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HR2: Live from Training Camp 2026 Day 1 · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

0:00
Speaker 1: This is live coverage of twenty twenty six Steelers Training
0:04
Speaker 1: Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
0:09
Speaker 1: Easy to Drink, easy to enjoy, and brought to you
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Speaker 1: in part by your neighborhood Ford Store Creator, Pittsburgh Community
0:17
Speaker 1: Food Bank, First National Bank. Let's Get Started Member FDIC
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Speaker 1: West Shore Home Remodeling Reimagine by Leecom Digital, Donze Appliances
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0:44
Speaker 2: And thank you very much for being with us. From
0:47
Speaker 2: the trobe inside the locker room with Max Starks. I'm
0:50
Speaker 2: Rob King here on the Student's Audio Network, and we're
0:53
Speaker 2: just kind of going through some of the topics that
0:55
Speaker 2: are big topics here at training camp, and we've talked
0:59
Speaker 2: about out, you know, the head coaching change with Mike
1:02
Speaker 2: Tomlin steps away, Mike McCarthy takes his place, Aaron Rodgers
1:07
Speaker 2: is signed to a one year deal, and then the
1:09
Speaker 2: contract extensions for Chris Boswell, Nick Herbig, Darnell Washington. How
1:14
Speaker 2: these guys you're going to be utilized what it means
1:16
Speaker 2: for the team. I think also another topic for me
1:20
Speaker 2: is Broderick Jones cleared to play. I wasn't sure if
1:24
Speaker 2: that was gonna happen. They talked about some encouraging news
1:27
Speaker 2: in the spring about whether he might be available, and
1:30
Speaker 2: then Joey Porter Junior, Jalen Ramsey Dante Kent on the
1:35
Speaker 2: pup list. You feel badly for Dante Kent, who obviously
1:38
Speaker 2: had injury problems a year ago. It is it's hard
1:42
Speaker 2: to make the team and hard to be able to
1:43
Speaker 2: do something when you're not out there practicing. Jalen Ramsey,
1:46
Speaker 2: the news is good, very promising. They said they're gonna
1:48
Speaker 2: be smart with him with his knee injury. They expect
1:50
Speaker 2: him to be ready for the beginning of the season.
1:52
Speaker 2: And so your thoughts on all those that those you
1:57
Speaker 2: know guys, because especially Broderick Jones, Joey Porter Junior, and
2:00
Speaker 2: Jalen Ramsey know disrespected Dante Kent are expected to potentially
2:05
Speaker 2: be big parts of what this team does this year.
2:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I mean, where do we begin? I think,
2:11
Speaker 3: Jalen Ramsey, I don't think anybody's really worried about the
2:14
Speaker 3: health of him. I think that you know, if he
2:17
Speaker 3: doesn't play at all in the preseason, I don't think
2:18
Speaker 3: anybody's gonna be worried as long as he's ready for
2:20
Speaker 3: Week one, and I think that's the priority with him.
2:23
Speaker 3: And we know what he can do. We know what
2:25
Speaker 3: he's done, we know his versatility, and we know that
2:28
Speaker 3: this guy can dislodge a human from a football in any.
2:31
Speaker 4: Moment, right, so.
2:33
Speaker 3: Very much, very big moment. We needed that. But you
2:39
Speaker 3: don't worry about him. Dante Kent is more intriguing because
2:43
Speaker 3: you don't really know what you have with him yet.
2:46
Speaker 3: You have a lot of potential, a little bit of production,
2:49
Speaker 3: but a lot of questions. So you want him healthy
2:53
Speaker 3: for this part of it so you can see what
2:55
Speaker 3: he can do. You don't want it to turn into
2:57
Speaker 3: another Corey Trice junior situation, right whereas you keep stringing
3:00
Speaker 3: it along potential, potential, potential and you've lost years in
3:05
Speaker 3: the process.
3:05
Speaker 4: So him getting healthy's going to be important. We know
3:08
Speaker 4: what Joey Porter is.
3:10
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody's worried about Porter's Island going up
3:12
Speaker 3: for sale anytime soon. So he'll be, you know, as
3:15
Speaker 3: long as he's ready by the beginning of the season,
3:17
Speaker 3: let the back or whatever it was. Calm down the
3:20
Speaker 3: flare up that happened yesterday. There's no rush because he's
3:23
Speaker 3: a proven commodity. Progerick Jones another interesting one because he's
3:28
Speaker 3: shown us spurts, he hasn't shown us the consistency, which
3:33
Speaker 3: is why he's kind of in this situation.
3:36
Speaker 4: And with a coach that has.
3:39
Speaker 3: A history of being very, very finite on details, he's
3:46
Speaker 3: an over preparer. The details matter to him and the
3:50
Speaker 3: merit that's based on those on a daily basis, Will
3:53
Speaker 3: Projick rise up his level to meet that expectation or
3:58
Speaker 3: we continue down the same path and then you lose
4:01
Speaker 3: an opportunity to compete for a job. That's really what
4:04
Speaker 3: it is, because it's not about the talent, it's not
4:07
Speaker 3: about the athleticism, it's not about the physicality. It's the
4:12
Speaker 3: maturity and the mental capacity that's in question. And with
4:17
Speaker 3: a coach like Mike McCarthy, can he unlock that because
4:20
Speaker 3: of his consistency, because of the way that he goes
4:23
Speaker 3: about things. Will that bring Brodick along? And if he does,
4:28
Speaker 3: yay for the Pittsburgh Steelers, right, because now you have
4:31
Speaker 3: tons of options at the offensive line, or if he
4:35
Speaker 3: gets left by the wayside, it's darn. We just lost
4:37
Speaker 3: a first round draft pick that never saw the potential
4:41
Speaker 3: that we expected him to be. He never came to
4:43
Speaker 3: fruition and now we'll be looking for a tackle in
4:46
Speaker 3: next year's draft if it doesn't work. So a lot
4:48
Speaker 3: weighs on how well Broderick assimilates to this new system
4:54
Speaker 3: and how he progresses the neck. Obviously, there's there's no setbacks.
4:59
Speaker 4: He's here.
4:59
Speaker 3: He he wasn't on the pupp List, he wasn't on
5:01
Speaker 3: the NFI list or anything else. He is a full
5:04
Speaker 3: participant and you can't miss him because he has lime
5:06
Speaker 3: green cleats on. So if you're ever wondering where Broderick
5:10
Speaker 3: doses is looked for some lime green cleats on a
5:12
Speaker 3: three hundred pound man, you'll find him really quickly.
5:15
Speaker 4: But that's gonna be the biggest question.
5:16
Speaker 3: It's the mental and maturity aspect, because the other parts
5:19
Speaker 3: are there, but the mental controls the physical.
5:23
Speaker 4: Did you have an injury?
5:24
Speaker 2: I know you you last year talking about your I
5:27
Speaker 2: think your neck injury is similar to with Sante Samuels.
5:29
Speaker 4: Correct, Yes, C four C five cervical fusion. Is it
5:32
Speaker 4: at all similar to what Prodrick.
5:33
Speaker 3: It is similar to what Broderick had, but of course
5:37
Speaker 3: technology is a lot better than when I had it
5:39
Speaker 3: done over a dozen years ago, and so I mean
5:43
Speaker 3: I played three years after it, right, So like Sante like,
5:47
Speaker 3: you'll come back and play and.
5:50
Speaker 4: There shouldn't be anything.
5:51
Speaker 3: The things you worry about is obviously compartment syndrome right
5:54
Speaker 3: above and below because of a fusion, and just making
5:58
Speaker 3: sure that you do not have any nerve damage.
5:59
Speaker 4: That's going to be the key thing.
6:00
Speaker 3: But I think as far as from a playing thing,
6:03
Speaker 3: he shouldn't be apprehensive with play.
6:06
Speaker 4: Now.
6:06
Speaker 3: He'll wear probably a collar now around the top of
6:10
Speaker 3: his neck. I wore one even when I got injured, right.
6:12
Speaker 3: I wore a dolphin collar when I played, but I
6:14
Speaker 3: had to switch to the bull collar. So I mean,
6:17
Speaker 3: you might have to change that aspect of it. But
6:19
Speaker 3: as far as his performative issues, it shouldn't have any
6:23
Speaker 3: significant impact on his physical attributes that he brings to
6:26
Speaker 3: the table.
6:27
Speaker 2: You know, when you think about the offensive line, I
6:29
Speaker 2: want to step back and ask you a question about
6:32
Speaker 2: second chances and opportunities for players. But you know, when
6:35
Speaker 2: you think about Fautanu, I think the expectation is that
6:39
Speaker 2: he's going to make the switch seamlessly to left tackle,
6:43
Speaker 2: he and Mason McCormick flopping over on the other side,
6:46
Speaker 2: and both guys playing that guard and tackle position on
6:48
Speaker 2: the left side. Zach Fraser is a known commodity. A
6:51
Speaker 2: lot of interesting possibilities at right guard, beginning with Spencer Anderson,
6:56
Speaker 2: but then you signed brock Hoffman, who was very.
6:59
Speaker 4: Successful from the Dallas Cowboys.
7:01
Speaker 2: You have Jennings Dunker you took in this year's draft,
7:03
Speaker 2: and then at right tackle you've got Roderick Jones, Dylan Cook,
7:09
Speaker 2: Maxahnachre your first round pick on paper. And I know
7:13
Speaker 2: there's some projection involved here because you know a Hana
7:17
Speaker 2: chore and then you know even uh, you know Jennings
7:19
Speaker 2: Dunker and then projecting the left side is going to
7:22
Speaker 2: be fine. But there's a chance at this offensive line
7:26
Speaker 2: and this is by design, not by happenstance, is is
7:31
Speaker 2: going to be and can be a really really good
7:36
Speaker 2: unit and hopefully not very long, not too far distant future.
7:41
Speaker 3: No, absolutely, I mean you have you have the great groundwork,
7:44
Speaker 3: and I think you have some great pieces that are
7:47
Speaker 3: already there. I mean, the only key departure you had
7:49
Speaker 3: was Isaac Ciamalu from that offensive line, but the other
7:53
Speaker 3: pieces are still there. It's about the right combination and
7:56
Speaker 3: Mike and Mike talked about this in his press conference.
7:59
Speaker 3: Don't pay attention to the starting five. Pay attention to
8:02
Speaker 3: the two or three combinations in this process, right, because
8:07
Speaker 3: they're going to be switching guys from side to side.
8:09
Speaker 3: But it's the combinations that matter. He's looking for the
8:12
Speaker 3: right combinations on a side. So we can project to
8:17
Speaker 3: Troy and Mason might be the left, but maybe if
8:20
Speaker 3: you move Mason back to the right, if Troy stays
8:22
Speaker 3: to the left, or do you move them back to
8:24
Speaker 3: the right if you like what you're seeing from another
8:26
Speaker 3: pair on the left? How do we get to those
8:29
Speaker 3: top five? He said that was the key thing. You
8:31
Speaker 3: can't focus on the names and where they are at
8:35
Speaker 3: the five is where the combination lies and how they
8:38
Speaker 3: do on that. So that's what makes that even more intriguing,
8:42
Speaker 3: is that we can slate that because that's what the
8:44
Speaker 3: spring was. But what he just laid out was nothing's guaranteed.
8:50
Speaker 3: It's the combinations that look the best to me.
8:53
Speaker 2: That is fascinating to me. So let me just make
8:56
Speaker 2: sure that. I wonder if people listening would have the
8:59
Speaker 2: same question. So let's just say, okay, you have to
9:01
Speaker 2: let's let's just concentrate on the right side and assume
9:04
Speaker 2: that Faltano and McCormick for now are going to stand
9:05
Speaker 2: on the left side. Are you saying then, like, let's
9:08
Speaker 2: say personnel decisions are close and you're not really sure,
9:15
Speaker 2: for example, at the right tackle, which of the three
9:17
Speaker 2: you like best, but you like a combination, And then
9:20
Speaker 2: we're just gonna say names here you really like, you know,
9:23
Speaker 2: you're you're kind of set on Spencer Anderson and the
9:26
Speaker 2: way he works with Dylan Cook is really it's impressive.
9:30
Speaker 2: Does that give a Dylan Cook an edge? And does
9:33
Speaker 2: it give conversely, could have given Spencer Anderson an edge?
9:36
Speaker 4: Ed?
9:36
Speaker 2: Right, God, I'm just using names. I mean, it could
9:38
Speaker 2: be exactly shift any of those names in there that
9:40
Speaker 2: you want. I never thought about it in those terms
9:44
Speaker 2: that that it could be a package deal that tips
9:47
Speaker 2: the balance one way or the other as to why
9:49
Speaker 2: a player is playing. Yeah, because he wants the combination
9:51
Speaker 2: and how well they fluidly work together.
9:53
Speaker 4: But then you also have to.
9:54
Speaker 3: Think, even though Mason McCormick and Troy Fautanu who might
9:58
Speaker 3: be the left side, they might feel good, but Zach
10:01
Speaker 3: might work better with Mason on the right right versus
10:05
Speaker 3: the left. That could also play into us. So it's
10:07
Speaker 3: really combination. That's why he was saying two to three
10:10
Speaker 3: combinations across the board is what could could sigualy. So
10:15
Speaker 3: then is it Mason might work better with Maxianachuur versus
10:19
Speaker 3: Dylan Cook on the right side, but he works better
10:21
Speaker 3: with Troy on the left. And then if it's Spencer,
10:25
Speaker 3: Spencer does great on the left, but maybe he does
10:27
Speaker 3: it better with Broderick Jones than he does right with
10:31
Speaker 3: Troy Fontano. So I mean, there's so many different ways
10:34
Speaker 3: we can chop this, and like you said, brock Hoffman,
10:37
Speaker 3: maybe Brock works better with there over Dylan Cook and
10:41
Speaker 3: Broderick Jones if if it is the right side. But
10:43
Speaker 3: you're also gonna give Broderick left tackle snaps because if
10:47
Speaker 3: you want, if he's not going to start, he needs
10:49
Speaker 3: to at least be swing capable, and he would be
10:51
Speaker 3: your best swing outside of that, because the tour is
10:54
Speaker 3: not a swing tackle and Dylan Cook did that, but
10:57
Speaker 3: like you said, he's more natural and left, and that's
10:59
Speaker 3: what he spends so much time at the right, so
11:02
Speaker 3: you're trying to develop that swing capability.
11:03
Speaker 4: But projects already played both right.
11:05
Speaker 3: And started multiple games at each position, so he would
11:09
Speaker 3: be a logical swing guy.
11:10
Speaker 4: If he's not going to be a starter.
11:11
Speaker 2: For you, So I'm gonna go ahead and knock on
11:12
Speaker 2: wood because I don't think And we've talked about this
11:17
Speaker 2: in the past, like we we have told people the
11:19
Speaker 2: last couple of years, you more than me because you're the.
11:23
Speaker 4: You're there, you're the analyst. I'd have done it too,
11:26
Speaker 4: do it.
11:26
Speaker 2: But like you know, like you were pointing out and
11:29
Speaker 2: Wolf as well a couple of years ago. Hey, keep
11:32
Speaker 2: an eye on this Dylan Cook, you know, keep an
11:34
Speaker 2: eye on him, and he's just kind of on the periphery,
11:36
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden he's there. Having said that, boy,
11:40
Speaker 2: this offensive line group, I mean, knock on wood. It
11:43
Speaker 2: stays healthy, already knocked on wood. But it is again
11:47
Speaker 2: some of its projection, quite a bit of its projection
11:49
Speaker 2: front of his projection, right right.
11:50
Speaker 4: You got a rookie.
11:51
Speaker 2: You got a rookie in han a chore, and we're
11:53
Speaker 2: seeing Dylan Cook what he can do potentially as a
11:55
Speaker 2: first year starter. What's project gonna Jones gonna do off
11:58
Speaker 2: the next side? Off the neck end. You've moved your
12:00
Speaker 2: starting right side to your left side. You have you know,
12:05
Speaker 2: con Spencer Anderson handled the right guard position. Would it
12:07
Speaker 2: be Hoffman? You could also play center? But I mean
12:09
Speaker 2: we are talking about a Jennings Zunker. We're talking about
12:13
Speaker 2: a lot of guys. Ryan McCollum is a backup center.
12:16
Speaker 2: They they are, in my opinion, they are. They cannot
12:20
Speaker 2: keep all of the quality offensive lineman they have in camp,
12:24
Speaker 2: and there are very few teams around the NFL that
12:27
Speaker 2: can say.
12:28
Speaker 4: That talent will not be the issue with the offensive. No,
12:31
Speaker 4: it won't.
12:32
Speaker 3: It will not be talent. It will just simply be
12:36
Speaker 3: health and continuity. Those are the two things that you
12:40
Speaker 3: have to worry with this line. It is not talent,
12:43
Speaker 3: it is not skilled, it is not experience. It's gonna
12:47
Speaker 3: be health and continuity. That's what's gonna be the differentiator
12:50
Speaker 3: for this group. There might be some experience in there.
12:52
Speaker 3: If I'm gonna.
12:55
Speaker 4: Unk are playing.
12:58
Speaker 3: As I look at it, I don't see how Dunker
13:02
Speaker 3: makes it into that interior group as a starter.
13:06
Speaker 4: As it stands right now.
13:07
Speaker 3: Now, obviously we can go through injuries, gameplay performance that ianichure.
13:12
Speaker 3: You're gonna have to put him in at some point
13:15
Speaker 3: to get him in there because of the pure raw
13:18
Speaker 3: talent and skill, and he has to get experienced necessary.
13:22
Speaker 3: But if you're going with the rest of the field
13:26
Speaker 3: outside of those young guys, a wealth of experience that
13:30
Speaker 3: wasn't here three four years ago, right, because Spencer Anderson
13:33
Speaker 3: was a rookie, Progerick Jones was a rookie, right, Zach Fraser,
13:36
Speaker 3: Mason McCormick were rookies.
13:38
Speaker 4: Well, now they're vets.
13:39
Speaker 3: Yep, they're veterans now, and they've played a lot of football.
13:43
Speaker 4: Games so far in their careers.
13:45
Speaker 3: Nobody's really sacked except for Broderick, right, Mason and Zach have,
13:52
Speaker 3: barring injuries, have played every opportunity they've had an opportunity
13:55
Speaker 3: to do it right. So I think that's something you
13:58
Speaker 3: kind of take stock him saying, okay, feeling good, Troy,
14:02
Speaker 3: right outside of injury has played as well, So there's
14:07
Speaker 3: a lot of room for improvement. I think there's a
14:09
Speaker 3: lot of a lot of good things to hang your
14:11
Speaker 3: hat on with this group.
14:12
Speaker 2: If you just look at the man to man. You know,
14:14
Speaker 2: when you can put together those three words talented young veteran,
14:20
Speaker 2: that's what every team wants man talented young veterans, and
14:24
Speaker 2: the Steelers have that along that offensive line. It brings
14:27
Speaker 2: to mind another question about competition on the roster that
14:31
Speaker 2: we're going to get to when we continue from with
14:34
Speaker 2: Trobe Steelers Camp twenty twenty six, Saint Vincent College. He's
14:38
Speaker 2: Max Stark's, I'm Rob King, and you're in the locker
14:41
Speaker 2: room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
14:44
Speaker 1: This is Live Covery Jump Out twenty twenty six Steelers
14:48
Speaker 1: Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
14:53
Speaker 1: Easy to drink, easy to enjoy, and brought to you
14:56
Speaker 1: in part by your neighborhood Ford Store Reader, Pittsburgh Community
15:01
Speaker 1: Food Bank, First National Bank. Let's get started. Remember FDI
15:05
Speaker 1: C West Shore Home we Modeling reimagined by Leecom Digital,
15:11
Speaker 1: Dons Appliances. If they said Dons Appliances dot Com guaranteed
15:15
Speaker 1: lowest prices, free next day delivery, CGR Wholesale and B.
15:21
Speaker 1: Hass Is Steak in Seahouse. Haws is his hospitality.
15:27
Speaker 2: And welcome back to the trope.
15:29
Speaker 4: In the locker room. Max starts at the greatest analogy.
15:32
Speaker 2: It's like first day of school, Kevin's in your pals
15:35
Speaker 2: all summer and you're.
15:36
Speaker 4: Like, hey man, how you doing, what's going on? What's happening?
15:39
Speaker 4: You know exactly.
15:40
Speaker 2: So that's that's how we're feeling. We we're excited to
15:43
Speaker 2: be here in the trope. I love by the way,
15:46
Speaker 2: our broadcast position looked out over the three practice fields
15:48
Speaker 2: in front of us, right above the bleachers. If you've
15:51
Speaker 2: ever been here in the press box, there's a field
15:53
Speaker 2: over to the right is a brand new Yeah. Then
15:56
Speaker 2: last center they're working out it last year, and if
15:59
Speaker 2: you're over there and check it out.
16:01
Speaker 3: I know, and they did. They did the mobility workout.
16:04
Speaker 3: Wasn't a conditioning test. Mobility workout over there yesterday, So
16:08
Speaker 3: I'm I'm ecstatic. I already talked to Father Paul.
16:11
Speaker 4: He's like, it's like, Mage, Yeah, you can go in
16:12
Speaker 4: and run around on the turf.
16:13
Speaker 3: He's like, and if and if I'm not there just starting.
16:15
Speaker 4: I'll catch up. I'm like, but yeah, I love Father Paul.
16:20
Speaker 3: But yeah, but but that facility is supposed to be spectacular,
16:24
Speaker 3: So I'm going to go take a look at it.
16:25
Speaker 3: Over the next couple of days, I will report back
16:27
Speaker 3: my findings. Uh for the indoor because in the years past,
16:30
Speaker 3: right it rains out here, then you got to go
16:33
Speaker 3: to the little gym, right, and then you can't really
16:35
Speaker 3: get work done. Well, now you have an indoor facility.
16:38
Speaker 3: Now it sucks for fans they can't go in there,
16:41
Speaker 3: but the team can still get the work in. They
16:43
Speaker 3: couldn't go in the gym either, they couldn't go exactly exactly,
16:46
Speaker 3: so but they'll still get full practice capabilities. I think
16:49
Speaker 3: that's kind of the next step evolution. And we even
16:51
Speaker 3: talked about it off air. The cabana in between fields
16:55
Speaker 3: down there on the field really nice.
16:57
Speaker 4: If you come out here, it's right.
16:59
Speaker 3: By the old scoreboard and uh, it's uh it simply
17:03
Speaker 3: it looks like a tiny house.
17:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a tiny house.
17:05
Speaker 3: Clubhouse and uh, I will gather it has it actually
17:09
Speaker 3: has a side porch though, side porch and it yeah,
17:12
Speaker 3: and a little.
17:15
Speaker 4: Chairs out there.
17:16
Speaker 3: I mean, you can get all of your all of
17:18
Speaker 3: your summer vibes there.
17:20
Speaker 4: And I believe that's mister Rooney sweet. So mister Rooney
17:23
Speaker 4: wants it.
17:23
Speaker 3: It gets built and it looks amazing and I hopefully
17:27
Speaker 3: we'll sneak down there one of these days and get
17:29
Speaker 3: to get to see the creature comforts of that. But yeah,
17:31
Speaker 3: a couple of additions to Saint Vincent since the last
17:34
Speaker 3: time we were here last year.
17:36
Speaker 2: It's just such a great place. It's so neat to
17:38
Speaker 2: be out here again. Talking a little bit about the
17:41
Speaker 2: history here. And you know, all of the Super Bowl
17:44
Speaker 2: champion teams in Steel's history, all the best teams, most
17:48
Speaker 2: of the Hall of Famers, there's a couple of exceptions,
17:51
Speaker 2: most of them practiced out on this field of getting
17:55
Speaker 2: these fields, getting ready for their Steelers season. It's just
17:57
Speaker 2: a It's a magical historical place. It just is is great.
18:02
Speaker 4: You know.
18:02
Speaker 2: So we've been talking a little bit about, you know,
18:05
Speaker 2: again reacclimating you and us and everybody to what went
18:10
Speaker 2: on during the Steelers offseason, a very very busy offseason,
18:15
Speaker 2: historical offseason. When you think of Mike Tomlin stepping away,
18:19
Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy being the head coach, and how infrequently that
18:22
Speaker 2: happens in Steelers history, you know, three three changes after
18:27
Speaker 2: Chuck Nole was hired in nineteen sixty nine. Three changes.
18:31
Speaker 2: It's it's incredible. Aaron Rodgers re signing with the team,
18:35
Speaker 2: the contract extensions to Boswell, Herbig and Washington, Broderick Jones
18:40
Speaker 2: being cleared, Joey Porter, Jalen Ramsey, and Dante Kent on
18:44
Speaker 2: the pup list, So lots going on. We talked a
18:47
Speaker 2: little bit about no tackling in camp. Look, Mike McCarthy's
18:52
Speaker 2: been around for a long time, and he talked about
18:54
Speaker 2: the technology he us and you know that you can
18:57
Speaker 2: strap equipment on each guy and talk about you know,
18:59
Speaker 2: how she's moved around, and the and the you know,
19:02
Speaker 2: these guys have GPS things that are of course, you know,
19:04
Speaker 2: tied into medical, all the medical things, heart rates and
19:08
Speaker 2: all these other things that they can they can look at.
19:10
Speaker 2: But interesting that there is no hitting and it's not
19:16
Speaker 2: uncommon that there's no hitting. In fact, Look, you know
19:21
Speaker 2: touch and Wolf and you earlier in your career would say, hey,
19:23
Speaker 2: you know crime your river about people talking about camps.
19:26
Speaker 2: You had double sessions back, you had physical hitting back.
19:30
Speaker 4: In the day.
19:33
Speaker 2: Most teams now, I would venture to say, we talked
19:35
Speaker 2: about most teams don't go away for camp. I would
19:39
Speaker 2: venture to say most teams don't do much, if any hitting.
19:42
Speaker 2: I think that you know, Mike Tomlin was still known
19:45
Speaker 2: for physical quote unquote physical camps, even though they're far
19:48
Speaker 2: different than what physical camps used to be back in
19:51
Speaker 2: the day. Yeah, but most teams don't do a whole
19:54
Speaker 2: lot of hitting.
19:55
Speaker 4: No, they don't do a lot of hitting.
19:57
Speaker 3: And that's something that when you're talking about getting into
20:01
Speaker 3: the current times, you know, when you talk to the
20:03
Speaker 3: NFL PA and yeah, those guys would come out and yeah,
20:08
Speaker 3: I was I was a part of the PA, and
20:10
Speaker 3: so I'd see the ambassadors come out, Lester Arshambo and company,
20:14
Speaker 3: and they're just you see them like writing the demerits, right, Oh,
20:18
Speaker 3: oh that was too much. That was to then get
20:20
Speaker 3: the rundown. They're like, you know, we go to talk
20:23
Speaker 3: to coach t every year and he says, all right,
20:25
Speaker 3: all right, I'll take it into consideration. He just it
20:28
Speaker 3: just just goes by the wayside.
20:29
Speaker 4: Right, So it was something that they've.
20:31
Speaker 3: Just kind of understood what that meant. But they also
20:34
Speaker 3: got the utility because a lot of those former the
20:37
Speaker 3: guys that are for the PA, working those ambassador positions
20:40
Speaker 3: and also working as team reps, they were guys that
20:44
Speaker 3: did the same exact thing that they're now trying to
20:46
Speaker 3: call in fractions.
20:47
Speaker 4: So they're a little bit looser because they know that
20:49
Speaker 4: it's a necessity, it's a tool.
20:51
Speaker 3: You can't play a contact sport and not have contact,
20:54
Speaker 3: right you know, now to the degree of that contact
20:57
Speaker 3: is what they're trying to limit.
20:59
Speaker 4: But at the same.
21:00
Speaker 5: Time, to play football, you know, to play football, yes,
21:03
Speaker 5: to play football, and you know, can you take it out, yes,
21:06
Speaker 5: there's aspects you can take out of it, but the
21:09
Speaker 5: collisions are going to happen regardless because it is and
21:12
Speaker 5: I take that back, I should preface this.
21:14
Speaker 4: This is a collision sport.
21:15
Speaker 3: Not a contact sport exactly, right, Is this is a
21:18
Speaker 3: collision line right, yes, so so you so you have
21:23
Speaker 3: to have collisions to play in a collision sport.
21:26
Speaker 4: It's incidental.
21:27
Speaker 3: And like you said, he'll go everything but the takedown
21:29
Speaker 3: to the ground, which I think that's what people associate
21:32
Speaker 3: the true tackle. But you still wrap, form and fit
21:36
Speaker 3: and everything else. And in practice today there were yellow
21:39
Speaker 3: pads out there with the dummies and you know, in
21:41
Speaker 3: front of the pads where guys could launch, make the
21:44
Speaker 3: contact roll through, and like you said, GPS tracking technology
21:49
Speaker 3: allows you to feel the force factors, the speed, you
21:52
Speaker 3: have all a brevy of data that we didn't have
21:56
Speaker 3: available to us back in the day that's now available now,
21:58
Speaker 3: So you kind of evolve the way that you look
22:00
Speaker 3: at the game and how you prep for the game.
22:03
Speaker 3: And like I said, Mike McCarthy referenced this, he ran
22:06
Speaker 3: his team into the ground with the physicality and the
22:09
Speaker 3: tackling and everything his first year in two thousand and six,
22:12
Speaker 3: and ever since he's been ever evolving and changing to
22:16
Speaker 3: get the best efficiency out of his players, but also
22:19
Speaker 3: the longevity out of your players. Absolutely, because now versus
22:23
Speaker 3: back in the day, you have seventeen regular season games
22:26
Speaker 3: right one less preseason game that veterans you're not screaming
22:28
Speaker 3: because they didn't play in him anyways, but now you
22:31
Speaker 3: have more of meaningful football that's being played and is
22:34
Speaker 3: playing played later into January than he used to be.
22:37
Speaker 4: I remember when it was like January first or second,
22:39
Speaker 4: that was it. That was the latest year we're going
22:40
Speaker 4: to play a game.
22:41
Speaker 3: Now it's second week of January before you end the
22:45
Speaker 3: regular season and then get into playoffs the third week
22:47
Speaker 3: of January right leading into middle of February Super Bowl.
22:51
Speaker 3: So there's so many differences with this game now that
22:55
Speaker 3: you have to be open minded. You have to be
22:58
Speaker 3: willing to adjust to make sure that you can protect
23:02
Speaker 3: your players from themselves sometimes versus just for the sake
23:05
Speaker 3: of getting a drill done.
23:07
Speaker 2: You know, I hadn't thought about this in these terms.
23:10
Speaker 2: And maybe I'm just pointing out a singular outlier in
23:13
Speaker 2: Derrick Henry, but you talk about you know, he's constantly
23:16
Speaker 2: breaking records of you know, the most yardage for a
23:19
Speaker 2: player at a certain time of his career. And you
23:23
Speaker 2: do wonder, Yes, the nature of the game has changed. Yes,
23:25
Speaker 2: the running back position has changed. You know, fans who
23:29
Speaker 2: are old enough will remember, you know, when Earl Campbell
23:32
Speaker 2: was playing for the Oilers, right, he had a full back,
23:36
Speaker 2: two tight ends, like I think Ken Burrows was the
23:38
Speaker 2: only ken Burrows, the only guys split out. You know,
23:40
Speaker 2: Dan Paserini unders center. Everybody knew that Earl was going
23:44
Speaker 2: to get the ball thirty five times a game. There's
23:46
Speaker 2: a lot of there's a lot of combat there and
23:48
Speaker 2: so what happens the early well, his body breaks down.
23:51
Speaker 4: But you do wonder, you know, this extra two.
23:54
Speaker 2: Or three weeks of not hitting, you know, you know
23:58
Speaker 2: a little bit less maybe in the preseason. Whether that
24:01
Speaker 2: helps a guy's longevity or whether Derek Henry's just a
24:03
Speaker 2: freaking nature Maybe both are true.
24:06
Speaker 3: I think both can be true at the same time. Yeah,
24:08
Speaker 3: freak of nature, and he's also getting his body protected more. Yeah,
24:11
Speaker 3: breeds this type of longevity in success and a lot
24:14
Speaker 3: of carries now might be twenty five carries in a
24:16
Speaker 3: game as opposed to thirty five carries in the game, and.
24:18
Speaker 4: That's that's you know.
24:19
Speaker 3: I mean, I think the most I've seen him was
24:21
Speaker 3: what thirty one, and that was like once, and that
24:23
Speaker 3: was like a bad like either rain or snow game
24:27
Speaker 3: where you're supposed to carry the ball more than then
24:30
Speaker 3: you're passing it. But you're right, I mean, twenty five
24:33
Speaker 3: is that norm. That's heavy carry load for a running
24:38
Speaker 3: back now, especially if you don't have that true second back,
24:42
Speaker 3: Like he's a true bell cow and they have change
24:44
Speaker 3: up guys to come in and give him a spell,
24:47
Speaker 3: but he's he's still a true bell cow, and bell cows,
24:50
Speaker 3: you know, you do that, you do twenty five over
24:53
Speaker 3: seventeen weeks. You know, maybe there's a couple of weeks
24:56
Speaker 3: where it's a little bit below that and maybe you
24:58
Speaker 3: have a couple above, but you're averaging. I mean we're
25:00
Speaker 3: talking about what what is that four hundred and thirty
25:05
Speaker 3: carries a year, and that's not including the passing.
25:08
Speaker 2: Touches, right, and you're getting that many fewer hits nowadays,
25:12
Speaker 2: if you're getting the ball less frequently. So and the
25:16
Speaker 2: game the game has changed. It's just a different game.
25:18
Speaker 2: Like you said, you know, more guys out in space now.
25:20
Speaker 2: Maybe you have a running back who comes in. Dave
25:23
Speaker 2: Meggett was an early guy that when he played for
25:25
Speaker 2: the Giants. But the game has changed and there's more spread,
25:28
Speaker 2: and there's there's fewer grinded out and let's go.
25:31
Speaker 3: But there's also less thirteen personnel twenty two personnel.
25:34
Speaker 4: Here's the other thing too.
25:35
Speaker 2: Not only is there less hitting in camp, there's less
25:38
Speaker 2: hitting in practice. And again Mike McCarthy pointed out this morning, Hey,
25:42
Speaker 2: the PA has something to do with that, you know, NFLPA.
25:45
Speaker 2: But you know, think about all those hits, right, So
25:47
Speaker 2: you're if you're Earl Campbell and we're just you know,
25:50
Speaker 2: just throwing things out there is you know, maybe he's
25:52
Speaker 2: getting thirty carries a game and somebody else is getting twenty.
25:55
Speaker 2: Well that's over seventeen game season. That's one hundred and
25:57
Speaker 2: seventy less hits you're taking, which, by the way, adds
26:00
Speaker 2: up to you know, like forty fewer hits or whatever
26:04
Speaker 2: that you're taking, Plus you're not taking those hits in practice,
26:06
Speaker 2: and you're not taking those hits in camp. Hopefully that
26:09
Speaker 2: will allow more longevity for players. Hopefully that will allow
26:12
Speaker 2: for longer term life health for these players as well.
26:16
Speaker 2: But as it stands now, in as smaller picture, as
26:19
Speaker 2: we zoom back in on the Steelers, you know, what
26:23
Speaker 2: is happening here is different than what happened before. We're
26:26
Speaker 2: just going to see a lot of things that are
26:28
Speaker 2: different than what happened before. With Mike Tomlin, well, it
26:32
Speaker 2: remains to be seen whether it's better or worse, right, yeah,
26:36
Speaker 2: or the same yeah.
26:37
Speaker 3: Or the same I mean, and I think, you know,
26:39
Speaker 3: the biggest thing is how we get to competition periods
26:43
Speaker 3: is also another big one. You're not going to see
26:45
Speaker 3: as many team periods scripted throughout. It's going to be
26:48
Speaker 3: more concise, whereas a lot of emphasis is on the
26:51
Speaker 3: individual period time, a lot of individual at the beginning
26:55
Speaker 3: of the practice today and that you kind of condensed
26:59
Speaker 3: and had an area of emphasis today was two minute
27:02
Speaker 3: drill that was really one of two competitive periods that
27:06
Speaker 3: they had against each other. Everything else was off It
27:09
Speaker 3: was offense and offense, defense and defense, and then it
27:12
Speaker 3: went to individual groups for a majority of this acclamation
27:15
Speaker 3: practice today, So you didn't even really see that much
27:18
Speaker 3: team competition periods as in years past.
27:21
Speaker 2: No backsen backers, no seven shots, but different drills. Right,
27:24
Speaker 2: we saw this cutting drill where all the receivers and
27:27
Speaker 2: defensive backs were cutting.
27:28
Speaker 4: And as we're watching the field be replaced on that.
27:31
Speaker 2: Spot at a lot of big men cutting very quickly.
27:34
Speaker 2: And then other drills where guys were you know, had
27:37
Speaker 2: had a ball and we're running around cones and then
27:39
Speaker 2: and then squaring off against each other, you know, quickness
27:42
Speaker 2: drills and then the ability to you know, shift from
27:45
Speaker 2: side to side. Just different drills and it's fun. You know,
27:48
Speaker 2: it's still football, but there's different ways to try to
27:53
Speaker 2: get to what you want to be, uh, you know,
27:57
Speaker 2: something that's going to maximize the potential in your team,
27:59
Speaker 2: and and some coaches will do it one way, and
28:02
Speaker 2: we're seeing already in these drills that Mike McCarthy's going
28:04
Speaker 2: to do it differently than we saw under Mike Tomin.
28:07
Speaker 4: Yeah.
28:08
Speaker 3: I mean, and you should expect that from an established
28:12
Speaker 3: head coach, that he has his own system. When you're young,
28:15
Speaker 3: you're impressionable, and you haven't done it before, you're probably
28:18
Speaker 3: gonna lean on the experience of vEDS that hey, how
28:21
Speaker 3: do things go back here? But Mike McCarthy, he's done
28:25
Speaker 3: it to great success at two other franchises. His system
28:30
Speaker 3: I think kind of works, so he can he can
28:32
Speaker 3: impart his system and you know, quote unquote without touching
28:37
Speaker 3: on traditions, you know everything else be darned right. I
28:41
Speaker 3: know what it takes to win games, and this is
28:44
Speaker 3: how my teams are prepared and we've had a lot
28:45
Speaker 3: of success to it.
28:46
Speaker 4: So we're going to do it this way. It might
28:48
Speaker 4: not be what you're used to, but it's what I'm
28:50
Speaker 4: used to.
28:51
Speaker 3: And I've seen what the results are. I've ran the
28:53
Speaker 3: test and you know the different stress tests around this.
28:56
Speaker 3: So we're gonna do it this way until otherwise proven.
28:58
Speaker 2: I think one of the one of the beautiful things
29:02
Speaker 2: in sports is that everybody who's competing in sports is
29:07
Speaker 2: after the same thing, and that is victory. But turn
29:11
Speaker 2: on a golf tournament. One guy's driving the ball three
29:13
Speaker 2: hundred and eighty yards. The other guy's getting up and
29:15
Speaker 2: down or maybe making putts or the other Maybe one
29:17
Speaker 2: guy can't put maybe one guy is deadly inside eighty yards.
29:20
Speaker 2: In tennis, one guy's a serve and voy, or one
29:23
Speaker 2: guy's a baseliner. Baseball, you might be stealing bases or
29:26
Speaker 2: hitting home runs, or pitching or defense. The ultimate goal
29:29
Speaker 2: is the same, but the way to get there can
29:32
Speaker 2: be very different. And the way the Steelers are going
29:34
Speaker 2: to get there this year is going to be different
29:36
Speaker 2: and it's gonna be fun to watch Max.
29:39
Speaker 3: It is and Mike McCarthy said this, At the end
29:42
Speaker 3: of the day, I'm weighed on production and victory.
29:44
Speaker 4: That's right. That's it. That's it.
29:46
Speaker 3: Everything else I don't care, right, I want to be
29:50
Speaker 3: productive and I want to win.
29:53
Speaker 4: That's all we care about at the end of the day. Right.
29:55
Speaker 3: You know, style points don't matter in the NFL. It
29:58
Speaker 3: matters in college. That's why you kind of get in college.
30:01
Speaker 3: It has to be a.
30:01
Speaker 4: Style point thing. There's a committee that reviews it. You know,
30:04
Speaker 4: they put up the signs.
30:05
Speaker 3: They tell you if you got a ten or seven
30:07
Speaker 3: point two It's very subjective like ice skating, but here
30:13
Speaker 3: brass tacks, wins, losses, and how much you did of
30:17
Speaker 3: both of those in the process, right, how many points
30:20
Speaker 3: you gave up, how many points you you you earned,
30:23
Speaker 3: how many yards you gave up, how many yards you
30:26
Speaker 3: know you know you actually gained. Those are only metrics
30:29
Speaker 3: because those usually tell who won the game if you
30:32
Speaker 3: win in those categories.
30:34
Speaker 4: So he's production and victories. That's it. So much fun.
30:37
Speaker 4: Can't wait.
30:38
Speaker 2: It's been fun getting back here with Max Starks. We
30:41
Speaker 2: still have one more seven week to go, so much
30:44
Speaker 2: to talk about. Uh, that's good because we have we
30:47
Speaker 2: have three weeks to do it.
30:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, we do.
30:49
Speaker 3: We have twenty one or twenty more practices and between
30:53
Speaker 3: there is a couple of them. We got two of them. Yeah, yep,
30:56
Speaker 3: can't before we break, can't we only have one game?
30:58
Speaker 4: Yeah?
30:58
Speaker 2: Right, but can't wait to delve into this stuff. Still
31:01
Speaker 2: much more to come here because it was a fascinating
31:04
Speaker 2: and very busy offseason for the Steelers. We're gonna get
31:07
Speaker 2: to more of that when we continue in the locker
31:08
Speaker 2: room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
31:13
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31:17
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32:00
Speaker 2: Come back in the locker room with Max Starks On,
32:02
Speaker 2: Rob King. As you said, two thirds of your broadcast team.
32:05
Speaker 2: Missy Matthews will be joining us throughout the course of
32:07
Speaker 2: the season. By the way, we get uh, you get
32:10
Speaker 2: the occasional contribution from from in the locker room. Cub
32:15
Speaker 2: reporter Schaefer King unpaid reporter. But during the commercial break
32:21
Speaker 2: he texted me Shamar Stewart was carted off to Bengals Field.
32:25
Speaker 4: Oh that's that's a bummer for that. That's a bummer.
32:29
Speaker 4: That's a that's a first round pick.
32:32
Speaker 3: Now, you know, obviously we don't know the extent or anything,
32:38
Speaker 3: but it has to be a bummer when you're in
32:40
Speaker 3: training camp. I mean, think about what happened Nick Gordon
32:43
Speaker 3: down down in Carolina. They lost him for the year
32:46
Speaker 3: playing in a wet practiceble. That's crazy, and he has
32:49
Speaker 3: such a great year last year, but this is that
32:51
Speaker 3: time of year.
32:52
Speaker 4: It is.
32:52
Speaker 3: You know, you say, if a guy's gonna get injured,
32:54
Speaker 3: he's gonna get injured. But you know, we don't know
32:57
Speaker 3: the extent, but yeah, that is definitely breaking news for
33:01
Speaker 3: a defense that is trying to build something to just
33:07
Speaker 3: be complementary to its offense.
33:09
Speaker 4: Yes, right, yeah, not even be great.
33:13
Speaker 3: No, it's like, just can't you be good enough to
33:16
Speaker 3: just give us a one point advantage by the end?
33:18
Speaker 2: Honestly, Like, I mean I don't, and I think the
33:22
Speaker 2: world of the Bengals offense.
33:23
Speaker 4: I mean, it's it's incredible everything about it. You know.
33:26
Speaker 2: There I think frankly like sort of you know, mediocres average,
33:31
Speaker 2: like low end average would be probably enough to turn
33:36
Speaker 2: that team into They're gonna be scary. They can always
33:39
Speaker 2: beat you because they just.
33:41
Speaker 3: Have you know, they have Joe Burrow and all that
33:43
Speaker 3: offensive talent, right, can always beat you if your offense
33:46
Speaker 3: isn't doing well, right, but their defense just has to
33:51
Speaker 3: give up.
33:52
Speaker 4: One less point than your offense scores and.
33:55
Speaker 3: That and I would even say, just don't be below average.
33:59
Speaker 3: I think that that's really it. Like you can you
34:01
Speaker 3: can be sub par, right, you know, par being Yeah,
34:05
Speaker 3: you could be subpar, but just don't be below app Yeah, if.
34:08
Speaker 2: You're in that group of you know, like let's say,
34:11
Speaker 2: okause of fifteen sixteen is you know, average defense in
34:14
Speaker 2: the NFL. You know, if you can be within four
34:18
Speaker 2: or five spots at twenty twenty first at twenty just twenty,
34:21
Speaker 2: that would be good enough to make that a frightening
34:24
Speaker 2: that frightening that could potentially be a division winning absolutely
34:28
Speaker 2: if their defense was top twenty. Well, you know, and
34:31
Speaker 2: what's interesting with them is, you know they make the
34:33
Speaker 2: trade for Dexter Lawrence, right, and you know, and I'm
34:38
Speaker 2: a I'm a really really big believer in the power
34:42
Speaker 2: of stars and what they can do, how they can
34:45
Speaker 2: help a team. You know, they also have Jonathan Allen,
34:48
Speaker 2: you know, who's long but a very solid player. But
34:51
Speaker 2: if those guys can bring if Allen can bring and
34:54
Speaker 2: we'll talk more about the Bengals and stuff, but if
34:56
Speaker 2: you can bring stability and Dexter Lawrence can bring that
34:58
Speaker 2: star power to the defensive line. You know, Now, does
35:01
Speaker 2: that make Boy Mafey who you just signed, a better
35:03
Speaker 2: guy coming off the edge? Does that make Miles Murphy
35:06
Speaker 2: a better guy coming off the edge? And then does
35:09
Speaker 2: that help DJ Turner, who's already an emerging star at cornerback.
35:13
Speaker 4: And Dak Hill on the back end.
35:15
Speaker 2: Does it help that linebacking corp that maybe is not
35:17
Speaker 2: the strength of the team be better. I'm a big
35:20
Speaker 2: believer that these stars we've seen that with TJ. Watt
35:23
Speaker 2: can have a great impact on the guys around them.
35:27
Speaker 2: And I think that's what you're hoping when you go
35:29
Speaker 2: out and get these veteran guys. If there's solidity and
35:32
Speaker 2: maybe even in the case of Dexter Lawrence more than
35:35
Speaker 2: many maybe anybody else, and again, follow what they gave
35:38
Speaker 2: up for him, and that'll tell you what they think
35:39
Speaker 2: about him.
35:40
Speaker 4: They think a lot about.
35:41
Speaker 2: Him, you know, Kenny have that sort of trickle down
35:44
Speaker 2: effect around the rest of the roster.
35:45
Speaker 4: But it's not good.
35:46
Speaker 2: When you're when one of those you know, your former
35:48
Speaker 2: first round pick from a year ago is carted off
35:51
Speaker 2: the field. And again we don't have any other information
35:53
Speaker 2: other than that, and don't expect to till today or
35:56
Speaker 2: possibly tomorrow.
35:57
Speaker 3: At the earliest. And you know, you think, hey, we
36:01
Speaker 3: signed Boye Mafe. We want to add to this with
36:04
Speaker 3: losing a Trey Hendrickson, But now you're already down. You know,
36:08
Speaker 3: you went from a trio of possibilities to a duo
36:10
Speaker 3: of possibilities, right, and you've short changed kind of the
36:14
Speaker 3: depth of that edge rushing combo.
36:16
Speaker 4: Right.
36:16
Speaker 3: We talked about the guys on the interior, Well, you've
36:18
Speaker 3: never really had true interior guys. So now you hit
36:21
Speaker 3: these guys and now you can actually start building the
36:23
Speaker 3: depth of that interior. But ye had to lose Schamar
36:26
Speaker 3: Smith Stewart, who you had high expectations for coming into
36:30
Speaker 3: year two after he was kind of doing his solidarity
36:32
Speaker 3: thing last year with Trey Hendrickson and you know, holding
36:35
Speaker 3: off on signing. You were hoping that year two he
36:39
Speaker 3: would come on and be a focal point because you
36:43
Speaker 3: don't no longer have a traditor. You need a new
36:45
Speaker 3: Tray Hendrickson. And could he have stepped into that role,
36:47
Speaker 3: but we'll obviously wait to see what the extent of
36:49
Speaker 3: it is. Hopefully, you know, it's one of those that's
36:51
Speaker 3: not a season ending type of injury, but carding off
36:54
Speaker 3: doesn't help that too much. So you hope it's maybe
36:57
Speaker 3: one thing where he can, you know, start out to
36:59
Speaker 3: see in on the injury, on the injury reserve, the
37:02
Speaker 3: short term one, not the long term I ar, and
37:06
Speaker 3: get back sooner than later, you know.
37:07
Speaker 2: And it brings to mind what I wanted to circle
37:10
Speaker 2: back and get to before we head out of here
37:12
Speaker 2: today about Broderick Jones. And again we're just scratching the
37:15
Speaker 2: surface of what happened in the offseason and and we're
37:17
Speaker 2: gonna continue to talk about that and follow the big
37:20
Speaker 2: storylines here in camp as well here inside the locker room.
37:23
Speaker 2: But you know, you're hoping Shamar Stewart and Miles Murphy,
37:26
Speaker 2: you know, you know, boy mo Off, he's gonna play
37:27
Speaker 2: a lot, you know, can you provide competition? You're you know,
37:30
Speaker 2: Mike Tomlin used to say iron sharpens iron, right, and
37:34
Speaker 2: you're looking for guys who want to compete. And as
37:37
Speaker 2: I look at this roster, and we talked about this
37:40
Speaker 2: a little bit. But now it's here. So a coach
37:44
Speaker 2: comes in and is it going to you know, is
37:48
Speaker 2: it gonna put somebody in a in a bad you
37:51
Speaker 2: know position that who's an established art No, of course
37:53
Speaker 2: not Cam Hayward gonna.
37:54
Speaker 4: Play, you know, Uh t J.
37:56
Speaker 2: Watt's gonna play, Aaron Rodgers are gonna play, you know,
37:58
Speaker 2: Zach Fraser's gonna play.
37:59
Speaker 4: We know that.
38:00
Speaker 2: But there's gonna be guys I think affected one.
38:02
Speaker 4: Way or the other.
38:03
Speaker 2: For example, you know, Mike tom Win and I'm just
38:05
Speaker 2: you know, coming up with the name here.
38:07
Speaker 4: Connor Hayward is no longer on the roster.
38:09
Speaker 2: You know, the more you watch Connor Hayward play, the
38:11
Speaker 2: more you got an appreciation for what he could do.
38:13
Speaker 2: And and Mike tom on a staff value the guy
38:15
Speaker 2: who could come in and help you in a variety
38:18
Speaker 2: of ways. Well, we don't know how players like that
38:20
Speaker 2: are gonna be viewed on a new staff. So there's
38:22
Speaker 2: gonna be guys at the edges of the roster or
38:25
Speaker 2: the fourth or fifth receiver position, third running back position,
38:29
Speaker 2: offensive line whatever. They're gonna be competing for jobs, maybe
38:31
Speaker 2: in a different way because there's a new staff evaluating
38:35
Speaker 2: what they want out of a certain guy. They may
38:37
Speaker 2: want a guy who does one thing well versus a
38:40
Speaker 2: guy who does five things pretty well, for example. So
38:44
Speaker 2: but but it brings to mind that there are some
38:46
Speaker 2: guys on this roster who have, you know, draft pedigree.
38:51
Speaker 2: They're gonna have to fight to make the roster or
38:54
Speaker 2: make an impact on this roster. And that can do
38:57
Speaker 2: nothing but strengthen your roster. And I'm thinking about and
39:00
Speaker 2: I'll just name a few guys. I'm sure there's more
39:02
Speaker 2: in the roster. We were talking about Broderick Jones. Well,
39:05
Speaker 2: now you got a first round pick at left tackle.
39:09
Speaker 2: You just spent a first round pick on a guy
39:11
Speaker 2: who could play right tackle. Dylan Cook finally got an
39:14
Speaker 2: opportunity to show what he could do. That's pretty good,
39:16
Speaker 2: Brodrick Jones. He could have to fight and compete for
39:18
Speaker 2: a job. They believe in him because they drafted him
39:21
Speaker 2: in the first round and he started for this team.
39:23
Speaker 2: But that's the position he finds himself in. That's a
39:25
Speaker 2: position maybe Roman Wilson finds himself in. There's been a
39:29
Speaker 2: lot of raving about how how good he looked in
39:31
Speaker 2: OTAs and what a good offseason he had. Caleb Johnson
39:35
Speaker 2: is in that kind of position. How does he go
39:37
Speaker 2: out and say, look, I know you got Caydenwigen and
39:40
Speaker 2: I know you got you know, you know Rico Daddle
39:44
Speaker 2: in the offseason, But hey man, I belong on this team.
39:47
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go show you I belong on this team.
39:49
Speaker 2: And there's some guys like that. I just think that
39:52
Speaker 2: does nothing but make your roster stronger.
39:57
Speaker 3: You know, competition brings the best out of people, and
40:01
Speaker 3: that's always what Mike Tomlin was trying to do, right,
40:04
Speaker 3: Two dogs, one bone. That's type of mentality. That's the
40:07
Speaker 3: same thing that's being here, except for these guys. How
40:10
Speaker 3: I've been doubted or been quote unquote seemingly replaced. I
40:13
Speaker 3: mean I can sit there and look at it and
40:15
Speaker 3: I can feel all of those tensions because I remember
40:20
Speaker 3: what it was like year after year to have someone
40:23
Speaker 3: drafted to be your replacement, and you have to go
40:27
Speaker 3: out there and you have to fight for everything. You know,
40:29
Speaker 3: you eat what you kill. And I had to go
40:32
Speaker 3: out there year after year and just prove my value
40:34
Speaker 3: and prove them by worth. I mean I was drafted
40:36
Speaker 3: the third round, so it's not like it was a
40:37
Speaker 3: huge investment. I wasn't a first rounder or anything. But
40:41
Speaker 3: you know, the following year, Trey Essis gets drafted in
40:43
Speaker 3: the third round, following year Willie Column get drafted in
40:45
Speaker 3: the fourth round. Then third round is Tony Hills, and
40:48
Speaker 3: on and on. My entire career, we're always drafting offensive
40:51
Speaker 3: lineman and I'm right there at that third round position,
40:54
Speaker 3: and we uee guys getting drafted at or a little
40:56
Speaker 3: bit behind where you were. You have to worry and
40:59
Speaker 3: so but it brought the best out of me. I
41:01
Speaker 3: look forward to that competition because I had trusted myself,
41:04
Speaker 3: I have faith in my skills, and I also wasn't
41:07
Speaker 3: gonna run from it. I'm going to help every guy
41:10
Speaker 3: be the best that they can be so that when
41:13
Speaker 3: I beat them, there's no excuses.
41:14
Speaker 2: Yes, and here's the other thing too, and you say
41:17
Speaker 2: that too, and and you know, just by competing, you're
41:20
Speaker 2: helping them be the best they can be. But one
41:22
Speaker 2: of the things that I absolutely love about being up
41:25
Speaker 2: here is seeing those veteran guys. After practice. A couple
41:30
Speaker 2: of years ago, it was Sutton working with the defensive backs,
41:35
Speaker 2: the young defensive backs. I saw James Daniels working with
41:39
Speaker 2: Mason McCormick after practice again and again and again. Here's
41:42
Speaker 2: a guy who's clearly been drafted to take your place,
41:46
Speaker 2: and what are you doing. You're working with him exactly,
41:49
Speaker 2: I mean, I just you know, And then of course
41:51
Speaker 2: McCormick wound up having to play because of injury James
41:54
Speaker 2: Daniels exactly. So I love that part of it because
41:59
Speaker 2: it it is truly your livelihood on the line out here.
42:04
Speaker 2: Now it might be your position with this team, maybe
42:06
Speaker 2: your livelihood is extended with another team, but I'm sure
42:10
Speaker 2: as a player, look, the business makes you paranoid. You're
42:14
Speaker 2: looking for approval from coaches. You've been looking for approval
42:18
Speaker 2: from coaches your entire life. You're out here as a
42:21
Speaker 2: professional on a grown man. You still need approval to
42:24
Speaker 2: make the team. And yet you've also got to find
42:27
Speaker 2: it within you to help the guy who is trying
42:30
Speaker 2: to knock your approval down.
42:31
Speaker 4: You're trying to he's trying to affect your approval rating.
42:33
Speaker 4: You know, yeah he is.
42:34
Speaker 3: And but also you know there may come a time
42:38
Speaker 3: where I get injured. I need to make sure I
42:39
Speaker 3: can trust this guy to keep the standard r exactly.
42:44
Speaker 3: So it's such a delicate fine line, because you have
42:49
Speaker 3: to plan for the worst case scenario while also trying
42:52
Speaker 3: to put yourself in the best case scenario at the
42:54
Speaker 3: same time. It's like, if I go down, I need
42:56
Speaker 3: to trust the guy behind me knows what to do, right,
42:59
Speaker 3: and and you have to have that faith and confidence.
43:02
Speaker 3: But you know, that's what I think also makes it
43:04
Speaker 3: special is that you have guys that are willing to
43:08
Speaker 3: put that aside for the betterment of the team, right,
43:10
Speaker 3: the greater good of the organization, versus individual selfish goals
43:15
Speaker 3: that want to be accomplished and attained in the process.
43:18
Speaker 4: Yep.
43:19
Speaker 2: And again, I do think there's going to be a
43:22
Speaker 2: lot of competition, and I think it's going to be
43:25
Speaker 2: it's going to do nothing but make this team better.
43:28
Speaker 4: Absolutely, no, I completely agree.
43:30
Speaker 3: And I think this collection of ninety men out here
43:34
Speaker 3: on this field that will eventually get whittled down to
43:37
Speaker 3: fifty three, fifty three plus plus sixteen. I guess we
43:40
Speaker 3: have to say with the practice, quit right allocations. But
43:43
Speaker 3: it's going we're going to see the best of what
43:46
Speaker 3: they have to offer out here on these fields and
43:48
Speaker 3: of course in these preseason games when given the opportunity.
43:51
Speaker 3: And that's what's gonna make this team better is that
43:54
Speaker 3: you are bringing your best between these white lines every
43:58
Speaker 3: single day for these twenty one practices out here, plus
44:01
Speaker 3: the three preseason games to find out who that final
44:05
Speaker 3: cut crew is going to.
44:06
Speaker 4: Be, and we're going to see it all the way through.
44:08
Speaker 3: The good thing is there's no early cut period, right,
44:10
Speaker 3: There's only one cut at the end yep. So you
44:12
Speaker 3: have ninety guys with the same opportunities to go out
44:16
Speaker 3: there and make a name for themselves within the time
44:19
Speaker 3: twenty four competition opportunities available to them.
44:23
Speaker 4: It is.
44:23
Speaker 2: It is so much fun to be back here with
44:25
Speaker 2: you Max, so much fun to be at Saint Vincent College,
44:28
Speaker 2: and you know the journey. We're reminded when you talk
44:32
Speaker 2: and of course you stay out here. I'm going back
44:35
Speaker 2: and forth with the other job responsibly it as I have,
44:38
Speaker 2: but you know, to be in here and you know you,
44:42
Speaker 2: you know, on a daily basis for me to see
44:45
Speaker 2: you know, scouts and coaches and other guys around and
44:48
Speaker 2: be reminded that it is a you know, what we're
44:51
Speaker 2: seeing out here today. This isn't the beginning of It
44:55
Speaker 2: is the beginning of putting this twenty twenty six season
44:59
Speaker 2: in motion. But it started in OTAs and before that,
45:02
Speaker 2: it started with scouting these players and putting these players together,
45:05
Speaker 2: and the meetings that they all have, and the pro
45:07
Speaker 2: personnel people and all this stuff that involves with the team.
45:11
Speaker 2: But it does feel like you're in the starting blocks
45:15
Speaker 2: when you get out here to Saint Vincent College, isn't it?
45:17
Speaker 4: Oh?
45:19
Speaker 3: This is when you know falls upon us right summers ended.
45:24
Speaker 3: This is the prep for fall right now, and no
45:28
Speaker 3: better way than day one here out in Latrobe, at
45:31
Speaker 3: Saint Vincent College in the valley, in the Laurel Valleys
45:37
Speaker 3: out here, beautiful scenery and I cannot wait for us
45:41
Speaker 3: to continue to dive into this conversation except first day
45:43
Speaker 3: of school nerves out of the way and we'll just
45:46
Speaker 3: have first week of school nerves for the next couple
45:48
Speaker 3: of days.
45:49
Speaker 2: Great team, and my friend back together with you again.
45:52
Speaker 2: He's Max Starks. I'm Rob King. We have Matt Williamson
45:56
Speaker 2: and west Uhler coming up next to drive the drive.
46:00
Speaker 2: Max and I thank you for being with us in
46:02
Speaker 2: the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network