just hey, listen,
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: the watchmaker had an issue, he fixed it and we
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: moved on. Still tells time. That's all you need to
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: worry about. That's right, good stuff.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Great analogy, by the way, And then Drew Aller, who
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: got to play most of the second half, got a
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: lot of snaps. You know, I was again impressed by
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: you know, he was talking about the anatomy of the
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: play that he ran it in and he was talking
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: about it was nice to be hit, and he was
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: asked if there was a you know, if he thought
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: about throwing that ball, and.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: And it was.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: It was an r P O in which you know,
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: I think I can't remember was Nikowski noah Kowski. Now,
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: now now you put it in my head that I'm
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: forgetting a cell that Nikowski guy, noah Kowski, Noakowski, Riley,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: that might be easier, so he I think it was.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Nowakowski was out in the flat and he said the
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: safety came down, so I couldn't do that. And then
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: I'm reading so now it's a run and now you're
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: reading option off of the defensive end. There's just a
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: lot going on before a play. And I think that
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: was one of the things that impressed.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Me too, was that.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Whatever Green Bay did, and I'm sure defenses will get
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: more complex. Mike McCarthy talked about that as well. Before
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: the game you're showing different things. You're not showing everything
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: in your bag of tricks. You're withholding some of your
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: more interesting stuff. But people still, the quarterbacks still have
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: to digest that. I didn't see any confusion. I didn't
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: see any misfires and why yeah, I didn't see any
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: of that. And you know, if I was going to
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: expect it or anticipate it, not expected, but anticipated from
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: any of the three, it would have been hour because
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Will Howard is you know, listen, he hasn't played and
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: hadn't played in seventeen months or nineteen months. I think
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: it was well, but he was here last year, right,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and then ten months ten months for Ali yeah, ten months, yeah, yeah,
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: he a lot of time, well, a lot of time,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: but will it at least you know, been in the
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: the in the meetings and has been around the pro
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: game for a year longer than Drew Aller. So I think,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: all in all, with Drew Aller, very very impressed by
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: what he was.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Able to do as well. No, I thought so. And
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: once again, I mean, it was a great performance for
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: the first time. Right, you haven't seen him in a while.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: He didn't finish out the college season, so you get
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: enamored with what he can and he's a third round
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: pick and everybody's like, oh man, big arm, big talent, prototypical,
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, yes, but this is just the first
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: opportunity and you're at the end of the game. So
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: if you are worth your ilk, you should do what
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: we saw right, but the challenge is going to change.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: Next week is going to be tougher. You're game planning
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: for this opponent, you're running through an actual menu of offenses.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: You're gonna play better talent, right, You're getting the ramp up.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: So great first appearance, and I thought for Will Howard
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: once again shake off the rust of nineteen months, like
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: that was his first professional game series operation that he's had,
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: you know, at the professional level, and I thought he
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: him and it was a bigger situation in that two
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: minute drill at that moment of the game, that was
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: the first go ahead touchdown as well for the team.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: We saw four different lead changes in that game, so
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: he was the first one that initiated the lead change.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: So that's where I'm like, man, that's exactly what you
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: want to see. But then also defensively forty six seconds
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: and they got a field goal out of it. That's
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: an operation that has to be working with that Graham.
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: So you kind of look at it in the second half,
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Oh well, he wasn't this. I'm like, teams have adjusted,
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: they've they've now looked at film and so how do
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: you adjust to come out there and I thought he
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: still handled it absolutely well. And Drew Aller came in
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: and played exceptionally well. Our quarterback crew is better than
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: their quarterback crew. Yep. And that's a good thing to have.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: But for us to be just already like just sold on,
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: it's done, We've got way more work to do.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, week won very I think we but overall are
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: overall very promised, very promising from almost everything we saw.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: And a lot of guys that are going to be
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: competing for spots that made it known they're going to
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: be competing for spots. That's only going to make your
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: roster deeper. That fifty three turning into the sixty eight,
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy talks about where you can reach into those
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: guys like we you know, we brought this up before.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: You know, when you have a James Pierre, you have
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: a Dylan Cook. He wants some fertile soil there in
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: that in that next fifteen in the practice squad. So
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: I think all arrows pointing in a positive direction as
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: far as that's concerned. Up next, yep, contract extension. A
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: veteran joins a fold. What does that mean for the
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: linebacker group? We're going to talk about that, and we
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: continue in the locker room here on this year there's
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: audio network.
• 30:42
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• 30:46
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• 31:25
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• 31:32
  Speaker 3: And welcome back in the locker room here. As we're
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: wrapping up, well, I think we've wrapped up Thursday night
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: officially wrapped up. I think we did. I think I
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: put it. We put a nice bow on it.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: We have some news and we're gonna get to the
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: camp and the jets and the final days of training
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: camp here in the Trobe and what we're expecting to
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: see as the team prepared for the game on Friday night.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: But uh, let us start with the news we got
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: just before kickoff at a Landon Roberts.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: As a result, so it looks like.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: He's wearing fifty now and Jamie Davis is wearing fifty seven.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Is that was that what I heard? I believe think
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I think I saw that change.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: The change had to happen. The change had to happen.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Your thoughts on that signing and does it mean to
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: you that they're the coaching staff is looking for something
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: either different than they have in their team or better
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: than they have in their team if you bring in
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: a guy like this, or is it a case of hey,
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: this is a good football player, he's available, let's bring
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: him in and see what happens.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: And he's run Patrick Graham's defense in Oakland. Uh huh,
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: so not a lot of not a lot of up
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: to speed for Landon Roberts. He's played in his and
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: Patrick Graham's system. He's also a guy who's played here,
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: so he understands the culture and what identity is to
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: play Steeler football. So I think you have a lot
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: of goods. You have you have double goods that can
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: happen in this situation by bringing to Landon Roberts. And also, yeah,
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: you're you're evaluating because this style of defense is going
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: to need a very physical point of view, a physical
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: type of presence. And let's face it, you know, Landon
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: Roberts is a hammer. He is not a nail. He
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: is not a guy who's gonna sit there and just
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: feel like he's your a gap plugger. And that's the
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: one thing when you talk about Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson,
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: sideline to sideline, angle blocks, moving off a very quick
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: can cover in space. Not a lot of hammers. Cole
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: Holko is probably your only hammer. Carson Bruner is a
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: young dude that you're trying to figure out what his
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: capabilities are. Can he do more? We talked about a
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: lot of other guys the Cayden regions of the world.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: Carson Bruns is in that same category where you're trying
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: to figure out can you be more than a special
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: team or can you be in every down backer. Well,
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: we know that Landon Roberts can be that. We've seen
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: him do it on Sundays for multiple teams for multiple years,
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: and this organization as well, he is there. He is
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: your Derrick Henry answer. He's the guy who's gonna hit
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: you in the A gap and make you go backwards.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: We have seen in previous years the Steelers mix up
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: the linebacker position. It's a very unique division in which
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: you might have to face Joe Burrow and that offense
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: one week and trying to chase down Chase Brown at
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: the running back position and the sledgehammer that is the
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Baltimore Ravens next week. It's kind of a unique situation
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: being in the AFC North. Do you think that, uh,
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: this coaching staff might be looking for that type of player.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: You gotta have. You gotta have multiple guys. It's just
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: like my toolbox in my garage, Rob I got five
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: different screwdrivers, and three of them are Phillips three or
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: three or flat head two or flat heads, and I
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: need different sizes. You need the small one for the
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: little like electronics and toys. I think you need the
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: big one for the for the big jobs. And then
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: you gotta have your hexs nuts and your hex bolts.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: You have to have all this stuff. That's what you
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: want to have. You want to have more tools at
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: your disposal so that you can use them because you
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: never know when that one thing might come up and
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: you need that tool for it. Landon Roberts is one
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: of those tools that covers that type of that type
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: of necessity.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna get back to the linebacker thing in
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: a situation. I just have a simple question for you,
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: because just my experience is this, and I want to
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: know if it's also your experience. I go to my
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: toolbox when I'm looking for a flathead, all I can
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: find are phillips. When I'm looking for a Phillips, all
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: I can find here flatheads.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: Is that? Is that my problem? Or do you have
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: the same issue? That is? That is every tool guy,
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: all right, But what you do is you buy the
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: multi head screwdriver, the one where you can slide it
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: in and change it and it has about seven different ones. Yeah,
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: so then that one stays in the in house toolbox, Yes,
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: the one outside. That's that's the pleasure that's the pleasure area, right,
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: that's what I just want to feel like I'm doing something.
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: But you keep that multi head for all of the
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: in house fixes.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: But you know what happened to that one of us
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: would be saying to the other one of us. Hey, honey,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: you know where that multiply headed screwdriver is. Yeah, I
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: was fixing something upstairs. I don't know where it is, yeah, exactly.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: But it also disappears. Screwdrivers disappear my wife.
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: My wife doesn't do any of that type of Okay,
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: so I have them labeled. And I'm one of those guys.
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: I'm very type A when it comes like tools, batteries
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: and stuff like that, like everyday stuff that you don't need,
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Like I got to change the smoke detector battery, right, yeah,
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: but so I actually have this one just battery caddy.
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: Oh I got the battery. I got a battery. My
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: wife got it for me, and I bought it myself.
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: I went on depot one day and I was like,
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: I need this, and I literally go to Costco and
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: I buy the jumbo pack and I organize all of them.
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: I have a little battery voltage testers. I'm that guy.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: Okay, So you'll you'll if you saw my garage, you
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: would have nightmares about it for weeks. Okay, It's it's
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: no my I just toss it in the corner and
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: it's a very busy corner.
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh. Okay, I got shelving and everything. Yeah,
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: I'm completely.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: So and I'm not very handy and uh anyway, so okay,
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: let's get back to the linebacker position. So I think
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: that we have Wilson and Queen set right, Lock Brunneran
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Holcom has been interesting, Malik Harrison is still there. Now
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: you have a land In Roberts. And again, as we
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: look at this roster, they're not keeping six, Max, they're
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: not keeping six. They're not keeping six inside linebackers.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: No, they're not. And you're gonna need You're gonna need
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: to pick the top four. I mean, I feel it's
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: a possibility. But we just talked about we got six
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: DB's potentially right, five corners. Yeah, as I'm saying six corners,
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: didn't even include the two Nichols, Brandon Eckles and Jalen
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: Ramsey into that number. I had them. I had them
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: as part of the six. Oh you did have them.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: Four safeties about this, that's ten. Let's say the DB's first.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: So we got Jamel Dean, Joey Porter, Junior Sante Samuel.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: Now you go Jalen Ramsey and Brandon Eckles and Daleen
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: Everett and Daleen Everett. Okay, that's just six right, Okay,
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: so that covers the three and eleven personnel three dB
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: so you're talking about Nichols and corners. Now, defensive line
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: at least six, at least six. That's twelve for safeties.
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: For safeties, now are sixteen for outside linebackers, twenty five
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: inside linebackers. That gets you to twenty five.
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: Is you to twenty five or is it again, as
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: we've talked many times, is Jamin Davis battling you know,
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Dean Lowry or Assese Tomo Woe who's also battling you know,
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: somebody else like Rubio And now you're battling another safety
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: or another corner.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, now you're Malik Harrison the land and Roberts right
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: and Carson Brunner.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: Just the point being, which we've talked about, just being
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: the fifth inside linebacker is not good enough now or
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: could it? It's possible, could be good enough, could be,
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: but but it's no assurance that you're going to make
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: the roster and you.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: Have the X factor of the opposite side of the ball, right,
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: and we do we keep twenty six four quarter that's right.
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: So now you lose a guy on defense, absolutely right, potentially,
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: and that is looking right. Mike McCarthy said, he's he's
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: opened the door to four and people have kind of scoffed.
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: But you know what, they might keep four. They might
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: they might they might keep Yeah. So that so that
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: luxury of even getting into like you said, is it
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: the is it? Is it? The fifth safety? Is it?
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: The fifth linebacker? Is it? The seventh dB? Is it?
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: The seventh defensive lineman? Is it? The ninth to tenth
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: offensive lineman? Right? Do you go? Nine? Do you go ten?
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: I think we feel pretty good. There's three running backs,
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: three tight ends, but then it's six wide receivers, right,
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: you know, but there might be a seventh because listen,
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you this, Brandon Smith played really good. We
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: didn't we didn't get to talk about him. Played really
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: well in those Max Hurlman played really well. So you
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: have a lot of and once again we go back
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: to the ethos statement of this show today. No coach
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: has ever said, man, there's too much talent on my rock.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: Oh man, this is a burs have too many good guys?
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: Said no one ever. Okay, So.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: The news of the day, Keanu Benton signs a big
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: contract extension inked, inked, he has inked that deal. Uh
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: your thoughts on that contract extension for Kanu Benton.
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: Well deserved and now he's actually gonna gonna get to
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: show off his wares at the position he's naturally built for.
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: So I feel like this was a very perceptive move,
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: not not a not a hasty move. It's a very
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: perceptive move by the Steelers to lock him in because
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: of what they think he can be. And this is
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: to protect the future as well, when you don't know
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: what's gonna happen beyond this year with Cam Hayward. So
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: it's an insurance policy because if Keanu Binton ends up
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: bawling out that that that sticker is going to be
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: a lot more expensive to cover. So I think it
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: was a very preemptive type of move, a perceptive move
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: by omar Con and company in the front office to
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: get that deal done a year too soon, then a
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: year too late. It's not it's not Jerry Jones where
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: you wait and wait and kick the can and then
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: all of a sudden you're paying the super premium retail
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: prices Like this is a little bit of hey, we
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: believe in you. This is what you've done, but this
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: is what we expect you to do moving forward, and
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: it's gonna it's gonna be commissery with what it is.
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: And it's the highest deal lineman per annual year salary
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: for the Steelers and Steelers history.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: And let me just point out again, Okay, so now,
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: and I did this earlier in the offseason, but I
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: don't know if this is current or was it was
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: at the time. And maybe these guys are a year,
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: you know, six months older or whatever. But so this
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: is your quote unquote old Steelers roster. And I understand
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: you got Cam Heyward. I understand you got TJ.
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: Watt.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: I understand you got Jalen Ramsey. All guys are in
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: your thirties. I got you know, Mason Rudolf's thirty one,
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers is forty forty two, forty two, yeah, over
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: forty yeah, over.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: We could all stop counting. Yeah.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: So here's here's your old Pittsburgh's the others team why
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: a Black twenty three, Keanu Benton twenty four, Derek Harmon
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: twenty two. That's your defensive line of the future. I'm
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: not mentioning old guys there, am.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: I No, I haven't heard one yet. Okay.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: On the offensive side, you have Zach Frasier at twenty four.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: You have Mason McCormick at twenty five, you have Troy
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: Foutanu at twenty five, you have Spencer Anderson at twenty five.
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: You have a Hana Chore at twenty two. I think
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: Max is Yeah, you're young in the trenches. Max, You're
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: young in the trenches. That is a really good place
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: to be young and talented. Yeah, young town, not all
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: of them, but I'm I'm talking to out It doesn't
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: take much to extrapolate that. As you're and if it's
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: and if it's not Anderson, it's Jennings Dunker, another rookie
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: this year. You are going to be young and controllable
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: in the trenches. And I think that, and again I'm
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: I'm cherry picking, but I'm also talking about the future
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: of this organization and now in the future it is this.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: My point is, this is a younger team than people think.
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, people think a year ago, how it was one
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: of the oldest and quote unquote overpaid. No, you've gotten
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: young really quick, and you're now in that middle season.
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: You know, that middle aged area of NFL experience, which
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: is a good place you want to be in exactly,
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: and that and you have to pay for that today's NFL,
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: you got to pay for it. And then when you
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: have a good player, you don't want to see them,
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: especially one that you drafted right. Staying within the organization.
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: Also a lot of those names that you named all
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: drafted right, all drafted right.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: And we're hoping that Joey Porter Junior is going to
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: get a contract extension. To point being that, you know
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of people out there, national people, well,
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: you know the failure do to accept the rebuild. So,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: by the way, what does that look like? Exactly, trade
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: all your best players and then do what?
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: Burn it down? You want to be the Miami Dolphins, right,
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: New York Jets. I don't know.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: I've never understood that in especially in football. We have
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: a fifty three man roster. Yeah, this is you're not
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: getting fifty three guys in a draft. No, you know
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: we're gonna burn it down and do this, okay.
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: And you're not going to sign fifty three brand new
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: place exactly, just huge money contracts. It's a timetable. And
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: I will say this Omar con Andy Widel that scouting staff,
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: everybody up there, Sheldon White and Company, you know, Mark Sadowski,
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: Mark Brunner, Dan Rooney, like they churned this roster. A've
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: gone high and low and done a great job. Cole
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: Marco right, you know we're looking at Chidio Woma. Right.
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of guys involved in this process toasts.
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: You know, all these guys are scouring and trying to
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: make sure they find the best fits, whether it's a
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: one year fixed where, whether it's a two year, whether
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: it's somebody that can be more a Sante Samuel, right,
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: we talk about James Pierre and Dylan Cook is kind
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: of those poster chials. But to go find a Cole
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: Alexander Kwan Alexander, to go find a Miles Jack mid
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: season like they do tireless work year round.
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: I think the roster has gotten better, and it's gotten
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: better every single year.
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: YEP.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: I hope that that will give you some hope for
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: those that might think, hey, they need to rip this thing.
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: Down or whatever they are.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: They are young in the trenches, They've invested in the trenches, and.
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: You know, still we still need to see it all
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: come to fruition.
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: Got understand I understand where that that you know your
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: arch and eyebrow, and well you should because we haven't
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: seen it come to fruition yet, but certainly like the
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: way it's trending. The Drive is coming up next, Max,
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: my friend, thank you, good seeing you as always, Bud.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: That wraps up today's show. We're gonna be looking forward
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: to the New York Jets and Exhibition Game number two
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: in the end of camp. As we move along here
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: for Max starts for Justin Miller in our iHeart control room,
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: I'm Rob King. We thank you for listening to this
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: edition in the locker room here on this Steelers Audio Network.