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

• 0:04
  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
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:15
  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.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Well, we did not have to add an and today.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: That is quick work. They got Willie... Cologne already on
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: the front of the show.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Thanks for being with us in the locker room alongside
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Max Starks and Willie Cologne.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I'm Rob King.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Max, I know it's probably 300 degrees in the desert,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: but Willie, this is starting to feel a little like
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: football weather today. I don't know, just a little overcast
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: and the leaves are starting to turn brown here in Pittsburgh.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: It's starting to feel like it's that time of year.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I'm on the same weather timeline as Max.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: I'm currently in Jackson, Mississippi, and it's steamy. So me
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: and Max have got the back butter balloon, and you're
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: over there comfortable picking out your sweater and picking up
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: a pumpkin latte.
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: So good for you, Rob.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Now, what brings you to Jackson, Mississippi, Willie?
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: My wife is from Jackson, Mississippi, and we currently moved.
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: We are currently.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: Residents now of Jackson, Mississippi. So I'm a Mississippian, if
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: you will.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Wow. How is that for a city guy to be
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: living in Jackson, Mississippi?
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: It's a blessing. I, you know, I live, you know,
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: I'm a Rose from the concrete jungle. I grew up
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: in South Bronx kid, born and.
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: Raised in New York, love New York.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: I will always consider myself a New Yorker, but now,
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: I've taken my talents to Jackson, Mississippi, where I plan
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: to raise my family. I've got a bigger village here.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: I've got 11 acres, a nice home, a pool, do
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: some fishing. And I'm officially morphing into a country boy
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: right before my family dies.
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: So it's a good transition, if you will. All right.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Max, you with us, my friend? How are you doing
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: out there in Arizona?
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: I am fine. I mean, listen, I'm just enjoying listening
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: to Willie talk about his new country roots, which is,
• 2:21
  Speaker 6: you know, always tickles me to think about, especially where
• 2:25
  Speaker 6: Willie's from and the fact that he's now in Jackson, Mississippi.
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: So God bless him. God bless him on that voyage.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: I'll be visiting the 11 acres. I don't know how
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: much outside of the 11 acres I want to see,
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: but I'll be on the property when I come down
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: to visit him.
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: Well, Rob, I don't know if you're aware of this, Rob.
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: Max is my son's godfather.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, I did know that.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so Max, him and my son share big brains.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: They're both STEM kids. They love science. They love nature.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: So as Max, as the offseason will be upon us
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: in a few months, Max has some duty. He has
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: some godfather duties to do. He will be outside as
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: much as he says he won't be outside. He'll be
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: in the trees looking for bugs and lizards and all
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: the nonsense.
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: As long as we don't find snakes, I'll be good.
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: We've got plenty of dinosaur topics to catch up on too.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Willie, since you.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Are new to the locker room, day number two, Max
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: and I both have a large I call it a
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: large swath of nerd between us. So probably 20% of
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: our conversations are us getting geeked up about like ancient
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Roman sites and things like that.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: So welcome to.
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: The log, my friend. Gotcha. Okay. I'll just take notes
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: while you guys talk about it.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: So I will say this.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Yesterday we were talking about the construction of the Steelers
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: 53-man rosters. And we got through the offense and we
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: went through the position groups. Were there any surprises? That
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: sort of thing. Before we advance today on the defense,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: and Willie, since you brought this up and we were
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: corresponding before the show, I'm going to go with you first.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Omar Khan was asked about the 11 rookies who were
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: on the roster. So I think it's 10 draftees and
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Kevin Jobity, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe I'm missing another
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: rookie in there somewhere. But 11 rookies on this roster.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: and was asked about it and said these guys have
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: earned the spot. Now, there's a lot of different ways
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: to go with this. One of them is that it
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: would have been very hard, say, in 2005 or 2006
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: for 11 rookies to make the team. That having been said,
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: that was also the Steelers' way that I think got
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: lost a little bit in recent years toward maybe the
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: end of the Ben Roethlisberger era. when the Steelers were
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: still trying to chase championships with Ben and that window closing.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: But the Steelers' way is to draft and develop and
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: have the veterans there for the leadership. So is this
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: a good thing that the Steelers have kept 11 rookies,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: or does it suddenly, because I've been very bullish on
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: the strength of this roster, does it suddenly underscore that
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: maybe the roster isn't as strong as I thought it
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: was if they're keeping 11 rookies on this team?
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: So it's interesting from this standpoint. I was extremely blessed,
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: and I've talked about this from my experience as being
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: a Steeler. I was blessed to be birthed into a
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: locker room that had a lot of older gentlemen, meaning
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: a lot of guys who have played a lot of ball,
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: who are seasoned.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: Max can attest to this.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: I was a guy who was fortunate enough to step
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: onto a championship outfit with a lot of guys who
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: were in there going into their 30s or early 30s,
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: going into their mid-30s.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: And so I was fortunate enough to not only learn
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: from them, but lean on them and watch them. Like
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: my locker mate was Alan Fanica.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: And Alan Fanica, as everybody knows, was considered, you know,
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: he was a battle-tested, you know, war general, if you will.
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: He kind of had that aura about him and beloved.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: And it obviously goes down as one of the greatest
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: Steelers of all time. But I learned so much from
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: him by not talking to him, just watching him work.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: Allen was the first one in the building, you know,
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: in a classroom, took, you know, five or six pages
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: worth of notes, spoke enough, but didn't say a whole lot.
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: But when he talked, you know, it meant something. And
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: I can remember one time, I.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: Think I started playing and I started cracking the lineup
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: and I was feeling good about myself. And I was like,
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: you know, Alan, I'm playing now. You know, you can
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: talk to me. He's my locker mate. I watched him
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: change his clothes every day and go in and out
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: of that locker. And I remember saying, and I remember
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: asking him, you know, we can talk, we can chat.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: And he was just like, he was like, well, we
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: can chat when I trust you.
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: And I was like, oh, okay. And I was like, well,
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: what does that mean? He was like, how.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: Many positions do you know on the offensive line? And
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: I was like, well, I know right tackles. And he goes,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: that's the problem. He goes, I know all of them.
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: And he goes, if we need you, if we got
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: to go play Buffalo and we got to move you
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: to left guard, could you suffice? Could you hold your own?
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Can we trust you to get the job done? And
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: of course, me being young, I was like, I guess,
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: you know, kind of just words fumbling all over myself.
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: And he goes, that's the point. He goes, it's not
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: about what you can do.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: It's about how much are you willing to do and
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: how much you're investing into what you have to do
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: to make sure that this ball club, this team, is
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: where it needs to be, that we meet, you know,
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: standard and we meet the expectations that we've already set
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: for ourselves, which was going to a Super Bowl. And
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: it made me grow up real fast. I grew up
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: in a minute because I never thought about it like that.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: I just assumed they drafted me to play right tackle.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: That's all I should be worried about, right? And there's
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: more to that. And so when you hear Omar Khan say,
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: you know, as we have these older gentlemen, as we
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: have these older guys like Cam and TJ.
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: And, Aaron, on and on and on.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: You know, those guys, it's important for those guys to
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: usher these new guys in and teach them what it
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: means not only to be a professional, but to be
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: a Steeler. And that is just, there's not a one
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: way of going about this. This thing has to be
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: layered and this thing has to be cultured and this
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: thing has to be, you know, all this has to
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: fall into fruition for the better good of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: And I grew to learn that.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Because of the older guys in the locker room and
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: how they approach their business and how they handle themselves.
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: In and out of the locker room.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: And, you know, I was, I'm going to be quite frank,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: I was extremely fortunate to have Max Starks, you know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: a guy who I was in a competition battle with,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: a guy who gave, not only protected me on and
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: off the field, but was somebody I can lean on.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: You know, I was fortunate to have Kendall Simmons, who
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: really helped me grow up. I was fortunate enough to have,
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: you know, and watch an elite guard, an elite offensive
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: lineman in Alan Fanica.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: So all these, all these gems were all around me.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: So when Omar Khan came.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Jumps out there and says this is a transition, it's
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: a unique transition because, yeah, the campaign should be win
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: one for Aaron Rodgers and Cam Haywin and TJ Watt,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: make sure those guys get ushered out as Super Bowl champions.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, those guys still have a
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: role and a responsibility, nevertheless, to raise these young guys
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: so that when they do hang it up and walk
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: out of that building, The Steelers have.
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: A path that's bright and for the future.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: So I just think we're at a pivotal spot right
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: now as for Steelers fans because they've been calling for change.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: And changing is happening.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: Now they got to be comfortable with the furniture that's
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: being moved around the house. And are they willing to
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: follow what Mike McCarthy is going to do and the
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: rest of this organization is trying to do in real time?
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Really interesting points, Max.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: And I'd like you to comment on those and whether–
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: So we've talked about this a little bit, Willie, and Max,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I'd like to have you talk about Willie's comments, but
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: also in light of everybody calling, well, everybody, a lot
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: of Steelers fans and the national media saying the Steelers
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: haven't embraced a rebuild. And I think maybe they haven't
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: embraced the obvious rebuild because they never will. They're about winning.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: They're not about throwing away seasons. And I think they're
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: trying to rebuild as they go along. And I think
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: this roster... is another, you know, manifestation of that. I,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: you know, hopefully it's a step in the right direction.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: We'll know that in the future, but it's a manifestation
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: of that plan that we are rebuilding as we go.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: They've kept an awful lot of draft picks over the
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: last several years.
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: Yeah. I, you know, it's, it's a concept that I
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: was birthed into just like Willie was. And, you know,
• 11:13
  Speaker 6: I appreciate the words that Willie said, because I think that, that,
• 11:15
  Speaker 6: that's the biggest thing, right? It's, you're training your replacement
• 11:19
  Speaker 6: and we do this almost every single year and you're
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: blessed and fortunate to be in a position where you
• 11:26
  Speaker 6: can train multiple replacements over your time. If, if, if
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: you're a good enough player and you have the right
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: mindset about you, you know, because that's, that's what this
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: game dictates. That's what a team dictates. That's what organizationally
• 11:44
  Speaker 6: it's supposed to be. You're supposed to be paying it forward,
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: for the next guys because you never know when. And,
• 11:52
  Speaker 6: you know, I think one of those prime examples, you know,
• 11:55
  Speaker 6: just to hit on what Willie talked about when Allen
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: said about trusting him, can you go in a left
• 11:59
  Speaker 6: guard at Buffalo? I thought that was funny because that's
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: exactly what I had to do my rookie year. Last
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: game of the season, we were 14-1, and Allen came
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: up to me and was like, hey, Rook, you're in.
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: I'm out.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, huh, what?
• 12:16
  Speaker 6: He's like, yeah, you're in. You're playing left guard. And
• 12:20
  Speaker 6: I played left guard the entire game against Sam Adams
• 12:23
  Speaker 6: and Pat Williams in Buffalo. And Jeff Hardings and Alan
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: Vanica sat out and Chuck Yacobi played center. And I
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: went in at left guard. I was a tackle, trained
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: tackle all season. And I had to go in at
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: guard and play. So I thought that was apropos that
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: he made that analogy. And then I think also, you know,
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: For Willie, when he came in as a rookie, I
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: was a starting right tackle at the time, and I
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: had Trey there and Chris Kiwi, and I helped all
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: of them. And then when Willie came in, same thing.
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: And then what happens? I get injured pregame warm-up against Carolina,
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: and I tear my knee in warm-ups. And it was
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: after the 90-minute warning, so I had to play. Now,
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: mind you, I would say I probably played one of
• 13:10
  Speaker 6: my best games of my career because I absolutely beat
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: the living crap out of Julius Peppers that game.
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: Hey, I got to talk about that. I'm sorry to
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: cut you off. Max is not lying. So, Rob, this
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: is a real story.
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: So, every– before the game, as off the line, we
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: take a lap around their field.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: Max takes a lap, and he steps in a hole, right?
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: And he rips his knee up, right?
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: So, we're going– we all go back to the locker room,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: and Max is like, man, my knee is not doing well.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: They give him a check. I think– did you tell
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: your ACL, MCL?
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: No, it was MCL and Meniscus.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: Right, there you go.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: So they literally tell Maxwell, you're all we got. You've
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: got to play. By the way, it's not like he's
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: going against an undrafted free agent. He's going against Hall
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: of Famer Julius Peppers. And this is how I know
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: in real time this is a grown man game.
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: Max was like, all right, I guess. And I said
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: to myself, I would have been like, no, hell no.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: I'm not going out there. I would have panicked, right?
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: Max strapped it up. put on his knee brace, they
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: double taped his knee, and this man pitched a shutout
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: against Julius Peppers in his prime. And then I said
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: to myself, oh, my God, this is the NFL. Like,
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: there's no turning back. Like, whatever, once the bell rings,
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: you got to fight. And so, Max, I don't know
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: if you've ever told that story before, but my respect
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: for you went through the roof because Julius Peppers was
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: on posters, right?
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: He was in commercials. Yeah.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: He had his own Nike show. Like, this dude was
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: a dude dude. And Max, you know, he showed up
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: and did a hell of a job. So, yeah, that
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: story doesn't get enough credit, by the way.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 14:50
  Speaker 6: So and I appreciate that. Well, yeah, I haven't really
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: talked about that one before. But, you know, but after that,
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: I went on IR and Willie, Willie was next man up.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: You know, Will. And had I been a guy who
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: was like, oh, my God, this young guy's coming in, blah, blah, blah.
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: You know, why am I going to help him kind
• 15:11
  Speaker 6: of take that negative mentality of veteran mentality that this
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: young guy's coming in? Willie would not have been prepared, right?
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: But Willie, you could attest to this. As soon as
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: Willie got in, hey, whatever you need, let me know. Like,
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: we need to look at this playbook. We need to
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: talk about stuff.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Let me know.
• 15:28
  Speaker 6: I'm here for you to make sure that you're ready
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: to go. And that's how it has to be. So
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: I think when we see that we keep 11 rookies, it's– Yeah,
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: it's the older brothers endearing and bringing in their younger
• 15:43
  Speaker 6: brothers and getting them immersed in the culture and the
• 15:46
  Speaker 6: philosophy and making sure that they're ready to go. Because
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: I said this during training camp, I will continue to
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: bang the drum at this. It is not a matter
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: of if, it's a matter of when an injury strikes.
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: You need to make sure that everybody is strong. And
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: that includes the starters and weightings, aka backups that people
• 16:06
  Speaker 6: might call it, but it's starters and weighting. And when
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: you have that type of mentality, when you think of
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: it as starters and waiting, it should bring a different
• 16:14
  Speaker 6: level of urgency, but also respect and care, right? You're
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: here to usher in making sure that those guys are
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: ready to go because if I get into a game,
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: like Alan said, I need to trust you. And the
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: only way I know to trust you is to help you.
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: And so that's why I think Omar kind of looks
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: back at that and how we did that as a unit,
• 16:36
  Speaker 6: as a locker room. I mean, all of us cared
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: for each other. And that's also the strong part about
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: having a strong locker room. You also, when you care
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: for each other, you police each other. And the coaches
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: don't have to do that. The locker room handles itself.
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: The leadership within there, the tribunal in there, is what
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: ushers the decorum for the team. And I think that's
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: what Omar's trying to get back to. And sometimes it
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: feels tough. But you've got to immerse it with a
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: bunch of young dudes, along with a good group of veterans...
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: and allow them to grow up in the culture. That's
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: how you get draft picks that don't fall through the
• 17:12
  Speaker 6: cracks and that you can build year on year on
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: year to where you don't have to have a full rebuild.
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: It's just simply a resetting of expectations and a resetting
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: of your team standards. And that's what the Steelers have
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: done so well over the last two plus, the 21st century,
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: we'll just say it. The greater part of the 21st century,
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: they've been a team that's had to reset and never
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: truly rebuild.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Yep. I want to.
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: Add this quickly. I know we got it. Yeah. Yeah,
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: go ahead, Willie.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Quick, because we've got to take a break.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm going to get the hell out of your way.
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: I want to say this, too.
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: This is why this roster, Omar Khan is playing with fire, too,
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: because if injuries happen, when you're thin at tackle and
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: you're thin at safety, now you're asking guys who, like,
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: you may have to hit the street to go fill
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: some potholes.
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: So you're praying these young guys can step up and
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: have an impact right away.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think a big position that we can
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: talk about that's got an interesting blend is the defensive line,
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: and that's where we're going to start our defensive roster
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: breakdown of the Steelers 53, which was announced on Sunday,
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: when we continue in the locker room with King, Starks,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: and Colon here on the Steelers Radio Network.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: And we thank you very much for being with us
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: in the locker room here on this Tuesday afternoon.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Alongside Max Sarkson, Willie Colon. I'm Rob King.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: We thank you again for being with us as we
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: go through the Steelers' 53-man roster announced on Sunday, but
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: then Omar Khan spoke to the media yesterday, had some
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: comments on that roster that we thought definitely were worth
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: following up on. We followed up on, in the first segment,
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: the 11 rookies and what it means to be brought
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: up in the Pittsburgh Steelers' culture and the veterans passing
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: things on to the young guys. And I think, guys,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: as we talk about the roster construction, probably the biggest
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: surprise on the roster came on the defensive line. Max
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: sort of alluded to it yesterday. Max, we were talking
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: about Eli Heidenreich being a surprise, but there was a
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: bigger surprise. And I think for a lot of people,
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: that bigger surprise was Kevin Jobity. And when you look
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: at the makeup of this defensive line, line first of
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: all I'd like you to talk about it in general
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: but also this seems to follow up in this conversation
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: that we were just having about the Steelers sort of
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: passing things on to the young guys because it's a
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: really interesting group of guys you have Cam Hayward who
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: is obviously the veteran, legendary Steeler, future Hall of Honor guy,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I think future Hall of Fame guy as well. Then
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: you have a guy like Keanu Benton, who has been
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: around through the system for a few years, just got
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: a big contract extension, so he's next in line. Then
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: you're hoping Derek Harmon is going to be next in line.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Y.A.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Black is going to be next in line. Maybe Kevin
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Jobity is going to be next in line. Gabe Rubio
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: is a rookie this year. Then you bring in a veteran,
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: high-character guy, in Sebastian Joseph Day, it seems like this
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: is sort of that mix that you and Max were
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: just talking about. So give us your thoughts on that
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: defensive line and whether this is the mix that gets
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: the Steelers back on that track. Again, my own personal
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: feeling is maybe they wandered off that track for a
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: couple years, but it feels to me like they're getting
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: back on that track.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: So please take it.
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: Away, Max.
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think you're right on line is that you've
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: got to have some young mixed with some old. And
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: this is a perfect example of that. You look at
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: the cross-section, unequivocal leader, 16 years in the league, and
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: Cam Hayward. That's the hierarchy, right? That's the top of
• 21:24
  Speaker 6: the food chain, what he says goes. And then you
• 21:28
  Speaker 6: take what I call the middle-class experience level. That's your
• 21:33
  Speaker 6: second-tier guy. So that is Sebastian Joseph Day, and that's
• 21:37
  Speaker 6: Keanu Benton. Like, those are the guys that kind of
• 21:41
  Speaker 6: bring everybody together. They're the shepherds from the young and old,
• 21:45
  Speaker 6: almost like, you know, the middlemen, so to speak. And
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: translation for how you look at it. And then, like
• 21:51
  Speaker 6: you said, you have that youthful side where it's Y.A.
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: Black and Derek Harmon, Kevin Jobity, and Gabe Rubio. It's
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: literally you have three older guys and four younger guys. Now,
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: will that be the right cross-section? I don't know. should
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: have been four old guys and then three young guys,
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: and you have it, but this is kind of how
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: you have to figure it. And when you think of
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: the talent and you project, can these guys ascend, take
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: to the player coaching as well as the position coaching,
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: and can you be that? I like this cross-section because
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: that's how it should be. You should have the elder
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: statesman in the room, and you've got to have that
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: one big voice, and then you kind of have So
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: if we're doing like, you know, a pyramid scheme, you know,
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: there's always one at the top and then you branch
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: off from there and then you branch from there. It
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: allows it cams at the top, boom, boom, side to side.
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: You have, you have Keanu Benton and you have Sebastian
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: Joseph day. And then each of them are responsible for
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: two young guys, whether it's the two second year guys
• 22:57
  Speaker 6: or the two first year guys, it kind of goes
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: down and creates your pyramid. So the structure of power
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: and knowledge transfer is, is in a good place. So
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: I'm really excited about it. You know, like Gabe Rubio,
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: he popped off the first game and then kind of
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: came back to earth a little bit in that second game.
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: And I felt it was really solid. And I thought
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: Kevin Jobity in the shots that he had showed some promise,
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: showed some motor. So for the defensive line, it's not
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: a surprise that they ended up with this squad. I
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: think Jobity was the one surprise because you thought Gabe
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: Rubio had a real good chance. And I don't think
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: he would have cleared waivers just because Nobody knew about him,
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: but then everybody, by not knowing about him, knew more
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: about him because of the way he played. That would
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: have led to him possibly getting an opportunity elsewhere, so
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: you've got to keep him on the roster and not
• 23:47
  Speaker 6: put him on the practice squad. And for Jobity, I
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: think it was just something big bodies are hard to
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: come by. As Craig Wolfley once said, it's a finite
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: amount of large prairie mammals roaming this earth that can
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: be that size and do athletic things. So I think
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: that's also why you why kevin jobity was intriguing.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: I think the surprise as you say willie i'm sorry
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: to interrupt the surprise to me as i just segue
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: back to you is is otome wo and not jobity
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: i think that was the surprise people might have had
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: because otome wo came in did some nice things for
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: him but then to be able to add him to
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: the practice squad now all of a sudden you feel
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: like you're eight deep with capable players at the bare
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: minimum and of course higher end than that when you
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: get towards the front end of that group. But that,
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: I think you have to feel, and again, knock on wood,
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: what was the year they went through, you know, 17
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: inside linebackers.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: You never have enough, but that feels like it's in
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: a pretty good spot.
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: Right. And I think you're right on that.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: I think if we were to take a second and
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: call two individuals to the front of the congregation, in
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: my eyes, it would have to be Derek Harmon and
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: Keanu Benson. I think for Derek, going into year two, man,
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: there's going to be a lot expected of him. And,
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: you know, I think there is, from this standpoint, you
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: know he's solid against the run and he has the
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: ability to be unblockable. I think he showed signs of
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: that in OTAs and in training camp. But I think
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: year two, they're expecting him to be a bigger anchor
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: and pop off the tape, if you will, especially rushing
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: a passer. I think that's where they want to see
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: him kind of step up and mix things up. So
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: seeing sub packages, I think for Keanu, you know, he
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: got the bag. We understand that maybe him playing nose tackle,
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: maybe he was out of position to be honest.
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: We know he has the ability to rush the pastor.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: Certainly he was able to get five sacks last season,
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: but I think we're looking for him to be more
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: well-rounded now, but against the run, if these two gentlemen, man, if.
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: They can play lights out, um, it takes the load
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: off cam.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: And I think for that, that, that underbelly, those young
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: guys that are watching, now that's watching two young stubs,
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: two young lions, man, cook and play at a high
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: level that only sets up a Joe BD and a
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: Ruby and all those guys. So I think, and, and
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: not forget Dean Lowry, who I thought was, had a sneaky,
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: had a sneaky, good training camp. Um, I thought he
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: popped and played well as well, especially considering the last year,
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: you know, he, he.
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: Tore his ACL. Um, I think we're watching these guys.
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: If we can get Keanu and Derek to really play
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: at an elite level along with Cam, man, we're looking
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: at something special. And I think it can, we may
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: be looking at, dare I say that, you know, I
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: hate to continue to dig in the crates, but we
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: may be looking at what Aaron Smith and Brett Kiesel.
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: And Casey Hampton and those guys had, especially with Hawaii.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: So if those guys can really just take that leap
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: this season, man, it's something special for them.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: You know, Max, um, One of the things that the
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: Steelers did this year, and again, this is their stated goal,
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: and Omar talked about this yesterday. You draft a guy
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: and you're hoping you're going to get him to that
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: second contract and that third contract. It's why when we
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: were talking about yesterday, you signed Darnell Washington to a
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: contract extension and you signed him to a pretty good deal.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: There's a pretty sizable amount of money committed to him.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: That tells me they plan on playing him. I think
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: that we could say the same thing about Keanu Benton,
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: who was subbed out for in that nose tackle position
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: a bit last year. Now you're trying to get three
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: pass rushers on the field. This is going to be
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: interesting because you gave Herbig a contract extension as well. Well,
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: you don't give him a contract extension not to get
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: him out on the field. Keanu Benton last year showed
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: some pass rush ability. And I think that the hope
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: is you are getting him on the way up in
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: his career.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Same with Herbig.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: That They sound like a lot of money for the
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: production they've provided thus far, but you're hoping, from the Steelers' perspective,
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: that there's more production to come and these deals are
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: going to look like very favorable team deals in a
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: year or two as these guys get more and more
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: playing time and thus put up bigger and bigger numbers.
• 28:19
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, you're always trying to find the right
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: balance of, getting a guy a year early versus paying
• 28:28
  Speaker 6: for a guy a year later. And we have numerous
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: examples we can look at around the league about guys who,
• 28:37
  Speaker 6: you know, you're like, okay, let's go ahead. I'm projecting
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: that this guy's going to be the next big hit.
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: So I want to make sure I get above that
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: curve because I don't want to pay the premium sticker
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: price that it's going to be once he hits the
• 28:51
  Speaker 6: open market. Once he becomes available, to the rest of
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: the league, they might value him just as much, if
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: not more than we do, and they might have more
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: salary cap space. So lock a guy up in his
• 29:03
  Speaker 6: prime years to make sure that you show that you
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: respect him, but you also want to make sure that
• 29:10
  Speaker 6: you're doing the best for the roster. Or you could
• 29:12
  Speaker 6: wait until it's too late, and then you can get
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: into a Kirk Cousins situation, Dak Prescott. I mean, we'll
• 29:18
  Speaker 6: see what unfolds with George Pickens in Dallas. But there's
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: just so many numerous examples of, of when you do
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: it a year too late and you got to compete
• 29:26
  Speaker 6: with the field and this is a way that yes
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: the production is not going to match what the salary
• 29:32
  Speaker 6: is but we're we're future betting on what their production
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: is going to be and you're going to look back
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: and say okay that was a bargain that was a
• 29:41
  Speaker 6: steal to get him at this rate and have him
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: locked up and then you know in control for the
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: organization for the next four years and i think this
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: might be that coming out party year for both of
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: these guys because they're going to get that extended look
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: to see okay how does how does this work out
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: and how can we project i mean The Steelers have
• 29:59
  Speaker 6: been looking for that Stephon Tewitt replacement for a long time.
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: And Keanu, because of the way the roster was constructed
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: and Javon Hargrave leaving and everything, they kind of had
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: to rush and just put a guy in with his talent.
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: He was the most talented lineman, wasn't necessarily the most
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: talented at that position, but we needed to get him
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: on the field. That's why he played the nose, but
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: now he gets to move to that natural three. And
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: I think that will really help accelerate. And pass rushers,
• 30:24
  Speaker 6: you can't have enough of them. You know, if you
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: have three, you need four.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: Can I throw one thing out there?
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: It was important to pay those guys because they got
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: two dogs in the office in line they got to
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: pay coming up soon.
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: And Troy Furtano and Mason McCormick.
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: And so as much as we want to say, yeah,
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: this was a smart move, this is only a smart,
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: this is also a smart move because if Troy Furtano
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: comes out and has a big year at left tackle,
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: he's going.
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: To be looking for the bag, baby. And Mason goes
• 30:54
  Speaker 5: out and has a productive year where he's durable.
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: He plays all 17 snaps and He continues to be
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: a road grader and a mauler for the offensive line.
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: He's going to be looking for the bag. And we
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: stated something yesterday, right? If you're going to be in
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: the business of possibly looking for another quarterback next year,
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: that five up front has to be locked in. You
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: want that five to be identified. You want their roles
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: to be set. And you do not want to have
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: guys flip-flopping all over the place trying to once again
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: figure out who this five is going to be for
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: potentially a young quarterback, whether it's Drew Adler or the
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: guy that they– they scoop up and feel like they,
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: he can be, you know, the next guy up, so
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: to speak. So I think this is, is all about,
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: you know, the ecosystem in which the sealers want to
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: dwell in. They don't want to have to continue to
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: feel like, all right, we got Keanu. Oh, by the way,
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: to Max's point, we got, we got Troy. Oh, by
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: the way, they don't want to be in that world.
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: They want to have guys locked and ready so they
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: can keep this train moving.
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Interesting stuff.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: As we look at this roster construction and what it
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: means again, not only for now, And not only for
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: this year, but for the future. And not only in
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: terms of dollars, but in terms of grooming young guys
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: and the right guys with veteran leadership. So a lot
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: going on in this roster construction that goes just beyond, hey,
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: here's a piece of paper and 53 guys. We're going
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: to continue the conversation coming up next in the locker
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: And we thank you very much for being with us
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: in the locker room as we continue to roll down
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: the Steelers' 53-man roster. And, again, I just wanted to
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: get you guys just a final thought on that front
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: line because there's just so many different topics to talk about,
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: including the fact that, you know, this unit appears to
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: be set up for success.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: It appears to me.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: Willie, to be a group of guys that should be
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: really good now, should be a real positive on this team,
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: and hopefully– if they've identified the right guys in the draft,
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: meaning Harmon and Black and Gabe Rubio being a sneaky
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: draft choice, and that they've invested in the right guys,
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: meaning Keanu Benton, that this is a unit that not
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: only should be good now, but good moving forward. And
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: it's vital to the Steelers that it is because they've
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: invested their money and their time in the trenches on
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: offense and defense.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: We talked about the offense yesterday. This is the defense now.
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: But also going back to what we talked about before
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: the break was, The fact that you have Patrick Graham
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: is going to give his three top elite pass rushers
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: to go get the football. And you're going to need
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: some beef eaters in the middle to free those guys up.
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: And when you have a T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: you have a Nick Herbig, those guys' superpower is going
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: to get the quarterback. So you're going to need some
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: guys who can chew up some offensive linemen. And I
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: think as this thing continues to grow, man, There's a
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: brand that some fans are used to seeing. There's a
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: brand that they want to see. And they want to
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: see this defensive line be a lot more impactful in
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: games and getting guys to play at the elite level
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: that they're accustomed to. And me and Max, we've all
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: vocal about it in the preseason. You know, this is
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: a big year for Y.A. to really immerse himself into
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: being a nose tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers. A true
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: nose tackle. And yeah, there's some things that We want
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: to see, like, he has to play a lot lower,
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: be better with his hands, continue to eat up, you know,
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: the interior of that line.
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: But if he, man, he himself can be more dominant
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: at that position, he has to grow into it.
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: So I don't want to, you know, say it's all
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: or nothing situation.
• 34:59
  Speaker 5: I'm going to give him his grace.
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: But, man, as I said here before the break, I
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: talked about the emergence of Derek Harmon and Keanu Benton
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: really being elite pass rushers at that position and continue to,
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: you know, own.
• 35:13
  Speaker 5: on their gaps. But if Y.A.
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: Can be that dog we need him to be, man,
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: on an elite path for us, man, it's hard not
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: to get excited about what this defense could look like.
• 35:24
  Speaker 5: Because I think if we continue to attest the lack of.
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: Safety depth and the safety issues that we're walking into
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: because of injuries and maybe some roster decisions, man, that
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: front seven has to be elite for us to be
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: where we want to be. And these young guys, as
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: they continue to grow and learn their positions and continue
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: to be with me, Patrick Grant needs them to be
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: within his scheme, man. You know, that's going to have
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: to be that. That front seven is going to have
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: to be elite for the character's defense. Because I think
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: we all watched the playoff game against the Houston Texans.
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: We were at home. The Texans had a better defense.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: I don't know if they were tougher than us, but
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: on that day they had the better defense. But we're
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: used to seeing our defense be the better defense. And
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: they kept us in that game. But when you talk
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: about the talent, you start riddling off the names we have.
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: We have to go back to being that top five
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: defense in the league. And I think we have it
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: right now. And I'm excited to see what Patrick Grant
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: can do next.
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I agree. And I think the biggest thing that
• 36:24
  Speaker 6: we look at is the front seven makes the back
• 36:28
  Speaker 6: four's job so much easier. You don't have to stay
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: like stick them on a receiver or anybody out in
• 36:37
  Speaker 6: a route. as hard if the pass rush is kicking
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: because that quarterback only has 2.4, 2.3 seconds maybe at
• 36:46
  Speaker 6: the most to make a decision because that pass rush
• 36:49
  Speaker 6: is in his face. The biggest thing we always talk about,
• 36:52
  Speaker 6: you know, and I love this, and this is what,
• 36:55
  Speaker 6: you know, Wolf and Tunch used to talk about all
• 36:57
  Speaker 6: the time. Get here, guys, and get near, guys. You
• 37:01
  Speaker 6: need both of those in your pass rush. The get-near
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: guys are the ones that move the pocket, that move
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: everything around so that you get to the get-here guys, right?
• 37:12
  Speaker 6: So the T.J. Watts, the Cam Haywards of this world,
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: the Alex Highsmiths, the ones who actually get there, get home,
• 37:19
  Speaker 6: get sacks. But you need the Y.A. Blacks. You need
• 37:23
  Speaker 6: the Derek Harmons to push that pocket to force them
• 37:27
  Speaker 6: into positions where you funnel them to those guys. And
• 37:30
  Speaker 6: just like in a traditional 3-4 situation, your down linemen
• 37:34
  Speaker 6: feed everything to its linebackers. That's the way a 3-4
• 37:36
  Speaker 6: is supposed to work is your down linemen are supposed
• 37:40
  Speaker 6: to absorb double team blocks so that your linebackers can
• 37:42
  Speaker 6: run free. And when your 3-4 is hitting, that's how
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: it's supposed to look. And so you need both aspects
• 37:50
  Speaker 6: to be successful. But that front seven, getting that vertical
• 37:53
  Speaker 6: push and getting into the lanes is going to help
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: that back end at corner. If you do have a
• 38:00
  Speaker 6: young guy that has to go in and a pinch
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: in a Dalen Everett. or Robert Spears Jennings is playing
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: because Deshaun Elliott's on IR, or is it Rayshon Jenkins
• 38:08
  Speaker 6: and Jaquan Brisker, or if they get nicked up. I mean,
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: we've seen a multitude of injuries at the DB position
• 38:13
  Speaker 6: over the last couple of years that we know that
• 38:15
  Speaker 6: we need every available body that's there, but you also
• 38:18
  Speaker 6: don't want to overstress it. And the way you don't
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: overstress it is you have a hot pass rush.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: You know, I'll add one more thing.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: I've always felt, as a longtime observer of the game,
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: that the last thing a quarterback really wants is pressure
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: up the middle. They don't want that. That disrupts what
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: they're seeing. It messes with their footwork. It throws off
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: their timing. You know, Casey Hampton got taken out on
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: passing downs all the time. The most sacks he ever
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: had in a season was 2.5. But I don't think
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: that that meant he wasn't effective. And I think that
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: probably if you left Casey in there, he probably would
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: have wound up with seven or eight sacks in a season.
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: Because He could collapse the pocket. He could get home.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: Now he would have been in a race with those
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: great edge guys that they had. But I still think
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: you can be effective if a team decides to throw
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: on first down and you're in your base defense. If
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: you get Y.A. Black and Derek Harmon, we know Cam
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: Hayward can get home. But if those guys can be disruptive,
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: I think, Max, to your point, it can make that
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: back end really effective. They don't have to have huge
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: sack totals to be effective, but they've got to be
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: able to stop.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: The run more efficiently than they.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: Did a year ago, and they've got to be able
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: to at least collapse the pocket a little bit on
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: some of those early passing downs.
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: Movement of feet is a quarterback's enemy, right? They want
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: to stand and deliver. You want to stand... And, Rob,
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: you can speak to this as a former quarterback, right?
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: Stand tall, platform, drive the front leg, and be able
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: to flip that hip so that you can drive the
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: ball to where you want it. You know what you
• 39:59
  Speaker 6: can't do in that situation? If your feet are moving,
• 40:03
  Speaker 6: you can't do those things because then you're throwing on
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: the fly and you're looking like Patrick Mahomes, which is
• 40:07
  Speaker 6: a rare case. But you're having to throw across your body.
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: You're having to run back and forth and dump the ball. Floaters,
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: wounded ducks, all these different things. That's what a pass
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: rush provides.
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: You're right.
• 40:18
  Speaker 6: You can still win a pass rush without getting a sack,
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: and that's how you win without getting a sack, but
• 40:25
  Speaker 6: you like the sacks as well, and I think that's
• 40:27
  Speaker 6: what you want to create. For Patrick Graham, he has
• 40:29
  Speaker 6: a front seven of guys that can do all of that,
• 40:33
  Speaker 6: but you need that good mix to be able to
• 40:36
  Speaker 6: create that because you don't want your DB stressed and
• 40:40
  Speaker 6: running for three, four seconds on a route, backpedaling backwards,
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: trying to figure out when this guy's going to cut,
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: make sure I don't fall down in coverage. We saw
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: that a lot in the preseason. And I can attack downhill.
• 40:52
  Speaker 6: The best thing the team did in preseason was they
• 40:55
  Speaker 6: kept everything in front of them and attacked downhill. That's
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: something that is always great. You don't want the busted coverage. Well,
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: the longer that a quarterback has to be able to
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: pick you apart, the longer that receiver or pass catcher
• 41:09
  Speaker 6: has to get past your defense. That's why you need
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: pressure on him and you need to move him around
• 41:14
  Speaker 6: Because his success rate drops significantly the more he has
• 41:18
  Speaker 6: to move left and right in the pocket.
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: A quick aside, Willie. In fairness to myself, I had
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: a lot more versatility than Max is giving me credit for.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: I could throw an interception under any circumstances. It didn't
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: matter what was going on. And it was Division III football.
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: So let's not mistake what I did 40 years ago
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: with what these guys did. Hey, man, he played as
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: good as Winnie. By the way, Willie, we played Hofstra.
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: We played Hofstra twice when they were making the transition
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: from AAA to 1A in the late 80s, which was
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: a big mistake because we couldn't even handle Division III teams,
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: much less Hofstra. But anyway, that's my Hofstra connection with Willie.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: But I just think, guys, that this defensive line, I'm
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: bullish on what it can be, but much like I
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: think if I could take a step back Willie, and
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: look at this roster in general. I love the fact
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: that there are young players coming up. I think this
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: roster is much younger than the national media and maybe
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: even some local media are giving it credit for. All
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: you hear is about aging roster, aging roster, aging roster. Sure,
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: we talked about this yesterday. They do have some aging
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: players on this team. They got a lot of young guys.
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: Now what they need, in my opinion, is for these
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: young guys now to take the step forward for a
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: Keanu Benton or a Zach Frazier or another young player
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: to step forward and start getting Pro Bowl recognition, Joey
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: Porter Jr.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: that sort of thing.
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: I think that's– everything on paper looks like it's in place,
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: but as I look at that defensive line now, I
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: see a couple of guys in Benton and Harmon that
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: can hopefully take that next step forward so that when
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: people are– the top 100 lists in the NFL are
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: all coming out now, and Cam Hayward, was just ranked 70th,
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: your top-ranked defensive lineman in ESPN, the 70th-ranked player in football.
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: We could debate the merits of that, but you're hoping
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: that next year when people are putting together these lists,
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: they're saying, hey, how about a couple of those guys,
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: some of those young guys in that Steelers defensive line?
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: I think that's sort of the next step for this
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: roster as a whole is some young guys to emerge
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: as true impact players.
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you're right, and I think, you know, It's funny
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: because when I think back about my career and Max
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: and the battles we had with other defensive linemen, anytime
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: you got– listen, it's already a dogfight when you got
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: one dog in a cage. But when you got two,
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: now you got to rally as a unit and say,
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: all right, we got to give– one of y'all got
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: to buck up and fight him, and then we'll take
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: the rest. We got the other guy. And that just
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: puts so much stress on the offensive line. For instance,
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: when we had to go against the Williams brothers, right,
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: from Minnesota, whether Kevin or Pat– one of us is
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: going to have to win solo when it came to
• 44:12
  Speaker 4: slide protection. And then the rest of us, we can manage, right?
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: And so, or even if it was, I remember, who
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: were the other guys, Max, from Buffalo? It was two
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: edge rushers.
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, God.
• 44:25
  Speaker 6: It was, yeah, I can't even remember. Oh, Mario Williams
• 44:31
  Speaker 6: and another dude. Yeah, Big Kyle in the middle.
• 44:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 44:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: But I even go back to the Titan days when
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: it was Kyle Vanderbosch and Jerome Curse, right?
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: And then they had Albert Hingsworth.
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: Like all those guys, like you told me, we came
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: from that era where, yeah, there was always that one
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: standout guy. But if they also had another dog next
• 44:51
  Speaker 4: to him, man, that week of practice, you were preparing
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: and you were telling, we were talking to each other saying, hey, we, yeah,
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: schematically we can scheme them up and we can do
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: things and we can chip and throw things and have
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: all these things going at them. But one of us
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: is going to have to just flat out Apollo Creed this, right?
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: It's going to be Rocky and Apollo. We're going to
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: have to fight this dude. And that adds so much
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: stress to an offensive line because now we're trying to say,
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: all right, we got to be as solid as we
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: can in the run game. But in passing situations, if
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: it's a second and long, if it's a third and long,
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: now we got to start doing things and we got
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: to really bring our bag to the table. We got
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: to sharpen up our tools going into that week. That's
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: the type of stress we want this defensive line to
• 45:32
  Speaker 4: cause offensive lines because if you're looking at the division
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: right now, I think the Baltimore Ravens are still trying
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: to figure out what they have up front. I don't
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: think it's as solid as they expect it to be.
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: You know, the Bengals have some holes. You know, the
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: Browns have some holes. And as you continue to pick
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: through the rest of the AFC, man, when our defensive
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: line steps on the field and we got three, you know,
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: exclude Alex and TJ and Nick. If you got three
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: dogs on that defensive line that can not only stop
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: the stop the run, but can rush the passer. And
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: I'm talking about, like, from snap, can officially rush the passer, man.
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's why you get giddy about the playoffs.
• 46:11
  Speaker 4: You're like, man, if this unit right here shows up,
• 46:15
  Speaker 4: sky's the limit for us. And that's just my honest opinion.
• 46:19
  Speaker 5: I know we're biased.
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: We're on Steelers radio. How can we say anything different?
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: But we've been around ball. We know the stress of
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: what an elite defensive line can do. And we watched
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: it in the playoffs last year. We watched– you know,
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: we watched– The Pats have Pat Barrymore and Milton Williams
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: and how much stress they cause. We watched what the
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: Texas defensive line did. We even watched Seattle Seahawks having
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: Leonard Williams and a bunch of other guys because they
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: have collective guys on the defensive line that puts so
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: much stress on the offensive line. Eventually, the offensive line,
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: if you're not built for it, you're going to tap.
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: And we watched multiple offensive lines last year tap to
• 46:52
  Speaker 4: superior defensive lines.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: Good stuff, man. Really good stuff.
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: So much fun to think about what this defensive line
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: can accomplish. And, again, you know, can Keanu Benton and
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: Derek Harmon take that next step?
• 47:08
  Speaker 5: Y.A.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: Black maybe as well. It's going to be a fascinating unit.
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: It's hard for me to think this unit won't be
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: at least very solid and hopefully a lot more than that.
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: We are just beginning our breakdown of the Steelers 53-man roster.
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: We are going to look at the linebacker position, both
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: inside and outside, safety position. and cornerback position when we
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: continue on the other side of the break here in
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: the locker room on the Steelers Audio Network.