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HR2: League Perception cont. · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: We are trucking on towards week one, and we are
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: here on Tuesday. But most importantly, we are inside the
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: power hour here inside the locker room, Rob.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: We are, and we are continuing as we're going to
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: get you ready for the Steelers and the Falcons. But
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: early in the week, we always like to talk about
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: where the Steelers are perceived, how we perceive the team,
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: the state of the team, the state of the organization.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: Last week, we looked at Just the roster breakdown of
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: how the Steelers put together their roster. Were there any
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: surprise moves, cuts, that sort of thing? We're taking another
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: general look at the roster in a different way, which
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: is how they are perceived. And we're using ESPN's rankings. Again,
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: there are different rankings. How are they perceived around the
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: league by position group? So we have got through quarterback
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: where they're perceived as number 22. We think that's a
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: little low. Running back, 25. We also think that's a
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: little low. And again, quarterback is one thing. You have
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers at 42 years old, again, one of the
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: oldest quarterbacks to ever start on opening day.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: We get that.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: We're also looking at this in terms of position group
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: breakdown and how young they are because the other thing
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: we've talked about is how when you talk about how
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: a team is perceived around the league, the Steelers are
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: perceived as an aging team. So at the running back position,
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: quarterback Aaron Rodgers, 42. OK, that's that's the truth. Dowdle
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: and Warren, 28, 27, respectively. Sort of that in your
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: prime kind of age. And we could say the same
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: thing about the quarter of the receiver group where DK
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: is 28. Michael Pittman is 28. You have Skoranek at 29.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: But now more so than I think at the running
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: back position. And I'm not trying to slight Eli Heidenreich,
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: but seventh rounder.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: We want to see that progression.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: From Eli, but at the receiver position, you have guys
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: who are second and third round picks in Jeremy Bernard,
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: who's 22 years old, and in Roman Wilson, third round
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: pick a couple years ago, he's 25 years old, so
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: you're hoping that that receiver group in general, by the way,
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: the average player in the NFL is 26.6 years old.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: This receiver group is going to age as younger than
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: that because behind DK and Pittman, who are going to
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: get the majority of the snaps.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: You have younger guys.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: Now, this group is rated by ESPN as number 10. Willie,
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: I'm fine with that. That's okay with me. Number 10,
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: I can't– I'm not going to sit here and count
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: the nine above them, but that seems fair to me.
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think we're all on the same– of the
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: same mindset.
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: We talk about how Roman Wilson and obviously Jeremy Bernard,
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: who they just picked up.
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: And– this feels about right. I don't really have any gripes.
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: I think if I would have loved to see them
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: try to get one more guy, one more younger guy,
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: somewhere in the draft if they were able to, to
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: kind of help, to kind of pair up with Jeremy Bernardi.
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: Because as much as we love him with his ability
• 3:41
  Speaker 6: to be in a slot and break tackles and kind
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: of be explosive with the football in his hand, I
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: still think we need somebody to compliment or kind of
• 3:49
  Speaker 6: next Aaron Parent behind DK. Somebody that can stretch the field,
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: blow the top off the coverage, and be a big-time
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: red zone threat.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: I think, Willie, that's a really good way of putting it.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: I think that the hope, Max, is that Jeremy Bernard
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: becomes another, like, Michael Pittman type, which is, like, I feel,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: you know, there's been a couple of veteran guys that
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: Steelers have brought in here in recent years that I've
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: talked about in this program who I've really been fans of.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Deshaun Elliott was one.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: I was really a fan of Deshaun Elliott. and then
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: now that I've seen him, I think he's even better
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: than I thought he was. I've always been a fan
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: of Michael Pittman. I think that this is a chain-moving,
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: big target, big red zone target, willing blocker, leader type
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: of guy. I think those are the kind of traits
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: that maybe you're seeing in a young Jeremy Bernard. Again,
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: a ways to go between rookie second-round pick and a
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: guy who's been a really good player in Michael Pittman,
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: but I I think as we kind of look at both,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: where the group is ranked and where they could be going,
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: I agree with Willie that you're still hoping that you're
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: going to get that game breaker here at some point
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: and that DK and Pittman are still good for a
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: couple of years without having to necessarily address that. No
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: team has got all pros at every position and 22-year-old
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: future all pros right behind them.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Nobody. Nobody has that.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Some position groups are going to be better or weaker
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: than others but I think that there's I could see
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: where the plan would be coming to coming into fruition
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: if Bernard can be that kind of a guy now
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: yeah you got to go out and get another guy
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: after that but as far as the ranking this year
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: in the future what are your thoughts Max.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Well I think where the ranking was a year ago
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: and where it is this year I think is a
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: huge jump I think we were in the mid-20s last
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: year going into the season so to have this type
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: of jump.
• 5:44
  Speaker 7: I think Boom. We're right. We're on track. I have
• 5:47
  Speaker 7: no problem with it.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: I agree with both of you guys that there's still
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: one more receiver in the future that needs to be
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: had and whether that's going to be addressed in the
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: draft or in free agency.
• 5:57
  Speaker 7: Again, who knows? You'd like it to be in the draft.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: So you have a little bit more control versus paying
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: top premium value like you did for Pittman and DK.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: But where we're standing right now, you know, on the
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: precipice of week one, the 2026 season, I like where
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: we're at, and I think that's a good starting place.
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: And it also lets you.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Know that we've now gotten a more elite-level receiving core
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: that's going to be a challenge for opposing teams.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Agreed. Agreed.
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: Can I say one thing, Rob?
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Yep. Please.
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: I also want to say this. I think this is
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: what makes Mike McCarthy's offense great.
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: So good because I think this isn't about solely of
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: what he has this year. I think he's trying to
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: put a blueprint on how to make this still an
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: offense that can grow from years on.
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: And so even though you have.
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: A DK and a Michael Pittman and you talk about
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: having Jeremy Bernard and Roman Wilson, I think they want
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: to start building towards having different receivers of these body
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: types that can really live in this system for years
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: to come. So that's why having another guy like DK
• 7:05
  Speaker 6: or having another guy like Michael Pittman who.
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: Can fit that mold only makes this offense more deadly.
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: And I think if you're the Steelers right now, especially
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: the powers that be, we got to start finding what
• 7:16
  Speaker 6: the Steeler receiver mold looks like within this offense. And
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: so as Mike McCarthy continues to put his hand on
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: this thing and continues to mold and build it, I
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: think when you go into the draft, all right, who's
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: going to be our next DK? Who's going to be
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: our next Michael Pittman type? Who's going to be our
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: next Jeremy Bernard type? Because that really, when you start, like,
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: that's what he was doing. We forget, that's what he
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: was doing in.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: Green Bay, right?
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: Like, there was a mold in how you looked at
• 7:41
  Speaker 6: Green Bay receivers. Whether it was a Donald Driver or
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: a Jordy Nelson or a Greg Jennings. Like, all of
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: them kind of fit the body type. And that was
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: a compliment to the offense. So, I think that's where
• 7:52
  Speaker 6: the Steelers have to start trending. And hopefully, DK and
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: Pittman can start being those guys.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a really good point. Way to wrap that up. Okay,
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: so let's move on to the tight end position. You know,
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: I think I want to do this this way, and
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: I don't mean to put you on the spot, but
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: if you were going to guess, Willie, where this tight
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: end group ranked, and we're talking about, you know, Friermuth,
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Darnell Washington, Robert Tanyan, where do you think, just a
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: general sense, I'm not trying to pin you down too much, but,
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: you know, within five spots or so, where do you
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: think this tight end group would rank in the NFL?
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: This is my ranking?
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you think? Where do you think it
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: would be?
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: I would like to think they're in the middle of
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: the pack.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if they're 15th, you're okay with that, right? Yeah.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: They got them ranked 25th. Again, that's my reaction.
• 8:56
  Speaker 7: I knew there was a set up there.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sorry, but it was so shocking to me.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: And I don't mean to put you on the spot
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: that way, but it's just so shocking to me.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Because I thought the same thing.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: If you tell me it's middle of the pack, okay, so,
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: you know, Friermuth has been a 60-catch-a-year guy. That's probably,
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: you know, 10th or 12th or thereabouts in the NFL
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: year on year. And then Darnell Washington, you know, okay,
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: so if you want to ding him down for whatever
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: reason and call him 15th, fine. But 25th to me,
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: that just seems extraordinarily low.
• 9:33
  Speaker 6: Can I ask a question? Is this going into this
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: season or what they were able to do last season
• 9:39
  Speaker 6: as a group?
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: This was a couple of weeks ago before they made
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: the big roster cutdowns. And again, the Steelers haven't added
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: anybody to that group. I mean, I think we all
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: thought Robert Tanyan was going to be that third tight end,
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: especially after the first game.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: If we had any doubts, I think it was a
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: race there.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: And again, as we look at the future of the team,
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: we're again talking about, you know, the wide receiver position
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: in the prime. Okay, maybe right at the peak of
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: the prime, and you could argue maybe there's some downside
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: coming if you wanted to. You could say the same
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: thing about the running back position. But, you know, you're
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: looking at Friermuth and Darnell Washington. They're in that early stage.
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: or absolutely right at their prime type of ages, just
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: talking from an age perspective, at 25 and 27. So
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: I think that the Steelers can feel better about the
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: tight end group than 25th ranking, and I think they
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: can feel better about the tight end group as far
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: as it's probably something they don't have to think too
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: hard about addressing. Unlike the receiver position, where maybe you're
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: thinking about getting that next sort of young guy in
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: there if you can, I think tight ends are a
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: position where you're like, okay, we're good for a while
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: and we're a lot better than 25th.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I don't even know.
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: Go ahead. Well, no, I don't, I don't listen.
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: I think a lot of what I'm excited about for
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy in his office that he does use his title, right?
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: You're going to see a lot of 12 personnel, a
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: lot of 13 personnel. So all these tight end, the
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: title that we do have currently, they're going to have
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: an opportunity to eat. And if you're the Steelers right now,
• 11:19
  Speaker 6: understanding when you get into the red zone, that has
• 11:22
  Speaker 6: to be a kind of a bat signal for Darnell
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: Washington and Fairmount to show up and show out. And
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: so I'm excited about what these guys can do despite
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: where they're ranked right now.
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: Max.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'll just, I'll be quick on it because
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: I know we still have stuff to do. It's just,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: it's once again, I mean, you look at the rankings,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: there's a consistency with it.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: 25th, 25th, 21st, and 10th.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, the only thing they're happy about is our
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: wide receiving core because we answered a question that everybody
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: else wanted to answer a year ago. So, I mean,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: you know, it's one of those things. Don't believe me,
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: just watch. I mean, I'm just at this point with
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: these rankings.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Did you just throw a little Bruno Mars at us?
• 12:05
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 12:05
  Speaker 7: It sounded like it. Yeah, it was.
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: It was.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: I was definitely in my Bruno Mars bag last night.
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: So, it just came out.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, why were you in your Bruno Mars bag? Just listening?
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: I was driving yesterday because it was just a hectic
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: day getting back home from Tennessee over the weekend. I
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: had a lot of errands, so I usually put on
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: a playlist. Bruno Mars was the musical artist du jour yesterday.
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: Nothing wrong with Bruno Mars. I'm a Bruno Mars fan.
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: By the way, you know who a big Bruno Mars
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: fan is? Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan loves Bruno Mars. I
• 12:47
  Speaker 6: don't know if anybody knows that.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: I did not know that.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: As a guy who has aged out of most artists
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: that I grew up with and would go to see
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: in concert, I was talking about this with my wife
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: and somebody else over the weekend. I would go to
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: Bruno Mars' concert in a heartbeat. I would definitely go
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: to him. I bet he puts on a phenomenal show.
• 13:07
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it is. I've been to two. It's the closest
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: thing you get to, for Willie and I, 80s and
• 13:13
  Speaker 7: 90s R & B era.
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: He has that.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: Soulful, crooner, up-tempo funk vibe to it. It's a hearkening
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: unto our youth, the way that he sings and the
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: way that he puts stuff together, especially collabs with Anderson.
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: Paak and stuff. Some good retro funk vibes.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: I like it.
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: Well, I'll say this.
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: Having gone to a Bruno Mars concert as well, Rob,
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: you won't be surprised. A lot of people of your
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: demographic are all in the front row.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Really?
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: You would think you would walk in there.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: You would walk in there, and you'd think, like, man,
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: this is going to be Tenny Bopper Central or some
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: crazy college kids.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: No.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: The first ten rows are your folks. Card carrying.
• 14:01
  Speaker 7: Card carrying.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Oh, man. That is funny. Well, because we're desperate. We're desperate.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: I mean, so, like, I go back a further decade
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: from you guys, and– One of the things I like
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: about from what I've heard about Bruno Mars is, you know, again,
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: so if you rewind by a decade from what you
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: guys are talking about, there was a bit of a distinction,
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: funk and R & B, and I was more of
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: a funk guy than an R & B guy. And
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Bruno Mars seems to kind of, from what I've heard
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: from him, well, uptown funk, right, which Max just talked about,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: seems to be able to bridge that gap.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: And it's not totally uptown.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: Look, it's not like, oh, I don't like any R &
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: B and I love all funk. I mean, but I
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: just would gravitate more towards funk music than R &
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: B music. And he seems to bridge that gap.
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: And by the way, Rob, these folks ain't sitting down
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: and just kind of watching and clapping.
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: These folks are on their feet. They are stomping. They're yelling.
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: They're smoking a little devil's lettuce. They're passing beers around.
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: It's a spicy time. I was shocked. I was thoroughly shocked.
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: I thought it was going to be You know, I
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: knew it was going to be a little crazy. I
• 15:11
  Speaker 6: don't know what I– I didn't expect that. But it
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: was a lot of grown white men and khakis absolutely
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: losing their mind.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Over Bruno Mars.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: Well, hopefully I wouldn't show up in the khakis, Willie.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: I think that's– I might draw the line there. And is,
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: you know, position ranking Bruno Mars and the band, we're
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: going top five in the league for sure?
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so.
• 15:34
  Speaker 7: I think we're there.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's very close. He's working his way up
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: the escalator.
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: Of earth, wind, and fire on Frankie Beverly.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: All right. That's okay with me. Okay, so we haven't
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: hit the offensive line. We haven't hit the defense yet.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: By the way, much kinder to the defense than the offense.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: We're kind of slogging through this offense, scratching our heads
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: a little bit. And by the way, in case you're wondering,
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: let me just throw one number out here, okay? So
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: people are that, well, you know, these guys are– They're
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: ranking the QBs and the RBs too high, and we
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: believe in these other rankings.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: The Steelers were 15th in the league in points per
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: game last year.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: So if you just want to say, okay, they're average,
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: a little bit above average. We've only seen one ranking
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: that's above average. That's wide receiver. Everything else has been
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: way below average. So we're taking umbrage to it. We're
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: going to continue to take umbrage to it, and we're
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: going to take less umbrage to the defense when we
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: continue in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: This is in the locker room with rob king max
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: starks and willie cologne on steelers nation radio brought to
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: you in part by the steelers pro shop get it
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: direct from the team at the steelers pro shop at
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: shop.steelers.com and by your neighborhood ford store the f-150 is
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: the official truck of the pittsburgh steelers.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: Okay welcome back to inside the locker room with max
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: starks and willie cologne i'm rob king we thank you
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: for being with us we're breaking down the Steelers' position
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: group rankings according to ESPN. Again, this came out before
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: the actual roster cutdowns. But again, at that stage of
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: the game, you could pretty much guess who was going
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: to be on the roster, that sort of thing. ESPN
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: did that and came up with these position groups. Quarterback,
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: they had the Steelers ranked 22nd. We thought too low.
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: Running back, 25th. We thought too low. Wide receiver, 10th.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: We thought about right. Tight end, 25th. We thought too low.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: Here's offensive line. Now, look, I have to throw this
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: in there. PFF has them ranked as 14th, okay? And
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: I can live with that. I can live with that.
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: They talked about how good the left side was. And,
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: you know, they have Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook on
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: the right side. They don't have Ahana Chor in there. ESPN, Max.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: I'm talking to two offensive linemen. They have them ranked 29th.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: 29th on the offensive line. I had that number in
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: my head.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: And I was like, They would do something ridiculous, like
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: put us at like the back of the roster, like
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: at 29.
• 18:08
  Speaker 7: I literally had that.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Oh my God. Jesus Christ. Okay.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: No, I'm sorry. Don't take the Lord's name in vain.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: And, and look, they got, you know, we, everybody agrees.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: Frazier's on the cusp of pro bowls at everybody, you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: PFF was, was very generous. Uh, they thought Fountain and
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: McCormick were developing into a, a really good left side.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: It did.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: This just, Willie, this is, this is just way too
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: low for me. Way too low.
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah, listen, it's tough to stomach a lot of this
• 18:43
  Speaker 6: stuff because it's all nonsense at the end of the day, right?
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: It is, but.
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: I think part of the pushback is the fact that
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: they're now moving their left, you know, the right side
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: of the offensive line to the left. You talked about
• 18:58
  Speaker 6: Zach Frazier. I think when you have the right side
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: going into the season not as locked and as solidified
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: as you would like, especially when you talk about some
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: of the other decorated offensive lines. So I can understand
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: some of the downgrading. But nevertheless, I do think Spencer
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: Anderson is going to be big time for them. I
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: think considering that he played a lot last year, he's
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: hungry to kind of lock up that position for years
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: to come. The right tackle position, we got to be honest,
• 19:23
  Speaker 6: it's still up for grabs. Right now, we don't know
• 19:25
  Speaker 6: if it's going to be Max Honitore or if it's
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: going to be Dylan Cook. Dylan Cook being an undrafted
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: free agent, you know, who's been a little bit of
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: a journeyman, has showed signs of being a polished offensive line,
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: but at times he hasn't looked as polished. So I
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: kind of see some of the criticism with that. And
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: Max is just extremely young and raw and needs more
• 19:43
  Speaker 6: reps and all of that. With all that said, should
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: they be 29th?
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: No.
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: Should they be in the 20s?
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: I'm not i'm not against that either i think this
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: is just a line that has to continue to play
• 19:55
  Speaker 6: together stay together and after this year hopefully that we're
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: looking at a line that this is going to be
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: the five that's going to kind of usher in a
• 20:03
  Speaker 6: new quarterback and kind of move on into the mccarthy
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: era so I don't like the 29th ranking. Nobody wants
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: to be that late. I don't think they're worthy of
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: being that low. But considering some of the back and
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: forth that Tony Moyer just lost, Broderick Jones, who's a
• 20:18
  Speaker 6: high draft pick, so to speak, I can understand the criticism.
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: And I'm trying not to be biased about it. I'm
• 20:24
  Speaker 6: trying to just.
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: Be as real as I can.
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: And I can understand why the critics and some of
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: the people who are outside the building consider that unit
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: to be.
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: At the bottom of the barrel, so to speak.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: We're all hoping that this time next year we're looking
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: at a top ten ranking. I think the expectation when
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: you spend a first-round pick on Max Ahanachor is that
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: he's going to come in and.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Hopefully play well. And, look, he's a rookie, but we're hoping.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: That we're going to be like, whoa, okay, this move
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: to the left side for Fautano and McCormick proved to
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: be great. These guys are more than solid players. Frazier
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: just made his first Pro Bowl. Max Ahanachor is arrow-pointed up.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: Spencer Anderson had a really solid year. Jennings Dunkers behind
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: him as a young 23-year-old. Boy, this line looks like
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: it's in pretty good shape moving forward. And by the way,
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: we talked about the average age of NFL players being 26.6.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, so Dylan Cook is 28.
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: Max Ahanator is 22. Spencer Anderson is 26. Zach Frazier
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: is 25. Mason McCormick is 26. Troy Faltano is 25.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: If the Steelers have drafted right and they develop these
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: guys the right way as well, this is going to
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: be a radical change to me in the way the
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: Steelers are perceived. Suddenly, instead of looking at a 14th-ranked
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: line according to PFF or a 29th-ranked line according to ESPN,
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: if it's a top-10 unit, that changes everything. It changes
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: the entire perception to me of the team. Got to
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: be right about it. We've spent a lot of time
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: talking about this offensive line. over the course of the year,
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: but this could be a significant game changer for the
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: Steelers in the way they are perceived and the way
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: these rankings are going to come out next year. Max,
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: are you ready to talk about the defense?
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Sure, let's do it.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: Okay, so interior defensive line. I'm going to throw out
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: the age here first. You have 36-year-old Cam Hayward, but
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: then you also have Y.A. Black at 24. Keanu Benton,
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: big contract extension at 25. Derek Harmon, first round pick
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: at 23. You spent a pick on Gabe Rubio. He's 23.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Kevin Jobity made the team. He's 22 years old. Sebastian
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Joseph Day at 31. That is your seven interior line guys.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: Just mention again, the future, the now is for sure camp.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: Sebastian Joseph Day, I think is going to be, people
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: are going to like him. But, again, the future for
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: these young guys. But we're talking about blending the future
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: and the now.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Here we go. Interior defensive line ESPN ranking number three, Max.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Third in all of football.
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Yes. I know. Hold on. Hold on.
• 23:19
  Speaker 7: Hold on.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, we're going to like these defensive rankings. Believe me.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: For the most part, we're going to like these defensive rankings.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: I promise you.
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: I listen, listen after how bad they crapped on our offense.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 23:32
  Speaker 7: I'll take it.
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: I'll take it.
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: I would have personally probably been like, and here's the thing.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: I hate to say that.
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: I probably would have been like five or six.
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: I would have been there.
• 23:40
  Speaker 7: I would not have been top three.
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: I would not have been top three, especially when you
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: consider what LA looks like, what Seattle was a year ago,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: that those monsters of Denver and what that defense did
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: Philadelphia's D I'm like, okay.
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: I can see us being in like five or six. Three?
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Hey, listen.
• 24:00
  Speaker 7: They must know something that we don't.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: In fairness, I'm not sure that they knew Aaron Donald.
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: I can't remember when I saw this ranking, whether Donald
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: had announced the comeback or not.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: I don't remember.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: Miles Garrett was over there with Kobe Turner, Braden Fisk,
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: and Byron Young.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: That was still.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: Without Aaron Donald, they were already, I believe, at least
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: top three. And then with Aaron Donald, yeah, they just
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: went super saiyan.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: So it's cool. No.
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: I'm surprised by that. I know this was done before.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: And also, I'll say this from the offensive line perspective.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: I believe this was done before Broderick got traded, too.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: So that number at 29 was including Broderick, I believe.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
• 24:40
  Speaker 7: I don't think the trade had happened yet.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: So they thought even worse of us. I don't even
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: want to know what they would have thought once Broderick
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: was gone. They might have put us at 32nd.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Unbelievable. Okay.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: And then, Willie, you can comment on that, but I
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: want to throw an edge for you as well. And again,
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: we're talking about Watt and Highsmith as your starters, right?
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: Watt 31, Highsmith 28. Again, I'm just throwing this out
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: there so you get an idea of, because I think
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: age is wrapped up into this perception of the Steelers.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: Herbig's 24, so here's 23. Of course, Herbig just signed
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: a big off-season deal. Watt and Highsmith, the starters for now.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: They rank the edge group number one in the NFL.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that makes sense to me.
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: I think if you look at some of the other
• 25:24
  Speaker 6: edge rushers around the league, I think, you know, you
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: talk about even Nick Benito and Jonathan Cooper who's going
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: through a suspension and some of the other trios out there, man,
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: the Steelers obviously have, I think, probably the most accomplished
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: and elite ones. I think Nick Herbig's jump to stardom,
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: if you will, superstardom, is something that the Steelers really
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: couldn't let walk out the door because, you understand, remember
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: last year there were talks that they would possibly trade
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: Alex Highsmith. They were going to let him he was
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: a part of trade talks, but obviously, I don't know
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: if that's still in the conversation, but getting Nick Herbig
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: locked up was essential to the future of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 26:00
  Speaker 6: So now you have all three dogs wearing a black
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: and gold helmet with a new defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham, who,
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: by the way, will have all three.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: Guys on the field at the same time. It just
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: makes for a must-see TV.
• 26:14
  Speaker 6: And I think once you get Jack Sawyer, who I
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: think is underrated and continues to grow and find his
• 26:21
  Speaker 6: comfort level within that defense, man. You talk about an
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: edge rush unit that is probably the best, probably the
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: most complete in the NFL. So I think their raking
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: is legit.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: Okay, so.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: I'll stick with you here then for the– I just
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: like inside linebacker. Off the ball linebacker they call it now.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know why. Patrick Queen, Peyton Wilson. By the way, 26-25.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: It's hard for people to understand that Patrick Queen's still
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: only 26 years old, right? Because it just feels like
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: he's been around forever. 26, you know, he may have
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: turned 27. Let me double check that. But anyway, Holcomb, 29. Bruner,
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: 24 years old. This is a, again, a suitably aged group,
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: but they rank this group 28th in the NFL.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: 28th in the NFL. I mean, I mean, I mean.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: It's so crazy because like I said, we just, we
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: just talked about having two top three positions at one
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: of them at the top of the list.
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: And then to have such.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: A stark drop off, I mean, just, nah, I mean,
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: I could see why, okay. There was, there was some
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: broken tackles. You don't really have that thumper in this group, right.
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: Per se. But when you talk about ability to do
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: it all, they can do it all.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: They can, They can take a running back out of
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: the backfield and, and shadow them. They could take a
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: tight end off the line of scrimmage, then go with them.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: They can drop into zone and cover your slots and
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: all your gap, your gap areas in underneath zone. They
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: can run sideline to sideline. I'm just, there's not 27
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: units better than them.
• 28:08
  Speaker 7: I just, I don't even know. I mean, cause I'm just,
• 28:10
  Speaker 7: I'm just so flabbergasted.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: I'm like, I can't name, I can't even name really
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: probably 10 units better than them, but.
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: Like, 15 would have been solid. Like, hey, middle of
• 28:22
  Speaker 7: the pack, cool. I'll give that to you, right? But
• 28:27
  Speaker 7: not that far back. Not 28th?
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: No.
• 28:30
  Speaker 7: Come on now.
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: No.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: Now we're back to the offensive side of the ball.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: By the way, Queen's 27. Yeah, I know. I should
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: say Queen's 27 and Red Bull's 26.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Go ahead.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: Sorry. Yeah, I'm going to be honest.
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: I don't hate it.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: I'm not as.
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: Throwing back from this ranking considering that one of the
• 28:51
  Speaker 6: things Patrick uh Queen struggled with was with tackling right
• 28:55
  Speaker 6: he just wasn't an official tackler and I think at
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: times he lacked tough Peyton Wilson has also said coming
• 29:01
  Speaker 6: out like listen man I was I was playing on
• 29:03
  Speaker 6: edge a lot I really was kind of just figuring
• 29:05
  Speaker 6: out and you know I was so afraid of making
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: mistakes within this system I was playing in last year
• 29:10
  Speaker 6: I don't feel like I really had the you know,
• 29:13
  Speaker 6: the open room to kind of grow and learn as
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: I go because I wanted to be on par and
• 29:17
  Speaker 6: I wanted to be everything they needed me to be.
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: So collectively, you're talking about two guys right now who, one,
• 29:23
  Speaker 6: I thought took a step back in Patrick Queen and
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: then I thought the other one in Peyton Wilson that
• 29:28
  Speaker 6: he was really trying to figure himself out from an
• 29:31
  Speaker 6: identity standpoint. So I think if you put their body
• 29:34
  Speaker 6: to work together last year and what they're trying to
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: do this year, both are extremely talented, Both really complement
• 29:41
  Speaker 6: each other in different ways. But what you put on,
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: when you turn on the tape and watching these two guys,
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: especially Patrick Queen, there's some calls for concern. So I
• 29:49
  Speaker 6: can see what the critics are saying and ranking these
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: guys as low as they did.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: The only other thing I'll add to that. Fifth worst,
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: hold on. Fifth worst, Willie, though?
• 29:58
  Speaker 7: Fifth worst in the entire league. In the entire league.
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: I'm trying to be nice. I'm trying to be nice.
• 30:09
  Speaker 7: I get it.
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: If you turn on some, like, listen, I think a
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: lot of, I think a lot of what we saw
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: last year from this defensive line helped those guys out.
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: I thought late in the season, especially from that linebacker group, man,
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: we got soft. It wasn't as, it wasn't as tough
• 30:24
  Speaker 6: as we needed to be. I thought we didn't tackle well. Um,
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: And then when we had big men put big paws
• 30:30
  Speaker 6: on those guys, man, they got chewed up. So when
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: you talk about being an off-ball linebacker, man, you got
• 30:36
  Speaker 6: to be able to take them on blocks and slip
• 30:37
  Speaker 6: away from blocks. And sometimes slipping out of blocks constantly
• 30:41
  Speaker 6: makes holes wider. And that's what I saw from that
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: defense last year. Now, hopefully those guys learn from it.
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: Hopefully they will be better. But I'm just being honest.
• 30:49
  Speaker 6: If we don't be honest, we got to be honest.
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: It's not always candies and cotton candy and popcorn. you know,
• 30:57
  Speaker 6: sometimes this, this defense has decorated in that story. We
• 31:00
  Speaker 6: want it to be this units on this, on this,
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: on this defense that has to step up.
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: And I think the off ball linebacker position is one
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: of them.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: I will say this.
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: I think that if the interior line and even the
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: edge was ranked fifth and six instead of third and
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: third and fourth instead of first, I wouldn't have had
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: a problem with that.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: So I want to be honest about that.
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: I think the 28 seems a little low to me.
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, Patrick Queen is a two-time pro bowler, but
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: the one thing I'm, The one thing I'm most intrigued about, guys,
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: is everyone's talked about how the personnel is going to
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: be used. How are they going to deploy Jalen Ramsey?
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: Where is he going to be in the slot? And
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: are you going to get all three pass rushers out there?
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: I will be very interested to see how these off-ball,
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: inside linebacker guys are used. I mean, a couple of
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: years ago, I think it was four years ago in Baltimore,
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: Patrick Queen had five sacks. And then he made his
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: first Pro Bowl when he followed it up with three
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: and a half sacks. He's had one sack. in each
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: of his two seasons. And I understand you've got extraordinary
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: edge rushers, but will these guys get an opportunity maybe
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: to rush the passer a little bit more? Does that
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: change the perception of these guys' performance? If you look up,
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: you know, I go back to the days of James
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: Farrier and Larry Foote, and, you know, I don't know
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: if either guy would be considered you know, oh, these
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: guys are some serious pass rushers. Those guys, you know,
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: their years, those guys are getting five sacks apiece, you know.
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: And that changes a perception of the value of a player.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Heck, it changes the value of a player if you
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: can get to the quarterback.
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: I am interested to see, Max, how those guys are
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: going to be utilized and whether they will be utilized
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: differently with a different defensive scheme.
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: I mean, I have to think that they can benefit
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: from that.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: I think when you think about how some of the
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: blitz schemes have gone just in the preseason. You know,
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: we've seen attacking downhill play. I mean, we're talking about
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: Jacoby Winman making plays, right, from some of the cross-dog
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: schemes that they were running in there. Landon Roberts made
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: a lot of plays in there. Now, granted, E-Rob is
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: just an absolute buzzsaw. But– You know, you saw guys
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: making plays. Carson Bruner had a sack in the preseason, right?
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: So I think you see some of the ways that
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: they're going to try and utilize and have them play
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: attack first because they trust the secondary and the bodies
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: that they have on the back end to hold up
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: that you can commit some more resources and you can
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: play a little bit of zone and you can play
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: a little bit, you know, you can play some little
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: matchup zone man concepts to get guys in there to
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: add that fifth guy. The problem is I don't want
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: to get us into a position where we're always having
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: to call cover one because we can't generate a pass
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: for us. That should never be the case. It should
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: be an added-on luxury that we're doing as a change-up.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: So those guys should get some opportunities to really show
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: if they have a propensity to sack the quarterback.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: Okay, we have to take a break.
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: We still are going to break down or at least
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: look at the perception of the Steelers' cornerback position and
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: safety position. And we can't wait to talk about some
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: of these matchups, Steelers and Falcons, coming up. But we're
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: going to continue this sort of national look at the
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: Steelers position groups when we continue here inside the locker
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: room on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: All right, we know what time it is here inside
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: the locker room.
• 34:56
  Speaker 7: It's the bell laugh. Willie, Willie, just hold on.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Just hold on.
• 35:03
  Speaker 7: Don't run.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: Don't run.
• 35:05
  Speaker 7: Stay in the blocks. Stay in the blocks. Late lunch
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: bell for everybody out there.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: You know what the funny thing is for me because
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: of this new start time? I mean, this is actually
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: my lunchtime, so I actually appreciate the bell because it
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: lets me know it is okay to forge. The lock
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: has come off the refrigerator, so I am ecstatic for that. But, no,
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, and kind of continuing with this, Rob, let's
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: just keep diving into the defense.
• 35:30
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: Dive away, and I'm getting hungry myself. So two more
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: position groups to break down here. And, again, in case
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: you're just joining us, ESPN's best and worst position groups.
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: Let's run them down for you quickly here. Quarterback, 22,
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: we thought too low. Running back, 25, we thought too low.
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: Wide receiver, 10, we thought just right. Tight end, 25,
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: we thought too low. Offensive line, 29, Max and I
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: thought way too low. Willie understands that it's maybe a
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: little low but can go with it. defensive line on
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: the defense, number three. I wouldn't have been surprised if
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: it was a little lower, but I'm okay with that.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Edge, number one.
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: Also wouldn't have been shocked if that was a little lower. Again,
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: not outside of the top five for either of those.
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: Off the ball, linebacker, 28. I think Max and I
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: both thought that was too low, and Willie's maybe disagreeing
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: with us a little bit on that. So, let's get
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: to the cornerback unit. Again, this is assuming Joey Porter Jr.
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: is going to be part of this group. The group
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: includes Joey Porter Jr., Asante Samuel, Brandon Echols. It includes Ramsey.
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: It includes Everett. Am I forgetting one? I think I
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: may have forgotten one.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: I'll double check.
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: You said for DBs? Yeah.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: You got.
• 36:50
  Speaker 5: JPJ.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 36:52
  Speaker 7: Jamel Dean.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: Jamel Dean.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: Jamel Dean.
• 36:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: There we go. What am I saying? I was looking
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: at the guys from last year. So they have this
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: unit ranked third in the NFL.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Hmm.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, well, when you think about what Jamel Dean brings,
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, a year ago, PFF had him ranked as
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: number one corner as far as coverage efficiency and all
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: those other metrics. Asante Samuel Jr. is looking like he's
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: back to his pro bowl caliber form before the neck injury.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: Joey Porter Jr. is Joey Porter Jr.
• 37:30
  Speaker 7: Island in and of himself.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: Jalen Ramley is the defensive backfield Swiss Army knife. And
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: he can play nickel. He played outside as well. So
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: he's just kind of just. plug and play is going
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: to be very extremely violent and efficient at whatever he does.
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: Like I said, Brandon Echols has been that guy. He's
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: been a good guy for the Steelers in that position.
• 37:55
  Speaker 7: Daylon Evers is a draft pick.
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: So when I kind of look at it, yeah, I mean,
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: I can see why because, you know, just thinking of
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: the combination of Dean, Porter, and Ramsey, that's a hell
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: of a trio to roll out and know that you
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: have Asante Samuel Jr.
• 38:09
  Speaker 5: As kind of your fourth corner guy.
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's an extreme luxury that not a lot
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: of teams in this league have.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: Depth wise.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 38:18
  Speaker 6: I think you spot on Max with that. And also
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: I think Echols watching him this preseason, I thought he's
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: taken a leap. You see them a lot more competitive
• 38:26
  Speaker 6: in a slot really only like holds down that nickel
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: position where you can feel comfortable with him doing anything
• 38:33
  Speaker 6: and use him in various ways.
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: So I have Max just laid it all out there.
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: I think when you talk about, and that's a lot
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: of what we're looking at too, a lot of these
• 38:41
  Speaker 6: guys resumes and what they've been able to accomplish in
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: and being decorated.
• 38:46
  Speaker 5: A lot of these, you say, man, you got JPJ.
• 38:48
  Speaker 6: You got Jalen Randall, Jamel Dean, who I was a
• 38:51
  Speaker 6: fan of when he was down in Tampa, uh, Zante
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: Samuel Jr. Uh, I mean his, what he's been able
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: to do this preseason, like if there was a, if
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: he continues to do what he did this, uh, preseason
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: and carry that through, uh, the season, like he could
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: be up for comeback player of the year. And I
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: don't know if I'm talking out of my, my butthole there,
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: if you will. Um, I think he's primed to have
• 39:15
  Speaker 6: a big year because of his versatility and how they
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: use him this season.
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: I like where we're at.
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: My only question is whether he's going to get a
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: chance to play enough.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, this team, look, this is– Well.
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: He might compared with JPJ he's going to go through.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: Right, that's true. That's very true. And he's, like Joey
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Porter Jr., 26 years old.
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: So, again, on that young side of players that should
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: be entering in their prime, which is, you know, ideally
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: that's what you want, right? 24, 25, 26, a couple
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: years under your belt, entering into your prime, it's a
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: good position to be as we're kind of, again, folding
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: some of this conversation to young guys.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Dean is 29.
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: Echols is 28 years old. You know, of course, Ramsey
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: at 31 is the elder statesman, but Everett is 22.
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: And I think you're looking, you know, I'll be interested
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: to see if there's an effort to keep Asante Samuel
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: beyond this year and whether that might be something that
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: is in the team's plans. Because then the future with
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: those two guys and Everett, the developmental guy. But Everett
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: is a 22-year-old developmental guy who I think turned some
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: heads already in camp and in the preseason.
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: I love it. Yeah.
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, you're talking about rolling. We always talk about,
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: you know, in the interior defensive line, can you roll
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: two units out there? You know, we've heard like the
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: Eagles were able to do that when they were winning
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: the Super Bowls. You bring the White Owls over here,
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: they're trying to get that same kind of thing going
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: with Omar Khan. And can you do that? And I
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: think we all feel like, yes, you can. You can
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: roll those two groups. You can roll two groups a corner,
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: and there aren't too many teams that can say that.
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: I think this number three ranking is, yes, it's about
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: the quality of the top guys, but it is also
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: about enviable depth that few teams can match in the NFL.
• 41:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I thought every– I watched him in Georgia.
• 41:07
  Speaker 6: I thought he was as sticky and as quick-footed, could
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: cover anything on the field.
• 41:13
  Speaker 5: And was tough. I remember it was a play, I
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: think it was him against Georgia Tech, man.
• 41:16
  Speaker 6: He was one-on-one at tight end, and he had to fill,
• 41:19
  Speaker 6: and he was able to get that big sucker down
• 41:22
  Speaker 6: by himself.
• 41:23
  Speaker 5: So he fits that role of being tough, sticky, quick.
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: I think sky's the limit for this kid if he
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: stays par, man.
• 41:32
  Speaker 5: I'm really excited to see him get out there and
• 41:34
  Speaker 5: do something.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: Agreed. I think it's a good way.
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: Now, again, we've seen rookies flash, and we're all We've
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: all been around long enough to know it's encouraging to
• 41:43
  Speaker 4: see him flash early.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: Still got to fight through some things.
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: But, again, and one of the reasons we're talking about
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: this is because this feels like, to me, that the
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: Steelers have gotten this roster to the point now where
• 41:57
  Speaker 4: they can go back to doing it the way, the
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: Steeler way, that we saw from, say, 2000 to 2012
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: or 14, where you just– drafted guys and you developed
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: them and then somebody great would have to step aside
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: and guess what you had the replacement right there so
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: maybe not 100% there all the way around the roster
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: but it feels like it's getting closer and closer to
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: me alright I'm blabbing too long because we got to
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: get off the air here but before we do the
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: safety position guys they rank them 18th in the league
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: and that was before we knew Deshaun Elliott was going
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: to be missing the first several games on IR it's
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: Elliott it's Brisker it's Jenkins um Yeah, and Robert Spears Jennings,
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: of course, as the young guy.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: So that group ranked 18th.
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: Again, they probably would have had that unit ranked lower
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: if they knew Elliott was going to miss the first
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: several games.
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: And even with Elliott, I probably would have had them
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: ranked a little bit lower, so this is a little
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: bit higher just because who is the free?
• 43:02
  Speaker 7: Who is the deep safety?
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: Who's going to be that guy that can play the
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: quote-unquote Ryan Clark-type role that can play that deep half
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: and play off of the more box-style safeties that I
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: think we have on this roster. So it'll be interesting
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: to see if that's Rayshon Jenkins. That'll be that. We
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: know Brisker, touch and go with his history. But I
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: like him closer near and around the line scrimmage. I
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: love Robert Spears-Jenning. I mean, I told you, spill and fill.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: He's a guy that when they spill it, he fills it.
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: So I like some of this is just.
• 43:33
  Speaker 7: Who is going to be the deep safety.
• 43:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think it's going to be Brisker.
• 43:38
  Speaker 6: Honestly, I think he's the younger, one of the youngest
• 43:42
  Speaker 6: out of the group.
• 43:43
  Speaker 5: I think he has the ability to do so.
• 43:45
  Speaker 6: Obviously, he wasn't as stout as he could have been
• 43:48
  Speaker 6: last year for the Bears, but I think coming into
• 43:50
  Speaker 6: this system, we think Patrick Graham's going to protect him
• 43:52
  Speaker 6: and allow him to play a little more in the box,
• 43:55
  Speaker 6: a little bit outside, but I see Jalen Ramsey more
• 43:57
  Speaker 6: inside and letting him kind of play and letting Brisker
• 43:59
  Speaker 6: play more.
• 44:02
  Speaker 5: Towards the deep end. So I think it's going to
• 44:05
  Speaker 5: be Brisker, Max, and hopefully.
• 44:07
  Speaker 6: He has a little bit better year than what he
• 44:08
  Speaker 6: had in Chicago, but I think he has a range
• 44:11
  Speaker 6: in definitely the athleticism to do so.
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: Overall rank for ESPN for the Steelers, 18th in the NFL.
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: After all the position rankings, obviously way higher on defense
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: than on offense. Again, we'll get into this more tomorrow. Guys,
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: I think it's too low, but again, we will talk
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: about it tomorrow and ultimately tomorrow. They will play a season,
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: and that's going to tell the story, right? Ultimately, you
• 44:39
  Speaker 4: are what your record is.
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: Don't believe me?
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: Just watch. Well done, Max.
• 44:46
  Speaker 7: It's too good.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: It applies.
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: It applies.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's good stuff. He's Max Stark's Willie Colon as well.
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: I'm Rob King. As always, guys, looking forward to talking
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: to you tomorrow. Really diving into these Falcons matchups for
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: this year. There's some really, really intriguing stuff. matchups in
• 45:03
  Speaker 4: this game. We're going to get to that tomorrow. Thanks
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: for being with us in the locker room here on
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: the Steelers Audio Network.