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Good afternoon, Steeler Nation. It's The Drive on the Steelers Audio Network. Wes Shuler and Matt Williamson with you here for the next two hours on this Wednesday. As we, as always, have plenty to get to. We are going to go around campus today. We've got some other fun stuff planned for you. But, Matt, the kind of news of the day continues to not let us down, to not dry up here in the National Football League. I know you and I have referenced this before, but, man, the NFL– And just kind of the day-to-day operations have changed so much over the last decade.

Oh, yeah.

And what I mean by that is I think the NFL for a long time was by far the most static league of the major four sports leagues in this country.

I don't even think it's close.

It was season, then it was free agency, then it was draft, then it was training camp.

That's how you acquired players.

Free agency, draft, training camp.

Rinse, repeat, yeah.

Yes, there were trades, but it was very minuscule.

The deadline often went by without anything going.

On for decades. You might have some depth guy that moved for a sixth round pick. It was very quiet. It was a far cry from MLB trade deadline and NHL and NBA, where it always seems like crazy stuff is happening. Even the off season, not as nearly as much big trades and things like that is the other leagues that we would see. It was more static. I guess you could say more conservative, more traditional, however you want to label it. That's different now, man. We got trades flying around, contracts flying around all the time.

And another pretty substantial... Let's start there real quick. Because I bet some people are probably like, well, why? So when I was growing up and learning about football from my dad, uncle, whoever, I always asked them, like, Pirates just made a trade. Why don't Steelers just go trade for Marcus Allen right now or whatever? You know what I mean? And the obvious answer was... In baseball, I can put a right fielder in right field. He doesn't have to know the guys around him. He can hit fourth and blah, blah, blah.

There's way a fraction of the schematics.

Yeah.

And basketball and hockey are a little more intricate, but not much. The three of us could play pickup hoops together and be okay. You know what I mean? That's not the NBA. I get that. Football, you need to learn the plays and the lingo and all that. And that was always the reasoning or excuse growing up.

It's like, well, you can't just make some sense.

And it's true compared to the other three.

Yeah.

Yeah. But no doubt. Um, that it's, it's, you don't just walk under, you know, Eagles today and be like, I'm ready. I know everything. I'm ready to rock. Sure. But I have this theory and you're younger than me. And I think it's true. My generation, I've lived about half my life with real internet and half without, but you guys and the current group of GMs, most of whom are probably younger than me in my fifties, or they're not the old curmudgeons anymore. Grew up playing Madden. Mm-hmm.

They grew up playing fantasy football. And you make trades left and right doing that kind of stuff. You just grew up trading as opposed to, oh, well, I'm not doing that. Right. It was just kind of the way back then.

I think that makes a lot of sense. I think all that has kind of led to this point where it's a lot different than it was when I was growing up.

Oh, yeah. And contracts have a ton to do with it, too. I'm not going to resign this guy. That wasn't as big a deal back then.

Right. It absolutely was not.

When I was young, there wasn't even free agency. until like reggie white you know what i mean right.

Correct and the comp pick game is played into those two now where teams are a little more confident um if hey you know we'll end up making up this draft pick on the back end we'll get a third rounder back or something like yeah yeah yeah so it's just that just kind of um was something that i was thinking today not too long ago when the news broke about a pretty substantial trade i mean we just had Last week, a very substantial trade, obviously for us, but I think for the entire National Football League with Joey Porter Jr.

I mean, second, when day two picks are getting thrown around, that's a substantial move.

It sure is. And today, Matt, another kind of big move. I don't even know if Lane Johnson retiring yesterday is a big move by the Eagles. It's a big move that affects the organization. It's not something that they did.

Yeah.

But the Eagles once again in the news today, and it affects the Steelers and the AFC North as the Eagles and the Ravens have made a trade for two-time Pro Bowl center Cam Juergens. He is now a Baltimore Raven after the Eagles have traded him earlier today. The Ravens sent a fifth round pick this year and a second round pick next year to the Eagles in exchange for Cam Juergens and a seventh rounder this year.

Okay. Let's start with the compensation real quick. I think Porter's worth more in the open market than Juergens.

I agree.

Cam beef Juergens.

I almost kind of laughed as I said the two-time Pro Bowl center Cam Juergens.

I didn't know he went to Pro Bowl.

I understand how it works with the AFC and the NFC and your conference and everything, but I think the four or five best centers in the NFL are all in the AFC right now. So I don't know how much an NFC Pro Bowl center really means to me in the grand scheme of things, but he's a two-time Pro Bowl center.

Yeah, I mean, that's a fact. I mean, he's not a top five center. But anyway, from the Ravens' perspective, it seems like a pretty decent amount to give up.

Yes.

But they're in it to win it right now. They're on center number five since the Linderbaum situation. And he's very similar to Linderbaum in style. He's undersized, leaner. He's not a big power mover type, really mobile.

There's been a lot of reports that... baltimore was kind of the year that they drafted linderbaum jurgens was like their option b yeah if we don't get linderbaum we're second round.

We'll jump on yes on jurgens right but that all adds up you know and jurgens history he comes to the eagles while they still have kelsey who's also a very movement-based center and pretty much sat a year i think um the eagles are a disaster right now i didn't really until i walked in here i didn't realize the salary cap ramifications of the johnson retiring too that accelerates a lot of things but they moved them to guard and i don't 100 know why i know dickerson got hurt so they made two moves you know instead of and frankly jurgens has not played very well um But maybe he's just better suited to be a center.

I mean, the whole world looks at him as a center that can play guard, not 50-50. But he has not played very well. Their line's been bad all year.

That's the most surprising part about him to me. If you would have told me in the past year or two... hey, a team's going to trade a second-round pick and some other things for Cam Juergens, I would have said, okay.

Yeah, I get it.

But not right now where he has really struggled, that offensive line has really struggled. You know I'm still pretty tapped into the Philadelphia market, having worked there for a lot of my friends that I made, that we all follow each other on social media. A lot of people were saying that Cam Juergens had the worst game of his career this past Sunday against the Ravens. Like a lot of the– My Rams, my, yeah, a lot of my friends that are still in the Philadelphia media that I follow on Twitter and see all their opinions and everything that cover the Eagles thought that he really struggled on Sunday.

Wow.

And then he ends up, you know, Baltimore ends up, Hey, and maybe if you've identified him and he has a skillset that fits our offense.

And we think that's part of the case.

We really liked them a few years ago and we think he's going to fit in well here. It could obviously be a new chapter, a new opportunity for Cam Juergens.

Yeah.

Yeah. get back.

Cause he does have a good history. Absolutely. Absolutely.

As much as this year has been a struggle. Um, but that's a man. I think that says obviously a lot about how Baltimore views, uh, the interior of their offensive line and the absence of Linderbaum.

I think it's a little bit of a desperation, a little bit of a desperation. It's also a win. Now we can win the Superbowl move.

And I think, I think it signals a lot for Philadelphia too. Namely that one, they might have had the internal conversation of we're going to have to eat our vegetables a little bit this year. Yeah. And as you mentioned, that salary cap stuff is real. nobody has kicked the salary cap can down the road more than the Eagles the last few years. And they've been to three Super Bowls and won two of them in the last decade.

So if you're an Eagles fan, I'm sure you would say it was worth it.

Oh, no doubt.

It was worth it. But they were going to have to eat their vegetables in a big way already in 2028. with all kinds of bills coming due on that salary cap. And Lane Johnson retiring yesterday, I think, made that even worse.

That's from what I understand. This chat with Tyler before you walked in, I think that it's accelerated because you can't kick it down the road anymore with him.

Right.

You know, because he's done. So it all is hitting now.

They did it for so long with Kelsey and Lane Johnson.

Part of A.J. Brown.

A.J.

Brown.

And I mean, even some of the guys still like Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox, you know, from the previous... few years that you know have been gone for.

A while now stalwart guys.

But but now that that that you know that kicking the can down the road in terms of the salary cap eventually that bill does come due like they're gonna have like miami dolphins level dead cap money in a couple years yeah and they obviously want to keep quinion mitchell and cooper dejean those two stud pieces they have in the secondary that they're.

Gonna have just paid both defensive tackles the georgia.

Just paid both defensive tackles and so I think it makes.

A lot of big deals. My lot is making a lot of money.

And I don't even know if necessarily it makes sense, but you can at least understand why Philadelphia is in this position right now.

Yeah.

And again, they should all be happy. I mean, for their strategy, they won a lot of games, but I think that the entire organization is, it's going to be a different chapter for the Eagles. Not to mention they're not winning right now and they look pretty bad. Um, I could see, I'm not forecasting it, but I could see a new coach. I could see a new quarterback. Um, from what I understand hurts, they can get out of his contract at a reasonable level after this year. It's not, you know, crippling. Um, the old line needs a ton of work and you know what their backbone is, is big people. That's probably making Howie Roseman absolutely crazy. Um, So we did a show today. We did a six-pack.

We picked six teams that we think are kind of a fraud. And the Eagles were one of them. And what we meant by that was, okay, they may get in the playoffs, but they're not a team that can make noise in the playoffs. And I think the Eagles absolutely qualify, all based on offense, and especially what they're trying to do now. No Devontae Smith, no Goddard. Barkley's hurt.

His backup's hurt. Lane is retired. Juergens is on a different team. I mean, the first-round pick, Lemon, is acclimating very slowly and not really impacting the game. The second-round pick, Stowers, is on IR. They pick up Ertz off the couch. I mean, like, the guys they were playing with around Hertz were really rough. I think they get the Jags this week. I don't know what the spread is, but it should be at least a touchdown. I mean, to me, I mean, that's another loss, and I don't see them as a playoff team. I think the defense has a chance to be really good. here's a, an aspect of all of this that we touched on that I don't fully understand. And that's contracts is there's a difference. You would think everybody, everyone does operate under the same rules,

but everybody looks, every team, all 32 teams view contracts differently. Sure. And there's a difference between cash spending and true spending, or you're like cap spending. And it's somewhat of a way around it. And it's all based on your owner. And, I just know that the Eagles are always, always, always at the top of the league in cash spending, which is actual dollars out of the owner's pocket. Now, he gets them back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. I mean, he gets it back, but he writes big checks more than the other 31 teams, which is an advantage. I mean, because the players want it. If you're going to give me money now, money later.

Big stack up front.

Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, that's work to their advantage. but they also, as you said, if you look at their future cap situation, it's really bad.

It's dire.

And it's always looked bad for the last couple years, and they've been able to move things around and, hey, I'll give you a stack of cash today for two hamburgers tomorrow type of thing. But eventually it comes due, and I think that this could be the end of a really good Eagles era.

Absolutely. I mean, again, they went to three Super Bowls and won two of them.

Yeah, nobody's crying for that.

I think pretty much everybody would sign up for that.

You lose two offensive linemen in the same day.

Yeah, and Matt, Jacksonville is a touchdown favorite.

Okay, so they should be at least.

That game's in London, too.

Oh.

So you want to talk just, and you know, you and I know, this all feeds into the psyche and the morale of a team. They're going to get on a plane, I would imagine, tomorrow at some point to fly to London. Probably tomorrow night, overnight, red-eye, get there Friday morning. they're going to get on that plane. And all of a sudden it's not only Lane Johnson, not there.

Cam Juergens isn't there either.

Yeah.

And you're looking, and if you're Jalen Hurts and you're Devonta Smith.

He had to be a blow losing Johnson. I mean, he's a leader. Absolutely. I think he's the best right tackle to ever live.

You said this yesterday. He's kind of like the Cam Hayward of that organization.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like he's been there for so long. He's a stalwart. He's well-respected by the team and the community and all those different things. He's a icon of the organization.

And oh, by the way, they never help him in protection too. You know, like, With him not out there, they have to change the whole scheme of their protections and everything. I mean, it's a big ripple effect.

Someone, one of my buddies sent this in our, and it was along the lines of like, he's had something like thousands, thousands of snaps in coverage. Lane Johnson has had. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And gave up like 30 sacks in his NFL career.

The one I heard is he has like 20 holding penalties in coverage. 12 years or something. I mean, it's less than that.

Nearly 12,000 snaps in his career. So 11,900 and change. He allowed only 295 pressures.

Wow.

He allowed just 33 sacks for 0.02% of his, of his drop backs. He allowed a sack on.

And I know the holding numbers are the ones that I heard are remarkably low, like 12 or something. I mean, it's crazy. The other things I heard today, too, on a different podcast I did this morning, the splits over the last five years or so of their offense on and off the field with Johnson are basically near the top of the league to the worst in the league.

I mean, he's that important.

And now you're getting on the plane to fly to a different country. Not only lost him, but you lost another guy.

And Saquon's going to be hurt.

And who knows what's going on with Devontae Smith. And that's tough for morale, certainly.

And you know they're I don't want to say they're not an impatient organization, but they're not going to sit on their hands.

No, they are not.

If they win six games, Hertz and the coach aren't going to be there.

I would be shocked if there wasn't massive wholesale change. Matt, that's kind of our opener there. I also wanted to make sure to mention. It does make the Ravens better.

It does.

I don't think it's earth-shattering, move-to-play tectonics of the division or anything.

Now, maybe if he gets back to what he looked like two years ago, Cam Juergen.

Yeah, yeah.

Then it's a different conversation. I mean, he's still only 27 years old.

No, they should have him for a while.

But obviously that'll be something we'll be keeping an eye on, and I'm sure we'll talk about plenty whenever these Steelers and the Ravens meet down the road. Matt, real quick, we had talked about all the roster moves that the Steelers made the last couple days, the practice squad guys to the active roster from other teams and some of the moving and shaking with that. You had kind of speculated, well, doesn't that leave one open for the Steelers.

On the practice squad?

And today, and we had kind of speculated maybe it's Danico Slaughter who was released and maybe he could be coming back, and that is the case. Just around noon today, the Steelers announced that defensive back Danico Slaughter has been added back.

To the practice squad. Okay.

So it looks like now, at least for this week, because this is always a fluid situation, but the active roster and the practice squad all set, all full.

Okay. Which indicates to me, and we touched on it yesterday, that it sounds unlikely that Elliott will be back this week. I don't know who you'd get rid of. I mean, I guess Jenkins could get cut.

And actually today, Mike McCarthy was asked if Deshaun Elliott's 21-day window will be open. He said the safety is getting closer, but there's nothing to announce. which makes me feel like it's probably not.

Going to happen this week. Yeah, I bet it's not this week then. Okay.

So, something to keep an eye on there, Matt. Again, it's a very fluid situation, those rosters and all that, but we now at least know, have a better kind of final look of the Steelers heading into this weekend against the Colts.

Gotcha.

Okay.

There's your news of the day. To get us started, Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson, rocking and rolling here. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

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Matt, you and I kind of started the show discussing... recent trend changes around the league and how much more aggressive organizations seem to be in trades, in player acquisition, and just kind of, you know, what has become a newer trend around the National Football League.

And, of course, the league is so great at promoting it. Absolutely.

You know, right.

Absolutely.

Just adds to interest, another headline, you know.

They rarely go away, and that's part of how you kind of dominate the sports content calendar, something the NFL has absolutely mastered over the last decade or so. Matt, our guy Aaron Schatz put together a list of early trends for this 2026 season.

Oh, I haven't seen it. Is this on ESPN?

This is on ESPN that I thought some of these were very interesting that I wanted to run by.

Oh, I'm definitely digging into that.

I know you are a DVOA guy.

Yeah, yeah.

Aaron's done great work for a long time.

He's one of those guys that when he puts something out that's kind of research-based like this, I'm always very interested. And he has a couple trends early in this season that he wrote about.

Let me guess a couple. Okay. I know that some of these are true. I don't know if he put them in the article or not. The number of really long field goals, 50 plus, is at a ridiculous number right now.

That is not in here, but this is more specific team-based.

Oh, cool. Okay.

But I would imagine that that's something that, without a doubt.

I mean... I know it's true. We're on a record pace.

Just an eyeball test. You can see that now.

And they're making more than ever. The percentage of under center snaps is definitely going up.

And the Steelers are having a lot of success in that regard.

They're number two in the league in any metric you look at under center. They need to start doing a little bit more of it. And I think the last one I would come up with was... I had it on the tip of my tongue. I don't know.

Maybe you'll think of it here while I run some of these past you. The first, Matt, since DVOA can be tracked, which is all the way back to 1977.

Actually, that was as long as I've been doing this or paying any attention.

The 49ers are the 11th best team overall through four weeks since 1977.

Wow.

I bet they're at the top. It's mostly offensive-based.

All the other teams, Matt, that are ahead of them, like the 2007 New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl. The 91 Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl. The 99 Greatest Show on Turf St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl. I mean, it's a lot. It's the 97 Elway Broncos won the Super Bowl. The 96 Green Bay Brett Favre Packers won the Super Bowl. The 2019 San Francisco 49ers that lost the Super Bowl. They're in some elite company here to start the season.

Big shoes, yeah. Yes, it is.

Every single, sorry, of the 10 teams ahead of them, eight went to the conference championship game or the Super Bowl.

Or better. Yeah.

Wow.

Pretty impressive start to the season.

Like, they were number one in the power ranks yesterday, and I think they've earned it.

I think if you're going in the true power ranking spirit of the thing.

Their first three games weren't against great teams, but they just destroyed them, too.

But they also destroyed them, yeah. Yeah. The second one, Matt, is that via DVOA, the Vikings are the eighth worst 4-0 team of the 21st century.

I heard something along the lines, maybe I'm stealing the thunder of what else is in here, but the Texans are like the best 0-4 team ever.

That is in here. We will get to that. But what's interesting, Matt, is if you look at the worst 4-0 DVA teams since 2000, a lot of them went on to have pretty successful seasons now.

Really?

There's like the 2012 Arizona Cardinals who went splat and went 1-11 in their last 12 games.

Wow.

But there's also the 2003 Carolina Panthers who lost the Super Bowl on a last second field goal.

I think they were like 15-1 or something.

The Patriots and Adam Vinatieri.

Yeah, yeah.

There's also the 2015 Denver Broncos who won the Super Bowl.

Okay. Now I think, I think it doesn't mean you're shot.

It doesn't mean you're obviously does not mean you're shot. Um, but it's just interesting because a lot of these teams still went to the playoffs and ultimately fell short of their goal. But like the 2006 Indianapolis Colts who won the Superbowl, Peyton Manning's Indy, uh, ring there, they were, uh, one of the worst 4-0 DVA teams of the 21st century as well. So you can get better, you can improve.

It's not necessarily the death sentence to be in this position. Again, only one of those teams finished with a losing record, and it was those 2012 Cardinals who just went completely belly up. But an interesting start.

They must have had a big injury or something. Yeah, I wonder.

If, like, was that when Kurt Warner was still there? Yeah, I would imagine.

Something bad had to happen, yeah.

But just interesting that the Vikings, 13th worst out of 136 teams to start 4-0.

Wow.

So two notes here. It's getting to the point in the season where you'll see, like, 4-0 teams go to the playoffs 84% of the time. I'm sure it's a very high number. So chances are they're going to end up in the playoffs. But I mentioned we did a six-pack today of contenders or pretenders. They were in the pretenders six-pack. I think they're good. I just don't... My concerns with the Vikings are twofold. I love Flores. He's wonderful.

But it's... You die by the Blitz. You live by the Blitz. You die by the Blitz. I don't know if he can do that kind of stuff to Shanahan and McVay. He has good players, but he doesn't have great one-on-one beaters on defense. They're not pro bowlers everywhere. And then you see something from the quarterback position. Yeah.

We just haven't seen it yet.

And I'm sure that's probably a lot of what has been in this spot. Number three, Matt, the Texans and also the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rank amongst the top 10 worst 0-4 teams since 1977. Pretty impressive there. Right now, Houston is the third best 0-4 team since 1977. They've played good teams, too. They have. Tampa Bay, fifth best. Sorry, Houston, third best. Tampa Bay, fourth best. Pardon me.

Houston adds up more than Tampa, though. To me.

I absolutely think so.

Because Stroud's playing great and the Tampa's quarterbacks are terrible.

The bad news, Matt, of the 12 teams that have been in this position since 1977, the 12 best that have been in this position since 1977, only one finished with a winning record. That was the 2004 Buffalo Bills.

Not surprising. I mean, 0-4 is hard to use. I basically think they need to be 10-3 the rest of the way. to even get a shot to the playoffs.

None of those teams made the playoffs. Only one finished with a winning record, 9-7, the Bills, in 2004. Okay. So maybe it's not as dire as it seems, but in the grand scheme of things, you've got a hell of a mountain to climb.

Oh, yeah. I mean, your grave has been dug. You're about to push in. I mean, 0-5 is a death sentence. I think they play the Titans at least next, so you should get off the schneid.

You should get off the schneid. Matt, and then the last one, the Giants and the Browns rank amongst the worst three-in-one teams.

Oh, they were pretenders.

Of the 21st century, yes. They are, let me look on this list here. Cleveland is about the, looks to be the 9th. And the Giants, the 12th worst 3-1 teams since the year 2000. Of all the others that are kind of in that category, a couple made the playoffs, as you can imagine, like the 2010 Bears, who went all the way to the NFC Championship game before losing to Aaron Rodgers in the Packers. But a lot of these teams finished with nine wins, seven wins, eight wins, and maybe get in and lose in the wild card, maybe just miss out on a playoff spot.

I wonder if this is controversial or not. I don't think either one of those teams will have a winning record. I don't think they'll get the nine wins. They're not that far away. They only need to get six.

I would say pretty confidently neither of those teams wins more than nine games. I could see maybe one.

I'm sure Vegas odds on that would be pretty good that one of the two does.

And if... If both the Eagles and the Commanders have a rough back half of the season and the Giants kind of the division isn't quite as daunting as maybe it looked, they've already at least got a split with the Cowboys. Maybe the Giants are the one that I could see.

More so than the Browns.

Because I think the Browns, the tough portion of their schedule is definitely still ahead.

Yeah, divisionally and defensively.

Both have the fourth-place schedule, so it's not like they have gauntlets. But sure, I would not bet on either of these teams making the playoffs. And it wouldn't shock me if one ended up going 9-8, but I can't see both of them finishing with winning records.

I would bet. I mean, I know that there are some sites you can bet on anything. The best odds are one of the two gets to a winning record. But I wonder what's a longer shot. Neither gets a winning record, or they both get a winning record. I would think both is the one that would pay the most. That's the longest shot. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Oh, absolutely. I would think so. Let's see it right here. Odds to miss the playoffs. As you can imagine, the Dolphins, the lowest.

Yeah, you're not making any money on that.

The Jets, the Bucs. Now the Chargers.

Oh, yeah, they should be.

Oh, baby.

The Giants and the Browns. So let's see here. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Did you say to miss the playoffs?

Giants still have the eighth best odds to miss the playoffs.

I don't think their path to the playoffs is easier than the Browns, though.

Because they could win the division.

I don't think the Browns could win the division.

They are both in the bottom ten in terms of odds to make the playoffs.

Really? Okay.

So there you go. Bills and Chiefs. uh ravens niners jags rams seahawks to make to make the playoffs all have the best uh the best odds there if.

You which is a little different than the winning record thing but it's in the same ballpark yeah.

Absolutely so vegas not crowning either of those teams just yet no no matt interesting i just thought that that was kind of yeah i like this i like those those different kind of uh Oh.

The thing that slipped my mind is Warren Sharp put out a big thing on how penalties are through the roof, too. I mean, it's really, really high right now in terms of the refs are throwing a lot, a lot of flags, more than any other year on record, I think.

And I wonder how much of that is just training camp, preseason, guys are doing less and less and less, and it leads.

To sloppier starts. Maybe, maybe.

Matt, we're going to take a break. When we return, it's time to go around campus, baby. Oh, yeah, one of our fun Wednesday traditions here on the show. I've got some quarterbacks and some other draft prospects that I want to discuss with Matt when we return here in our number one. 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 a 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.

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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.

Ah, Matt, the fresh, crisp fall air.

It's a beautiful day out there.

It's a beautiful day.

It's been a beautiful week so far.

My wife was asking me, my parents are taking the girls tonight. And my wife was like, should we go out to dinner? And I was like, sweetheart, what about this? I was like, what if we just cook at home?

Sit on the porch.

I was like, we only have a couple weeks left of outdoor grilling season.

Let's sit on the porch.

Let's have some drinks. Let's just grill out and enjoy the peace and quiet and the nice weather. And she was like, that's a great call.

But the Steelers are playing, too. I was looking last weekend. She started putting furniture in and stuff like that. I'm like, no way. It's nice out, man.

This week has been awesome, and we're loving it. And it just reminds me of those days, Matt, when you'd be walking home from class on campus. You and I skipped a lot of class, but just go with me here on this one.

Walking home from the cafeteria.

Walking home from the cafeteria and you're like, oh man, it just tastes like cold.

Beer in the air.

And you sit out on the porch and you hang with your buddies and you enjoy the weather and watch the sun go down and all that good stuff. It's a good day to go around campus here.

Yeah, let's do it.

Matt, I know you're a fan of Chad Reuter. I think a lot of people are. He's one of the kind of.

He's been doing it a long time.

Long time draft Knicks.

Yes.

And he put out his mid-season outlook at the upcoming draft class. which I thought is fantastic. There's a lot of quarterback stuff on here, but there's a lot of.

It's a real good place to start.

There's a lot of prospect stuff on here. And what really struck me at first, and I sent this to you guys last night because I didn't know if you wanted to look at it or anything like that.

I glanced through it a little bit.

But what really struck me is you've talked about this before, how... every year there's not 32 players with a first round grade.

No, no.

There's maybe a dozen ish.

Yeah.

And then 16 is a good year.

And then after that, it's a lot of guesswork. This team might have the.

Next buckets, maybe 40 dudes, you know, and this.

This team might have them graded as a first rounder. They might have them graded as a high day two guy, but it's picked 23 and it's a position of need.

Yeah.

You know, but there's really only it's us or, you know, there's really only 10 to 12 to 14, you know, kind of bonafide first round guys, maybe even a year, like last year, there's only five or six last year was bad there. That number is not as high as people usually think.

Right. Right.

Right.

I mean, and we're talking about guys that they came out five years from now or five years ago, they're going in the first round, maybe not four, maybe they went 12 or whatever, but their first rounders all day long. And this is one thing, just as a side note, you know, like Kevin Colbert, And really, the Steelers as a whole almost never get that guy.

No.

I mean, Belichick never got that guy. Nope. Andy Reid never gets that guy. Nope. You know, they go to the same teams a lot.

Yes, they do.

Yes, they do. Or they don't go to the same teams a lot.

Yeah. And it reminds me of that clip that went viral a few years ago when Chase Young was a rookie.

Yeah, I love that.

And he played great in that Monday night game against the Steelers. And there's that clip of him and Mike Tomlin talking on the sideline where Tomlin's like, man, I'd love to have a player like you. I hope I'm never bad enough to draft a player like you, but I'd love to have one.

He's back to playing great, by the way. He is.

Quietly, he is. Quietly, yeah. Matt, you and I, I think starting last year in February when we went to the Combine and it was really those few months of draft season.

Mm-hmm.

We even back then said, hey, this is not the most loaded blue chip class.

It was a bad year to pick at the top. Depth wasn't great. Some people were critical of, you know, you took a returner in the fifth round. This fifth round wasn't as good as most fifth rounds either.

You talked about a lot of tight ends went way higher than usual.

They did, right, right. Because that's one of the trends. That could have been a shots trend is people were going to multiple tight ends more and more. And it was a good tight end draft. Most positions weren't. So they got pushed up a little bit. So it was not a blue chip draft.

No.

And we back starting in February, I think you and I were talking about it. People like Dane Brugler and Nate Tice and Matt Harmon were talking about it of, hey, this might not be the sexiest draft class, but wait till 2027. There are some studs everywhere.

And people hate hearing that. Like, oh, I've heard that before.

So all of that to kind of set the scene to where I'm setting it, what I'm setting this up for. We know traditionally there's about a dozen, you know, bonafide, this guy's a top 10 pick pretty much every year. Then some years, like last year, there's only four or five or six. Some years you have years where it's more like 16.

And quarterbacks can be a little different. You know, like people didn't look at Bo Nix or Penix as a surefire first round pick, but the fact that they won the first round wasn't mind boggling, you know?

Chad reuter and he does this every year and i love it does potential top 20 picks so those are kind of.

The non-playoff teams the cream of the.

Crop how many guys he lists matt.

And those are really the basically the true first rounders almost any.

Year and last last year when he did this i think there was like 14 or 15 you know true potential top 20.

Picks okay i could see that 24 this year that's.

Potential top 20 picks pretty great yeah pretty good a lot a decent amount of them are quarterbacks cj car from notre dame trinidad and i don't think i.

Said two or three guys won't declare and.

This is he does this in alphabetical order so it's not good he breaks it up into tiers so he has potential top 20 picks potential late day one early day two picks potential day two picks Gotcha.

Makes sense.

So three different tiers.

We're not talking about fifth round safeties here. Right.

So his potential top 20 picks, there's 24 of them. And again, a decent amount of quarterbacks. So in alphabetical order, he lists CJ Carr amongst them, Trinidad Chambliss. Arch Manning, Darian Mensah, Drew Mestemaker, Dante Moore. So six of them are quarterbacks.

They all pass the sniff test.

Sellers, it wasn't on that list, and he hasn't played great.

Now, he has Sellers, and then after his potential day two picks, he has kind of other names to keep an eye on.

Okay.

Sellers is in there. Sam Levitt is in there. There's a couple of these quarterbacks that have had real rocky starts that he mentions.

Yeah, yeah. They could rebound. Yes.

But those six are the six that are in his top 20 potential picks.

Wow.

And then in the early day one, or sorry, late day one, early day two, he also lists Jada Meava, the USC quarterback, and Julian Say in the Ohio State quarterback.

And I bet two of those go back.

But maybe someone like Lenore Sellers jumps in there.

Steps up, yeah.

So eight, Matt, of his essentially what he's saying top 50 picks are quarterbacks.

Wow. I mean, you and I have been on top of this every step of the way, and I don't think that blows us away, but just hearing it in that capacity is pretty impressive. I mean, if I were Vegas, you know, we brought these up a couple things, over under quarterbacks taken in the next first round, six and a half, five and a half.

The only part of that is the unknown of some of them could still go back, but I would be comfortable saying four and a half right now.

Six and a half is too many for sure. Just two of those names. Someone won't play well enough to be worth it. And two will go back.

Yes.

And maybe one adds. Yes.

You know, uh, Matt, he has in that kind of other names to watch for day two. So eight, right. That he has in the top 50.

Quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks. And then the other names to watch for day two. He has Gunnar Stockton, the Georgia quarterback. He has Drake Lindsey.

He seems like he's playing better and better. He's playing better and better.

He has Drake Lindsey, the Minnesota quarterback that our buddy Nate Tice is in love with. He has Lenore Sellers listed on there. He has Austin Simmons, the Missouri quarterback that you were asking me about earlier today.

Yeah, I was just listening to Building the Beast, lefty that's playing quite well.

And he has Nico Iamaliava. I think I finally have nailed that pronunciation. I'm sure some of you, plenty of you, will let me know if I haven't.

It wouldn't shock me if one of those names gained some heat.

Eight in the top 50 and then five more as potential day twos. So that's 13 in total for the first three rounds.

This isn't what we're discussing, but obviously we're on Steel Nation Radio. I'm not interested in another third round guy, though.

I'm not.

You know what I mean?

I'm not trying to slap a double into the gap. I'm swinging for a grand slam. And if I strike out, fine.

Yeah, fine. I'll do it again in a year or two.

So that was just eye opening to me how clearly he thinks a lot of these quarterbacks and again, some of them could go back without a doubt.

Of course.

But so many of these guys that are going to be draft eligible and a couple of them that have to, you know, have had their eligibility run out at this point. It's just it's insane how wild of a quarterback class this is potentially shaping up to be. It's still potentially shaping up to be.

But and it's not just quarterbacks as you open the segment with i mean it's a very good draft wide receivers offensive tackles.

He's got five i think it was five there right i said I think five quarterbacks. One, two, three, four, five. Yes, five in the top 20. Or top 24, pardon me, that he lists there. He also has a couple.

Who are the other names?

Yeah, a couple wide receivers that we've talked about. Obviously, Jeremiah Smith. If you pay even the slightest attention to college football, I think you should know Jeremiah Smith.

This is terrible to say, but he could blow out his knee and still be a top seven pick.

No doubt. Matt, I saw this stat yesterday that listed all the teams that he has more receiving yards than. And it's like right now, BYU has the number nine offense in college football. He's got more receiving yards than all the receivers combined. UCLA has the number, I think it's 17 rated offense in college football. He has more yards than all their wide receivers combined. Like it's, you're absolutely right. He could not play another snap and still be a top five.

Yeah.

He could do something. I mean, like, damages stock get hurt or something and still go really.

High still go maybe even in the top three yeah yeah uh two other wide receivers on the list cam coleman from texas who we've mentioned a few times charlie becker from indiana who is having just an incredible incredible season.

I like both those indiana guys i do too yeah.

I do too uh some of the other names on this list matt um some of them that we've mentioned and discussed leonard moore the corner from notre dame who could be the highest drafted cornerback that we've seen in a long time uh kaiwin lacey the super talented old miss running back who's missed a little time for injury he's in there but okay expected expected to be back here um.

Is ba in there the running back from florida.

He is not on the first round list okay He is on the potential late day one, early day two picks list. So he's not far off. K.J. Bolden, the safety from Georgia. Will Echols, the defensive tackle from Ole Miss.

He's very impressive. It looks like a pretty good defensive tackle class, too.

And the trenches both sides, I think. This is going to be a good year to have a high pick. And maybe that's part of the reason, if you're a team like the Eagles, that you're kind of looking around and let's eat our vegetables. It could be worth it.

On the back end. We've seen two trades in the last week, and they're trading next year's picks, too. People are not getting rid of picks in this draft.

Good call. Uh, Trevor Goosby, the Texas tackle that you and I have talked about a few times. Um, Ashton Hampton corner from Clemson. Will Hilt.

Who did Clemson just play?

Edge rusher from Clemson. They just got their butts handed to them at home by Miami.

I guess he did a really good job against, uh, Tony though. That, that corn, the Clemson.

Yeah.

It's been Clemson last year and this year have been so weird because they've still had the bonafide top end prospects, but it just hasn't translated to results on the field. Kenyatta Jackson, the stud edge rusher at Ohio State. Greg Johnson, the guard from Minnesota. Let's see here. Just a couple more.

Jordan Seton, the tackle from LSU that I think you and I have talked about before. The tackle from Indiana that you just mentioned, Carter Smith. Edge rusher Dylan Stewart from South Carolina, who was in the news for all the wrong reasons last week.

Yes.

Punched an Alabama player and was fighting with his coaches on the sideline.

He suspended indefinitely.

He suspended indefinitely, but he is a top 10 pick talent at edge rusher.

SEC suspended him for a game and then South Carolina took up a notch.

Amari Washington, the defensive tackle from Oregon. Absolute dog. And Colin Simmons, edge rusher for Texas.

They're talking about him like he's maybe top five pick.

Texas has four guys that could be top 10 picks.

Yeah.

And they can do the Ohio State thing from last year. So, Matt, that just, again, to me, from a quarterback perspective and just an overall blue-chip perspective, this is shaping up to be an all-time draft class.

Yeah, and from what Dane and some of these other guys have said, Todd, et cetera, have said things like, this third round will be better than last year's third round, too.

Matt, I missed one of the quarterbacks on the potential day two picks, so make it 14 now. Brendan Sorsby is listed on there.

Oh, buddy.

We haven't mentioned that name in a while.

Yeah. You can't forget about him. Right.

And if he lights it up at pro day stuff and.

He probably will does well, what do you think he's doing right now? Exactly.

He's working on preparing for the combine.

He's doing 40 drills and all that kind of stuff. Yep.

So, uh, that to me, Matt, 14 quarterbacks listed in total is potential day one and day two picks a lot of them in the top 50 there. And just a lot of potential blue chip, players at premium. I mean, there's a lot of tacklers, a lot of edge rushers, a lot of quarterbacks, a lot of cornerbacks listed.

Expensive stuff.

Stuff that's hard to find, yeah.

Which is making me think that it's going to be hard to trade up into the top 10 this year.

Oh, I think so.

It's going to be difficult.

Who's going to trade away from those guys.

If you are one of these teams that we've talked about that could potentially be towards the top but doesn't need a quarterback... If the Raiders fall back, if the Tennessee Titans, if Cam Ward plays really well in the back half of the season and giants, maybe, or, you know, you can either get a stud tackle, a stud wide receiver.

You could trade down a few spots for a King's ransom. I mean, if you're going to be one of those teams picking the top 10 who doesn't need a quarterback, you're going to be in a really good spot to either draft a stud or trade for a big haul.

Raiders are a great example. Let's say that their, their season crashes back to earth and they end up with the eighth pick and they build their board. Like we did, you know, like here's our top eight. They can get their second guy.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

They can get their second guy trading back a few picks.

Maybe. Yeah. Or their fourth guy, the number two receiver, the Texas receiver or something like that.

You know, right. It's a, it's shaping up and you know, Matt, this is coming from me. I am not a draft Nick. I like draft season. I don't love it as much as my co-host and a lot of other people out there, but I'm already very excited.

It's pretty cool.

I'm already very excited for what lies ahead here whenever we get to that point once again in wintertime when the Super Bowl is all done and dusted and you and I are driving the big company F-150 across Ohio and into Indianapolis.

Coincidentally, they're the opponent this week.

They sure are. Funny how that all works out. Hour in the books, another hour to go. We are halfway home here on this Wednesday, which means we're halfway home for the week. Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson, it's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

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

Stock up now.

Bud Light.

Louis, Missouri.

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.

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