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

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with King and Starks
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. Presented by your neighborhood Ford store.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: The F-150 is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: All right, Will, something new here. That is Optimus Prime
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: that drives by. Obviously, my love for all things 80s
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: and especially cartoons. And I know you had to have
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: been a Transformers kid as well. That's Optimus. He comes
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: by to let us know it is the power hour,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: hour number two here inside the locker room. So just
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: a little behind the curtain. So you will hear that
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: hour number two every time.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Oh, wow. That is. Did you think of that, Max?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Of course I did. Come on.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it does.
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: Oh, absolutely. It's too good. It's too good to pass up.
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: So yeah, that's it. That's a, uh, and we, so
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: Max will bring us back for that. Then we have
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: the lunch bell late lunch this year. We're advocating a
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: late lunch.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: If you ever worked at an office job and thankfully
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: I haven't had to work in too many, um, You
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: want to take– I always did. I wanted to take
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: that lunch hour as late as I possibly could so
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: that when I came back from lunch– first of all,
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: you're more efficient in the morning. But then when you
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: come back from lunch, you know, you've only got an
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: hour or two to kill, right? So we're advocating all
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: listeners out there for a late lunch hour. Would you
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: agree with that, guys? Late lunch hour?
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: I like it. I like it. I pack snacks, though.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: What's the sound bite for the late lunch hour?
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's coming.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: It's coming. Don't you worry.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: We've got to create it. Yeah, don't worry.
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: Okay, so let's move to the running back position because
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: I think– Max, I think this was an extra surprise too.
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: So we're going to go Jalen Warren, Rico Dowdle. We'll
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: throw Riley Nowakowski, the rookie, in there. And Eli Hendrick–
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: or Heidenreich, I beg your pardon. I think Eli– so Warren, Dowdle,
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: I think relatively early in the camp we were not
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: surprised at all about Nowakowski. There again, another four-down player.
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: He's going to play on special teams. I think he's
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: going to excel on special teams. Certainly the belief is
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: he's going to excel on special teams. But he can
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: play fullback, too.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: For you.
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: And he can play H-back. So he can serve multiple purposes.
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: He's not just a special teams guy. So I think
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: that those Warren, Dowdle, Nowakowski kind of speak for themselves.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: And as we get into breaking down the pros and
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: cons of the position groups, and we're going to get
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: into that later in the week. ESPN did a ranking
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: of teams position groups prior to cut down day. We'll
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: get into that and we'll give our opinions on how
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: these position groups stack up. But I think the big
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: surprise there was Eli Heidenreich.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this was my first surprise in the good category.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about the bad surprises as we go on.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: But This was one, and I think the devil's in
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: the details because how do they have him listed? Running
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: back slash wide receiver. So that right there tells you
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: that when it came down to Lou Nichols, Travis Homer,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and Eli Heidenreich, Heidenreich was a better receiver. He was
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: a better guy out of the backfield catching passes. He's
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: a guy that they wouldn't have a problem with lining
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: up in the slot, something he also did at Navy.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: So.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: They felt better with that, and he's a core four
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: special teams guy. So they said, okay, we're not going
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: to have Travis Homer at the personal protector. We can
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: slide Eli Heidenreich in there. Kid's a Navy grad. He's
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: an Academy grad. I think he can figure out how
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: to be a PP just like Myles Killebrew was for
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: our team from Army. So he gave you, quote-unquote, the
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Swiss Army knife capability, and that's what I think edged
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: him out versus a pure running back in Lou Nichols
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  Speaker 2: and Travis Homer, who was– a decent running back, but
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: he didn't get a lot of carries in the preseason games,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: and it was just heavily special teams with running back
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  Speaker 2: as an option. And I think they're saying here, no,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: we want a guy who we can feel like can
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: plug and play at running back, can catch the ball
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  Speaker 2: out of the backfield in third-down situations, and also is
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: going to play on all of our teams. So I
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: think it is pretty interesting. I mean, I liked Eli.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I thought he did a lot of good things. Plus,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: he also gives you a kick returner. as well, opposite
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Caden Weegin in the kickoff return game. So he's a
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: guy who has some good versatility, and we like academy
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: guys with the Steelers, and we've had many all pros
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: and team captains that have come from the academy school.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: So I think it was a very good pick. That
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: was a good surprise to see because I thought Lou
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Nichols was going to be the pure running back option
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: as we were going into that Buffalo game.
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: I think, Willie, both you and I liked Lou Nichols,
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: didn't we?
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: I love Lou Nichols.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I love him. Max makes all valid points.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: And I guess I think I'm biased because, like, as
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: me and Rob were saying, we were a fan of
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: Lou Nichols. I love Lou Nichols because of his body size.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: I think he was a back that's built for cold weather.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Big back. He weighed 220 pounds. He was just solid.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Felt like he had a back running between the tackles.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: He was hard to take down.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: I think as we start to look at our running backs, man,
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: you know, you just need somebody who's just a tougher
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: back in the trenches, a guy who can finish on
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: the goal line. And he gave that, you know, when
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: we were doing the Buffalo game, I had mentioned that
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: he reminded me of a lot of the running back
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: that BMX played with by the name of Jonathan Dwight.
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: I also felt like he was a good third down back, too,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: because his willingness to block and his ability to finish
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: a short yardage. So I get everything why we chose Eli.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: I just, I just would have loved Lou made the roster.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: I think, I think he just adds a lot of
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: weight and substance to that, to that unit. Um, so I,
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: but I get it.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: I get it. Versatility wins at the end of the day,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: more you can do.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah. This was, this was not one where, um, you know,
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: I would have, I was going to fall on the sword.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: You know what I mean? This is one to me
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: that it surprised me. I didn't see it coming. I
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: thought they would try to slide him onto the practice squad. Um,
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: But it's nothing where I'm like, oh, my gosh, you know,
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: the season's gone one way or the other. Good developmental guy.
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: You know, I thought he ran hard and I thought
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: he ran well up in Buffalo. So, you know, guys,
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: I don't know how you feel, but I'm ready to
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: move on unless you have anything else to say about
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: the running back position. New topic.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: I got nothing. I'm just going to miss Lou.
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I'm hopeful he'll make it onto the practice squad.
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: He's a guy that I would like to see in
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: the practice squad.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Hopefully he clears. Cause I mean, and I, and listen,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: I'm the same way. I love Lou Nichols. I love
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: the way he ran. I love the way he produced.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: I'm just simply looking at it from the perspective of
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: who is going to give me the most versus who
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: gets a helmet on Sunday. I feel like Lou, it
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: will be a question whether he gets the helmet on Sundays.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: And like you said, a reserve until, type of situation,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: whereas I know I feel comfortable handing the helmet to
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Eli because he's going to contribute somehow. Somehow, someway, he's
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: going to be on the field, even if it's not
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: in the running back position, whereas I felt Lou was
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: definitely just a running back and could give you some
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: L5 kickoff return coverage possibility. I don't think he could
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: have been on the punt team. So I look at
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: that and I say there was more utility, and that's
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: why I liked it. I thought Eli acquitted himself well.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Like I said, when you have Already a guy is
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: slotted as your starting kick returner on the initial 53-man
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: roster that comes out. It's going to be pretty hard
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: to move him off of that.
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: Yep, and whether he can also slide in and be
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: your backup punt returner, they have Rico Dowdle right now
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: listed as the backup punt returner. That remains to be seen.
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: Let's move on to the receiver position because I don't
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: think there was a whole lot of teeth gnashing on
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: this Willie. I thought this kind of went chalk, kind
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: of the way we expected it to. You know, I
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: wouldn't have been shocked if they'd found some way to
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: get Max Hurdleman on the roster. I'm not sure how
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: they would have done that because he clearly could have
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: served as your backup punt returner. I thought he showed
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: a lot. I was impressed with him throughout camp. I
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: think he's a guy that's been on the rise now,
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: I think, for this team for a couple of years.
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: But by and large, I would have been surprised if
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: it wasn't the six we're looking at, which is D.K. Metcalf,
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: Michael Pittman, Roman Wilson– Ben Skoranek, Jeremy Bernard, and Caden Weege.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: I thought Roman Wilson had an up-and-down camp. I know
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: a lot of people talked about him in a positive way.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: I thought he kind of showed up early in camp
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: where people were like, man, he's really adjusted. I know
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: Aaron had mentioned him and talked about his ability to
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: kind of– he stepped it up from last year. But
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: then in the preseason games, it was kind of spotty,
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: just from my eyes. I'm not going to be totally wrong.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: If you guys feel like I'm wrong, please tell me.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: and that's why Jeremy Bernard was able to step in
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: as a three guy, played the number three receiver. I
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: don't know. I thought Roman Wilson was the only one
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: that I felt like, you know, he can go either
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: way for me. Everybody else felt exactly how I penciled it.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: So am I wrong in saying that, Max? Am I
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: out of touch a little bit there?
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: No, no.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: I'm right there with you. I think Roman got the opportunities,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: and like you said, it felt 50-50. And I felt
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: like we were talking about explosive plays and turning on
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: the tape, who pops off the tape? Max Hurlman popped
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: off the tape, right? Jeremy Bernard popped off the tape.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Caden Weege had a 75-yard scamper for a touchdown and
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: then he had that kick return, the punt return for
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: the TD. Popped off the tape. Roman, I can't say that, right?
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: And also DK and Michael Pittman, they didn't play, but
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: we knew who they were. You traded for them. You
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: paid a lot of money for them. Another guy you
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: traded and paid a lot of money for. We knew
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: they were safe. And Ben Skorodik even. Ben had the
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: first pass completion catch to start the preseason off. So
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Skro Dirt has always been that, you know, as a
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: pro bowl caliber, all pro level special teams guy that
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: can also give you time at the wide receiver position.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: So I knew most of those, but like you said,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Roman was just the question like, can he get into
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: fifth gear? Can he be a difference maker outside of
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: the guys you already have? And that still kind of
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: remains to be seen. I feel like he's got another
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: red shirt. He's working on a second red shirt where
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: he's like, okay, let's see if he can actually catch on.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: And I don't know if that's the case, whereas I
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: saw a lot more Macs. So I'm right there with you.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: I don't think you're crazy to think that because that's
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: just kind of what we saw. Like, you know, trust
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: your eyes, right? That's what we're always taught in this business.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Trust your eyes. And it's just it didn't pop for me,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: and I'm hoping that changes.
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: So here's my take on the wide receiver position, guys,
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: is that, yes, you want that third guy to be
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: a developmental guy and you want him to be a contributor.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: I was asked on TV this morning about the third
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: receiver spot and Roman Wilson in specific and Jeremy Bernard.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: I called up the Cincinnati Bengals statistics from two years ago.
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: I don't believe that the Steelers will throw the ball
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: 652 times like Joe Burrow did. I just don't think
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: that's going to happen. But even with that, You had
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: Jamar Chase. He has 127 receptions. Tee Higgins has 73 receptions.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: Mike Giusecchi, the tight end, had 65 receptions. Now, as
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: we sort of move that down a little bit as
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: to Metcalf and Pittman, I think they'll be closer to
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: the same amount of receptions. I think the tight ends
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: are going to get a lot of receptions. I think
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: the Steelers feel pretty good about two of them. Their
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: third wide receiver, and Chase Brown got some receptions, and
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: I think I think Dowdle and Warner are going to
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: get some receptions. On a team that threw the ball
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: 652 times, the third receiver caught the ball 36 times.
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: That's not a ton of receptions. So I think a
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: lot of Steelers nation might be gnashing their teeth over
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: something that, to me, it's not insignificant. I think the
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: most significant thing, the biggest issue, last year, I love
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: Calvin Austin, one of my favorite players. Love his toughness.
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: Heartbroken for him to see him get hurt this year.
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: I think he would have made an excellent number three receiver.
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: I think the Steelers have been looking for that Michael
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: Pittman type of guy. But beyond that, what we've seen
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: the last couple years, and it hurt the Steelers both times,
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: was when they did not have their number one guy.
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: That was George Pickens two years ago, DK Metcalf last year.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: There was nobody else to sort of ascend to that role.
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: To me, that might be the most important thing your
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: number three receiver can do. Can he ascend a little bit?
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: Without their top receivers out there in preseason, nobody's shading
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: their coverage toward DK Metcalf or Michael Pittman, and so
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: it's kind of honest coverage out there. I thought Jeremy
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: looked a little bit better, frankly. Can he eventually be
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: a guy that ascends to that number two receiver position?
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: And I don't want to put a ceiling on it,
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: but that seems to be what all the scouts said
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: about it. So to me, I think that's the biggest
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: importance of that number three receiver. Because, again, with a team,
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: what's he going to catch? 30 balls this year? Your
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: number three receiver? Now he'll probably get in the end
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: zone a few times because you're going to get in
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: the red zone. I mean, Yosefash had six touchdowns a
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: couple of years ago on those 36 receptions. So I'm sorry.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: Go ahead, Willie, please.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: No, no, no.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: I apologize. It may be more, right?
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: It may be more because the goal for Mike McCarthy
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: in this offense is to become explosive, right? I've mentioned
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: it before. This offense is ranked 15th in scoring. The
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: goal is to get to 13th and 12th, right? And
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: in doing so, they're going to have to open it
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: up and throw the ball a lot more than what
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: they did last year. And I think you having a
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: guy like Jeremy Benoit helps because I watched a kid
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: in the preseason. He's as advertised, meaning You know, when
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: he gets the rock, man, he's a hard receiver to
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: take down. You're going to need more than one guy
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: to get to him to bring him down. And the
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: way Dekef, you know, with his ability to blow the
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: top off the defense, you know Pittman's going to be
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: one of those guys who are going to kill the
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: intermediate routes. And if you could have a guy like
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: Jeremy Bernard who could flood zones and be those short,
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: quick guys, I mean, all those things work. So, like,
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: roaming thus far during camp, he doesn't give me what
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: I see out of Jeremy. You know, just a tough
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: guy who seems disciplined with his detail, who at times
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: you feel like, man, this kid is a tackle away
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: from taking it to the crib. I saw none of
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: that out of Roman. So that's why I was always like,
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: you know, it is what it is. You know, like
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: we have our three. Let's just move forward and push forward.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: So that's how I saw it. And maybe, like you said,
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: he'll continue to grow and continue to find his way.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: But I feel like I just didn't see enough. this
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: training camp late in training camp, say, yeah, he's ready
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: for the show.
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I like Jeremy.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Go ahead, Max.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: We're going to take a break, but go ahead. Yeah,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: let me just say this, and then we can go
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: to break. Let's not be mistaken. Roman Wilson is the
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: sixth receiver on this roster. He's not number three. Jeremy
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Nard is number three. Ben Skoranek and Caden Weijin are
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: getting helmets because they're special teams. Starting punt returner and
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: also a key gunner and your special team's ace. So
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Roman Wilson is the sixth receiver here. He's not the
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: third one and he's not going to be four or
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: five when it comes to getting a dress 46 helmet.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: He's going to be an option that sits in the,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: that sits in the stable.
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: Then that told me though, my apologies.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: Yes. And I'm really interested in how they're going to
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: divvy up because that was my mind left to that.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: And that's something we can, we can kick around a
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: little bit later on in the week. Cause I was
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: thinking the same thing.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Who's your 46.
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: Um, and, We'll get to that later in the week.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: So we're going to take a break now. We still
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: have to look at the tight end position. And we
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: really want to look at this offensive line position because
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: I think we all believe, we all share the belief
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: that it is extremely valuable to the Steelers. We'll talk
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: more about that when we continue in the locker room
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: with King and Starks and Colon here on the Steelers
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: Audio Network.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with King and Starks
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. Presented by your neighborhood Ford store.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: The F-150 is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: And by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: Okay, reaching out for Max Starks for some help here
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: because you are In the Locker Room with King and
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: Starks and.
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: Willie cologne all right yeah here we go we're getting
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: there we're getting.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: It working it yeah we are we are.
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: Really happy to have willie cologne with us uh and
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: hope you uh enjoyed the beginning of this show and
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: we'll enjoy this show many many times with willie adding
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: his uh great insight willie thank you so much for
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: for being here we are delighted to have you by
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: the way great job first time you'd ever done sidelines.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: Man, that was, and I have a new, so it's funny.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: That's the first time I did sideline. And after I
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: left you guys, I had to jump in the booth
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: and call the giants and jet game. And I have
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: a new found respect for you and Max, because the
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: amount of attention and detail that you'd have to be
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: able to display verbally is quite impressive because, you know,
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: I was daydreaming, like trying to, my mom was, my
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: mom was all over the place.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: So I, I, Special, special respect to you guys.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: Much appreciated.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: The mental part is, it's a big part, Max, isn't it? Yeah,
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: it is. It is.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: And I mean, and that's the thing. I think, Will,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: the way that you approached it was the right way
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: to approach it. I mean, just like with anything.
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: Else, right?
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: You know, you came in and it was like, I'm
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: here to learn. I'm here to add. What can I do?
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: And give my thoughts, right? you know, as almost like
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: an extra analyst on the field. And I thought that
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: was the greatest, you know, mark of that because that's
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: how I kind of learned it. And so watching you
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: kind of go through that, and I was like, man, okay, yes. Yeah,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: that's the way you get it until you get enough reps. And,
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: you know, like anything else, it takes time to get
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: really good at something if that's the path that you're
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: looking at. So for you to jump in there and
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: do it and have the experience that you have in
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: all the different facets of broadcasting, it just add another
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: feather to the cap.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: No, you guys made it fun, man.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: And, you know, the thing is, and I think Max
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: can attest to this, as the game continues to grow
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: and we grow apart from it from a playing standpoint,
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: like we've been retired for some time now.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: You never want to feel like the old man would.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Be like, back in my day and how we used
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: to do it. I mean, you never want to be
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: that guy. So I definitely went into– I definitely went
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: into it with that approach. Like nobody cares about your,
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: you know, epic run or whatever.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: You want to give some Intel, you want to be
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: able to talk about your experience and all that stuff,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: but you.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: Definitely want to be like, you know, you know, bang,
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: you know, when we used to not warm up, we
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: just kind of drank water and ran out there and
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: gave them hell. You never would.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: So you definitely want to be a lot more insightful
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: and open-minded. And I think that's, what's awesome about this
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: season from an analyst standpoint is that we get to
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: sit back and, watch the game, continue to be the game.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: But also grow and evolve.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: And that's why I am excited about the Steelers' offense
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: and what Mike McCarthy can do with what he has
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: in front of us. Because I think if it's what
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: we've seen out of him, especially going back from his
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: Dallas days, we got to forget Dak played his best
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: ball under Mike McCarthy. So I think good times are
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: ahead for the Steelers.
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: Max, should we just sit here for a minute and
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: admire that tremendous segue Willie just made? I'm talking about
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: working the booth to the Steelers. He got us right
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: back on track. That was impressive.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Season pro there. I mean, this isn't just Willie from
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: the Bronx. This is William M. Cologne that we're talking
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: to right now. Been doing it a little bit. Yeah,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: a broadcasting professional of many networks. He has many badges
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: that he can pull out and show us the resume.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: So this is a finely polished, finely aged broadcaster here
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: that we have in our midst.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: That's a good way of saying it, badges, Maxie. Some
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: of them badges don't get you back in the building,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: but the ones that work.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, listen, let's come to the buildings. You probably
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: don't want to walk back in that building, you know,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: so we're good there.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: And by the way, let me say this as the
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: lone member of this trio who did not play professional
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: football that I love. And, you know, you talked about
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: people don't want to hear about it back in my day. Well,
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: we're going to want to hear that at some points
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: throughout the course of the season. And we'll talk about,
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: you know, your guys playing together. Because, frankly, for me,
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: it's one of my favorite things to do in this profession.
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: is to talk about people. Now I'm a lot older
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: than you guys are, you know, the players that I
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: watched growing up were, were the Steelers of the seventies.
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: Like those, those were, those are the guys when I
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: was a kid, those are the legends. You know, there's always,
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: when you're a kid watching those people feel like, you know,
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: the jolly green giant, they're massive and they're bigger than
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: life and they're huge. And it still gives me a
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: thrill to talk to those guys and hear their stories and,
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: and hear stories about Chuck Knoll or Mean Joe Green
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: or what have you. And I think for a lot
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: of fans, and I'm still a fan of the game,
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: and I love talking to guys about their experiences in
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: the game. So for those of you who are listening
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: to Willie and say, well, I want to hear some
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: of that, you will hear some of that. Believe me,
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: you will hear some of that. You will. I think
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: a lot of people share my love for what goes
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: on a little behind the scenes.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: It's different for me and Max, though. You know why?
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Because even, like, I get, like, for you, you grew
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: up a fan. This is your team. You love them.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: You look at Domingo and Franco's and Mel's and Donnie
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: Shell's and all these guys, like, man, these guys were
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: the gods of guys.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: Like, us being Steelers, listen to their stories. We never
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: feel manly enough to be in their presence. Right.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: You know what I mean?
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: We honestly feel like we will forever be the, you know,
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: Max has won two Super Bowls. I've won one.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: When you're in the presence of those guys, it's like,
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: we didn't really do anything, did we, huh? You know
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: what I mean?
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: I think that's so awesome.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: They've done so much in the game of football. Go ahead.
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: Sorry, Rob. I know. As you say, I think that's
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: so awesome. And I've asked Max about this experience with
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: other franchises. And I've told this story on this air
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: a couple of times. But I remember being at one
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: of the CEO's alumni dinners. Wolf and I were there,
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: God rest his soul, a couple years ago. And we
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: were doing a show on this airway. And we were
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: talking to, you know, and it's different. So different players
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: are coming in from different areas. And Larry Brown came in,
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: as Wolf used to say. Larry Brown sat down. Four
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: minutes later, his triceps joined him. He's still big, still
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: in great shape. And, you know, he looked at Marquise
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: Pouncey and said, you could have played with us. And
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: I think maybe in a lot of other teams, a
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: lot of other sports, there are younger athletes who are just,
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: of course I could have played with you, old man.
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: We would have whipped you. You know what I mean? Like,
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: I think it's hard for a basketball player to have
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: somebody in their 60s tell them, hey, you could have
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: played with us. Man, we would have destroyed you, you know?
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: But the fact is that Marquise, and I asked him
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: about it afterwards, and he's like, absolutely that meant a
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: lot to him. And his eyes lit up, man. They did,
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: you know? It's crazy.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Wolf said the same thing to me. So I don't
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: know if Max ever should have.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: So Wolf and Tunch, while they were walking into the field,
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: and this is when I was pretty young in my career,
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: Tunch pulled me aside and taught me the Tunch punch. Like,
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: taught me, like, how to fire my hands and keep
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: my elbows tight. And, you know, he was teaching me
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: all these nuances. And, you know, Wolf would talk about, briefly,
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: about things he saw in the run game and where
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: to leave my hands.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: You know, because I was getting called for holding a lot.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: So he was like, man, this is how you want
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: to hide your hands. So he was teaching me all
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: these things.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: And, you know, I think one of the greatest compliments
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: I ever got from Wolf, and he's like, man, you
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: could have played, you know, when I played, you could
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: have played on that line. And the reason why that
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: means a lot to Steelers and current Steelers, or maybe,
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: you know, Steelers of earlier or later generation is because
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: when we look, when you turn on the tape and
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: you see how those guys did everything for the game,
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: you know what I mean? Like they just, they did
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: it for the, they did it for the, they played
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: for their brother. They played for the brand. They played
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: for the colors. They played for the city. Like you
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: tell the way they got after each other, man, it
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: meant more to them. So to feel like we could,
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: we was decorated or even, you know, had an inf
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: of talent and heart to play with those guys.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: That just, it does mean a lot, man.
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: And, you know, those guys, after they finished kicking butt
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: on the football field, they wouldn't have had real jobs, right?
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: A lot of us get to go to Acapulco or Mexico.
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: Those guys had to put on another belt.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: And go to work. So a lot of respect for
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: those older guys. Yeah.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: And I think, and I think, you know, Willie, Willie,
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Willie perfectly encapsulated that it's, it means a lot to
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: get that at, or, you know, we, you play for
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: the adoration of your peers, especially at offensive line position. Right.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: You know, cause we don't have stats. We don't have
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: those tangible things that fantasy owners want to want to,
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Oh my God, I can't wait to draft Willie Cologne
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: because his blocking grade is a 92.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: You know, no, that said nobody ever in fantasy, but
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: for us, we played for the previous generations. We understand
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: that we stand on the shoulders of Titans. And when
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: the Titans recognize and acknowledge you, That's all you need
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: to keep going. I don't care what anybody else says.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Like you said, if Joe Green comes up to you
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: and he's sizing you up, that means he thinks you're
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: a threat. And that's a good thing to them, right?
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Anywhere else in the world, that's a negative. And so
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: to have those guys around, to have that, not all
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: organizations allow that. And Willie and I have been to
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: other places, right? We've seen how other teams interact. Something
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: different in Pittsburgh. To have Mel Blunt walk in the
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: sidelines at 6'7, and then have a freaking 10-gallon hat on,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: and he looks like a 7-footer out there that still
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: wants to lock you up. Having the Frankos, the Rocky
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Blyers around, the Wolves, and the Tunches. And for Willie,
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: he shared that Tunch taught him the Tunch Punch. I
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: got the Tunch Punch video as a freshman at University
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: of Florida for my offensive line coach.
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: And then when I came to Pittsburgh... And we're doing it,
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: and we're doing– and Willie remembers this. Wolf used to
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: come in and run boxing in the springtime. We had
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: a choice to either do yoga or boxing. And so, obviously, all–
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: I picked yoga the other night.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: Did you?
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: He did.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I don't know why. I think he was working on
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: his flexibility for a different reason, but we won't talk
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: about that on air. It's daytime.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Whatever used to be throwing my hands, I needed to
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: get down and bend.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: And so– Tunch came up to me. I was like, oh,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: my God, you're the guy from my tapes. And he
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: was like, what? That's how I introduced myself to him.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: I'm like, you're Tunch Yolkin, Tunch Punch. I was like,
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: and so, and that's kind of a cool thing. Like,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: where else can you get that? Like, Tunch used to
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: go around to all the other teams in the league
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: and teach the Tunch Punch. But we had him here,
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: and he was available to us, and it wasn't a
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: consulting fee to get him out there. He was hanging around.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: So why wouldn't you want to go ask guys who
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: are legendary like that that you have access to, why
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: wouldn't you want to go ask them and learn from
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: those guys? Because they did it. I saw a film
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: of him locking up Reggie White, a guy who was
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: unlockable up him. I just made that word up.
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: Yes, we got you.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: You couldn't block him. But that's what we had here,
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: and I think that's what makes this place special, unlike
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: a lot of other places. Now, we didn't go everywhere
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: in the league, but I can say from our experience,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: from our travels, it's not like that in a lot
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: of places, and that's what makes Pittsburgh also very special.
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: Beautiful. It's a beautiful thing. All right, we're going to
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: take a break right now. I think we can– you
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: know what, guys? Let's just get this over and done with.
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: Tight ends, absolutely exactly the three guys we all expected, correct?
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: No surprise yeah okay we've moved on by those three
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: in case you don't have the roster in front of
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: you Friar Muth Washington and Tanyan no surprise there at
• 29:51
  Speaker 6: all so we're going to move on and talk about
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: a position.
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: If it's not the most important position on the team
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: It's way up there, the offensive line. We're going to
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: get to that when we continue in the locker room
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with King and Starks
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. Presented by your neighborhood Ford store.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: The F-150 is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: And by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: We know what time it is. It is the bell lap.
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: Bell.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: As we talked about earlier, this is actually the late bell.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: So this is your final opportunity to go run and
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: grab you something to eat here as we finish the
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: final segment inside of the show here. And Willie, it
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: used to be when we were 10 to noon, we
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: signaled the early lunch bell to let everybody know that
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: they were heading to lunch. Now we've adjusted it and
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: we will need to adjust our bells accordingly. So we
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: will be brainstorming on what do we do as a
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: final sounder Moving forward. But that is the first bell lap,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: early lunch bell that now became the late lunch bell.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: I'm advocating for a late lunch. Yeah, you're done with lunch.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: You go back.
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: At 3 o'clock, a little after maybe. You move some
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: paper clips around. You straighten out your desk, and you
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: go home.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: That's what I'm asking. So you want shuffling papers as
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: the sounder?
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: No, you get that. Everyone's more productive in the morning.
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: Get all that hard work in before lunch. No, I'm
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: not advocating anything of the sort. So, guys, let's talk
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: about the offensive line because I think we all agree
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: that it is. It's hugely important. And, again, if you
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: don't think it is, just look where the Steelers are drafted.
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: Broderick Jones was traded. He was taken in the first round.
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: Troy Faltano, first-round pick. Max Ahanachor, first-round pick. Zach Frazier,
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: second-round pick. Picks on McCormick. Anderson, boys, that's looking like
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: a good late pick. Jennings Dunker. You signed Brock Hoffman
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: in free agency. There's been a lot of attention paid
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: to this offensive line. And so, again, I'll just run
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: down the guys who are kept. Willie, let's start with
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: you on this one. Center, Zach Frazier, Ryan McCollum. Guard,
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: Mason McCormick and Spencer Anderson, as well as Hoffman, who
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: can play some center as well, and Jennings Dunker. Just
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: three tackles, although I suppose in a pinch, maybe Jennings
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: Dunker could kick out there. I don't know if he's
• 32:44
  Speaker 5: taking any snaps or at all right tackle. I don't
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: think so. Fautano with Cook and Ahanachor listed as the
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: lone setback. Your thoughts on that group, William, whether there
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: were any real surprises to you after the trade of Jones.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: Not really.
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: It's pretty much going as expected. You know, for me,
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: I think in reference to the right guard position, I
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: think it has to be Spencer Anderson. I know they
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: went ahead and got Brock Hoffman and paying him good money.
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: But I thought Spencer Anderson, excuse me, I thought he's
• 33:23
  Speaker 4: been consistent.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: I think I love the way he plays.
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: I love the way his mentality and how he approaches
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: the game. And I think moving forward, man, Are we
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: allowed to throw it out there? Has it been said?
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: Can we say Max Ahanatour should be the star right tackle?
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: Can we say, are we allowed.
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: To say that? Well, that was my next question for
• 33:43
  Speaker 5: you guys. I have a couple of follow-up questions before
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: we get to that, because I think that is the
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: number one question. Max, any surprises for you? Are you
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: surprised there isn't a fourth tackle on the team, or
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: is this about what you expected?
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: This is, I mean, after Broderick got traded, because I
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: thought Broderick would have been the 10th lineman if we
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: were going to go in that type of order until
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: the trade happened. The one I was surprised, I thought
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: it was going to be an either-or proposition with Brock
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: Hoffman and Ryan McCollum because both of them kind of
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: do the same thing, and Brock could actually probably and
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: did play a little more left guard in the preseason.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: So you're talking about a true three-position swing on the
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: interior behind Zach Frazier. and, and, and company. I thought
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: that was it. But I think when you said we're
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: keeping Jennings Dunker, he's the guy that can play left
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: and right guard. Ryan would be coming in primarily as
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: a center. I think that kind of left a redundancy
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: between Hoffman and McCollum because I felt that they were
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: the same guy. So you probably could have made space
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: for that guy, but there wasn't the additional tackle on
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: the roster if you were going to trade, uh, Broderick Jones.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: So it made sense. I was just surprised that they
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: kept McCollum, um, over Hoffman. Um, and they ended up, well,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: sorry that they kept both of them. I thought, I
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: thought that was the either or that's my only one,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: but everything else made sense. And I'm in agreeance with Willie.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: I think this was a resounding signal, bat signal that
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: Maxi on a chore is going to start the season
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: at right tackle. And they felt good enough with one,
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: with one preseason game under his belt, that they felt
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: good enough on what they saw that they could develop that.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: And they could develop a game plan around, you know,
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: not just like, quote, unquote, protecting him the entire time,
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: but they could work with what he had to offer.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: And I think this will be a team, we talk
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: about explosive plays, I think it will be a run-first team, too,
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: because of that, because of Max's ability to run the football.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: So I would expect more running heavy to the right.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: And then also, like you said, a lot of the
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: slide and pass throw stuff kind of sliding either to
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: him or protecting him if he is on the strong
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: side of the... of the pass protection.
• 35:54
  Speaker 5: So let me ask you this, and again, so you're
• 35:59
  Speaker 5: looking ahead now to week one in which Atlanta has
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: a couple of promising young pass rushers, both first-round picks
• 36:08
  Speaker 5: last year, but neither one of them will be available.
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: Jalen Walker, who was third in the team in sacks
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: a year ago, he is on the injured reserve, on
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: injured reserve, and James Pierce is suspended. for the first
• 36:21
  Speaker 5: half of the season. He led the team in sacks
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: a year ago. So, look, they brought in Z'Darrius Smith.
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: He's a veteran guy who knows how to get things done.
• 36:30
  Speaker 5: He's probably, I would guess, maybe considered their best sort
• 36:33
  Speaker 5: of edge rusher at this point. So it's not a
• 36:37
  Speaker 5: fearsome foursome of pass rushers. You're not going against a
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: Steelers pass rush, for example, in week one. I don't
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: know if that would have any effect on them. Maybe
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: a bit of a softer way to begin the season,
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: quote-unquote softer way in the pass game because I think
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: that's the, you know, the feeling is maybe that's where
• 36:54
  Speaker 5: Max is going to need the most work is going
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: against NFL pass rushers. You know, road grading guys seems
• 37:01
  Speaker 5: to come pretty naturally to him. Do you think that
• 37:03
  Speaker 5: would be a factor at all, Max? And do you
• 37:05
  Speaker 5: think Max will be the week one starter?
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: I think because of that, and you outlined it, Zedaria
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Smith coming in, retired a year ago, and I don't
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: know if you guys heard it, but a very heartwarming story. um,
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: and heartbreaking story at the same time was that, you know,
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: he lost, um, his mom, dad, and grandmother all in
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: like consecutive fashion. So that forced him to kind of
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: take a step back and be more at home and
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: closer to his family. And with the loss of those
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: three kind of led him back to football as being
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: his sanctuary, um, to kind of deal with, deal with
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: those emotions and, and come back and play. So great story.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: I expect him to get Stonewalled week one. Um, but
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: I think that's what you have to look forward to
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: is that it wasn't going to be as heavy lifting
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: with two premier pass rushers off the edge. Now they
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: still might sign somebody and find another guy in the
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: wave of releases, but as far as it goes, I
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: think it's easier to say, hey, we have a plan
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: in place for Atlanta in week one where we can
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: ease him in and get him full reps in this.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: And like you said, I said it earlier, I think
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: if we're going to be a run first team with
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: Rico and Jalen in the backfield, well, I want the
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: road graders. And I think that's what Max brings. He
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: brings a road grading mentality and dominant right size. And
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: Willie can speak to this as a former right tackle
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: like myself. You know, we knew we were the fist
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: on the offensive line. Like we had to set the
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: tone in the run game on that right side. And,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: you know, there's nothing better than getting it called your
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: way on like 22 duo or 22 double and 23 double.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: And starting the game out, it was like, hey, we're
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: going to smash these guys and work up and give
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: our running back some lanes to run roughshod on the
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: opposing defense.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I like the young fellas starting solely off
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: of what I saw from the Buffalo game because, yeah,
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: people want to highlight maybe the sack he gave up or.
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: The penalty and whatever.
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: You can tell when he settled in, man, and him
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: and Jennings Dunker started leaning and started imposing their will
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: at the line of scrimmage, man. They were playing bully ball,
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: and I think the Steelers want to get back to that.
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: And then when you watch him from a mechanic standpoint,
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: you can tell he's been well coached. I think his
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: footwork is balanced. His ability to strike. All those things
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: started to pop. I feel like as you move into
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: week one, and Max hit it right on the head,
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: you've got to put a game plan around it. You
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: want to have tight ends on the outside of him.
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: You want to give him chip help. But you also
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: have to let him go. He has to go through
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: the fire, too, because even though it's a Darius Smith,
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: I remember the second year, my second year starting, Our
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: first game was against the Cleveland Browns. I was going
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: against Willie McGinnis. Willie McGinnis was a little bit of
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: an old dog by then, but he was still a dog.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: And he knew a lot of tricks to the trade,
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: and he knew how to do things. He didn't care
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: that I was a young guy out there. He was
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: still trying to take my head off. And so Max
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: has to go through that. He's going to have to
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: go through that fire and be put in positions where
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: he's not going to have tight end next to him.
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: He's not going to have chip help.
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: At times, they're going to have to move a slide
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: away from him and he's going to have to be
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: out there on the island.
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: He's going to have to kind of figure those things out.
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: I think one of the things that's going to help
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: him play better and be better, especially early in the season,
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: is his conditioning because he hasn't played a lot during
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: training camp. If he can start doing the little things
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: outside of practice, like the gassers, getting on the treadmill,
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: jumping rope, doing things when they start leaning on him
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: in a run game, when legs start getting heavy, you
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: don't necessarily get off the ball as fast and furious
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: as you'd like to because you're they're leaning on you
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: on your side of the ball. And then we all
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: know Max can attest to this too. Physically, when you
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: start getting tired, mentally you start getting tired. And then
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: now things start going a little.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: Crazy for you.
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: The young fella has a lot of talent. Conditioning has
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: to be right now his main focus. He's going to
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: have to get in football shape and be a lot
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: more consistent with his conditioning. And then everything he wants
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: to do on the table, however they want him to operate,
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: will fall in line.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: But right now, when I watch him and you put
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: on tape, it's his conditioning.
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: I don't know how healthy he is, but he's healthy
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: enough that he was able to finish that game. I
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: think his conditioning, his strength training, continued to rehab the
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: neck injury.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: And I think by midseason, we may see something special
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: out of him.
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: Looking back at the holding call, too, I thought it
• 41:33
  Speaker 5: was a bad call. I didn't think he held anybody.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: It was a horrible call.
• 41:36
  Speaker 5: He drove the guy into the ground. That's what he did.
• 41:38
  Speaker 5: He did what he was supposed to do.
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: He was playing football.
• 41:41
  Speaker 5: Right. Yeah. It's a big decision, and I'm eager to
• 41:47
  Speaker 5: see it, Max. As a fan, it's okay to be
• 41:51
  Speaker 5: eager to see it. Ramifications, you've said before, once you
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: open that tube of toothpaste, you're not putting the toothpaste
• 42:00
  Speaker 5: back in. You can't bring them down. You're going to
• 42:02
  Speaker 5: have to live with any kind of ups and downs
• 42:04
  Speaker 5: and growing pains because mentally you just can't take them
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: out unless things were to go you know, further off
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: the rails than any of us would anticipate. Is that
• 42:12
  Speaker 5: the one downside you see to him starting on opening day?
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it is. I mean, once you open
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: Pandora's box, you can't unopen it, right? And once you
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: are put in the fire, you're either going to get
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: burned or you're going to figure out how to navigate
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: around it. And I think that's what the Steelers feel
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: mentally because you have to think about this. It's also
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: not just a physical evaluation that they have for players
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: when you go through training camp, you go through the
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: pre-draft process and everything. It's a psychological evaluation on how
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: you're judging these players. And so psychologically, they said this
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: kid must be mentally tough enough to handle the druthers
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: and the drudges of success and failure because that's essentially
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: what it is. You know, it's no offensive lineman have
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: I met, and Willie, you could attest to this, that
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: has ever played a perfect game. The second you play
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: a perfect game, you might as well just walk off
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: the field, right? There's always something to work on. There's
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: always something to get better at, and you have to
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: have that hunger and that willingness to prepare. If you
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: don't have that gene, you will not survive.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: Max, I'm going to throw this out there, too.
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: My first full year starting, I was on the line
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: with Alan Fennick and Marvell Smith. I think Jeff Harden
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: was last year, and Kendall Sim was the right guard,
• 43:26
  Speaker 4: and I was the rookie right tackle. Well, that wasn't
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: my rookie year, but it was my second year starting.
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: And I tell you this, I didn't do anything right.
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: I felt like I did everything wrong. Even when I
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: did things right, I was wrong. And I remember being
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: in the field room trying to mimic the rest of
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: the four guys, trying to mimic Norvell Smith, trying to
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: see the nuances and things Anna was doing that I
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: could add to my game or just be on par
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: with the rest of this line, and it was never good.
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: So when Max.
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: talks about protecting the neck, meaning protecting his brain in
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: his emotional state, you got to make sure, you got
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: to protect his confidence. And the only way to protect
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: it is continue like, hey, man, you're going to go
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: out here, we're going to allow you to go out
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: here and fight, but we're also going to have to
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: coach you hard and you're going to have to be
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: able to understand that everything's going to go according to plan,
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: but we want to test your mental fortitude and see
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: if you've got any grit.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: And you've got to be willing to go through that
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: ride with him.
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: I can't tell you, Max has covered the Cardinals, I've
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: covered the Jets and Giants, man.
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: I've watched it, and I'm not trying to talk bad
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: about other organizations.
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: What I am trying to say is that I've seen
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: other organizations draft young linemen and put them into the
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: fire right away and not protect their confidence or protect
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: them from a bird's eye view and put things around
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: them so they can succeed. And those guys burn out fast.
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: Like I've seen it happen to Evan Neal, who just
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: got released. I've seen it to Eric Flowers, who was
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: a giant. I've seen it time after time. And Max,
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: maybe you've seen it with their time covering the Cardinals, man.
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: I've seen young, talented guys, linemen, come in the game
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: feeling like, oh, this kid, because of his size and
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: everything else he brings to the table, he should be
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: ready to go right away.
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: Physically, he may be ready to roll.
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: But from the neck up, man, there's still a lot
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: of nurturing and coaching that you kind of got to
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: build them up. And hopefully they do that for Max.
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: And hopefully his fan base also understands that they got
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: to build them up too. Continue to support the guy. Yeah,
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: if he has a bad game, be a fan. But
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: understand this is a young man trying to immerse himself
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: into a historic culture. in the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 45:24
  Speaker 5: All sounds wonderful, and that voice sounds wonderful, too. Hope
• 45:28
  Speaker 5: you get used to it. Just real quick, Wanya Thomas,
• 45:30
  Speaker 5: according to Jeremy Fowler, safety for the Colts that just
• 45:33
  Speaker 5: signed in the Steelers practice squad, the first player reportedly
• 45:36
  Speaker 5: that they have added to their practice squad. We'll have
• 45:38
  Speaker 5: more on that tomorrow. We're going to break down the
• 45:41
  Speaker 5: defense as well. So great to have Willie Colon with
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: us in the locker room, not only today, but moving
• 45:47
  Speaker 5: forward as well. Show number one, under the belt. So,
• 45:51
  Speaker 5: let us say goodbye for now. We'll break down the
• 45:53
  Speaker 5: defense for King and Starks and....
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: Cologne!
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: We thank you for being with us in the locker
• 46:02
  Speaker 5: room here on the Steelers Audio Network.