Drive10.13.26Hr1: Rookie Class Rising

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Good afternoon, Steeler Nation. Welcome to The Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. Wes Shuler and Matt Williamson with you for the next two hours on this Tuesday as we've got a fun show planned for you today. And Matt, I want to kind of jump right into it, man. And something that we teased and touched on a little bit yesterday, but we said we'd dive deeper into today.

We got a rookie class on the rise here all of a sudden these last couple weeks. Where do you want to begin?

Let's just go pick by pick, I guess. Pick by pick.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let's start at the top. I mean, we should count Joe Biddy as well.

We absolutely.

I mean, he's an incomplete. There's a couple that are incomplete grades, of course.

Sure, we haven't seen him active on a game day yet. And, you know, some people like Drew Aller in that regard, too. But so far, so good for the first pick. Mad Max, Ihana Chor.

Now, I don't think it's a coincidence, but I'm also picking low-hanging fruit. Because I had seen some stats that were building Matt's stats, etc. These last three weeks, what Warren has done and what the offense has done. So I went to the EPA page and I filtered it just the last three weeks offense. And I cut and pasted that graph and put it on Twitter. And if you pull it up, I mean, the Steelers are rivaling teams like the Niners for the best offense in the entire league. Now, is that all because of Axel Honachor?

Yes.

I think the answer is yes. And we're always right all along. It has a lot to do with it. I mean, just think of where the offensive line is from now until, as it was the first two weeks. I'm not saying Cook and Anderson are terrible players, but the right side of the line has come a very long way And the last three weeks, that graph's pretty telling.

I mean, it's the success rate, or I can't remember if it's run versus pass or whatever, but it's an offensive.

It's rush EPA, basically, and drop back EPA.

So it's one axis is pass, one axis is run. And the Steelers are in the top right corner with the elite offenses in the league over the last three weeks. That being said, just watching the guy, I couldn't be more excited. I mean, was he a little down in Cleveland? Sure, but if that would have been his first game ever, week one, we'd have been like, oh, pretty promising start for the first round pick. He looks like he belongs.

Just because he was destroying people the game before, I'm not sure he's going to do that every snap of every game.

Sure, and I think you pointed this out at the time, maybe that following Monday or something when we were giving some final thoughts. It's also a heck of an ask for a rookie.

I felt like I should have seen it coming.

You just started your NFL career, and now all of a sudden you've got to go on the road three days after a game.

You've never played on that kind of short week in your life, I'm sure.

And what was a very loud and rambunctious environment, and it's harder to have your communication down pat and all those things, and you're really still just getting your feet wet.

Yeah.

I mean, that was almost too hard of an ask, especially for a player who didn't play football his whole life. You know, he's kind of still new to the sport. I couldn't be happier. I mean, I'd have to think about it, but I don't know that I would trade him for any rookie offensive lineman drafted ahead of him.

I certainly wouldn't trade him for Makai Lemon.

No, not even close.

Even considering right now, the little bit of a dire situation, the Steelers wide receiver room finds him, finds it.

Sure. But you wouldn't have drafted Bernard if you'd have drafted Lemon.

Sure.

You know what I mean? Sure.

And I'm with you. I think, listen, a lot of people deserve credit in how that offense has looked and gotten much better since, since the real struggles in new England week two.

Quarterback and head coach, if something to do with the two.

Quarterback is certainly on that list. Jalen Warren is certainly on that list. Offensive line, certainly on that list. I was going to say, though, I think you have to. We haven't seen three straight weeks from a Steelers offense like this since.

The Kirby era.

And I think you have to give a lot of credit to the head coach in there as well.

Absolutely.

This is what he was brought here to do, was to get this offense out of a way too long of a stretch of being a bottom half, even at times a bottom third unit.

And turning it into a strength.

Yes.

And that's currently how they're playing. So if we're just going to give in grades to rookies, A, A +, I mean, performance, I'd give an A. Future and excitement would be an A +. And I don't throw those grades around very much. I think he can be the best right tackle in the league.

And I know we'll really start turning the page tomorrow. I don't want to jump the gun here. But a heck of an intriguing matchup for Maxi Honachor. against Reuben Bain. Two first-round picks. On Sunday, Reuben Bain still looking for his first sack in the National Football League.

He missed a game or two.

I need to double-check. I think he's played three of their five games.

That sounds right. I know there was some injury early.

But that'll be a fun storyline that I'm sure we'll talk about plenty as we get closer to Sunday. Good rookie-on-rookie first-round pick there for a tackle and edge rusher down in Tampa. Yeah, I... Listen, I. It's also– I'll say this too. It's also way too early to crown him.

Of course.

Without a doubt.

But I– Or any rookie after five games in the whole league.

You and I said this at the time. Sometimes things that appear to be negatives are blessings in disguise.

Yeah.

We could talk– We learn about that a lot about this class right now.

We can talk about this– with, with draft picks and with, with injuries. I mean, we just kind of talked about some of this stuff with Jalen Warren and Jeremy Bernard and kind of out of necessity and those guys being able to, to take a bigger role in a bigger, bigger target share and run with it, Matt, I hope we are at a point a few years from now.

And I shouldn't even say that Mackay lemon's bad because that makes it, that makes me seem petty.

He hasn't been out there much either.

And yeah, but I, I think we will be, and I hope we will be at a point next year and then two years and three years and four years where we're like, Man, remember all that overreaction when the Eagles jumped the Steelers and took Makai Lemon? Didn't that turn out to work out well for Pittsburgh?

I actually said it on draft day. I'm like, I'm glad it went the way it did. So I couldn't think that anymore. I didn't love Lemon, but I thought he was a valid first-round pick. And if the Steelers were taking Lemon, I'm like, I get it. They needed him. At the time, Bernard wasn't on the roster yet, obviously.

But the guy I wanted is living up to and exceeding my expectations.

No doubt. And the guy that they ended up with as a wide receiver in the second round traded up a few picks to get Jeremy Bernard, of course, at 47. Matt, I think we're starting to see him, everything come together, him to pick up the offense, the game slowing down a little bit for him. I think I mentioned this yesterday or maybe Friday when we were previewing the game, but how Tunch and Wolf would always talk about how, you know, around this time, around mid to late October, yes, you're still a rookie, but But now we're expecting a little bit more for you. It's kind of like your freshman year, your first semester is out of the way.

You've come back from Christmas break.

You know where everything's at.

You know where the class buildings are, and you know what the curriculum looks like, and you know how to manage a schedule and your social life and all those things. It's kind of getting to that point, I think, for Jeremy Bernard.

I think so, too. And we didn't go over– I don't think we talked snap counts yesterday all that much.

We didn't. I can pull them up here if you want me to.

You don't have to because I know the answer. I mean– They, even before Wilson got hurt, they treated Bernard as if he was Pittman. He was a every down starting receiver used all the time. Fill in for Michael Pittman Jr. That's your job. And when Wilson got hurt, that didn't change. I mean, over the course of the game, he missed like four or five snaps and it wasn't because of Wilson getting hurt. It was from the start, those first three or four drives when Wilson was there. There was two receivers on the field. It was Bernard and Metcalf.

I think some of that's stylistic. I think Bernard's more like Pittman than Wilson's like Pittman. Blocker, you know, bigger bodied, can go in the slot or outside. But he is a starting receiver then and now by default. But again, I don't want to blow too much smoke up this class, but I'm pretty excited about it. I think he's going to be a stealer starting wide receiver from 2019. Sunday until he leaves the team. I mean, I think it's even when Pittman comes back, I don't know how you put Pittman in over or.

Wilson continues to do what we saw on Sunday, right?

He's checking every box. I'm not saying he's the next Jamar chase or anything like that, but like all of a sudden he's fantasy relevant. He's gonna be on the field all the time. He's productive. He's big, powerful, good after the catch blocks. That's a starting wide receiver in the NFL.

It absolutely is. Yeah, it absolutely is. And, uh, and, with what those two have started to do over the last couple of weeks.

Yeah.

There's certainly no doubt that that has helped with the offensive output that we've seen the last couple of weeks.

So I wanted to start the conversation. I kind of forgot this point because a lot of people, and at the time, rightfully so looked at the draft class, you know, like the day after the draft and we all analyze it. I heard a lot of people saying, Oh, I like some of these players, but I don't know if any of them are going to help this year. good we knew that they.

Especially those trio with third round picks we were like those are all for the future.

And i think that in my i mean everett and a sport especially eiler and dunker all are for the future but we also know the league doesn't work that way you just don't take a draft class but you guys just relax.

This isn't you can't red shirt you don't red shirt five star 18 year old and tell them just get in the weight room for a year and next year you're gonna you're gonna be a big part.

Of bringing six five 250 pound tight ends and feed them steaks and lobsters for every meal and all you do is lift and then they're a left tackle before you know you know like that's not how it works But even Max was not a day one starter. They're going to, they're getting a lot out of this draft class already. And I still think the best stuff might be ahead.

Well said.

Yeah.

Well said. So on those trio of third round picks that the Steelers made, you know, Matt, from that day after the draft ended until probably the into training camp, we looked at the three of those guys as for the future. And yeah, maybe Jennings Dunker could get involved at some point. And yeah, maybe Daylon Everett will see the field. But Allers for the future, these other two, they're going to give them plenty of time to learn and adjust and all that stuff.

Boy, they have such cornerback depth. There's no way Everett's getting out there.

Exactly right. Exactly right. And then all of a sudden, Everett has to get out there because Joey Porter Jr. ends up getting traded. Jamel Dean gets hurt. you all of a sudden need to call on that guy. And listen, he's had his ups and downs, but I think this has been an encouraging starting point for him. And after, listen, it was rocky for, I think, a lot of the defense from that stretch of Cincinnati and what they do on offense, and then the short week on the road in Cleveland. But I think since those two games, I thought Everett looked much more comfortable, much more just proactive instead of kind of, you know, really thinking about everything and, and in the moment just being dropped right in his lap. Yeah.

I liked the step forward that we saw from Everett on Sunday.

I a hundred percent agree. I think any of us that watched him just like in shells or, you know, helmet and, you know, whatever, like, Ooh, he is a big fluid explosive athlete with, you know, the, the traits you look for at that position. It's not like, ah, he's kind of clunky or he's a little short or, you know, like all those things. You could see why he was, went to Georgia. You know what I mean?

Like they're not going to, you got to be this big to ride the ride for a Georgia corner. And he absolutely is. And then we thought, okay, yeah, we'll see. But all through the preseason, I thought he did good things. Every time he was on the field, I thought he belonged, even if the test wasn't as steep as it is now. Now, I think he can be a little nosy, like he's going to bite on some double moves and he's going to get beat. And I mean, the one touchdown was definitely on Jenkins. It wasn't on him. He thought he had safety help. I'm getting to the point and I feel the least strong about, I'm going to have this conversation with several of these rookies already talked about Bernard and a Haunted Shore. I would make them starters. A

Haunted Shore already is.

Yeah.

I would make Everett the starter. Like when Dean came back, I would put Samuel on the bench, not Everett.

Okay.

With an eye on today, but also an eye on tomorrow.

Sure.

For sure. He's bigger. He's more talented. He's a better tackler.

And if you don't think there's much separating them right now.

Yeah.

The guy with more upside and that you have cost controlled for the foreseeable future.

I mean, unless he falls on his face. I believe, right?

Samuel's just a one-year deal. So he's a free agent after this year.

I think he's done after the deal.

As opposed to Everett, who you have locked up for the next four years.

And I always was really comfortable when I thought Dean and Porter were the corners. I think Samuel's a really good three.

Yeah.

And you're real comfortable with that. And I'd like to get back to that situation, not implying Everett is Porter, but in this situation, he would be the fill-in.

Maybe by next year he is.

Or maybe he is. I mean, he's not much different talent-wise. So I would make him a starter at this point. Real quick on the other two.

Yeah, there's kind of incomplete at this point.

Yeah, of course.

I don't know how much there is to say.

There's just a theory I'm spitballing. Actually, Rob and I were chatting about this. And we're talking about how the Steelers allocate their money and where it'll go in the future. I really think their plan, no one's told me this, they're just talking through it. And the offensive line, I don't think Frazier will ever leave.

He better not.

He would cry.

If Frazier goes somewhere, I go with him.

I mean, Pouncey, Dawson, Webby. I mean, I just know, I don't care what year it is, this organization is going to latch on to a Pro Bowl.

If Frazier ends up doing a Linderbaum and moving somewhere to the West, Arizona, guess what? West is doing Cardinals Nation Radio.

So I think he's going to be a 10-year-plus stealer. I mean, anyone can get hurt. I hope he doesn't. Anyone, of course. Or could fall off a cliff. But I think the plan is, We are going to pay him top-of-the-line money, and he's going to go to a lot of Pro Bowls and keep the center legacy going. And I think they're going to do the same with both tackles.

So if you can be the team that has a center and both tackles locked up for a decade, that is the envy of the league.

That is about, other than a future Hall of Fame quarterback.

I'm taking that.

That's the next best thing you can do, I think, to be that high tide that raises all the ships around it.

It'd be a tremendous situation. And Broderick didn't work. We're going to do it again. It's still our plan, and we're going to pay them top of the line, and we know that day's coming. It's not today, but it's coming soon, especially for Frazier and Faltanu. Thus, I hate to say it because I'm really high on McCormick. I bet almost every year they draft a guard in the third or fourth round. Because you can't—I mean, you're not going to have— You can't.

Pay five guys on that offensive line to make top 10 paid at their position.

And you don't want to go shopping for a guard, not to mention— If I'm right and McCormick hits the open market, you're getting a third-round comp pick for sure. I mean, guard on the open market on his first contract, that's a good starter that has his kind of experience.

And would be, like, 26, 27 years old.

26 with four years every day starter. I mean, that's gold. I mean, do you know what the Titans would give him?

You also, and listen, we're getting way over our skis here.

But I think that's Dunker's role. Maybe next year there's another one sitting there.

If you're comfortable in Dunker, there's maybe even some things that you could do to dangle some of those offensive line carrots if you try and move up in the draft for a quarterback.

You could, right, right, right. Everybody needs them.

Yeah.

But I would expect a lot of years going forward, third, fourth round guards, not first round, but third, fourth round guards.

You always said before you should draft an offensive lineman every year.

Yeah.

Keep one in the hopper like they used to when, Harrison was waiting for Porter. You know what I mean? And Dunker's that one. It doesn't mean they all have to hit. You can still go get the Hoffmans of the world, too, as fill-ins. But I bet that's their big plan. Don't let tackles and centers ever leave. Thus, we're going to have to churn through some guards over the next decade.

And hopefully, Matt, part of that plan is... Hey, yeah, we're going to have to pay those guys, right?

Yeah.

But around the time we have to pay them, hopefully we're going to have a stud rookie quarterback who's making peanuts. That's the timeline. And that's where we spend the money.

And probably TJ and Cam are off the books and Ramsey. I mean, look at how.

Loaded the Chiefs offensive line was when Mahomes first got there.

Yeah, yeah.

It's because they could pay all those guys.

They could pay those guys, right. So I think that's the big plan, folks, you know? And it's a good plan.

It's a great plan. It's a great plan, right. It still needs that quarterback dropped in there to really put it over the top. But you have... I think Matt, and it might be our, I think, Hey, I hope it is.

Of course we do.

I hope it is because then all of a sudden you use that first round pick on an edge rusher or a wide receiver or, and then you're really over the top.

Third best wide receiver in the draft.

Exactly.

Right.

Or Cam Hayward's replaced. I mean, you know, the possibilities would be limit.

Would be linebacker in the draft, you know, whatever it is.

Right.

Totally. that to me is a really good place to be, certainly. And I think that we get tweets, not all the time, but often enough, how do you think the nest is? Where's the nest at? Feeling pretty good about that nest on offense right now.

Especially a lot of these early picks that are on offense this year. Basically everyone we talked about is offensive players. For the quarterback, folks, this isn't an accident.

It surely is not. Certainly is not.

When you tackle receiver or their plan was receiver-tackle, I mean, I'm sure they would take a tackle in the second round if they were taking Lemon. I'm not sure who. It would have been a much worse situation. It would not have been nearly as good.

That's why, again, you and I were kind of, while everyone else was melting down on draft night, we were kind of like, oh, this is a blessing in disguise.

I mean, even if it wasn't my favorite tackle, in this draft, going tackle receiver made a lot more sense than receiver tackle.

I think in most drafts.

Almost every draft.

One's a short position, one isn't.

Especially this year when, yeah, I mean, you get a guy who as soon as next year could be a top three, top five, right. Tackle in the league.

Yeah.

Um, gold and not in the top 10, Matt, where you normally draft those guys, you get them in the twenties. That's just five years.

Cost control.

Absolutely golden. Let's continue this conversation. We're a little overdue here.

Getting to day three here after this.

But let's get into some of these day three guys and kind of round this thing out when we return. Just getting started on this Tuesday, Euler Ann Williamson. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

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Back on The Drive here on this Tuesday as we are are talking about a rookie class on the rise for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Matt, we move to day three here, and I think if any of these guys could take that rookie step forward here in the next week or so, Caden Weijin would be a very good candidate.

Yeah, the world's a little harsh on him because he only gets the ball kicked to him how many times in a game? Five. And if blocking's not great, some of them he doesn't have a chance to do anything with. All that being said, you can't be happy about how this is going considering what you invested in for a couple reasons. Your special teams have been problematic. Is it all his fault? Of course not. He doesn't... He's not even on kickoff team or punt team. I mean, your coverage team.

He's on half of the special teams. Not even, because he's not out there for kick.

Of those four main units, he's on half. And he needs people to do things in order to be great. But even just... The day the pick was made, even if it's true that he was the best returner in college, which by all counts he was, to warrant a pick that high, he almost has to be a pro bowl top five NFL returner.

Yes.

That's asking a lot.

It is.

You know what I mean? The chance of getting your return on that investment is pretty bad business, really. And the other thing that kind of bothers me about the whole subject is he's up a roster spot you know like there's two spots on this team the fourth quarterback and him that only do one thing for you or nothing for you on game day that could be a safety running down on kick so you're better at kickoff coverage you know what i mean another spears jennings type or A linebacker you're grooming for next year.

Or a wide receiver who could be helping you now in a time of need.

That would have seen the field when people got hurt and you were active on game day. He still didn't see the offense. So he toyed at wide receiver in the preseason, but there's no reason to think that he's close to being developed.

Well, I think Sunday was pretty telling in that regard. You're down three of your six listed wide receivers and he's active and doesn't see the field as a wide receiver snap.

Right, right, right.

This is one of those, Matt, I feel like we used to, you know, Motes and I and you and Dale, we used to talk about Edmonds.

Yeah.

When he was drafted in the sense of, hey- for a first round pick you want more yeah but if he was drafted in the third round oh you're.

Like that's a nice you're like that's a that's a.

That's a that's a great third round pick i think a lot of it for weijin and obviously this isn't his he wasn't the one who made this decision oh no if he was a sixth round pick instead of a fourth round pick i think the tune would be completely different oh yeah it'd be like he's still early in his career give him a little time to figure it out.

Six and seventh round picks are for special teams exactly kind of not throwaway picks but.

That's At some point this season, if he ends up having a big return and a big moment for you, it's totally worth it.

And he might.

And he still might. In a way, he better. Because, again, some of these draft picks, I'm looking at short-term but also long-term. If he doesn't at least impress this season, and there's a lot more football left, I don't know that you can guarantee him a roster spot next year.

I would agree.

I'll draft a receiver in the fifth round that, also return punts at Toledo or.

Maybe by that you know right like Eli Heidenreich is going to be our guy yeah yeah yeah he can give us a little something here and there as well.

Right and this of course isn't Legion's fault either but when they drafted Heidenreich I'm like I want I'm not sure who's the better returner before they even got the NFL.

Because Legion was incredible out of Iowa but Heidenreich was no slouch at.

Navy then he yeah he profiles as a decent returner too.

Matt, the fifth-round pick, Riley Nowakowski. Tough to evaluate.

Real quick on Legion, too. I bet some of— well, this is true for probably this whole neighborhood. This portion of this draft wasn't good. I mean, it was not a good blue-chip draft. I'm just talking about the 2026 NFL draft. I'm not talking about the Steelers draft. There wasn't as much to pick from as usual. And, like, tight ends went early because it's like, what else are we going to take? There's not many linebackers or safeties here.

And it was a deep tight end class. Yeah. Might as well get somebody here that we think could help us.

Yeah.

It wasn't a good blue chip class, and it was a really bad day three class. So their thought process, especially with that many picks, I'm sure was, well, this guy will at least be a semi-starter for us.

We're kind of taking a swing here, but.

And we got so many picks.

Yes.

You know.

Yes.

I understand.

I mean, no.

And fortunately, trying to explain what they probably were thinking at the time.

No, at the time, I think the logic was fair.

Yeah.

And it hasn't worked out yet. But there is obviously still a lot of football to be played. Fifth round pick Riley Nowakowski, of course, remember the Steelers must draft a national champion every single year. They've done it. They've done it four straight years now under the Omar Khan tenure. Riley Nowakowski, of course, of Indiana. He's almost kind of an incomplete, too, because we've seen a little bit of him, but not a ton.

He's on all special teams.

Yes, and I think he's done well there.

I think. I always say this all the time.

Again, it's tough to evaluate. You haven't seen him blow a coverage or a tackle or an opportunity that ended up costing the Steelers.

I also haven't seen the best tackle I've ever seen or anything like that either.

Robert Spears Jennings numbers.

Right, right.

So I always do this with special teamers. I mean, I look where they're being used, and he's one of the top. guys on the team and special team snaps overall so they must be happy with him or he's the best they got at the moment so he has value with that um i think he played two snaps of offense this past week.

Yeah the uh the tush push type situation.

Okay i was wondering i couldn't even remember the move push yeah yeah that steel city.

Shove no there you go the pittsburgh plunge.

You must be in the radio booth i must.

Sit there while they go over all this stuff.

But I also wonder, like I always do a podcast and just go through all the snap counts and be like, okay, he was only out there two. Is that still one more chapter we just haven't seen in the McCarthy offense is the two back stuff. You know, could that be coming? He was drafted for that in mind, not to be a tight end. I mean, he's a move fullback use check type. And from what I saw in camp, I'm fine with that pick at this moment.

And he has been active in all five games. I mean, I think they clearly they clearly have a role for him. And we'll see if that's going to expand down the stretch here. Matt, sixth round pick who we finally got our first look at on Sunday. Gabe Rubio, of course, the defensive lineman out of Notre Dame. We weren't very for we kind of put our hands up on draft day and we're like, we don't know. We don't know a ton about this guy.

And you can't just, like, scramble to the beast or NFL.com.

Nobody heard of him. I mean, even Dane Brugler, who writes 700 pages on the draft class, only had a little blurb on Gabe Rubio, I think, or maybe not even, maybe like one sentence.

I think he was just on the other list.

He was just kind of listed on the depth chart type thing. That's about it. But I tell you what, good starting point for him on Sunday. It was a small role. It was just a little bit on his plate, but I thought he did what they needed him to do.

Yeah, and the reason he wasn't a well-known– draft commodity, even though he was at Notre Dame. I mean, sometimes if you're at Alabama State or whatever, you can sneak through this, much less so now than ever, but he was at Notre Dame. So the knocks on him, which I think still are out there, he's never going to be a dynamic pass rusher. He's an average athlete in terms of just like foot quickness and all those things, but he does fit their mold of 6'3 or taller with long arms, He had a history of being on the ground a fair amount at Notre Dame as well, which is a terrible thing for a lineman. I haven't noticed that in a Steeler uniform.

He played 14 snaps.

I'd say he played a lot. And he played against Nelson a lot and held his own. He drove Nelson back on a couple occasions. Of those 14 snaps, almost all of them were runs. I think about a dozen of them were runs. Not that you know what the opponent's going to play, but he's going to be out there on basically run-down situations. He's very physical. He's got big, heavy hands, and he has knockback power, and he has the ability to handle a double team. So he looks like a keeper, which is, you get that in the sixth round.

Fantastic.

Yeah, I mean, it'd be great to get three starters in a draft, but if you get five or six keepers, you start building a roster pretty well.

I i'm with you on that and even if even if gabe rubio ends up becoming kind of a stalwart rotational piece right for a six round pick fantastic.

He's never gonna be out there on third and eight ever in his life you know but if.

He can give you 15 to 20 snaps a game and be a real kind of run stuffing presence on the interior of that line job done.

Yeah and definitely a trend of guys they've drafted lately he's kind of a pain in the butt to play again you know what i mean.

He is, we've talked about, especially the offensive and defensive linemen. They've got a type.

Yeah, yeah, they do.

If the Pittsburgh Steelers are scrolling for prospects on Tinder, they know who they're swiping yes on and who they're swiping no on.

The O-linemen are going to be athletic, and there's going to be some nastiness to them. The D-linemen are all going to be 6'3 with long arms and have a little nastiness to them, you know?

A little touch of the jerk. Yep. Steve Martin. The jerk.

Good movie.

The jerk.

I haven't seen that in 30 years.

Same. I don't know how many people think of that, but it's such a good movie.

He was like a young actor then.

I think that was kind of one of the movies that made.

Him, right?

And then, of course, two seventh-round picks, Matt. In the first, a guy that I know you're very high on and you've loved what you've seen early on in his career, the safety out of Oklahoma, Robert Spears Jennings.

Yeah. Looking back on things, and there's so much Monday morning quarterbacking with the draft, why wasn't he considered like a third, fourth-round pick when we were doing mocks galore and safety ranks and He was nowhere to be found either. Another big school.

I was just going to say, especially, you know, maybe this is more around campus conversation.

Yeah.

Yeah, right, right, right.

Mm-hmm.

There's, we've talked about this, how Clemson hasn't been the same for the last few years. And a big, that's a big reason. A big part of that is because Dabo just refuses to embrace the NIL era. And he's almost, he hasn't been able to hop on the moving train. Another big reason why is because they lost Venables when he became the head coach of Oklahoma. He was Dabo's defensive coordinator.

He's like a Flores mad scientist.

Yeah.

He's Clemson one, two national champ Clemson's Matt. I don't know if you know this now I'm going to get real dorky on you. Gino Smith, Tavon Austin, that WVU team, in the Orange Bowl in 2012, beats, well, I think it would have been 20, no, it would have been 2012, beats Clemson 70-33 down there in Miami. Just laid it on them. I was there.

So this is when Clemson's not the powerhouse yet.

Correct.

Dabo had them on the rise. And they had Sammy Watkins and a bunch.

Of really nice players. So they were still a good program.

They were a good program. They were on the rise with Dabo. He was clearly the right head coach. They go to the Orange Bowl against WVU, and they get 70 hung on their heads.

Wow.

I had a great time there. Oh, I bet. It was a week or two before my 21st birthday. I was a junior at WVU.

So you didn't partake in any alcoholic beverages?

No, I was completely sober, being well-behaved. And Dabo, that offseason, was like, if I want to take this thing to the next level, he convinced basically the athletic department there, we've got to pay for a top-flight defensive coordinator.

Oh, okay.

They bring in Venables. they go on to go to three national.

Championships he was that renowned at that point and win two of them absolutely and he's been missed and then he he.

Takes the oklahoma job yeah you look at all the studs the dexter lawrence is the sexy dexys of the.

World and he was at clemson.

And now he's kind of listen i don't think he's the greatest head coach but oklahoma's defense has still been nasty every single year that he's been there and they're still pumping out dudes With all that in kind of hindsight, you're right.

How does he fall to that late in the draft?

How is he not a fifth-round pick instead of a seventh?

Especially in a day three that's weaker than usual. He immediately profiled as a big-time special teamer with length and speed and all those things. And I'm kind of going to repeat what I did with Everett is I would make him the starter now. When Elliott comes back, I would bench Brisker. I would not bench Spears Jennings.

Okay.

I think Elliott and Brisker are a little too alike. I think Brisker's not close to the athlete that Spears Jennings is. He's been a culprit for missed tackles. He was a lot better this past week. Hasn't made a lot of splash. And I would understand both, but I think like the Everett situation, I would like to see the youngster next to the veteran smart Elliott guy.

That makes a lot of sense. He has been certainly a very pleasant surprise to this point. You're getting a lot more from him than you would from your average seventh round. He's been great on special teams.

And, you know, by the way, he's a demon on special teams.

And he's starting to really carve out a role for himself on defense. That is certainly one we could look back at as a massive coup. I, like, publicly put this out there that I wonder if Sunday was the first start for Bernard, Everett, Spears, Jennings of many.

Like, they're just starters now.

Yeah. Forget Max. We all know that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, dude, if you get to the end of the year and you feel like four of these guys are already quality starters.

Yeah, and you got a quarterback waiting on the wing.

Rubio's a nice rotational case. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you have a quarterback and a guard kind of waiting in the wings.

Waiting in the wings, right.

Man, that's a great. Other than drafting Ben Roethlisberger in the first round, that's about as good as you could get.

Yeah, right.

Other than drafting the future Hall of Fame quarterback that's going to carry you.

For 18 years. We're doing that next year.

We're doing that next year, obviously. Listen to Around Campus tomorrow and we'll tell you who it's going to be.

Tune in.

And then last but certainly not least, Eli Heidenreich, the local guy. And Joe Biddy.

I mean, Joe Biddy counts.

And he counts, too.

You're right.

We should mention him, too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to talk just because I don't forget. Joe Biddy, at the time, he was on some lists as a late-round pick.

He had a really productive year at Syracuse.

He did. And I don't know if people know how this works.

Wolf would love having that guy around. Oh, yeah.

And he has some promise, too. I mean, he's a little longer. He has more pass rush potential than Rubio, which I think Rubio got the bump. because Harmon was out, because it's a run team they're playing against, as opposed to needing a pass rusher from the big guys. But I'm almost certain that the best way I can describe it is, I've told the story a million times, but when I was with the Browns, we drafted Braylon Edwards with the third pick in the draft. So we still needed more wide receivers. So they said, Matt, here's $ 10, 000.

I remember you telling, yeah.

We need to bring three more rookie wide receivers into camp. you give the money to whoever you want in terms of signing bonus money for undrafted free agents, which isn't that much money. And it hasn't, from what I understand, still hasn't gone up all that much, but there's no salary cap limit to what you give undrafted free agents.

Correct.

I gave like nine grand of it to Josh Cribs.

And I don't even remember the other two were like, this is the guy that I want.

Sorry guys. It was, you know, when Josh Cribs was scoring touchdowns against Steelers, that was my fault. Sorry. But I'm almost certain Joe, but he, got a bigger signing bonus than like all their undrafted free agents combined. Like if they wouldn't, I bet they were sitting there on draft day going, when they were on the clock, should we take Rubio or Jobity? They're very different. They're very different.

And the second they took Rubio, I'm sure they were on the phone with Jobity saying, if you don't get picked, we'll give you whatever you want.

Don't sign, don't answer the phone with anybody else. We got you.

So he's almost like another pick. I mean, I think that they targeted him. If they would have one more draft pick, it would have been him.

Yes.

You know what I mean? Yes.

I think that's well said.

Yeah.

I think that's well said.

So he's just not Joe Blow, undrafted free agent. They went out of their way to get that undrafted free agent.

Yes, they sure did. And I think that's what you like to see from Trump. You kind of steal one there. That's all on your scouting staff and the behind-the-scenes people.

Right.

They liked him a ton, couldn't believe he's still out there. Call him, call him, call him, call him.

Yes.

But he's still an incomplete, too. I don't know if he'll play a snap this year. I don't know if he'll play a snap in his life. But the fact that he made the team and did some good things in the preseason, okay. You didn't pay anything for him.

Heck, yeah. I think that's very well said. I was trying to find out exactly how far apart Wolf and Joe Biddy's high schools were. for some reason.

Is Joe from that area and with the Syracuse? Okay.

He's, he's, he, I don't know if you remember, but that preseason game in Buffalo, he was like, he grew up, he didn't grow up in Orchard Park proper, like Wolf did, but I think he grew up in like an area right around it and grew up a big Bills fan and all that kind of, you know, just like Wolf did and go into games and all that. So I remember He had a sack in that game, and I remember everyone being like, even the Bills people were like, that's really cool. That kid grew up 10 minutes down the road. We hope he makes the team type thing.

Kind of like Eli growing up 10 minutes down the road here.

Exactly right.

He was our last guy.

So yeah, you're right. He certainly deserves a mention because I think he will have, if not this year, he'll have a say on a Sunday for the Steelers at some point.

He may be on the roster for the next three, four, five years. Who knows?

Rookies rising, and that is a good place to be.

What kind of grade are you putting on Eli? Mostly incomplete.

Mostly incomplete.

Um, I don't know if he's being used properly. Like when they drafted him, I would have made him not because of color of skin, but he would have been Welker Edelman to me, not a running back.

You know, I think especially now you'd love it if he could do those types of things.

Yeah.

I just saw him more of a route runner, not a traditional, certainly not traditional Jerome Bettis.

I backed Christian McCaffrey. And I understand that some of the comparisons there were warranted, but One was a, one was a top 10 pick and the other was a seventh round pick for a reason.

But even McCaffrey and he came out would have been the best slot receiver in that draft. You know, like his skillset is as much slot receiver. It is running back. And he's Michelob ultra McCaffrey. If he's lucky. Okay. Guy's going to hall of fame. I, I'm glad he made the team. My worry. And this is kind of a Connor Hayward thing. Some of the players that's like, he's really, he's good at this. He can do this. He can do that. He can do that. but he's not NFL caliber at any of them when they're.

On the field of all trades, master of none.

Yeah.

And Connor Hayward was useful. He could carry the ball. If he had to, he could be a fullback. He could be a tight end, but in the end, the Bengals defensive coordinator said, thanks for putting him on the field.

Sure.

You know what I mean?

And then there's the other examples of that, where that was a big knock on Antoine Randall L when he was coming out of Indiana.

Oh yeah.

Quarterback turned wide receiver.

Right. And he ended up having a great career. That was the reason that Heinz Ward went in the third round instead of the first round teams were like, where exactly does he fit on Sundays? He's a great player at Georgia, but where is he a Jack of all trade master and none Georgia used them in a lot of different ways. He ends up becoming a Superbowl MVP.

He's a good, Eli's a really good receiving back, but he's not as good as let bell, you know, he's not as good as Warren. You know what I mean? He's not, he's your third best at everything. Okay, that gets you out of a game, but that doesn't win me championships.

Yes.

And I'm talking about a seventh-round pick, and we're all rooting for him. He went to my high school and all those things. I'm just saying he's going to have to find a role, and I thought his best role was slot receiver. I wish he was going to the WR room, not the RB room.

I'm with you on that. But all in all, a lot to like about this rookie class. Yeah. And man, if, if Aller, Aller, obviously, cause he's a quarterback and that's kind of a completely different conversation, but.

Well, that, I mean, if he, if he's a lifetime number two, that's a hit.

And if Jennings Dunker ends up being a starter in another year or two, I mean, this is, this could go down as a very, very good draft class for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Last note on Eli, if he ends up being Skoranek or even Homer. where special teams first, 53rd guy in the roster, I can put you on offense, even though you're not the best guy out there. But I can put you out there, like Skoranek was out there a fair amount, block, play hard. That'd be wonderful.

That would be fantastic.

And I don't think that's much to ask. I think he could get there.

I certainly think he could, and maybe even this season. Certainly that story hasn't been written yet. One more segment to go. That's two beefy ones on a rookie class that's rising for the Steelers to kind of get us started today. We'll close down this first hour on the other side. Euler and Williamson, it's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp....

There's nothing better than the clean, crisp....

Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me.

Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light.

Stock up now. Bud Light.

Louis, Missouri.

I used to have cable internet, but I'm a 100% kind of fan, so I switched to Verizon Fios. It's 100% fiber internet that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% of the NFL draft live with ultra low lag.

And after what went down in the.

First round, still getting video calls from my best friend, rubbing it in that he called all the picks.

I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet.

Get 100% fiber internet with Verizon Fios, because when it comes to your team, it's 100% or nothing. Call 1-833-VERIZON to switch today.

Get that hot dog costume ready.

Bruh.

You're tuned to The Drive on your 24-7 home of the black and gold.

Steelers Nation Radio.

Final segment here of the first hour of The Drive. And, Matt, two things from Mike McCarthy's presser yesterday that I wanted to run past you and get your thoughts on here as we close down this first hour.

We were so busy yesterday. We never even got to it.

It's weird because part of me likes the Monday press conference because you get the coach typically 24 hours, sometimes less, after the game.

Yeah.

And it's all still really fresh. Yeah, yeah. There's also from the content perspective of when Mike Tomlin used to do it on Tuesdays where it fed nicely.

We would probably start in today's show if it was on Tuesday with the press conference.

Exactly.

I think Dale and I almost always started Tuesday's show with the press conference.

Here's the latest things. Here's the latest injury updates. Here's what coach had to say about the upcoming opponent, all that stuff. So there's pros and cons to each way.

I have no idea why he prefers it. I've never asked anybody.

I think it's probably more so that he just wants to get it out of the way for the week. Okay.

Yeah.

I get back to now it's on to the next team.

Exactly.

Right.

Whereas, you know, again, and this is another one of those things, there's no perfect way to do it or else everyone would do it the same way.

Yeah. But Matt, there's no NFL rule.

No, I mean, you have to do one every week. Yeah.

And I think, I mean, I'm sure you can't do it Thursday.

I was going to say, I think Tuesday or Wednesday is the latest you're allowed to do.

It, but you can do it at noon.

You can do it at three. You can do it on Monday. I don't know about that, but I think there is a lot of wiggle room in there. Certainly two things, Matt, that I wanted to get your thoughts on the first, is Mike McCarthy said they'll know more about the Sean Elliott's potential availability after practice on Wednesday.

Okay, I'm looking forward to that one.

I don't even know if that's something that we needed to discuss a bunch, but I just.

We need to at least make that something that we are going to discuss.

And tomorrow, everyone should be keeping an eye on the practice report and what the Sean Elliott status is.

I got the hunch he was close, and there's no way they would open a 21-day window if they thought that the window would ever close. So it's going to happen in the 21 days and we're already seven in or whatever. So it's either this week or next.

Yes.

I mean, the latest he's in play is the France game.

Agreed.

Or else they got shut down the whole season.

Right, right. I mean, unless he gets hurt again or whatever. I mean, he's able to practice. He could re-aggravate something. But I do think his run-stuffing ability, but especially his communication and knowledge of the game, would really help solidify the secondary.

Agreed. Yeah.

Agreed.

The other thing, Matt, was just Mike McCarthy head-on. It was one of the first things he said in his press conference, saying that they need to be better on special teams.

Good. I mean, I did a bunch of special team stuff yesterday, threw a couple tweets out there, but there was a lot in the stat packet. Fortunately, Tampa Bay is actually kind of bad at what the Steelers are bad at, too, in terms of some of their coverage stuff. I actually expected the special team's coverage stuff for the Steelers to be worse. But I even looked at DVOA today, and that's how I always cheat on special teams. Steelers are like 26th or 27th. Not good enough.

Not good enough.

No, it's not good enough.

Absolutely not.

And I'm glad Coach Flatout basically said the same thing. Like, that's not good enough, right?

And you and I, particularly in the offseason, we talk a lot about the minutiae in the margins.

Yeah.

And the area that really separates the 1% from the 1%. And special teams is one of those that year by year now, it seems like it becomes more imperative in that regard.

If the Rams could make a kick, they would have won that game last night.

I was just going to say, you talked about this last year with the Rams. Yeah. They were so good. They were dead last in special teams.

Every year with McVay.

And maybe if they're 17th or 18th instead of 31st or 32nd.

They would have been in the Super Bowl last year. Yeah, they might have hoisted a Lombardi. Right, yeah, yeah.

It's the inches... As Al Pacino once said on any given Sunday, the inches that we need are all around us.

Yes.

And a lot of those inches now, I think you can draw a direct parallel to special teams' performance.

I've already been on this soapbox, but it's more important now than it's been any other year because everyone has a ridiculous howitzer at kicker. And the kickoff rules also make it more important.

A lot of these times, one first down and you're in field goal range.

If you're losing that battle, you're losing that battle by a lot.

And if it's one of those games that comes down to a coin flip, that can certainly be the difference. Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles and what they saw in London on Sunday. Hour in the books. Another hour to go. Power rankings. Fantasy football. Your questions, comments, concerns, and reactions. All that and more in hour number two. Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson. It's The Drive. Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp.

There's nothing better than the clean, crisp....

Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

I'll figure it out.

Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light.

Stock up now. Bud Light.

Louis, Missouri.

I used to have cable internet, but I'm a 100% kind of fan, so I switched to Verizon Fios. It's 100% fiber internet that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% of the NFL draft live with ultra low lag.

And after what went down in.

The first round, still getting video calls from my best friend, rubbing it in that he called all the picks.

I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet.

Get 100% fiber internet with Verizon Fios, because when it comes to your team, it's 100% or nothing. Call 1-833-VERIZON to switch today.

Get that hot dog costume ready.

Bruh.

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