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HR2: Future Rankings · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: That is the sound for the Power Hour.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: And, of course, Optimus goes through every single time on
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: the second hour here to let us know we are
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: on track and we are well on.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: To the second half of this show. And, Rob, Will
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: and I were talking about it, and, you know, I think.
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: When we get to the last segment, we might have
• 0:59
  Speaker 5: to alter the bell lap and create something brand new
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: just because, We have Optimus, and of course, when we
• 1:10
  Speaker 5: get up to speed in regular season, we have a
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: different sounder that's played on Wednesdays, and Willie will be
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: privy to that.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to break that just yet to Willie.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: We haven't done it yet because we're still in the preseason,
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: but there's another sounder, Willie, and I know you will
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: be so excited to hear this one when we preview
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: it next week.
• 1:31
  Speaker 6: Do I know it or do I not know it?
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: You will know it when you hear it, but it's
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: something that you might not associate with this show when
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: we do it.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: I think that's the best way of saying it.
• 1:43
  Speaker 7: Okay, I'm excited. I'm not excited. The optimist one I'm
• 1:47
  Speaker 7: still getting used to. The bell one throws me off
• 1:49
  Speaker 7: because I feel like I've got to jump out of
• 1:50
  Speaker 7: my seat. I've got to get going. Before I get
• 1:52
  Speaker 7: this knee-jerk reaction to do something other than... Because traditionally,
• 1:57
  Speaker 7: when you hear a bell go off, you feel like
• 1:59
  Speaker 7: something's about to happen.
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: But when the bell goes off on this show, it really.
• 2:04
  Speaker 7: Means that lunch is about to start, which is a
• 2:06
  Speaker 7: very on brand for me, you Max, but I think
• 2:08
  Speaker 7: for everybody else, they're sitting around saying something's coming.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 2:12
  Speaker 8: Now let me, let me, let me ask you a question.
• 2:14
  Speaker 8: So Max, I'm going to assume, and I shouldn't assume this,
• 2:17
  Speaker 8: but I'm going to assume you're a fan of the
• 2:19
  Speaker 8: Lord of the Rings.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: I am definitely well in, well in the Tolkien world.
• 2:25
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Willie, are you, are you there at least with the movies? Okay.
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: No, Rob. No. No. Do you know me and Max
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: were roommates?
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: It is becoming more and more apparent that you guys
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: were roommates and that opposites attract in friendships.
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: Can I tell you a quick story? Yes. So we're
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: on the road. So me and Max were roommates for
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: like two years, right, Max?
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, two years.
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: One or two years.
• 2:58
  Speaker 7: Right, and so we would be on the road. Mind you,
• 3:00
  Speaker 7: we spent all our time together, but on the road,
• 3:02
  Speaker 7: we were roommates. And I, believe it or not, like
• 3:07
  Speaker 7: to sleep, you know, I like to get to bed, right?
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: And Max at the time was, I don't think he was,
• 3:14
  Speaker 7: I don't think he was really, I think he was
• 3:17
  Speaker 7: maybe engaged or about to get engaged to his now
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: beautiful wife, Tiffany. And so Max is an avid reader,
• 3:24
  Speaker 7: loves to read. and just loves Harry Potter, Lord of
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: the Rings, all that folklore, all that stuff. And I'm
• 3:31
  Speaker 7: laying in bed, trying to get some sleep, looking, covers
• 3:35
  Speaker 7: over the head, and I can hear Max having an
• 3:38
  Speaker 7: in-depth discussion with his now wife about Harry Potter. Mind you,
• 3:44
  Speaker 7: we got the Ravens tomorrow. It's 11 o'clock at night.
• 3:48
  Speaker 7: And he's going through a 20-minute monologue about whatever the
• 3:53
  Speaker 7: hell ever And I turn over, I'm just like, this
• 3:56
  Speaker 7: can't be life. This can't be, we have to be better.
• 4:00
  Speaker 7: And he goes, oh, I'm sorry.
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: And he doesn't stop talking. You know what he does?
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: He just turns his back to me and continues the monologue.
• 4:06
  Speaker 6: And I'm just like.
• 4:10
  Speaker 9: Imagine a man of Mac's size, imagine a man of
• 4:14
  Speaker 9: Mac's size, 11.30, 12 o'clock at midnight, having a, he's
• 4:19
  Speaker 9: on a soapbox at this point, arguing about Harry Potter,
• 4:21
  Speaker 9: whatever it was.
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  Speaker 7: And I'm saying to myself, we have to rethink this relationship.
• 4:26
  Speaker 7: We have to, we gotta, we gotta be better. This
• 4:28
  Speaker 7: is a lot for me right now.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: So I'm very accustomed to who Max Clark is.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:32
  Speaker 8: I got to tell you, I'm a, I'm a book
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  Speaker 8: light guy. I, I don't think, I can't remember the
• 4:38
  Speaker 8: last time in my life. I did not go to
• 4:40
  Speaker 8: bed reading a book. In fact, I can't go to
• 4:42
  Speaker 8: bed without reading a book. I get the, yeah, I get,
• 4:46
  Speaker 8: I get the book light. I can't turn my brain off.
• 4:48
  Speaker 8: The book light focus on the book. And then next
• 4:50
  Speaker 8: thing I know, Hopefully I'm clicking it off, but sometimes
• 4:53
  Speaker 8: my wife is reaching over in.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: The middle of the night and clicking my book light
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: off so she can get to sleep.
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  Speaker 8: The reason I asked about the whole Lord of the
• 5:00
  Speaker 8: Rings thing, though, was because the Hobbits, who are the
• 5:03
  Speaker 8: main characters, are constantly eating. So the bell lap could
• 5:07
  Speaker 8: be a call for second lunch, right? They have breakfast.
• 5:11
  Speaker 8: They eat at 11. They could have been called for
• 5:13
  Speaker 8: a second lunch, but this is a unanimous vote kind
• 5:17
  Speaker 8: of locker room. And so I think that if we're
• 5:21
  Speaker 8: going to change that, if Willie isn't on board with
• 5:23
  Speaker 8: second lunch, doesn't want to join the Hobbit world, then
• 5:28
  Speaker 8: I think we have to defer to Willie, Max, don't you?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that, you know, it's an adjustment of
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: expectations as we continue with this tribunal.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: And so I realized that some of those.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: Things are carried over, you know, old traditions are carried
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: over and new traditions are born.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: So this is simply creating a new tradition within the
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: locker room.
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  Speaker 4: Cause I don't want Willie running away from the microphone.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: Every time he hears the bell.
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  Speaker 2: One for all. Yeah.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 7: I'm definitely, I'm definitely down for changing it.
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: I'll have an idea or two and I'll stew on it.
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: I'm not here to reupholster the house that you guys built,
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: but I'm here to make a way of a carver
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  Speaker 7: corner for me. So maybe I'll follow some suggestions, and
• 6:19
  Speaker 7: collectively we can agree on it.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so good.
• 6:23
  Speaker 8: Now, here was the discussion, so I'll be interested to
• 6:26
  Speaker 8: see where we're going from here. The discussion is where
• 6:30
  Speaker 8: do the Steelers rank in the future expectations? This is, again,
• 6:35
  Speaker 8: an ESPN article. And we're going to, again, talk about
• 6:39
  Speaker 8: the present of the Steelers. That's what everybody is concerned about. But,
• 6:42
  Speaker 8: you know, it's interesting. So many armchair GMs out there,
• 6:45
  Speaker 8: which is why– and so my– I love looking at
• 6:50
  Speaker 8: not only the now of a team, but the future
• 6:52
  Speaker 8: of a team as well.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: And there are different ways to rebuild.
• 6:55
  Speaker 8: Everybody– again, in case you're just joining the discussion now, everybody–
• 6:58
  Speaker 8: you know, a lot of fans talk about, hey, rip
• 7:00
  Speaker 8: it down to the studs, you know, get that top
• 7:03
  Speaker 8: draft choice, build around them, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Well, it's–
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  Speaker 8: First of all, it is not a sure means of success. Secondly,
• 7:11
  Speaker 8: there are other ways to do it. And I admire
• 7:14
  Speaker 8: the way the Rams have done it. You know, as
• 7:17
  Speaker 8: we've talked about, Max, because of our disdain, or certainly
• 7:21
  Speaker 8: I think it probably started with me, my disdain for
• 7:24
  Speaker 8: the couplet draft capital, we do not use that here
• 7:28
  Speaker 8: in the locker room, Willie. They're draft picks. And if
• 7:31
  Speaker 8: you want any further example of that, The Rams. The
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: Rams say, you know what, you want to call it capital?
• 7:37
  Speaker 8: Go ahead and take the capital. We'll take Miles Garrett.
• 7:42
  Speaker 8: We will take Matthew Stafford. We'll win a Super Bowl
• 7:46
  Speaker 8: and we'll continue to be competitive. And I think it's
• 7:48
  Speaker 8: great that teams can find different paths to success. And
• 7:52
  Speaker 8: the Rams have flown in the face of what most
• 7:55
  Speaker 8: other teams try to do when they're rebuilding and have
• 7:58
  Speaker 8: maintained their status as one of the top teams in
• 8:01
  Speaker 8: the league.
• 8:03
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think, as we stated, I think it all
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: starts with their ability to build from the inside out
• 8:11
  Speaker 7: by establishing what they want to have in defense and
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: off the line.
• 8:15
  Speaker 6: And obviously, anytime you have an MVP type quarterback in
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: Matthew Stafford, that helps.
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: Not to pivot away, because I do think the Rams
• 8:22
  Speaker 7: have done a hell of a job in the facet
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  Speaker 7: of which they've been drafting, right? They've kind of deferred
• 8:27
  Speaker 7: some picks and they've kind of just built up slowly
• 8:29
  Speaker 7: and slowly. But I think there's one organization that doesn't
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: get enough credit. I do think that's on the rise,
• 8:34
  Speaker 7: and that's the Carolina Panthers. Dan Morgan and Dave Canals
• 8:39
  Speaker 7: and what they've been able to do has been impressive.
• 8:43
  Speaker 7: They also won their division last year. And I know
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: everybody's like, well, that's the NFC South. They kind of,
• 8:48
  Speaker 7: you know, they're all bottom feeders, so to speak. But
• 8:50
  Speaker 7: that was an organization that was for a long time
• 8:53
  Speaker 7: in the same conversations in which we talked about and
• 8:56
  Speaker 7: how we talk about the Cardinals and Jets. They were
• 8:58
  Speaker 7: kind of like at the bottom of the barrel. But
• 9:00
  Speaker 7: now this is an organization in which they said, all right,
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: we got a couple of young guys who we want
• 9:06
  Speaker 7: to lean on. But we also have some old guys.
• 9:08
  Speaker 7: You talk about Dan Moore. You talk about Nick Scott.
• 9:10
  Speaker 7: You talk about John Meacham, who I think he's 26
• 9:13
  Speaker 7: years old. But on top of that, you still have
• 9:15
  Speaker 7: a young quarterback who's still figuring their way out that
• 9:17
  Speaker 7: they didn't give up on. They haven't given up on
• 9:20
  Speaker 7: Bryce Young. They've set him down. They've allowed him to
• 9:23
  Speaker 7: kind of grow and be better. But they continue to
• 9:26
  Speaker 7: believe in him. And I think last year he showed
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: he's capable. You got to forget, the Panthers almost beat
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: the Rams in the playoffs last year. And that one game,
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: they took the Rams to deep water. If it wasn't
• 9:37
  Speaker 7: for a more talented roster than the Rams, they would
• 9:40
  Speaker 7: have lost that game.
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: But it was close.
• 9:42
  Speaker 7: So when you start talking about, you know, the benefits
• 9:45
  Speaker 7: of having a roster that you can now have old
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: and new and continue to grow, it's all president to
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: how I see the Steelers. You can still continue to
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: build with the old and grow the new.
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: But you just got to be in line in which way,
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: which way you want to go.
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: And that's why when you talk, talking about the Rams,
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: the Rams, the problem with the Rams, to be honest
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: with you, as talented as they are, and they have
• 10:10
  Speaker 7: a lot of talent riddled throughout.
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: They just, you worry about the depth. You worry about
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: the depth of.
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: That team because behind those starters is That's where it
• 10:19
  Speaker 7: gets a little shaky. So as much as, you know,
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: there's a chance that the Rams do not win a
• 10:23
  Speaker 7: Super Bowl this year, even though they're all in by
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: getting Aaron Donald and Miles Gannon, all these guys. But
• 10:27
  Speaker 7: their depth is in question because their front line is amazing.
• 10:31
  Speaker 7: Could beat anybody in the league. But that depth is
• 10:34
  Speaker 7: what you have to really figure out. That's not the
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: same thing with the Steelers. The Steelers have quality depth, right?
• 10:39
  Speaker 7: We've talked about the depth they do have on each
• 10:42
  Speaker 7: position group. You know, even with the light box and
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: a light group in, excuse me, the safeties on defense
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: for the Steelers, Robert Spears Jennings has emerged as a
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: guy who's not only a great communicator, but a great
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: ball player at that. I'm talking about Rayshon Jenkins, a
• 10:59
  Speaker 7: 32-year-old guy, but yet has a position of flexibility and
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: continues to play at a high level. You talk about
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: Brisker and Jalen Ramsey. Yeah, they're a light unit, but
• 11:10
  Speaker 7: collectively they're all versatile. They all have depth. So what
• 11:16
  Speaker 7: gets you to the table is depth. What gets you
• 11:18
  Speaker 7: over the top is talent. What brings it home is
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: having guys that are brought into one goal.
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: So I think the Steelers continue to put themselves in
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: the right position in that regard.
• 11:27
  Speaker 8: Yeah, really well put, Willie. Really well put. And again,
• 11:30
  Speaker 8: some teams are going to have more depth. Some teams
• 11:32
  Speaker 8: are going to have more stars. You like to have
• 11:34
  Speaker 8: the combination of both. So we're going to continue on here.
• 11:37
  Speaker 8: And again, if you're just joining us, this is how
• 11:40
  Speaker 8: they were broken down, right? There's four categories. Overall roster,
• 11:44
  Speaker 8: excluding QB. QB, which again, I think that's smart. It's
• 11:49
  Speaker 8: its own category for sure. Coaching and front office. Okay,
• 11:52
  Speaker 8: so we got the first five, and I'll just rehash
• 11:56
  Speaker 8: those quickly for you. Seattle's one. The Philadelphia Eagles are two.
• 12:02
  Speaker 8: The Detroit Lions, three. The Broncos, four. The Rams, five. And, again,
• 12:07
  Speaker 8: I think that's interesting because some of the same criticisms
• 12:10
  Speaker 8: they have of the Steelers are criticisms that you could
• 12:12
  Speaker 8: have of the Rams, you know, aging superstars, that sort
• 12:15
  Speaker 8: of thing. Six, New England Patriots. Seven is the Green
• 12:20
  Speaker 8: Bay Packers. Eight, the Houston Texans. Nine, we have our
• 12:24
  Speaker 8: first representative from the AFC North, and that team is
• 12:28
  Speaker 8: the Baltimore Ravens. And here's how they rank overall roster,
• 12:32
  Speaker 8: excluding QB.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Thirteen. Quarterback with Lamar, four. Coaching, 17. Front office, three.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Any comments on that?
• 12:47
  Speaker 6: You want me to go or you go?
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: Front office at number three. I would say front office
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: at number three. I'm trying to figure that out because
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: they didn't have the best last couple of years.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: So to see that number is pretty high.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: Coaching and– I'm looking at the coaching at 17.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: For a coach in Jesse Miller that's.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: Never been a head coach before, that's pretty high to
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: have him ranked, especially when I know.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: We haven't gotten to the Steelers yet.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: It's a very distant number from where the Steelers are,
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: and I'd argue a guy with a Super Bowl probably
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: has a better coaching resume than a guy that's never
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: done it.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: And Willie, go ahead.
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: Well, I'm going to cut you off. I'm saying Max
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: is 100% right.
• 13:33
  Speaker 7: Jesse Minter, yeah, he was a damn good defensive coordinator
• 13:36
  Speaker 7: when he was in the Chargers and did a fantastic job.
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: I give him that. But now this is a different
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: hat for him to wear.
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: He has to be the head coach. So you bring
• 13:43
  Speaker 7: in Declan Doyle, who's the offensive coordinator. You're asking him
• 13:46
  Speaker 7: to be now hopefully a quarterback whisperer for Lamar Jackson.
• 13:50
  Speaker 7: And there's been a lot of talk about Lamar Jackson's
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: ability not to run as much as he used to.
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: He wants to develop being more a complete quarterback by
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: staying in the pocket and throwing the football.
• 13:59
  Speaker 7: The reason why Lamar Jackson isn't running like he used to,
• 14:01
  Speaker 7: because he realized he's tired of getting hit.
• 14:03
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 14:04
  Speaker 7: Like, yeah, they don't have an offensive line to protect them.
• 14:07
  Speaker 7: And on top of that, them hurts to start them.
• 14:09
  Speaker 7: Them ouches are starting to hurt a little bit more
• 14:11
  Speaker 7: as he grows in age. And so when you start
• 14:14
  Speaker 7: looking at this, you know, the projection of a way
• 14:16
  Speaker 7: to have this MVP type quarterback and Lamar Jackson.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: He is MVP. But Lamar Jackson is changing right in
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: front of our eyes. Right.
• 14:25
  Speaker 7: And then on top of that, they don't have an
• 14:27
  Speaker 7: alpha one receiver. Zay Flowers is a slot receiver. They
• 14:31
  Speaker 7: use him on the outside as an X, but he's
• 14:33
  Speaker 7: really a true slot receiver. They don't have that go-to,
• 14:36
  Speaker 7: throw the ball up in the air, go get.
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: It like an A.J.
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: Brown or a Larry Fitzgerald type. They don't have that
• 14:40
  Speaker 7: guy or a Mike Evans type. So when you start
• 14:42
  Speaker 7: to comb through the Ravens, a lot of that is
• 14:45
  Speaker 7: just smoke, right? Like Lamar Jackson will continue to be
• 14:49
  Speaker 7: Lamar Jackson. At the end of the day, we're starting
• 14:51
  Speaker 7: to see a lot of his games, a lot of
• 14:53
  Speaker 7: his games, excuse me, take some hits. He's not the
• 14:56
  Speaker 7: same type of guy partially because of the offense line
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: and two, he's getting up there in age where he
• 15:00
  Speaker 7: can't take those hits like he used to.
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: So I don't, the, the, the rankings, the ranking, but
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: I think a lot of his fluff too.
• 15:07
  Speaker 8: And when I think to Willie's point that he made earlier,
• 15:10
  Speaker 8: some of it is newness, right? Jesse Minter is new. And, uh, the,
• 15:15
  Speaker 8: you know, I think there's the sense that new is better.
• 15:18
  Speaker 8: And look, I'm fascinated to see what Declan Doyle can do. Um,
• 15:22
  Speaker 8: you know, Sean McVay coaching tree and, and that seems
• 15:25
  Speaker 8: to be, you know, um, the hot thing right now
• 15:28
  Speaker 8: and with reason because he's had success in, in mentoring
• 15:31
  Speaker 8: future coaches and he takes it seriously and he's been
• 15:34
  Speaker 8: successful at it. But again, I think some of this
• 15:36
  Speaker 8: stuff with the coaching is a little bit on the
• 15:38
  Speaker 8: newness scale and I bring it up. I bring up
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: those rankings not to take a shot at the Ravens,
• 15:44
  Speaker 8: but because I think it's an interesting comparison to the Steelers,
• 15:48
  Speaker 8: which we are still at number nine, not even close
• 15:52
  Speaker 8: to getting to, not even close on these rankings, which I,
• 15:56
  Speaker 8: I find surprising. We're going to get to that when
• 15:58
  Speaker 8: we continue in the locker room here on the Steelers
• 16:01
  Speaker 8: Audio Network.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
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  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: And we thank you for being with us in the
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: locker room. We are hoping you're kicking off.
• 16:37
  Speaker 8: Your Labor Day weekend in style and in Hope you
• 16:39
  Speaker 8: have a great and wonderful Labor Day weekend. We are
• 16:43
  Speaker 8: continuing our look at ESPN's future rankings of franchises. This
• 16:48
  Speaker 8: is the years 27 through 29. ESPN does this every year. Again,
• 16:53
  Speaker 8: for fans that love to see, you know, where does
• 16:56
  Speaker 8: your team rank? Where do the experts think your team
• 16:58
  Speaker 8: ranks as far as what the future looks like? We've
• 17:01
  Speaker 8: gotten through nine teams. The Baltimore Ravens were the first
• 17:04
  Speaker 8: team in the AFC North that was ranked in this poll.
• 17:07
  Speaker 8: They come in number nine.
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: The L.A.
• 17:09
  Speaker 8: Chargers come in at number 10. Number 11 is the
• 17:14
  Speaker 8: Kansas City Chiefs. Number 12, the Bears. Number 13, the Jaguars.
• 17:18
  Speaker 8: Number 14, the 49ers. Still not there yet. If you're
• 17:22
  Speaker 8: looking for your Pittsburgh students, we still haven't gotten there.
• 17:25
  Speaker 8: Number 15, the Buffalo Bills. Number 16, the Dallas Cowboys.
• 17:31
  Speaker 8: So let us stop now before we get to 17,
• 17:33
  Speaker 8: which is an AFC North team, to tell you once again,
• 17:36
  Speaker 8: in case you're just joining us, The criteria for this ranking,
• 17:39
  Speaker 8: overall roster excluding QB, quarterback, coaching, front office. So, number 17,
• 17:47
  Speaker 8: another AFC North team. Is it your Pittsburgh Steelers?
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: Why, no.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: No, it's not. It's the Cincinnati Bengals.
• 17:54
  Speaker 8: Overall roster excluding QB, NFL rank, 11. Again, this is
• 17:59
  Speaker 8: 27 through 29. Quarterback ranking, 5.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Coaching, 23. Front office, 28.
• 18:07
  Speaker 8: For an overall ranking, again, because of the roster, mostly
• 18:10
  Speaker 8: because of the roster and the quarterback, at number five, Max.
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: I'm sorry, five for the quarterback. Overall ranking is number
• 18:18
  Speaker 8: 17 for the Cincinnati Bengals.
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: Once again, and I.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: Think Willie said this, when you look at what they've
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: had and the expectations and where they've finished, There's a huge.
• 18:36
  Speaker 6: Discrepancy, and I think they put a lot on that road.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: Yes, Joe Burrow can be a top-five quarterback when healthy,
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: but he hasn't proven to us that he can stay healthy.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: And it's largely due to what?
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: The roster, that offensive line. And even though you have
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: Jamar Chase, T.
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: Higgins, and.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: That trio makes a big difference in games, they also
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: was a team last year that lost the most– games
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: when scoring 40 plus points.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: They set an NFL record for that.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: So for them to sit there and say, oh, this
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: team's going to be so much different, we don't even know. Like,
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: Dexter Lawrence is a name that makes you think it's
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: going to happen. I also remember when Christian Wilkins went
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: to the Las Vegas Raiders and played all of two
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: games and then was injured, and then what were the
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Raiders doing?
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: Drafting Fernando Mendoza.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: So I think when you look at just how these
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: rankings are, it's a lot of the, what Willie said,
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: fluff and hype that gets overblown and then which leads
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: to these future rankings being being so disproportionate, and they
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: don't look at the reality of what the resume has been,
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: you know, check the check the Carfax, right? Check the
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: Carfax on this team and the Carfax doesn't smoke.
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: It's a lemon.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: And even for the Ravens, Lamar Jackson missed a lot
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: of time in his career because of what, because of his.
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: Line and because his ability to run.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Yes, he's dynamic.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: He, he also, he also gets, gets freaking blasted.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: And then he's not healthy. How many times were we
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: talking about where he didn't even play in the Steelers?
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: Ravens game and so that's where I kind of look
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: at these numbers and just once again I know we
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: haven't gotten to our Steelers yet but the discrepancy of
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: where these teams are versus where they have the Steelers
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: is still mind-blowing to where they don't look it's truly
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: in the moment knee-jerk type of reactions versus actually looking
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: at the stone cold facts so that's that that's my
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: yeah I'm just.
• 20:35
  Speaker 7: I'm just curious too like The Cincinnati Bengals went out
• 20:39
  Speaker 7: last offseason and went shopping, right?
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: They got B.J. Turner. They got Jordan Battle. They got
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: Chase Brown.
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: And they kind of added two new pieces to the
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: offensive line. There's a difference between going shopping and constructing
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: a roster that has some continuity and chemistry like.
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: The Steelers have, right?
• 20:56
  Speaker 7: So, yeah, it's easy to say, well, if I go
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: to the Gucci store and buy, you know, all these
• 21:00
  Speaker 7: shoes and belts and outfits, yeah, of course I got
• 21:03
  Speaker 7: a nice new wardrobe.
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: Compared to what I've.
• 21:05
  Speaker 7: Been growing in my closet that I'm proud of.
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: You know what I mean?
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: So it's like I get weirded out by these lists
• 21:12
  Speaker 7: because sometimes it's just, like I said, it's all fluff.
• 21:15
  Speaker 7: It has nothing to do with how they've built over
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: the years. It's about the right now. Right now, sure,
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: you can look at some of the free agents they
• 21:22
  Speaker 7: were able to acquire, but a lot of these guys
• 21:24
  Speaker 7: don't jump off the page like Dex Lawrence does. A
• 21:27
  Speaker 7: lot of these guys are just guys. I mean, Ted
• 21:29
  Speaker 7: Karras is a pretty good lineman. He will hopefully have
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: a good career, but I think he's dinged, to my knowledge.
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: Dalton Reisner, sure.
• 21:37
  Speaker 7: But at the end of the day, man, this is
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: still a roster that is still in works. I think
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: they just covered up a lot of potholes and expecting
• 21:43
  Speaker 7: people to be like, oh, okay, here come the Bengals.
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: I don't necessarily feel that way.
• 21:49
  Speaker 8: Okay, so the Bengals are number 17. The Vikings come
• 21:53
  Speaker 8: in at number 18. Now, this is interesting because their
• 21:57
  Speaker 8: quarterback position, so remember this, put this in the back
• 21:59
  Speaker 8: of your mind, the quarterback position ranks second. Number 27.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 22:04
  Speaker 8: Their coaching, by the way, ranks number four with Kevin O'Connell. Quarterback,
• 22:07
  Speaker 8: number 27. So they're 18. 19 is Tampa Bay. 20,
• 22:16
  Speaker 8: the Washington Commanders. Still haven't gotten to the Steelers. 21,
• 22:21
  Speaker 8: the New Orleans Saints.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: 22.
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: How are we behind the Commanders?
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: 22, the New York Giants. 23.
• 22:29
  Speaker 8: How are we behind the Giants? 23, the Carolina Panthers. 24,
• 22:36
  Speaker 8: the Tennessee Titans.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Are you ready for this.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: To your list? Burn the list.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: You ready for this to your list? Not yet.
• 22:42
  Speaker 8: Number 25, the Las Vegas Raiders. Number 26, the Indianapolis Colts.
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: This is a Ravens fan who did this list.
• 22:53
  Speaker 8: Number 27, the Atlanta Falcons.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: The Falcons? Yep.
• 23:00
  Speaker 8: So at number 28, we get to our third AFC
• 23:04
  Speaker 8: North team, and it.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Is the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are ranked in front
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: of us?
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: Not the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: Get out of here.
• 23:12
  Speaker 8: Overall roster, excluding QB for the Browns, number 24. Quarterback,
• 23:16
  Speaker 8: number 29. Coaching, number 29. Front office, number 21. Makes
• 23:22
  Speaker 8: you wonder where the Steelers rank if they're behind them
• 23:24
  Speaker 8: in every one of those categories. I wish– I wish
• 23:32
  Speaker 8: that we were on video right now because Willie is
• 23:37
  Speaker 8: massaging his temples and Max is rubbing his massive hand
• 23:40
  Speaker 8: over his face.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: So we still haven't gotten there, guys.
• 23:45
  Speaker 8: Number 29, Willie Colon, the New York Jets.
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: Wait a second.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. The Jets
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: and the Browns are ranked in front of us?
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Yep. Number 30. Oh, this is rough. Number 30.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: The Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: BS.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: BS.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: I'm calling it BS.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Whoever wrote this hates the Steelers, and they've been wrong,
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: and they've lost a lot of money in Vegas.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: That's the only reason why they wrote this this way.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: So here is how they rank the team.
• 24:30
  Speaker 8: Overall roster excluding QB, 20. QB, and again, this is
• 24:39
  Speaker 8: the future. This is not this year. This doesn't have
• 24:41
  Speaker 8: anything to do with this year. If you're just joining
• 24:44
  Speaker 8: the conversation now, nothing to do with this year.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: This is 27, 28, 29. Overall roster excluding QB, 20. Quarterback. 32.
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: Because we don't have one that's– Mason Rudolph is better
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: than most of the other.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Team's backup quarterbacks that are.
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: In this conversation.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: So the fact they rank us last in that, I think–
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: and he's taken us to the playoffs and played a
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: playoff game.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: A lot of those quarterbacks in front of him that
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: are quote-unquote in the future haven't even been to the playoffs.
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: They've never been in a meaningful game.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: And their rank– okay, I'm sorry.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: Finish it.
• 25:25
  Speaker 8: No, I don't disagree with you. Of course I don't
• 25:27
  Speaker 8: disagree with you. I think the roster is much better
• 25:30
  Speaker 8: than they're saying.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: I get it. You got to see it. Okay.
• 25:34
  Speaker 8: I think by the end of this year, we're going
• 25:36
  Speaker 8: to be talking about a line that people are going
• 25:38
  Speaker 8: to be thinking about a lot differently, and that is
• 25:40
  Speaker 8: going to lead to– that alone will lead to this
• 25:43
  Speaker 8: ranking being much higher.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: But they still haven't done it yet. Okay.
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: Fine.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: Quarterback, if you want to say that, okay. Here's where
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: I really have some issues. Coaching.
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: 31st.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: What?
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: 31.
• 25:58
  Speaker 8: What?
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: All them brand new coaches. We turned over a third
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: of this league last year.
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: And you're telling me that Todd Munkin is better than
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: Mike McCarthy?
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: The guy who's won a Super Bowl.
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: And a guy who's got a heck of a stellar
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: winning record? You have him ranked 31st. You have Jesse
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: Minter ranked, what was Jesse Minter, 17?
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: And he's never coached a team before?
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: Robert Sala was a defensive coordinator and was fired from
• 26:31
  Speaker 7: his previous job.
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: And he's ranked higher than Mike McCarthy.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: And Patrick Graham.
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 26:39
  Speaker 8: I think Patrick Graham is extremely well-respected around the league.
• 26:43
  Speaker 8: I'm very, very surprised about that. I don't really see,
• 26:48
  Speaker 8: you know, a caveat. You know, I, I don't really
• 26:53
  Speaker 8: see anything that makes me, you know, say that while
• 26:57
  Speaker 8: they're saying, well, you know, listen, let's see what he
• 26:59
  Speaker 8: does with this new organization.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: There's nothing here. They just, they just rank them 31.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 27:04
  Speaker 8: Yeah. Yeah.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: It's just purely based off of ire. Cause even when
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: he was with Dallas before he came to, those teams
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: were competitive and winning 10, 11 games.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: And he made that team a lot better.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: And, let's not forget what he did with him and
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: Aaron Rogers in green Bay, right? They toppled us in
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: super bowl 45. Trust me, Willie and I were on
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: the sidelines watching that. Um, he has, he has been
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: a quarterback trainer, developer, whisperer everywhere he's went and has
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: not had quarterback success or offensive success.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Usually it's been the defense that's.
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: Kind of held back a lot of the longevity and
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: deeper playoff pushes. Um, So, and he, and I think
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: he saw that with Patrick Graham, but 31st, that is,
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: that's not even a slap in the face.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: That's a spit in the eye.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: Mike McCarthy break is a 31st coach.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: I agree. I agree.
• 28:00
  Speaker 8: But again, I think it goes back to something Willie
• 28:02
  Speaker 8: touched on when we were talking about a slightly different
• 28:05
  Speaker 8: conversation here, which was roster construction that people want the
• 28:10
  Speaker 8: new and shiny people are excited about it. And, you know,
• 28:14
  Speaker 8: When a team is terrible, fans don't like it. But
• 28:17
  Speaker 8: then when they get that top draft choice, they get
• 28:19
  Speaker 8: all excited about it. And then if it works out, great.
• 28:21
  Speaker 8: Most times it doesn't work out. And, you know, you're left,
• 28:25
  Speaker 8: you know, kind of looking with disdain at your team
• 28:28
  Speaker 8: and what they've been able to do or actually in
• 28:30
  Speaker 8: that case not do. But the shiny toy, maybe the
• 28:33
  Speaker 8: shiny toy element is part of this as to why
• 28:36
  Speaker 8: this coaching staff would be ranked so low. I can't
• 28:39
  Speaker 8: think of any other reason, Willie, that it would be.
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think part of, listen, I think we're all
• 28:46
  Speaker 6: saying the right thing.
• 28:47
  Speaker 7: It's kind of blasphemy to talk bad about Michael McCarthy
• 28:49
  Speaker 7: when we're looking at four, at least four or five
• 28:51
  Speaker 7: teams that are ranked higher than Steelers, who at least
• 28:54
  Speaker 7: three of those coaches are on the fringe of being
• 28:56
  Speaker 7: fired next year, right?
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: Like, it's wild.
• 28:59
  Speaker 7: When you talk about Aaron Glenn, barring he has a
• 29:02
  Speaker 7: good season, because I'm pulling for the guy, they may
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: be looking for a new head coach, right? Like, As
• 29:07
  Speaker 7: much as we love Todd Munkin, if this thing goes
• 29:09
  Speaker 7: all the way bad and Deshaun walks, like Todd Munkin
• 29:12
  Speaker 7: may be looking for a new job, even though they
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: just brought him in.
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: Zach Taylor, right? At some point, he has to be
• 29:17
  Speaker 6: in the hot seat. You know what I mean?
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: With or without Joe Burrow, he's done nothing. So it's weird.
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: It's weird that we're not giving Mike McCarthy his flowers.
• 29:28
  Speaker 7: Rightfully so. He's just taking on the job as the
• 29:31
  Speaker 7: Pittsburgh Steelers head coach. But his resume should speak volumes.
• 29:35
  Speaker 7: When you start talking about a roster and how you
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: lean on it, we sat here the other day and
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: talked gormily about Derek Harmon and Keanu Benson and what Y.A.
• 29:43
  Speaker 7: could look like for that defensive line and how our
• 29:45
  Speaker 7: edge rushers and Nick Herbig and the future Jack Sawyer,
• 29:48
  Speaker 7: what that could look like. You talked about, from an
• 29:51
  Speaker 7: offensive line standpoint for the Steelers, how the front five
• 29:54
  Speaker 7: after this year should be solidified. So when you start
• 29:57
  Speaker 7: talking about the projection and direction of this team Inside out,
• 30:01
  Speaker 7: we're in a very, very good place.
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: Even with keeping the four quarterbacks, out of the two.
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: Young quarterbacks we have, I think one of them has
• 30:08
  Speaker 7: to become, under Mike McCarthy, a guy that you can
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: lean on and play some serious snaps with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: So when you start talking about roster construction and head
• 30:18
  Speaker 7: coach and all projections... We're in a way better place
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: than I can honestly say than the Tennessee Titans, the Browns,
• 30:26
  Speaker 7: the Jets, the Raiders, and anybody else that was a
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: bottom feeder last year.
• 30:29
  Speaker 6: We're in a way better position. So this is called
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: trolling at its finest, gentlemen. We're watching.
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: Whoever built this list was clearly trying to troll everybody.
• 30:38
  Speaker 7: And by the way, their only knock on the Steelers
• 30:41
  Speaker 7: is age.
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: That's it. It's not talent.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: It's age.
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: So I think it's all nonsense.
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: And I'm not going to spend my Friday worried or
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: pissed off about this.
• 30:53
  Speaker 6: I'm going to continue to enjoy your company. And when
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: this is over, I'm going to go have a burger.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: So let me just say this, too. And I understand
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: exactly what you're saying.
• 31:03
  Speaker 8: And what you're also saying leads into that front office ranking,
• 31:07
  Speaker 8: which we're going to wrap up things with. And then
• 31:10
  Speaker 8: we'll give you the comments. And then we'll get our
• 31:12
  Speaker 8: final comments. Again, this is future stuff. So there's some
• 31:15
  Speaker 8: of this stuff that I understand, but some of the
• 31:16
  Speaker 8: stuff that I think we all believe is well off
• 31:20
  Speaker 8: the mark. We'll get to that when we continue. In
• 31:23
  Speaker 8: the locker room here on the studio, there's audio network.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 31:54
  Speaker 8: Okay, well, I guess we're going to do away with this,
• 31:56
  Speaker 8: but this next noise... has Max ambling toward the buffet
• 32:02
  Speaker 8: table and Willie coming out of the corner, touching his
• 32:06
  Speaker 8: gloves together. It is time, perhaps for the last time,
• 32:10
  Speaker 8: it is time for the bell lap.
• 32:17
  Speaker 6: And they're off.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: That's another thing that could be happening, right? A little
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Kentucky Derby action.
• 32:24
  Speaker 6: That's what I hear in my head. That's what it
• 32:26
  Speaker 6: feels like.
• 32:28
  Speaker 8: I wasn't sure if you were going with that or
• 32:31
  Speaker 8: coming out of the corner when they ring the bell
• 32:33
  Speaker 8: for a boxing match.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: All kinds of things. What's that?
• 32:39
  Speaker 6: I said both of them work. I get both of them.
• 32:44
  Speaker 8: Max is going to rejoin us for a moment. Max
• 32:45
  Speaker 8: is down in Tennessee getting ready for the Tennessee Furman game.
• 32:48
  Speaker 8: He's going to rejoin us for just a moment as
• 32:52
  Speaker 8: we finish up this discussion which was again As we
• 32:56
  Speaker 8: get into game week next week, we're obviously going to
• 32:59
  Speaker 8: be talking about the Falcons. We're going to listen in
• 33:01
  Speaker 8: on what Mike McCarthy has to say on Monday when
• 33:03
  Speaker 8: the show, we rejoin you on Tuesday for the locker room.
• 33:07
  Speaker 8: And we'll be spending all that time in earnest diving
• 33:11
  Speaker 8: into the Steelers roster, perhaps looking at the expectations nationally
• 33:16
  Speaker 8: for the Steelers this season. This is an exercise in
• 33:19
  Speaker 8: where do the Steelers stand for the future. And again,
• 33:22
  Speaker 8: in case you're just joining us, this is an ESPN exercise.
• 33:25
  Speaker 8: They do it every year. They rank teams through a
• 33:27
  Speaker 8: three-year window beginning the next season. So this is the Steelers,
• 33:31
  Speaker 8: 27 through 29. I'm going to run down the rankings.
• 33:34
  Speaker 8: Their overall ranking is 30th. Their rankings are overall roster,
• 33:38
  Speaker 8: excluding QB, 20. Quarterback, they rank 32nd. Again, that's the future,
• 33:43
  Speaker 8: not this season. Coaching, they rank 31st. Front office, they
• 33:47
  Speaker 8: rank 27th. So the biggest problem that I have, Willie,
• 33:53
  Speaker 8: is I think, look, if you want to say the
• 33:55
  Speaker 8: overall roster, I think the roster's better than people are saying.
• 33:59
  Speaker 8: I think it's going to be proven over the course
• 34:00
  Speaker 8: of this year. I understand where people say, okay, let's
• 34:03
  Speaker 8: see how this all comes together in the trenches.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: They've invested a lot in that.
• 34:07
  Speaker 8: Let's see if they become a dominant team up front.
• 34:10
  Speaker 8: If they do, people are going to be talking about
• 34:12
  Speaker 8: that roster differently. The quarterback position, if you want to
• 34:15
  Speaker 8: say that, hey, they've got to go out and get
• 34:16
  Speaker 8: a first-rounder, okay. The coaching, I think, is silly. 31,
• 34:20
  Speaker 8: it's not even close, in my opinion. I mean, even
• 34:23
  Speaker 8: if on a new team you wanted to give middle
• 34:25
  Speaker 8: of the pack, that would probably be still too low
• 34:28
  Speaker 8: for a Super Bowl winning coach.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: 31, I think, is ridiculous.
• 34:32
  Speaker 8: It's this front office at 27 that gets me because
• 34:36
  Speaker 8: this front office, in my opinion, has overseen the transition
• 34:40
  Speaker 8: of the Steelers from the Ben Roethlisberger era now to
• 34:43
  Speaker 8: this next era where they're looking for certainly a franchise quarterback,
• 34:47
  Speaker 8: hoping one is on the roster. We don't know that yet.
• 34:50
  Speaker 8: But in the meantime... They continued to win games. Now,
• 34:54
  Speaker 8: some of that, obviously, look, you have to give credit
• 34:56
  Speaker 8: to Mike Tomlin. But the rest of it is roster construction.
• 34:59
  Speaker 8: Just look around the league at what happens when teams
• 35:04
  Speaker 8: aren't getting the quarterback play they desire.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: And look at what.
• 35:07
  Speaker 8: The Steelers have been able to do running backups out there,
• 35:10
  Speaker 8: Duck Hodges, players like that, just to even get to 500.
• 35:14
  Speaker 8: How does that happen? Because you've got a good roster
• 35:17
  Speaker 8: that you've been building all along. And I know this
• 35:20
  Speaker 8: is an exercise in the futures, but I think just
• 35:23
  Speaker 8: that alone would tell you, hey, this front office has
• 35:26
  Speaker 8: done a solid job. They've done a good job, and
• 35:29
  Speaker 8: they deserve to rank way better, way better than 27,
• 35:32
  Speaker 8: in my opinion. I don't see how you can see
• 35:35
  Speaker 8: the Ravens, for instance, a team within the division, rank
• 35:38
  Speaker 8: as high as they rank. I believe it was third,
• 35:40
  Speaker 8: and the Steelers ranked 27th. That just doesn't fly for me.
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: But this is what I.
• 35:46
  Speaker 7: I was kind of long-winded when I was explaining the
• 35:50
  Speaker 7: team's philosophy and why it matters. Because along with changing
• 35:56
  Speaker 7: head coaches, they also changed GMs. Kevin Colbert was a
• 36:00
  Speaker 7: big part of the Steelers' early success. Well, the 2000s success, rather.
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: And then Omar Khan steps into place. And with the
• 36:10
  Speaker 7: changing of a head coach, with the changing of a
• 36:12
  Speaker 7: general manager, with.
• 36:15
  Speaker 6: the changing of.
• 36:15
  Speaker 7: A quarterback with an aging roster, there's still been stability
• 36:20
  Speaker 7: and the standard hasn't left. Sure, the standard is always
• 36:23
  Speaker 7: going to be winning Super Bowls. Sure, you never want
• 36:26
  Speaker 7: to see a team just be one and done when
• 36:28
  Speaker 7: they get into the playoffs. But I can't pound on
• 36:32
  Speaker 7: the table and tell you there are so many organizations
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: who feel like they have it right year after year
• 36:38
  Speaker 7: and don't even have a quarter of the success the
• 36:40
  Speaker 7: Steelers have. And because the philosophy behind it I'm always
• 36:45
  Speaker 7: a fan. I've always looked at organizations who have continuous success,
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: whether it's the Seattle Seahawks, the New England Patriots, the
• 36:53
  Speaker 7: Pittsburgh Steelers. They see a guy, they know it's their guy,
• 36:58
  Speaker 7: and they move forward by picking their guy. And that
• 37:00
  Speaker 7: guy may not look like the guy for every other team.
• 37:03
  Speaker 7: And when they still have developed an eye of selecting
• 37:06
  Speaker 7: their guy, and that guy may not come from an
• 37:09
  Speaker 7: Alabama or a Michigan or whatever.
• 37:11
  Speaker 6: They may come from a central Michigan area. or some
• 37:14
  Speaker 6: of these other schools.
• 37:15
  Speaker 7: And so with that said, there's the philosophy, the understanding
• 37:20
  Speaker 7: of what their guy looks like and how to develop
• 37:23
  Speaker 7: guys all matters. And so when you talk about projection,
• 37:27
  Speaker 7: the projection for the Pittsburgh Steelers is that they know
• 37:30
  Speaker 7: how to make and do and select guys who are
• 37:33
  Speaker 7: going to be great for what they want represented on
• 37:36
  Speaker 7: the field and off the field, but they also feel
• 37:38
  Speaker 7: like they have guys that they can build with and
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: build on.
• 37:41
  Speaker 6: And so.
• 37:42
  Speaker 7: I get frustrated because I think people don't understand how
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: good they are at picking their guy. Valid, that guy
• 37:48
  Speaker 7: may not turn out to be the best off the field.
• 37:52
  Speaker 7: But from an X and O standpoint, from a ball
• 37:55
  Speaker 7: player standpoint, we don't necessarily miss, man. And we've been
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: consistent with getting high-level wide receiver.
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: Play coming from different areas of this country that people
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: don't even look at.
• 38:06
  Speaker 7: So I think it still is having a great eye
• 38:08
  Speaker 7: of selecting a guy that finding their guy and building
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: their guy with some of the turnover they've had in
• 38:13
  Speaker 7: the front office because everybody's in line with the philosophy
• 38:17
  Speaker 7: and what they believe a Pittsburgh Steelers should look like.
• 38:21
  Speaker 8: So, Max, before you jump in, I'm just going to
• 38:24
  Speaker 8: read you the comments from ESPN. And again, some of
• 38:27
  Speaker 8: this seems to fly in the face of their own rankings.
• 38:30
  Speaker 8: So this is reason for hope. The reason for concern
• 38:34
  Speaker 8: is the quarterback position. Seems to be no end in
• 38:37
  Speaker 8: sight when it comes to the answer for Pittsburgh's QB situation.
• 38:40
  Speaker 6: Okay, fine.
• 38:41
  Speaker 8: Reason for hope. The Steelers are treading water quarterback with
• 38:44
  Speaker 8: 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers swansonging under new but former coach Mike McCarthy.
• 38:49
  Speaker 8: The defense is also built around aging stars Jalen Ramsey,
• 38:52
  Speaker 8: Cameron Hayward, TJ Watt. The good news is that GM
• 38:55
  Speaker 8: Omar Khan has drafted well and they're exciting young players
• 38:59
  Speaker 8: on both sides of the trenches. Well, So then the
• 39:02
  Speaker 8: final wrap-up is that should soften the inevitable transition awaiting
• 39:06
  Speaker 8: the Steelers after consistent mediocrity in recent years. Of course,
• 39:11
  Speaker 8: it's been above mediocre, but I understand the comment. If
• 39:15
  Speaker 8: Omar Khan is drafted well and there are exciting young
• 39:18
  Speaker 8: players on both sides of the trenches, then how does
• 39:20
  Speaker 8: the front office rank 27th? I don't think I quite
• 39:23
  Speaker 8: understand how those two could possibly be.
• 39:26
  Speaker 6: Can I make a quick comment, Rob? Yeah.
• 39:29
  Speaker 7: I think partly because people judge that 2022 draft class,
• 39:33
  Speaker 7: and we've lost our emergence to some guys.
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: You know, Broderick's gone.
• 39:37
  Speaker 7: You talk about Kenny Pickett, who they thought they found
• 39:39
  Speaker 7: their future, their next heir apparent to Ben Roethlisberger. I mean,
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: they look at that 2022 draft and how that's impacted
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: this roster thus far.
• 39:49
  Speaker 6: And they hold it against the Steelers.
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: But they don't credit the fact that even with that draft,
• 39:53
  Speaker 7: as you mentioned, the Steelers still were able to make
• 39:55
  Speaker 7: the playoffs.
• 39:56
  Speaker 6: The Steelers were still able to have successful seasons.
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: And the fact that Mike Tomlin threw it all was
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: able to carry that team. And so they hold that
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: draft class. It's like, oh, look what the front office
• 40:08
  Speaker 7: did and how much it set the Steelers back. Steelers
• 40:10
  Speaker 7: are in a damn good place. And I think that's
• 40:12
  Speaker 7: why we continue to believe that this year, out of
• 40:14
  Speaker 7: all years, they're going to show people that there's a
• 40:17
  Speaker 7: better roster that has way more own for substance than
• 40:20
  Speaker 7: people believe.
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: Max.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 40:27
  Speaker 10: I mean, I look at it and, you know, a
• 40:29
  Speaker 10: lot of valid points by Willie about that. And I
• 40:34
  Speaker 10: point to this other aspect of it is, you know,
• 40:37
  Speaker 10: how many times they made the playoffs in the last
• 40:38
  Speaker 10: four years versus a lot of those teams.
• 40:41
  Speaker 6: That are in front of them. Right.
• 40:43
  Speaker 10: It's something that you have to take historical context into
• 40:46
  Speaker 10: place and say, yes, this is.
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: Who we are, but also don't forget who we are.
• 40:53
  Speaker 11: And, you know, to be in that position, to be
• 40:57
  Speaker 11: at that place consistently year after year after year, and yes,
• 41:02
  Speaker 11: they call it mediocrity and yes, 500 might be considered mediocre,
• 41:07
  Speaker 11: but when you consider the field, That's above mediocre because
• 41:12
  Speaker 11: I think the baseline for the average team is sitting
• 41:15
  Speaker 11: there at seven wins. So we're an above mediocre team
• 41:19
  Speaker 11: year in and year out. And that's how people have
• 41:23
  Speaker 11: to look at it.
• 41:23
  Speaker 10: You can't look at the numbers and say, oh, they're
• 41:27
  Speaker 10: nine and eight every year. And that gives you the
• 41:30
  Speaker 10: 17 games. But Because you'll never have a true 500
• 41:33
  Speaker 10: season anymore, but they're consistently in that conversation. Like you said,
• 41:38
  Speaker 10: I think it's just fatigue from other people. They're tired
• 41:40
  Speaker 10: of having me mentioning the Steelers or betting against them
• 41:44
  Speaker 10: and losing, or you do put your faith into them
• 41:47
  Speaker 10: and then they end up coming up short in the playoffs,
• 41:49
  Speaker 10: but they're in the playoff hunt.
• 41:51
  Speaker 12: They're one of 14 teams out of the 32 that
• 41:55
  Speaker 12: makes it to the playoffs almost every year. And that
• 41:58
  Speaker 12: is something that you have to reconcile with.
• 42:02
  Speaker 10: And that's where you have to really put your truth in.
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you can rank your coaches, whatever.
• 42:06
  Speaker 10: But like you said, at the end of the day,
• 42:08
  Speaker 10: I'm not losing sleep over this futures.
• 42:09
  Speaker 6: Ranking because the futures ranking is incorrect.
• 42:11
  Speaker 10: And it doesn't take reality into it.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree.
• 42:15
  Speaker 8: And I just want to say one more thing, guys,
• 42:18
  Speaker 8: is that we see the team up close and and
• 42:21
  Speaker 8: this reminds me of what the Steelers way has been
• 42:25
  Speaker 8: for so many years in which they were trying to
• 42:27
  Speaker 8: piece together and wasn't really the way toward the end
• 42:30
  Speaker 8: of the Ben Roethlisberger era for obvious reasons you were
• 42:32
  Speaker 8: trying to build a now roster but for every what
• 42:36
  Speaker 8: the Steelers are trying to do yes you want I
• 42:39
  Speaker 8: want an experienced team I want veteran guys starting but
• 42:43
  Speaker 8: for every Cam Hayward you're hoping there's a Keanu Benton
• 42:47
  Speaker 8: or a Derek Harmon who's ready to ascend to stardom
• 42:51
  Speaker 8: when Cam steps aside.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: For every T.J. Watt, you're hoping there's a Nick Herbig
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: or perhaps a Jack Sawyer who can step in and
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: be that guy.
• 42:59
  Speaker 8: For every Deshaun Elliott at age 29, you're hoping there's
• 43:02
  Speaker 8: a Robert Spears Jennings. You know, for every Michael Pittman,
• 43:06
  Speaker 8: maybe there's a Jeremy Bernard. And then, you know, obviously
• 43:10
  Speaker 8: around the offensive line, that's just straight-up youth. So what
• 43:13
  Speaker 8: the Steelers are trying to do it seems to me,
• 43:16
  Speaker 8: is what they've done when they've been at their most successful,
• 43:19
  Speaker 8: which is have experienced guys starting and young guys who
• 43:24
  Speaker 8: you believe are the next stars waiting in the wings.
• 43:27
  Speaker 8: And I think seeing that up close, and again, it
• 43:30
  Speaker 8: still has to be proven.
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: It still has to be played out on the field.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: I understand that.
• 43:34
  Speaker 8: But seeing it up close, Willie, I think certainly gives
• 43:37
  Speaker 8: me the optimism that this is a team better equipped
• 43:40
  Speaker 8: to handle the future than this poll would indicate.
• 43:44
  Speaker 7: And I guess what also gives me hope is a
• 43:47
  Speaker 7: lot of this quality depth that you just talked about,
• 43:48
  Speaker 7: a lot of these guys outside of Jeremy, Bernard, a
• 43:52
  Speaker 7: lot of these guys have played meaningful games and gone
• 43:54
  Speaker 7: the distance and been able to endure long seasons. And
• 43:58
  Speaker 7: that's something that I realized when, you know, early in
• 44:01
  Speaker 7: my Steeler career, why these guys like the Travis Kerskis
• 44:05
  Speaker 7: and all these other guys who are depth guys seem
• 44:08
  Speaker 7: to be ready for the fight late in the seasons
• 44:10
  Speaker 7: because they're They've played, you know, they've been around. You know,
• 44:13
  Speaker 7: they've been able to stomach some of the hard losses
• 44:16
  Speaker 7: and good wins. And so when the opportunity came, those
• 44:20
  Speaker 7: guys were so in line and ready for the battle
• 44:22
  Speaker 7: because they've seen.
• 44:24
  Speaker 6: It, done it all.
• 44:24
  Speaker 7: There's a lot of guys on this roster that fit
• 44:26
  Speaker 7: that mold where they've been able to endure some of
• 44:29
  Speaker 7: the success of the Steelers and also suffer some of
• 44:31
  Speaker 7: the success, excuse me, the lack of success from the
• 44:34
  Speaker 7: Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 44:35
  Speaker 6: As a team, rather.
• 44:36
  Speaker 7: So I'm confident not only in the depth we have,
• 44:40
  Speaker 7: for the next guy up that every guy in that
• 44:41
  Speaker 7: mentality has.
• 44:43
  Speaker 6: But the belief with the talent we have.
• 44:44
  Speaker 7: That we not only have depth, we have talented depth,
• 44:48
  Speaker 7: which is the only thing that propels you into playoffs
• 44:50
  Speaker 7: and making a legit run once you get into the playoffs.
• 44:53
  Speaker 6: Because we all know guys get hurt. Injuries happen.
• 44:56
  Speaker 7: I mentioned the other day how Marquise Pouncey got injured
• 45:02
  Speaker 7: in an AFC championship game against the Baltimore Ravens right
• 45:05
  Speaker 7: before Super Bowl XLV when he played the Packers. And
• 45:08
  Speaker 7: the guy that stepped up to the plate for the
• 45:09
  Speaker 7: offensive line at the play center was Doug Ligurski and
• 45:12
  Speaker 7: graded the highest. And so when you have those type
• 45:15
  Speaker 7: of guys in the building, how can you not be
• 45:19
  Speaker 7: optimistic and actually prideful that the future is going to
• 45:22
  Speaker 7: be bright for the Steelers because of not the guys
• 45:25
  Speaker 7: with the big contracts, it's the guys who have been
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: around and been doing.
• 45:28
  Speaker 6: It for a while and ready when their number and
• 45:30
  Speaker 6: name is called.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: Guys, I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day. Max,
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: I know you'll be laboring.
• 45:37
  Speaker 8: For the Volunteers and Furman game he got on the radio,
• 45:40
  Speaker 8: and then again on Sunday night. I hope you get
• 45:42
  Speaker 8: a little bit of a respite before we kick it
• 45:44
  Speaker 8: off into full gear next week when the Steelers get
• 45:47
  Speaker 8: ready for the Falcons. Our thanks to the new member
• 45:51
  Speaker 8: of the locker room, Willie Colon, for joining us all
• 45:53
  Speaker 8: week long. Willie, can't wait to have you here with
• 45:55
  Speaker 8: us all season here in the locker room.
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: Thank you, guys. Thank you. Enjoying myself already.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: Good deal. Good stuff.
• 46:03
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: Take care, fellas.
• 46:04
  Speaker 8: All right, Max, go get them, my friend. For Max Starks,
• 46:07
  Speaker 8: for Willie Colon, I'm Rob King. Happy Labor Day, everybody.
• 46:10
  Speaker 8: Hope you have a great and safe weekend. We thank
• 46:12
  Speaker 8: you for joining us in the locker room here on
• 46:14
  Speaker 8: the Steelers Audio Network.