Latest / In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers) / HR1: Roster Management

Transcript

HR1: Roster Management · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Welcome into the locker room 12 noon middle of the
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: day we are bringing you a solid punch of our
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: thoughts enthusiasm and fervor for all things stealer i'm max
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: starks i'm joined of course by my illustrious co-host and
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: brother willie cologne no rob king today he is on
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: bucko duty so he is a he is a pirate
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: announcer he is he's moonlighting until until the season's over so.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: It's just the two of us. You're stuck with the
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: big nasties up front.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: How are we doing today, Will?
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: All is well. It's Thursday. I think like most parents,
• 1:07
  Speaker 5: the kids are off and running with school. I think,
• 1:10
  Speaker 5: you know, depending on what region you are in. I
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: am currently in the south, so my kids have been
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: in school for the last two weeks. But up top,
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: like New Jersey and New York, the kids actually went
• 1:20
  Speaker 5: back to school yesterday. So parents, this is This is
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: a celebration for most parents. This is a time when
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: you've been able to stomach the vacations and the travel
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: ball and whatever else, the family vacations.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: You're out of that phase of your life right now.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Now you're going into the school year.
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: So for all the parents that took those photos and said, oh,
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: look at my little Johnny and my little Cynthia, their
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: first day of school photos, you are off and running.
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: So congratulations to all the parents who stomach a hard
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: and fun summer.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: You know, now hopefully you have some downtime.
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: So this is a celebration for the parents and all
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: the moms and dads out there.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Your home can now go from zoo back to household.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: That is the transition that you're making right now. And,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: you know, what's funny, Will, you mentioned it. The little
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: placard boards that say first day of grade and all
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: these other like. We never got that when we was kids.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Listen, listen.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I know Mama Jean and you know Mama Starks. They
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: was like, listen, get out of my face. Go to
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the bus stop. I'll see you in eight hours. You
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: know what I'm saying?
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: We didn't have– there was no celebration. It was like,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: get out of here.
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: There was such a buildup, and I think most parents
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: are dealing with it right now, especially as fall sports
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: start to roll around and kids are going into– football
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: and now there's fall baseball and all this other stuff,
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: there's so much the parent has to do for the
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: starting school year, right? I mean, from getting new school
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: outfits and making sure they're on par with their books
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: and grades, you're meeting the new teachers and, you know,
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: you're getting to know the faculty. You obviously want your
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: kid to be dressed to the nines for the first
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: day or have everything they need for the first day
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: of school or the first week. That by the time
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: the actual day happens, you don't care about you're fatigued, right?
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: The parent fatigue is real. You really want to get
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: them immersed and acclimated to whatever school or new grade
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: they're in.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: And then you want to, after you drop them off,
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: you really want to go to the bar. You really
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: want to.
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: Go, hopefully, if there's a local establishment out right now,
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: they should have a 10 to 1 happy hour with
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: all the parents that dropped their kids off because they
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: deserve it. I mean, like, the amount of stuff we
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: had to do for my two kids I mean, first
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: of all, I didn't know there's such a thing called
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: parent social mixers before.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: The start of the school year where the parents come
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: together and kind of tap in. So it's a lot.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: It's a lot to say to them.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: So for every mom and dad out there, grandma and
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: grandpa or special supervisor that had to usher a kid
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: into the new school year, this is your holiday.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: Congratulations. You made it to another year. Exactly.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Mimosas and Bloody Marys. Definitely on tap right now. Yeah.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: It's what brunching was before you had kids.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah, like you know how you go to iHop so
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: anybody over 55 gets free pancakes? That should happen to
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: the kids. I mean parents. Parents should get free lunches
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: and everything for the school year.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. I'm all for it. We need to start a petition.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Once again, we always like to start new petitions and
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: new things on this show, which is always great. We
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: fixed the NFL schedule yesterday.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: We've now created.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: parents relief day or midday relief reprieves at IHOP I
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: need to call my boy Tyoka Jackson because he owns
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: a bunch of IHOPs Tyoka free parent pancakes just a
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: mini stack we don't have to go full stack gotta
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: watch our figure right you don't want full dad bod
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: but I need something to just give me a comfort
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: food feeling.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: No damn that give me a buffet of food I
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: need it buffet of food Give me a ninja slushie
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: maker with alcohol in it. Give me everything.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: I want it all.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: I want it all.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: I want the Henny slushie maker that's also at Bricks
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: and Hops.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Oh, promo. There you go. No, I think it's fun.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Like you said, getting into this, where we're at in
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: the Steelers football schedule, this is that break week. Because
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: of the way that Labor Day fell. This is an
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: open week. Normally you do cuts and you go right
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: into week one. Like there's usually not this one week gap.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: So we're kind of blessed this week to kind of
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: have a breather. And, you know, we're also treated to.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: You know, teams.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, San Francisco just left yesterday for Australia. You know,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: think about that. We're playing a game in Australia on
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: quote unquote their time Thursday. But when, you know, their
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: time Friday, but it'll be Thursday for us when we
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: see it or other way around. other way around Wednesday
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: night for that.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: Okay. You know what? Nevermind. Nevermind.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: We're not going to confuse me.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: I was Friday, Australia, Thursday, us Friday, Friday, Australia time, Thursday,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: our time, because the season opener is going to be
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: on Wednesday because of that was Seattle and the Patriots.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: Okay. Got it. Got it.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Once again, I didn't, I said there wouldn't be math, but,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: but definitely time and geography was definitely not on, not
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: on my bingo.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: Card this morning.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I just messed that up.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: All right, so a little bit of Steeler news just
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: to start out the show. There was a practice squad addition.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Safety Bishop Fitzgerald was signed to the practice squad and
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: rounding things up to a 17-man practice squad roster, Will.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: 17 guys.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: It was supposed to be 15, but apparently now it's 17.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: I didn't even know that rule because Michael Carr's been
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: talking about 68 the whole time. Well, 53 plus 17.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I said there'd be no math, but I know this
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: one's easy.
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: 70.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: I did it on my sheet of paper ahead of time,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: so I knew exactly what the number was going to be.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: You talked about it yesterday, man.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: One of your worries and concerns was the depth of
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: the safety position. And what happens literally 24 hours later?
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: We sign a safety to the practice squad as insurance.
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: Well, you know, I think part of it, the worry
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: comes because our secondary isn't coming to the starting gate healthy, right?
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: We do have that secondary collectively.
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: We got some guys that are nicked up, Jawan Brisker
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: in particular, you know, Ramsey.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: I forgot what his situation is.
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: But in Robert Spirit Jennings, it's probably the only healthy
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: safety we have right now. We know he's the seventh
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: round guy, really just climbing his way.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: Up the ranks.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: With all that said, man, One of the aspects you
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: had to pay attention to in regards to the Steelers'
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: defense last year and going into this year is that
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: at the safety position, we haven't been at our best,
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: and that's just being lighthearted about it.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: I think when you.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: Brought in Jawan Brisker, him and Jalen Ramsey are kind
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: of the same guy, so to speak. They're in-the-box safeties.
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: They can play the slot. The issue is Jawan's a
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: lot younger. Ramsey's a lot older.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: And you would expect Juwan to be kind of the guy,
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: you know, who you maybe play. He's that deep, deep
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: free safety.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: I don't know how comfortable he is with that because
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: you got to say when he's at Bears, and I
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: said this yesterday, you know, he was a guy that
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: gave up the deep ball a lot for that Bears defense,
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: you know, and he was a guy that, you know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: they really didn't hold his, you know, didn't hold his
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: own when the ball was in the air coming over
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: the top. Now, Jalen, you know, he's savvy, he's veteran,
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: he's still solid. But at this point, we got two guys,
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: especially Jaquan, Jaquan and, excuse me, Ramsey.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Both of those guys play the same. One of them
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: have to be better.
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: And I think putting Jaquan Brisker at that deep free safety,
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: hopefully he can hold up. But with him being injured,
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: you know, you kind of worry about, you know, how
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: much can he get better, especially with a lingering injury.
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: So I'm glad they would kind of beef up in
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: that department because they had to.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'll throw one other name in there, Will,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: that was also there was Rayshon Jenkins is the other
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: safety that they signed. He's a vet nine-year guy, taller, longer, rangier.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: So maybe if Jaquan, you know, and then, of course,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Deshaun's going to be out on IR even though he's
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: designated to return, that, you know, maybe Rayshon's that guy
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: and you allowed Jaquan and Robert Spears to play closer
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: to that line of scrimmage and leave him as a
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: deep ball safety since he's a taller, rangier guy.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: But I agree with you.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I think, coming into this, we talked about it during
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: training camp, me and Rob and I, and kind of
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: mentioned it on the broadcast, but injuries have always hit
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: our secondary. It's not a matter of if. It's always
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: been a matter of when the injury bug is hitting.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: And like you said, Deshaun's already on IR. And he played,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: and he did well, but they just didn't want any setbacks,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: so they kind of pulled him back, said, hey, you're
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: going to need a couple more weeks to be full speed.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: So we need you for the late push. We don't
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: need you for the early push, especially when you look
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: at the way the schedule is set out.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: But, yeah, that leaves an opening.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: And now Jaquan being injured gives another. That's both of
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: your starting safeties kind of down or nicked up to
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: start the season. So now you're starting out with backups
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: or starters and waiting and guys who don't have as
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: much seasoning.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: But I think it's something that you have to rely on, Jalen.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: You know, hopefully Jalen will be, you know, he's been
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: returning to practice and getting back in the flow of things.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: He's going to have to be that guy that kind
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: of covers up some boo-boos early on. That's why you
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: didn't keep the additional safety. You know, now you do
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: have Sebastian Castro as well as a guy that's on
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: your P squad to go along with Fitzgerald. But, you know,
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: the reason why you went with Spears Jennings over Castro
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: on the active roster was because Castro has his limitations
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: as well. So, you know, like I said, finding that
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: deep ball guy is going to be very imperative for
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: them and their structure. And hopefully Patrick Graham has some
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: stuff schemed up to kind of eliminate that, maybe a
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: little bit more zone, maybe run a little bit more
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: quarters along the back half and don't want to run
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: as much man press just because you want to have
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: that picket fence along the deep side so nobody gets
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: beat and keeps everything in front of them.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: Well, we said this yesterday.
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: We talked about it briefly about how, if we're all
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: seeing it right and we're all calling it right, how
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: our front seven can be one of the best in
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: the NFL, hands down. And they need to be because
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: our secondary is spotty at times and we're just being
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: respectful about it. And as you look at the start
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: of the season, I mean, the Falcons, you know, Drake London,
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: Kyle Pitts, always threats. You talk about New England, you
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: know how they're going to be fired up about A.J.
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: Brown and Romeo Dobbs and Drake May coming off a
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: 4,000-yard season and him coming off an MVP-type campaign. Josh
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: McDaniels having another year with the young gun. They want
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: to air it out. Sure, they want to run the ball,
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: but you don't go and get an alpha one receiver
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: with a young quarterback and don't plan to throw the
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: ball at least 30, 45, you know, whatever many times
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: a game. So you know they're going to be throwing it.
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: You talk about Cincinnati Bengals and that office alone with T.
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: Higgins and Chase and Ozzie Gusecki and that whole squad.
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: Healthy Joe Burrow, he's going to be looking to light
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: it up. And Even Cleveland, whoever that quarterback is. I
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: know the quarterback situation is absolutely soap opera in itself.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: But they always play the Steelers tough.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: So you're talking about during the first.
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: Month coming out the gate, we're going to need this
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: defense as a whole to play at an elite level.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: But we're going to need a secondary to hold up
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: and be more efficient at their jobs. And sure, Jalen
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: Ramsey gives you positional flexibility, which you need. But overall, man,
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: we just got to be a lot more stout in
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: a secondary. And that's why– and I know– We don't
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: like to talk contracts.
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: We don't want to get in nobody's pocket. But we
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: need JP. We need Joey Porter Jr. back in the house.
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: I know he was able to practice this week.
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: I know he was able to kind of get in,
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: and everything's wrapped around if he's going to get paid
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: and when he gets paid.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: But having him in the building right now, and I'm
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: not calling him a distraction.
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: I'm calling his situation a distraction because he is the
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: leader in that group along with Jalen Ramsey.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: I mean, let's be honest.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: When you're dealing with a guy– of his caliber, Pro
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: Bowl caliber, and you start to build momentum towards the season,
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: you know, when you both played, when you feel like
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: you don't have one of your prize horses lining up
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: with you, it does cause angst in the locker room
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: and in your position group because now guys are thinking,
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: I may have to do more than what I'm comfortable with, right?
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: Because J.P., you know, Joey Porter Jr., he's the guy
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: that guards the number one receiver, right? He's like, whoever
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: your alpha one is, we got an alpha one corner.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: That's who he is.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: And so.
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: Now you're leaning on Dean, and now you're leaning on Ramsey.
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: Now you're leaning on Asante Samuel Jr. to really buck
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: up and stand up on top of whatever we have
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: to offer from a pass rush standpoint. And you feel
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: better going into week one when you have your top
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: dog on the field with you doing what he does best.
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: So it's interesting. I don't like– like you said, we
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: never like digging in another man's pockets. We try to
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: stay out of that. But how– It would behoove the
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: Steelers if we get JPJ somehow figured out sooner than later.
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: And I know the Steelers have come out and said, hey,
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: we don't deal contracts in season. It's a rule of thumb.
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: This is something they don't do. I wonder if it's
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: okay we can break that rule for him, considering the
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: condition of the secondary. You know what I'm saying? Can
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: we stretch that rule a little bit there? Because we
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: need Joey Porter Jr.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: On the field.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: No, and I'm right there with you. I mean, you know,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: you have to have your best ones. And when we
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: constructed this 53-man roster, right, and you put out the
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: initial depth chart, like he's a guy you pencil and forget.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Like you actually put him in permanent ink because you
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: know that he's traveling. Like you said, he's one for one.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: I'm taking this guy out of the game. And when
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: you can play now 10 on 10, that's a different story.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: And then you throw in what that front seven offers.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: And you can run those brackets and double teams on
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: the backside and run a mix of man zone because
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: it's like I don't have to worry about him and
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Jamar Chase. I don't have to worry about him and
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: whoever the number one receiver is, Drake London, when we
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: come out to week one. I can now focus on
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: what is Kyle Pitts and B. John Robinson going to do,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: and we can play our game off of that.
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: So, no, I.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: Completely agree with you.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I think we have to say that we definitely don't
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: watch pockets, but let's find a way where everybody feels happy.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: That's the best way.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Just make sure everybody, you ain't got to be overjoyed.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: You ain't got to be thrilled. I just need you
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: to be happy enough that you can go out there
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: and do your job every single week. And sometimes that adds,
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: you know, extra zero makes all the difference.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: In the world. Right.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: And a hundred percent.
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: I know we got to go to break in a minute,
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: but I want to say from, from my office, if
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: I'm in the office side of the ball, man, You know,
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: one of the things you take relief in is when
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: you punt the ball, that doesn't mean– that doesn't equal
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: seven for the other team.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean? Yeah. That's– you know, like, man,
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: our defense has got– yeah, we're punting, but I'm confident
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: our defense is going to hold up and we're going
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: to be right back on the field. Me and you
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: experienced that luxury.
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: There are teams in this league that don't have that luxury,
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: a lot of Dallas Cowboys, a lot of Cincinnati Bengals.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: As good as the elite– as those offenses are, when
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: they get off the field, they're like, well, we got
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: to go score again.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: Like there's just angst that you just like, because it's
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: coming back the other way and it may equal in
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: a seven. So I think it's imperative that they figure
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: that out sooner than later. And hopefully with all the
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: injuries in the secondary, man, we can really get guys healthy.
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: And this is why this week is important. Guys can
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: go home, reset, get focused, get some tender.
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: Loving care from the loved ones.
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: And hell, get ready to play some Steelers football.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. I'm in agreeance with you.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: And like you said, we got a week to wait.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: So hopefully some guys can get healthy. We talked about
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Jaquan Brisker and some other guys still nicked up. Jalen
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Ramsey getting back into speed. So this extra week should
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: be beneficial for all those parties involved. All right, we're
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: going to step aside. And when we come back, is
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: four quarterbacks too much on a team? Well, we're going
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: to talk about it because we're not the only ones.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: There's more out there. then it meets the eye.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: So we'll be back with more inside the locker room
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: here with Starks and Cologne on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: All right, back inside the locker room here. Once again...
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: The King is gone. So long live the Kings of
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: the old line. That's right.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Willie Cologne, Max Starks here on your radio listening device.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: And I kind of teased it last segment, Willie. Um,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: you know, the Steelers have four quarterbacks on their roster, right?
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: It's Aaron Rogers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, and drew Aller. Uh,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: You know, it was like, oh, well, the Steelers are
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: doing it. Why are they keeping four, you know, with
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: two young guys? And how's that going to benefit you?
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: And all these other things. Well, we're not the only ones.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: We're not the lonely kids sitting at the lunch table
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: by ourself wondering why I have no friends. They have
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: three other friends. And those teams that have them, you know,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: are teams that, you know, you're like, well, who else
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: has them?
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: It must be a bad team. It must be.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Cleveland, well, yes, it is Cleveland, but Cleveland did that
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: last year, and it's more so because Deshaun Watson's now
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: back in the mix. Obviously, we should do our Sanders
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: and that whole saga, but Dylan Gabriel's still there, and
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Talon Green, who they drafted this year, the kid from Arkansas,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: is an athlete, and if they can harness him, can
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: be a difference maker or could be a guy that
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: they could potentially trade. um but there's two other teams
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: on that list will and yep i don't know if
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: you've seen it yet but can you take a guess
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: just who you think that might be.
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: Well i know for the fact one of them is
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: the philadelphia eagles uh yeah they have they have selected
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: to take four quarterbacks i know there's I was talking
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: about this the other day on Good Morning Football. They
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: have an interesting situation as well. Their four quarterbacks are
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: Jalen Hurts. Number two is Andy Dalton. Number three is
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: Tanner McKee. Number four is Cole Payton. I think Cole
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: Payton is out of North Dakota State or something like that.
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: He's a little bit of a project. Howard Rosen decided
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: to keep four quarterbacks. What's also interesting about the way
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: they've gone about their business this year is They've cut
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: some people they've drafted from this year's draft class. And
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: I brought that up lightly yesterday. And I think it
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: just shows the value in these quarterbacks. They see, I
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: think a lot of teams like ourselves and the Eagles,
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: see these developmental quarterbacks as assets because there's such a
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: need for the position. And depending on who they're being
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: taught under, how they're being groomed and who's grooming them,
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: It adds more value, so to speak.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: And I think.
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: From the Philadelphia Eagles standpoint, they're at the mindset like,
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: all right, we're using all four quarterbacks as an asset.
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: We've cut guys that we've drafted this year. If we
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: feel like we made a mistake, fine, we'll get over
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: it and move on. But they really want to have
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: a solid solid roster. They don't want to... I think
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: some organizations, if they draft a guy, like, man, I
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: don't know if this guy's going to pan out. They
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: may hold on to a guy because they may feel like, man,
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: I don't want to look like we've made a bunch
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: of mistakes on our end as far as bringing in
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: guys and drafting guys.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: But not the Eagles.
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: The Eagles are the mindset like, hey, man, we want
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: to make sure that every guy in a helmet realizes
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: this isn't a red shirt year. This isn't a gray
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: shirt year. We respect every guy from on their roster
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: to practice squad to produce and be a part of
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: the bigger picture. And I think the Steelers are doing
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: so well. I think the Steelers campaign is a little
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: different because like Omar Khan said, they want the older
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: guys in this locker room to be able to raise
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: the younger guys. So they were able to keep 11 guys.
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: But as far as keeping the four quarterbacks, that Mike
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: McCarthy was brought in, bought in, well, part of his,
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: you know, selling pitch was the fact that he can
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: develop quarterbacks. And having Will Howard and Drew Adler out
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: there in the preseason, was extremely vital because I think
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: you brought it up yesterday, Max, from the standpoint where they,
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: you know, those guys, both guys didn't play football last year.
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: You know, Will Howard got hurt due to his hand
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: and Drew Allen didn't play. I think his senior year,
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: you can clean me up on that. And I think
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: when you talk about what Aaron has already said, I'm done.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: It's been fun, but I'm hanging it up. Don't call
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: me no more.
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: I don't care if you bring in– If you if
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: you if you fire Mike McCarthy, you bring in Vince
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: Lombardi from the from the grave. I'm not coming back
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: to play football. So which is from a Steelers standpoint.
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: Now you have to say, OK, we drafted Will Howard.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: We now drafted Drew Adler. What does that look like
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: going into a draft class for next year? That's going
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: to be riddled with quarterbacks. And I think right now.
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: Everything is because we're because we're starting to read the
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: tea leaves a little bit. We're starting to see more
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: energy put into the offensive line. So if they do
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: go draft a young quarterback, that five is already intact.
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: And if they don't, then you have two quarterbacks in-house
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: that are comfortable with the five that's already going to
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: be set in place. So it's a win-win from a
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: stiff standpoint, and it's very smart because I think we know,
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: and we've seen it around the league, and we've seen
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: it in history. A lot of people talk about the
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: success of Patrick Mahomes. People forget, Patrick Mahomes didn't start
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: his rookie year. it was Alex Smith in place, right?
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: And then they had a really good offensive line and
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: they had a really good run game. They had a
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: really good tight end in Travis Kelsey. They had a
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: defense that was, you know, wasn't good his first year,
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: but the second year they were damn good. And then
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: what happened in year two, Patrick Mahomes comes into play
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: and the Chiefs are off and running. You know, Chief
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: Kingdom is on par. And so I think the Steelers
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: are starting to take that type of approach. If we
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: got this thing set up around a young guy, whether
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: he's in-house or if we got to go get a guy,
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: We know we've covered some potholes, so as we transition
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: and as we move this thing forward, he's going to
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: be in a safe place because just like Patrick Mahomes
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: and Andy Reid, whatever young quarterback that's in-house or we
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: go get is not going to have Mike McCarthy and
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: enough pieces around him to kind of cultivate him.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: So I love what we've done thus far.
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: I wasn't at first thrilled about it because I'm like,
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: I'm more thinking about the now, not the future. When
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: you get a 42-year-old quarterback in Aaron Rodgers and you
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: feel like, man, You want this old man.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: To go the distance?
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: As you said, Max, we need as many big bodies
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: as possible to do what they do, and that's protect
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: the quarterback and be able to run the ball. You know,
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: I think I got this stat from you. The Steelers
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: were only able to run the ball efficiently with six
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: office alignment. The goal is to, can they run the
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: ball efficiently with five office alignment?
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: After looking at the preseason, we got some beef eaters, man.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: We got some guys that can bang, so.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: I'm happy with the talent we have. Now it's about
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: seeing what we have up front, the solid five, and
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: keeping Aaron upright as much as possible. Because he's going
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: to do his part from the line of scrimmage. He
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: always has the answers, and he's always good at what
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: he does come game time. But it's just about being
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: on par with the bigger picture, and that's when we
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: get a Super Bowl.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and when you think about just what that it's
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: playing for now, but also looking in the future.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: And that's kind of the biggest balance that you have
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: to have as an organization. And what Omar Khan, Andy
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: Wilden at front office has to kind of balance is.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Where do you tow the line? Right.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Where do you say we're all in, but we can't
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: have all gas, no brakes. Like you got to have
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: some brake pads there. And I think that's what you
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: do by keeping four quarterbacks is you allow yourself, To
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: keep the accelerator going, you're still going 85-90 in a 65,
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: but you're not going 110 on the Hayabusa, right? You know,
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: you have to have a little bit of measure, a
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: little bit of guardrails and plan for the future because
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: you're going to need those guys. And I'd rather have
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: them and not need them than to need them and
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: not have them, right? That's the old adage. And so
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: the other teams that are also in there, you named Philadelphia.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: We talked about Cleveland. And I think Dylan Gabriel is
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: going on IR. So they will shift down to three,
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: but it's still four as it stands right now. The
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: Atlanta Falcons actually is another one that's interesting. Who we're
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: playing week one. So we're literally playing right out the gates.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Another team that kept four quarterbacks. And that's Tua Tonga-Vailoa,
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Michael Penix Jr., Cooper Rush, and Jack Strand on their squad.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: And I look at it and I say, okay.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: And no disrespect, but some disrespect. They're all trash.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: Absolutely. I mean, just putting it out there.
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: So, I mean, we sit here and kind of– I
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: know it's not good to throw rocks, but I'm going
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: to throw a rock.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: And I hope it hit him. Like, there's no reason
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: why we shouldn't mollywop the Atlanta Falcons. So, just putting
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: it out there. I know it doesn't need to be said,
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: but I have no problems with saying it.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Hey, hey, and we're allowed to say, as long as
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: it's not being said in the locker room, they're saying
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: it out loud, we're good.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: We're the old guys.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: We're allowed to sit on the porch and yell at
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: cars driving by too fast, right?
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: That's what we're doing. So it's all good. I wanted
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: to pose this question to you, Will. You know, when
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: we think.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: About keeping four, you know, there's always the question of
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: what could have been.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: Who are we missing today?
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: From the roster that could have taken that fourth quarterback spot.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: And so it kind of got me thinking, and I
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: think we both have the same name of who that
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: fourth would have been, but, you know, or would have
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: filled that fourth quarterback spot on the roster, so number 53.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Who do you.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Think was one of those guys that had to be
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: the casualty to make room for the fourth quarterback?
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: I'm assuming... It would have to be Eldon Roberts, right?
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: Is it? Landon Roberts. Yeah, yeah.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: E-Rob.
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: E-Rob. Landon Roberts. Excuse me.
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: I always get his name wrong. I chop it up.
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: To me, he's... I mean, Broderick... I don't think it's
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: Broderick from.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: This standpoint because Broderick... I think they were kind of.
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: I think Broderick needed to have a really polished and
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: more substantial training camp for him to kind of win
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: them over. I think the injuries. I think the fact
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: that he didn't have a really good game against the Jets.
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: I think the fact that he struggled.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: For the most part.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: And I have to be careful with that because I
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: thought towards the back end of last season, he played
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: really good football.
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: I love Tack.
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: I thought he really started to come along. It seemed
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: like he started to mature. It seemed like the lights
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: started coming on for Broderick prior to the injury. So
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: I don't want to say that he was all doom
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: and gloom. But I think As we talked about Jalen
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: Ramsey last break, one of his bright spots is the
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: fact that from a positional standpoint, he's extremely flexible. And
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: that's kind of what the Steelers do. They want guys
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: to be flexible. flexible at their position. Me and you
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: went through it. I had to play guard and tackle.
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: You've played tackle, tackle. They needed Broderick to be a
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: lot more efficient at the right and left tackle spot.
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: And it seemed like he was only comfortable at one point.
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: at the right tackle spot, and then he was really
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: comfortable at the left tackle spot. And when they just
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: needed to have more efficiency between both, I think against
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: Jet's game, especially coming off the injury, it seemed like
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: he really wasn't comfortable.
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: And then I think even with him going to.
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: Dallas, I listened to his pressure when he pretty much
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: was like, you know, one of the issues I struggled
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: with was that I was never able to get comfortable
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: at one position.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: I was always kind of going back and forth, and,
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: you know, it seemed like it bothered him.
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: For every young guy out there who has aspirations of
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: joining the NFL, let me just put this out right.
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: Let's just put this on the table. You're never going
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: to be comfortable at your position, right?
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: The guys who play their position, one position for a
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: long time, they are elite at that position. They're like
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: Lane Johnson will never go play left tackle because he's
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: a damn, he's one of the best right tackles in
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: the game. Guys who play one way and one way
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: for a long time are damn good at what they do.
• 30:54
  Speaker 5: So you have– for every ball player out there who
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: gets a knock on their door saying, hey, man, next
• 30:59
  Speaker 5: season I may want you to kind of go play
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: on this side or do this X, Y, Z, you
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: have to open your mind to it.
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: I had to open my mind to it. I was
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: not comfortable playing guard. I was like, guard? I'm a tackle.
• 31:12
  Speaker 5: Even though I was a 6'3 tackle, in my head
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: I'm a goddamn tackle. It was of the mindset that
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: I was so rigid. I wish– Because I remember Ben
• 31:24
  Speaker 5: coming to me in the offseason. He goes, oh, if
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: you go to guard, you can be an all-pro guard.
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: And I was like, no. Because for some dumb reason,
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: it was dumb.
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: And I can admit it. For some dumb reason, I
• 31:35
  Speaker 5: thought going to guard was like a, what's the word?
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: Delotion? I was being diminished.
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was.
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: And I saw it like that.
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: I wish somebody would have just put me out to
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: the woodshed and beat me up and was like, dude.
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: you're athletic and skilled enough to do whatever you want
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: on the offensive line. You're pretty much diversifying your portfolio.
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: Stop handcuffing yourself. But I did not see it. I
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: remember when we even had Kelvin Beecham. Kelvin Beecham was
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: a young tackle we drafted out of SMU. Played a
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: long time here for the Steelers. And obviously played a
• 32:09
  Speaker 5: long time for the Cardinals. I think he still might
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: be playing just crazy. And I remember there was a
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: point when Kelvin was– they were thinking about pushing him
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: down into the line for him playing guard. And he
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: was like, man, I'm a tackle. I don't play guard, da-da-da-da-da.
• 32:25
  Speaker 5: And I remember saying to myself, like, dude, do you
• 32:28
  Speaker 5: not want to play in the NFL? Like, do you not– like,
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: how do you– you do what they tell you to
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: do until you're elite at what you think you can do, right?
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: And so I think for a lot of guys like
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: Broderick who are just kind of.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm a tackle. I'm nothing else. I'm a left
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: tackle and nothing else. you really have to change your mindset.
• 32:48
  Speaker 5: And it's hard because it's more ego and you're kind
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: of shorthanding yourself. And if you allow your ego to
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: kind of slap that ego off the table and opening
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: your mind and submit, that's the word, submit yourself to
• 32:59
  Speaker 5: whatever they're asking you.
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: To do, you'll be a lot better ball play.
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: Because all it does is, we talked about it before, Max,
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: when you switch up and down a line or whatever
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: position they ask you to move to, it's really muscle memory.
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: It's not so much, you're not training a new skill.
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: It's really you're trying to retrain your muscle memory So
• 33:16
  Speaker 5: you're doing things without thinking about it. And I think
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: for Broderick, he could never wrap his mind around it.
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: I thought the injury kind of set him back. And
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: I think, honestly, he just needed a fresh start. And
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: so with all in all, Broderick, I wish him the best.
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: But I think Landon Roberts, because of those four quarterbacks,
• 33:35
  Speaker 5: was axed off the door.
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: Did you have another guy?
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: No, I was with you. Landon Roberts, I thought, was
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: the key guy. Because I think, like you said, you
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: were trying to get one of these tackles up. to
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: where they were tradable, and I think Broderick showed enough,
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: and he was still young, that you're like, okay, if
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: he just plays okay in this third preseason game, his
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: value will go up, and I thought that made.
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: It easier for them to trade.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: But to kind of talk about that real quick before
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: we go to break, when you talked about submitting yourself
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: to it, remember our last year, and you have this
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: same photo. I know we are on Zoom, but this
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: one right here, It's one of my favorite photos. It
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: was when you and I played, you know, on the
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: left side together and at guard, you were at guard.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: I was at tackle and we were slobber knocking folks.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: And I think that's what you have to kind of,
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: and that's what we want this line to get to,
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: to where that comfortability is there to where it's like,
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: just put the best five out there. Like I just
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: need to be in the top five, wherever that is.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: I just need to be in that conversation with you.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: And that's where a lot of guys get stuck in
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: their ways.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: Like, I'm a left tackle, always been a left tackle.
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: I can't believe I play any other tackle, right?
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: Or any other position on the field, but you know,
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: you come in and you have to be versatile. Like
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: you said, it's whatever it is. Like my first start
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: was at left guard at six foot eight. Alan Fanica said,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: I ain't playing and you are.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: And that was it. So, so you're absolutely right, man.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: I think that's where, you know, we try and get,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: I think guys are becoming more amenable to this, but,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: You have to just be open-minded. Like, I'm trying to
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: keep my job. Like, I signed a four-year contract, but
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: that's four one-year deals. That's not four guaranteed years in
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: a contract. So I think it's spot on. And like
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: you said, we talked about the quarterbacks. I want to
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: shift our focus to truly the offensive line in this
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: next segment. So we're going to talk about offensive line rankings.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: We have one from Trench Power Ratings that we're going
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: to talk about when we come back here inside the
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: locker room.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: It's Colon and Stark's. here inside the locker room on
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: Steelers Audio Network.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: All right, back inside the locker room here.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: As we wind down the end of hour number one,
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: and we're charging into hour number two, we ended the conversation.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: We're talking about Broderick Jones, talking about how that 53-man roster,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of who was going to be the.
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: Guy if it wasn't the fourth quarterback.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: And we both kind of landed on both of Landon Roberts,
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: and we kind of gave a reason why it wasn't
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: going to be Broderick Jones. But I wanted to turn
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: the attention to the offensive line since we talked about
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: Broderick and how it's currently constructed and also what everybody
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: else kind of thinks about it. And, you know, I
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: know with Rob tomorrow, we're going to go through the
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: ESPN kind of rankings and everything.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: So I went, I went alternative Willie. I went, I
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: went Neo soul when everybody else is doing R and B.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: So I went to what of course is a trustee
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: trustee rating is who better to get it from than
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: an offensive lines perspective and trench power ratings are is
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: that source. Now, it is coming from the University of Illinois.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Syracuse University has this kind of analytics group
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: that they have, and it's based more on O-line, D-line.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: They kind of break it down by divisions and everything,
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: and they do a really good job out there, and
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: I've been really happy with kind of how I've read it.
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: They see it from our lens.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: Because, you know, sometimes you look at pro football focus
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: and you wonder, who is the guy over there that's
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: giving you the O-line expertise and you realize there is
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: nobody that's an offensive lineman expertise and they're just literally
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: looking at numbers the entire time and not understanding the
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: tail behind the tape.
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: Trench Power doesn't look differently.
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no disrespect to Chris Collinsworth because I know he
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: owns the whole.
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: Universe, the PFF universe.
• 38:05
  Speaker 5: Sometimes when these rankings come out and they hold legit,
• 38:08
  Speaker 5: people use it as a legit matrix on what a
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: team or unit.
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: I'm like, that's I don't see it. I don't see it.
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: And I just hate that it has a place in
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: the football world where you actually hear people like commentators
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: and insiders use the PFF grade as kind of like
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: a stamp or a declaration.
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: On a guy or a team. I'm just like, what
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: are you talking? Yeah, it's nuts.
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. And here's a fun little aside before we
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: get to this ranking.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: I remember, this is probably about four or five years ago,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: I literally got into a Twitter beef with PFF. about
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: how they were doing stuff, and the dude DMed me,
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: trying to advance his position. I'm like, bro, you never played.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: First of all, you're Australian. Listen, bloke, stop talking to
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: me about what you think an offensive lineman could do.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: You've never taken a snap. You've never had to put
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: your hand in a three-point stance and realize it's a
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: play-action pass play, and I'm on the open side, and
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: my hand's in the ground, and I got DeMarcus Ware
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: and a ghost nine. You've never had you never left
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: that life. And that's a different world to be in.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: So the stressors that come with it. So, you know, PFF,
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: I get it. They're trying to be better.
• 39:21
  Speaker 5: Cool.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: That's nice.
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: But you're right.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: It's not religion. It's not Bible.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: It's all hearsay. And they're just going off of numbers
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: and trying to. create rankings um but trench power rating
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: they take a couple of more things into account when
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: they're extrapolating which i appreciate and they're kind of very
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: clear about it so when they look at offensive line
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: rankings like we're going to go through this it's they're
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: looking at obviously sacks giving up they're looking at tfls
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: they're looking at average rate average rate of rush pass
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: rate per game and efficiency, and then also they also take.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: The timing into effect.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: Like if the quarterback's holding onto the ball past three seconds,
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: they're not attributing that to the offensive line as a sack.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: That goes as a coverage sack, which we all know. Like, listen,
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy talked about it. He said 2.3 seconds. I
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: need the ball out, right, because that's how much time
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: you get. Now, granted, when we had Ben, it was
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: more like six seconds.
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: Sometimes it was five and a half.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: And then sometimes God forbid, hey, just hold your butts
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: and get it going. You know, but yeah, as we
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: kind of get into this, you know, I know we're
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: looking at it. So just to give you kind of,
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: and they actually, funny enough, they use PFF. They actually
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: weigh it against PFF, which is funny. So I'm going
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: to go through the top 10 and just let me
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: know if you agree with this and then we'll get
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: to where the Steelers are.
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: But number one is the L.A. Rams by trench rating.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: And then we have Dallas Cowboys as number two, which
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: is funny because they just traded for Broderick Jones.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: So I'm like, if you were that good, why are
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: you trading for him? But that's neither here nor there.
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: Buffalo Bills, number three.
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: That's the thing about Broderick. I think Broderick may be
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: seen as a depth guy. Yeah.
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: I don't think he's necessarily going to be a guy.
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: That they– Right, exactly. Yeah.
• 41:13
  Speaker 5: And I know you made the comments about the Rams
• 41:14
  Speaker 5: do have this off line. They had a– It's interesting.
• 41:17
  Speaker 5: They had a guy, their left tackle, Lark Jackson. He
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: had a big year last year. They ran the ball
• 41:23
  Speaker 5: to his side. I think they were averaging seven yards
• 41:25
  Speaker 5: a pop. I know he's dealing with some off-the-field issues
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: that made sideline him for the first couple games.
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: For the Rams.
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: They do have a sneaky good line, but at the
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: same time, Stafford doesn't hold on to the ball.
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: He's extremely efficient.
• 41:39
  Speaker 5: It's easy to do your job up front when you
• 41:41
  Speaker 5: know the ball's out fast and on time.
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: Credit to Red.
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: It's still a good offensive line, but Staff, you know,
• 41:47
  Speaker 5: having an MVP quarterback helps with a lot of that.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, how many times we were like, man,
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: if Ben just threw it just a half a second sooner,
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: like early on. And then after we left, that's when
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: he decided to be the quick release king.
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm well aware of that.
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh. I mean, that was one thing. I
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: was like, did he get the ball out that fast? Like,
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: I remember watching games afterwards.
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: I was, oh, man.
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: And then, of course, I made the joke with Ben, but.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: You know, that's also a maturity thing, right?
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: You know, you're talking about Matt Stafford was year 18
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: or 19 for him. Like, he knows what he wants
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: to do. He's seen every single front, and he's trying
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: to get in and get gone. And he's not thinking
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: twice about it. So, you know, that also aids a
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: lot to, I think, how these rankings are. Because, I mean,
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: you look at number two, Dak Prescott's the same guy, right?
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: Dak's getting that.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: Ball out quick.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: He's got a lot of quick routes. He's got timing routes.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: So I think when we kind of look at this,
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: there will be a theme to the guys who are
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: up top because it'll be ranked with great quarterback play
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: and how they did it. Just to round out this group,
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: Buffalo comes in at number three. Josh Allen, Superman, right?
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: He does everything, extends with his feet and his arms.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: San Francisco at number four was one that I was like, yeah,
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: that line. Even though Brock Purdy's still a young dude
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: and he's consistent, Yeah, I mean, listen, Trent Williams at
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: left tackle, just Hall of Famer. You need I say more, right,
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: to be a linchpin on that line.
• 43:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, the Niners line went through a little
• 43:19
  Speaker 5: bit of a– they were pretty stout for the most part.
• 43:21
  Speaker 5: I think going into this season, obviously you're going to
• 43:24
  Speaker 5: have Trent Williams, but I think they had a competition
• 43:26
  Speaker 5: bet at the left guard position. They're still trying to
• 43:29
  Speaker 5: figure out. And by the way, their first game is
• 43:32
  Speaker 5: Myles Garrett, And Aaron Donald. So we're going to see
• 43:35
  Speaker 5: how good they are right out the back down in Australia.
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: So we'll see. So, yeah, the ranking's good.
• 43:40
  Speaker 5: We'll see if you're really about that life when Aaron
• 43:42
  Speaker 5: Donald is fresh off the couch looking to make his
• 43:45
  Speaker 5: name pop off the tape again.
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: And think about it.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: They got Kobe Turner and Byron Young still. They traded
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: Jarrett Versaway, and they still got five elite rushers.
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: And Brandon Fisk. Fisk is still a dog.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Braden Fisk is a dog.
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: So it's going to be– yeah, we're going to see
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: if that number four ranking holds up. Number five is
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: the New England Patriots, which I feel like it's more
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: like last year and bringing it into this year versus
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: what they currently have. Because, listen, if you watch that
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl, Will Campbell was a whipping post for Leonard Williams.
• 44:25
  Speaker 5: I tend to give young offensive linemen grace, especially when
• 44:29
  Speaker 5: you're living life on the edge. I think Will Campbell's
• 44:32
  Speaker 5: issue right now is that for a young fellow who
• 44:36
  Speaker 5: came out of LSU, who was decorated, it's clearly.
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: That he doesn't turn off the TV at night.
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: He's listening to everything and anything that the critics are saying.
• 44:46
  Speaker 5: And I don't know, supposedly he dealt with some injuries
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: that he's battling. But I think as you continue to
• 44:51
  Speaker 5: look at that office line, you know, Drake May had
• 44:54
  Speaker 5: a highly productive year. Say what you want about the schedule,
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: it was still hard to put up 4,000 yards, still
• 44:59
  Speaker 5: have a quarterback. who's relatively healthy all the way up
• 45:02
  Speaker 5: until the Super Bowl. But they got to get back
• 45:05
  Speaker 5: to running the ball with Chidamion Henderson and the rest
• 45:09
  Speaker 5: of the gang.
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: So I like the Pats offensive line. I think they're
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: a sneaky good group.
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good group.
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: But, you know, this schedule is going to definitely test
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: them this year. And, you know, I think, you know,
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: the Jets and David Bailey, you know, what I watched
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: him do as a rookie. I mean, he was also
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: one of my favorite guys coming out. Like I had
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: him pegged as the number one pass rusher coming out
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: of college. Cause I watched him at Texas tech and
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: he's been as advertised as, as I've watched it just
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: because his, his quickness off the ball, his pass rush moves.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: He's very sudden with his hands, very violent. And you know, we, we,
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: we saw it in the game in the second preseason game.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: Like he was coming off the edge hot and it
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: was tough to really get a hand on him.
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: So, It'll be interesting. They'll get the Jets twice.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: And, you know, I think Miami's not going to be
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: that big of a challenge because they just went fire
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: sale in the offseason. So we'll see what they can
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: muster as far as a unit defensively to be able
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: to create a consistent pass rush. But I think for
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: the Patriots, you know, the rest of that schedule, you're
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: facing the rest of that number one schedule, right? We've
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: got Denver on the list, and that Denver defense– was
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: giving the Patriots problems. Like, if Bo Nix is in
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: that game, I don't know if the Patriots make it
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl, right? And so you're going to
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: get a healthy Bo Nix.
• 46:26
  Speaker 4: I agree.
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: And that defense. But I know we're about to go
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: to break. I just want to round out.
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say the names in the top ten,
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: and then we're going to react to it on the
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: other side of it, Will. So number six, Detroit Lions.
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: Number seven, the Indianapolis Colts. Number eight, the Chicago Bears. Nine, Baltimore.
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: Ten, Jacksonville.
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: So I don't see the Steelers in the trench power
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: top ten, but we're going to talk about that on
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: the other side of this when we come back inside
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: the locker room here with Starks at Cologne on the
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: Steeler Audio Network.