0:15

This is the Steelers standard on

0:17

Steelers Nation Radio and podcast

0:20

on Steelers dot com.

0:23

There are seven new members of your Pittsburgh Steelers.

0:25

Three of them are offensive lineman, one

0:28

is a wide receiver, one is an inside

0:30

linebacker. You throw a defensive tackle

0:32

in there, and then sprinkle in a

0:35

cornerback and you have yourself

0:37

a nice little draft class that I

0:39

think is set up to have some pretty significant impact

0:42

in the twenty twenty four season. These

0:45

seven players rookie campaigns. Not all

0:47

seven of them are going to have big impact. But I

0:50

want to draw the line of demarcation

0:53

in these first two episodes at the offensive

0:55

lineman and then the rest of the draft picks,

0:57

because I think there is so much

1:00

meat on both of

1:02

those categories' bones to

1:05

chew on, and with

1:08

the now sense that the

1:10

offensive line has been rebuilt, I

1:12

think that it is only appropriate that we spend

1:14

the first episode talking

1:17

about the hogs.

1:17

Talking about about the hogs. Baby on

1:20

the morning Joan DV we had Wolf call

1:22

in.

1:23

And because you got to talk to him, have to. You

1:25

have to when you go out and you get some hogs.

1:27

And the first two picks were spent on Troy

1:30

Faltanu and Zack Fraser. I ain't breaking

1:32

any news as we're doing this podcast on the Tuesday

1:34

after the draft.

1:35

You have already I'm sure been well.

1:38

One.

1:39

I think we are a little late to the party,

1:42

but it is

1:45

very encouraging. I think, not only

1:47

when you look at this offensive line for what it

1:49

could be in twenty twenty four, but the future

1:51

prospects of it

1:54

make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I

1:58

not only like the potential for

2:00

them to perform well in front of Russell Wilson

2:04

for however long his tenure might be short

2:07

lived, as I'm sure will be, and

2:09

then provide a very

2:12

nice nest for Justin

2:14

Fields if he's able to recapture

2:16

some of his old potential and get a shot at the starting job.

2:19

Another rookie that they draft a couple of years

2:21

down the road to come in and

2:23

be very comfortable behind as

2:26

they try to get their feet underneath

2:29

them in the NFL. My overall

2:31

point being is you get

2:33

the excitement for the here and now, you get the

2:35

excitement for the future. When

2:37

you have an offensive line that has the potential that

2:40

this one does, it's

2:42

hard not to see the playoff streak coming to

2:44

an end sooner rather than later, because

2:46

this is the life the life

2:48

engine of a team. This is the life engine

2:50

of a team. And they went Jacob

2:53

from having you know, fourth round

2:55

pick playing tackle, third round pick at the other

2:57

tackle, another fourth round pick there, or

2:59

third round We'll try to convert this fourth round

3:01

pick to center to having a first round

3:03

pick at tackle, another first round

3:05

pick at tackle, a second round picket

3:08

center, a second round pick in James Daniels

3:10

who you acquired, and then Sam All who was

3:12

a third round pick but has established himself

3:14

as much better as that.

3:15

In Philadelphia before you went out and acquired him.

3:18

So we're talking actual dudes

3:20

on this offensive line for a change, as opposed

3:22

to really selling hope with some of

3:25

the other guys, the chooses and

3:27

the Dan Moores, who will get to in a second.

3:29

How many times in the past, how

3:32

many years have we gone into a season

3:34

saying, let's just assume

3:36

the best out of this offensive line.

3:38

Let's assume a rookie Dan Moore

3:40

can take hold of that left tackle

3:42

position. Let's assume a rookie

3:44

Kendrick Green, who never played center in Illinois,

3:47

can all of a sudden just play the position perfectly

3:49

at the pro level. Let's assume

3:52

the additions of Mason Cole and James

3:54

Singens will just fix everything magically.

3:57

There was a lot of assumptions made, and

4:00

it was a lot of wishful thinking, and

4:03

it led to a lot of kind of

4:05

pie in your face moments

4:07

for people in Pittsburgh. But like

4:10

you said, Tom, the last two years

4:12

they have not messed around. James

4:14

Daniels was brought in what now three years ago

4:17

or two years ago this will.

4:18

Be his third yes, three years ago when he was

4:20

required going into his.

4:22

Second year, right, But so you look

4:24

just in the last two years, because I

4:26

mean nothing, no discredit to James Danilis.

4:28

Look at the last two years. You spent a first round draft

4:30

pick on Broderick Jones. You go out

4:32

and you get Isaac Somalu, who you

4:35

plug and play immediately. That

4:37

is a guy that no questions on.

4:39

And then the next year you spent a first round

4:42

draft pick on another tackle, not just

4:44

any tackle, Tom, what people are

4:46

considering the second best tackle, maybe

4:48

the first best guard if you play with that position,

4:51

and arguably you could say overall

4:53

the best offensive lineman, just because you can play

4:55

both positions. So well, and

4:57

then you spent a second round pick on your center,

5:00

the position that you feel most desperate

5:03

to solve. Given that the

5:05

history of Kendrick Green and then Mason Coles,

5:08

both of their short tenures with the Steelers,

5:12

it's it seems as if there was

5:14

a light switched on in

5:16

the Steelers' operations

5:19

room that just said, Hey, you know

5:21

this big problem that we've had over the

5:23

past couple of years with our offensive line, let's

5:25

just fix it with the right pieces

5:28

instead of just hoping that these

5:30

extraneous pieces, these

5:32

leftover pieces, are gonna do the job for

5:35

us.

5:36

And maybe that is just, you know, the patchwork that

5:38

needed to be done, as you

5:40

you know, spend the draft capitol in

5:42

coming years to really build it up, because you can't

5:44

just wave a magic wand and you know, get

5:46

two first round tackles on your roster

5:49

in a second round center.

5:50

It's definitely gonna take some time. But if

5:53

you're.

5:53

Gonna see a offensive

5:55

line built through the draft, and what

5:57

that process expedited looks like, I think

6:00

this is it. I mean, two

6:02

first round picks and back to back years on tackles

6:04

a center in the second round this year and

6:06

then of course, you find your guards

6:09

via free agency.

6:13

There was very much a clear game

6:15

plan when it came to what the Steelers

6:17

had in mind for this draft, and

6:21

it was a draft that really

6:23

fell into their lap perfectly.

6:24

As far as how the board landed.

6:26

Almost every pick that was coming up, I think

6:28

you were sitting at home going there's a lot of options

6:30

on the board, Like when

6:32

Zach Fraser went in the second

6:34

round are then I'm Mitchell

6:36

was still on the board out of Texas, the wide

6:38

receiver, and I remember, you

6:41

know, having that tug of war with

6:43

myself saying, I

6:47

know Zach Fraser is the better pick,

6:50

He's going to come in and start at center from day one,

6:53

but I don't. I Mitchell's pretty good

6:55

wide receiver that's still sitting there. You

6:57

kind of had those thoughts too with different players.

7:00

And the file Tanu pick was on the board in the first

7:02

round. Like file Tanu, you've

7:04

heard rumblings that they like him a lot. But Barton's

7:07

still on the board and you've heard about him a little bit

7:09

too. And you know, the best defensive back in

7:11

the draft, Quiny and Mitchell is still here. So like

7:13

every pick that came about, especially

7:16

the the top two, which are the big

7:19

picks. You had so many

7:21

really good, tempting options on

7:23

your plate, and that's the way you want the draft

7:26

to fall. You don't want to have one guy that

7:28

you're kind of reaching for that makes it to think you

7:30

one or like, oh, we got to trade back now because

7:32

our whole board's messed up and we need to reevaluate.

7:34

Like you want to be sitting at the table and going

7:36

like I want to eat some of the prime rib,

7:38

but also the stuff shells look really good

7:40

too, Like you want options on your plate, and

7:43

the Steelers had it almost every pick,

7:45

but especially at that one and two pick.

7:47

Let's juxtapose hours but before

7:49

you, I'm sorry to kind of just put a bill on that point, like

7:52

they had all those options, they still

7:54

went tackle center.

7:56

It kind of shows you that their mindset all

7:58

along was trench's trenches, trenches.

8:00

Let's juxtapose our first

8:03

mock draft with the draft that actually

8:05

happened. We had to wait and

8:08

we never got paid off.

8:10

We never got JPJ to follow us, we

8:12

never got Zach Fraser to follow us.

8:13

And by the way, I'm sending my.

8:15

Car, certainly Troy Fatana never dropped

8:17

to us.

8:18

I'm listening to the coverage on my way down to the facility

8:20

on Friday. I was on that

8:23

night on Friday, and I'm listening to the picks

8:25

go buy and Jpj's still there in the second

8:27

round.

8:27

Yeah, like oh boy.

8:28

And then of course the Raiders had to come and ruin our so

8:31

they're going to move him to guard though, or a lot of speculation

8:33

that he might be a guard whatever.

8:34

That's the Raiders problem.

8:35

But I'm just saying, like your point

8:37

of we were waiting so much in these mock drafts

8:40

for these guys to come, and we get to pick forty I

8:42

think is when JPG finally went and they're both

8:44

still there eleven picks away, and

8:46

it's kind of like that same feeling of like, oh

8:48

my god, trade up, don't miss out on this.

8:51

We know what's coming Pittsburgh. We've done these mock drafts

8:53

before. They're never gonna make it. Well, one of them did make

8:55

it. Well.

8:55

I know just from being so

8:58

close with all of our co

9:00

workers at SNR that guys

9:02

like Pursuda and Jerry from the

9:04

little booth that you had set up in the facility

9:06

were screaming.

9:08

What are you doing?

9:09

Make the trade, especially

9:12

once JPJ went to the Raiders.

9:14

Yeah, Barney Towers, Johnson off board,

9:16

you've got one shot.

9:17

That's what I was referring to. Once JPJ went,

9:20

everyone was blowing their gas cause

9:22

you gotta make the trade? Do you have to do it? But

9:25

it's so ironic because we were

9:27

in studio on Friday, or we

9:29

were recording on Friday, just recapping

9:31

the Troy Fatan who pick and saying what

9:34

a miracle it was that the Steelers

9:36

had Troy Fatan who fall into their lap

9:39

and how vigilant

9:41

uh oh, my Connor, Andy

9:43

Widel stayed the didn't

9:45

overreact and didn't see Fatan who get to

9:47

pick thirteen fourteen, fifteen, or someone

9:50

say okay, we need to have that knee

9:52

jerk reaction. Let's just get in, you

9:54

know, because he's there and in the caution to

9:56

be too much, they continue to wait

9:59

and it worked. And then when we recorded

10:02

on Friday, we were theorizing,

10:04

what's gonna happen tonight? Are

10:06

the Steelers going to have to make a move

10:10

to get their center? Because when

10:12

you went and you didn't get a center in

10:14

the first round, that really kind of

10:16

felt that you had to

10:18

be a little desperate to act

10:21

if you wanted to get a center in the second

10:23

round, and once again, somehow,

10:26

some way,

10:29

the Steelers had the luck of the

10:31

draw and Zach

10:33

Fraser felt to them at pick

10:35

fifty one. So in rounds one

10:38

and two they had

10:40

a guy that normally

10:42

would never be there and they fell. And

10:44

I just want to take this chance to applaud

10:47

Andy Widel and Omar Omar

10:49

Cohn for staying so calm,

10:52

not doing that knee jerk reaction that you and

10:54

myself and du Lac and Bersuda

10:56

and Lalie and Williamson all we're screaming

10:59

to do. And the only ones

11:01

that weren't doing that were Omar and Andy,

11:03

and it worked out beautifully. They got

11:06

their two guys. Now

11:08

it's gonna be a question of whether or not those

11:10

guys start because

11:12

of the Steeler traditional way of waiting

11:14

for talent to kind of emerge rather than

11:16

just putting him into the very beginning. Yeah, we'll get, we'll

11:18

get.

11:19

Let's get to that in maybe five

11:21

minutes or so. Okay, I want to talk about this meat ball

11:23

from South Dakota State too, with the fourth

11:25

round thick, because I think there's a lot of potential

11:27

there. And then I think there's also a couple of guys

11:29

we need to put on notice when it comes

11:31

to that offensive line. You know, a couple of

11:34

in their throats after seeing a couple of picks come

11:36

through on their Thursday through Saturday

11:39

viewing of the draft.

11:43

So we'll get to the possibility

11:45

of them starting. But

11:47

one thing that you were talking about there with

11:49

with Omar and Litel, I like

11:52

Helen, back to back years now, in.

11:53

This new regime, this new battery, you've.

11:56

Seen them do different game

11:58

plans as far as moving up or staying. Last

12:00

year, you see the aggressive nature. The Jets

12:03

are gonna take PROGERC. Jones and the tackles are falling

12:05

off the board. We can't afford to sit back. Let's

12:07

call it Bill Belichick. He likes screwing over the Jets.

12:10

Let's get him to get into a trade. We'll jump

12:12

in front and we'll get our guy. And then this year,

12:14

you know, I'm sure those same kind of you

12:18

know in poker, you

12:21

and I go onto a table and it's

12:23

kind of just all luck. But these professionals, like

12:25

the Phil Hellm Youth's baby of the world, they

12:27

know how to read people like nobody's

12:29

business. So I'm sure this time they're sitting in there,

12:31

they're looking at the picks in front of Faltanu and they're saying.

12:34

Bengals, they just took a Marius Mims.

12:37

That was the big swing pick for us.

12:39

That was the only team that could have taken Fatanu,

12:41

and I wonder if they were comfortable with maybe taking Mims

12:44

if Fatanu did go off the board. But

12:46

I'm just saying, like, I think that they were reading the table

12:48

really well. They made educated

12:51

guests that they

12:54

were gonna have their players there. You know. It wasn't

12:56

like just like, well, let me cross my fingers and

12:58

hope that they just tralla all the way down to pick twenty

13:00

or pick number fifty one. I'm sure that they were kind of

13:02

feeling the room out and decided

13:05

it's worth the risk of

13:08

not moving up, and both

13:10

times it paid off immensely.

13:12

All Right.

13:13

So this guard out of South Dakota State, Mason McCormick,

13:15

when we're on the broadcast, then he gets picked on

13:17

Saturday. Matt Williamson's telling me like

13:19

he might have been his best center, or

13:22

not the best, but number four center in

13:25

this class behind the Big three

13:27

right, the Fraser, the JPJ, and the Graham

13:29

Barton. He was like, if a team wanted

13:31

to move McCormick to center, I think

13:33

he would have been my fourth rated center coming

13:35

out of this class. He's six foot

13:37

four, he's three hundred and nine pounds. What I like

13:40

about him just

13:42

like Faltano, just like Fraser athlete

13:44

man like, he's fast. His tape

13:47

really is shocking, and you see the kind of build

13:49

that he has and how quick he can move.

13:52

Another thing that I.

13:53

Really like about Mason McCormick. You

13:57

wonder how a player like that in

13:59

this day and stays at South Dakota

14:01

State Because a player that

14:04

shows that kind of ability on the offensive

14:06

line, that kind of athleticism and has

14:08

that size inside six x four three oh nine,

14:12

big schools are gonna come knocking and

14:14

hit him up in that transfer portal, and

14:17

Alabama did. And I heard

14:19

that Nick Saban was not only recruiting

14:21

McCormick, but Quenya and Mitchell who went to the

14:24

Eagles and stayed at Toledo was getting recruited

14:26

hard by Nick Saban to come to Alabama

14:28

in the transfer portal, and

14:31

Mason McCormick decided

14:33

to stay at South Dakota State because

14:36

and he said this in his press conference, he

14:38

didn't think that loyalty was really something that

14:40

you know, was a thing anymore.

14:43

And maybe it was Arthur Smith that said this, and there's the

14:46

thousand press conferences this weekend, but

14:48

somebody in a Steeler's hat

14:51

preached about loyalty kind

14:53

of.

14:53

Being a lost art.

14:55

And Mason McCormick thought that South Dakota

14:57

State was, you know, always very loyal to him.

15:00

So he kind of owed it to them to kind of see himself

15:02

through stay at South Dakota State

15:04

instead of potentially playing one year in the SEC

15:07

at the most prestigious program, one

15:09

of the biggest powerhouses currently and historically

15:12

in college football history. And you have to wonder,

15:14

Mason McCormick goes to Alabama

15:16

for a year and kicks ass is their

15:18

starting guard. Maybe he's the second round

15:20

pick instead of a fourth round pick. You know, so

15:24

he could have helped himself money wise, he could

15:26

have helped himself maybe draft position wise,

15:29

but instead he showed that loyalty to South Dakota

15:31

State.

15:32

And you love Pittsburgh's love that we

15:34

well.

15:34

And it also kind of comes right back into

15:36

what Omar and Mike Tomlin were saying on Monday's

15:38

press conference last week. We're looking for Steelers

15:40

here. We're looking for kind of old school thinkers.

15:43

Fraser fits that bill, at Altanu fits

15:45

that bill, and which you heard there about McCormick,

15:48

that really fits the bill.

15:49

Absolutely. It's it was

15:51

no surprise here, Tom, This was

15:54

a I don't think you know, people

15:56

wanted to rush jump

15:58

the gun and say, oh, this all already

16:00

rivals the nineteen seventy four draft

16:02

class. Let's pump the brakes a little

16:05

bit on that one, but it certainly emulates

16:08

a Steeler's feel to

16:10

a draft. You get three offensive

16:12

linemen, two of which come in the top

16:14

two rounds. Then you add McCormick a

16:16

little bit later on, and then I know we're

16:19

gonna get to them later. But you add a guy like Roman

16:21

Wilson, a tough wide receiver. You add

16:23

Peyton Wilson, a tough linebacker,

16:26

a linebacker, right, this is the franchise

16:28

that builds linebackers

16:31

in every decade, in every generation.

16:34

It just really felt like this

16:38

Steeler's draft felt like it was it

16:40

was a true building block to getting

16:42

back to the

16:44

winning way, and that's a good way to kind of

16:46

like get back to where we started with our room news comments

16:48

saying we need to end this streak, like enough

16:51

is enough. This team needs to get back to winning,

16:53

not just in September, October,

16:55

November, December, but in January, in

16:58

February. And this really felt

17:00

like they were truly determined

17:02

to do that, not just saying that these

17:04

guys are gonna lead to more wins, right

17:07

because I know, like Mark was saying yesterday, like

17:09

I don't know how many wins these guys technically

17:11

will add for a team's record,

17:13

but they certainly certainly hope help

17:16

build a foundation for a

17:18

team that can win more games as

17:20

a result.

17:21

Yeah, I mean they have to hit. The lottery tickets have to

17:23

hit, all right.

17:23

We just have ourselves very nice shiny lottery

17:25

tickets that we spent some premium on a

17:27

couple of them. But they still have to absolutely

17:30

get scratched off and get redeemed for you know, fifty

17:32

dollars, one hundred thousand dollars.

17:33

They had a hit.

17:38

We were talking about guys that I think are gonna be on

17:40

notice for the offensive line now, labs,

17:42

and I did ask an answer today, and he broke

17:45

down that there's typically nine guys that probably

17:47

make it as far as the Steelers are concerned, fifty

17:49

three man roster, maybe a couple on the practice squad

17:51

there, but nine guys.

17:52

There's sixteen of them right now.

17:54

So you're gonna cut down a pretty significant amount

17:56

of these guys, right You're gonna lose seven

17:58

of them. A couple of guys

18:00

that I think have to be on notice. Number

18:03

one I think is Nate Herbig. And

18:05

it's just so funny that you know, two

18:07

weeks ago he was the guy

18:09

that you would put forward as well.

18:12

If someone has to play center, it might be her Big.

18:14

And you kind of heard a lot of smoke from

18:16

the Steelers camp saying, like, you know, we have faith

18:18

in her Big. If if, if worse

18:20

comes to worse, he has to play center. He

18:22

has to play center. When now you go out and you get

18:24

Zack Fraser, who even

18:27

more so than Faltan, who has the clearest

18:29

path to the week.

18:29

One start out of this draft class.

18:31

Yes, he's going to be your starting center simply

18:34

because you're not

18:36

risk putting moving James Dangles

18:39

or moving they.

18:39

Forget about that it would be her Big, who you'd

18:41

move, but he ain't gonna beat out Zack Fraser, right,

18:44

He's just not going to do it. So Fraser's

18:46

going to be your starter at center. That means

18:48

now her Big would look to

18:50

be that backup center role, that backup

18:53

interior lineman, you know, first guy off the

18:55

bench. But the only problem is, I

18:57

like this kid out of South Dakota State that they just picked

18:59

to potentially to thrown her Big in that.

19:01

As the guard, as the backup guard.

19:03

Don't forget Spencer Anderson still sitting out

19:05

there for the seventh round last year.

19:06

Who they clearly like he's still

19:09

around.

19:09

He's a seventh round pick. There has to be something to that.

19:12

There's options as far as you know, those backup

19:14

spots are concerned. And things

19:17

just got a little bit more uncomfortable

19:19

for mister Herbig, i'd say, and

19:22

especially when what I just told you about McCormick, with

19:24

what Williamson was saying, he's center capable,

19:26

So there is no reason

19:29

to not think that not only could McCormick

19:31

bump her Big out of that first spot as

19:33

far as Ciamaliwaer Daniels goes down, but

19:35

he could also be your backup center too, and

19:37

then all of a sudden, that's a great fourth round pick if Mason

19:40

McCormick can come

19:42

in here and for four years be your

19:44

first guard slash center off the bench for

19:46

any one of those three getting injured. Home

19:48

run of a fourth round pick, as far as I'm concerned, and

19:50

I think the potential is there for that, And

19:53

that's kind of exactly what her big would be.

19:55

So there's a younger guy

19:57

now competing with her big for that spot.

19:59

And what a refreshed shing moment this is.

20:01

We're talking about a fourth round, fourth

20:03

round pick as a solid

20:05

backup were it's supposed

20:08

to be. We are not talking about this talking

20:10

ourselves into this hooplah of

20:13

Okay, let's just assume this

20:15

guy that no one else took him too the fourth round

20:18

is gonna be a future pro

20:20

Bowl.

20:20

We never see him all over. Daniel's contract is done.

20:23

Let him walk because we got them.

20:25

This is what it's supposed to.

20:26

Not going nuts about it, but it

20:29

really is a good option as far as a

20:31

piece off the bench, and I think it would make her make

20:33

a little.

20:33

Bit more like how Kendrick Green was the third

20:35

round pick and how damn mordred.

20:39

Imagine if Green could have been treated like McCormick. Right,

20:41

maybe we see him, maybe we don't. Maybe he can play

20:43

center a little bit if he has to, maybe he doesn't need to.

20:45

Ever, And even if not, you know, he'll be

20:48

a solid backup guard because guess what, that's what

20:50

he played in college.

20:51

And then obviously the other guy that I think is on notice

20:55

is d M sixty five.

20:58

And you hear all this stuff about how

21:00

he can't play right tackle or he's just not really

21:02

equipped to play right tackle.

21:04

And I brought that up to Dale when we were doing our coverage

21:06

and Dale was like, you know, when

21:09

he was brought in here, there was a lot of turmoil

21:11

with the Steelers offensive line. You know, Zach Banner

21:14

was starting, then he wasn't, and they were moving people around.

21:16

In you bring in names like Zach

21:18

Banner, like, that's just the state of the offensive

21:20

line for so many years.

21:22

So you know, they finally were able to

21:24

settle Dan Moore in on that left spot and he got

21:26

comfortable there and he really found

21:28

his ground there and never really got a chance to work

21:30

at right tackle now and then Dale

21:32

was saying, now he's got this kind of off season in

21:34

front of him, where you know it's

21:38

not just Roger Jones that's in your kitchen now,

21:40

you know, it's two fresh round picks that are

21:42

in your kitchen as far as the tackle room is concerned.

21:45

So he's got a chance now to

21:47

really build himself up on that right side,

21:49

to make himself a little bit more strong

21:51

on that right side. And I

21:54

gotta be honest with you, Jacob, he kind

21:56

of has to. As

21:58

much as I want to sit here on April thirtieth

22:00

people and tell you that Faltanu will be the left

22:02

tackle or Jones, and you know what I mean,

22:05

But those two will be the two tackles. I

22:07

don't know as much as I do with Frasier

22:09

because of Dan Moore's established

22:12

status on that offensive line. But

22:14

what I will say is, if Faltanu

22:16

blows everybody away and he's ready to start,

22:19

and Broderick Jones obviously is gonna start,

22:21

and Dan Moore can't play both sides, you

22:24

have to move on from Dan Moore via trade

22:27

cut. There's no reason

22:29

to keep him if he can only

22:31

play one side of the line as a backup. And

22:34

I know that sounds really harsh

22:36

and I don't want to, you know, grab

22:38

the bat and jump in line for the let's

22:40

bash Dan Moore pinata that a lot of people do

22:43

in this town.

22:44

I'm just telling it like it is. You are

22:46

now staring down being a

22:48

sixth man that swing tackle,

22:51

and if you can't go on either side, what

22:53

value are are you to us? We

22:55

need somebody that can step in if Jones gets hurt

22:57

on the right or Faltano gets hurt on the left.

23:00

Not just a foultonu backup. We have

23:02

to carry an extra roster squat, an extra tackle to take

23:04

care of Jones.

23:05

Yeah, my worry with Dan Moore Junior as a backup

23:07

is that we already know his performance

23:10

as a left tackle right It's not great.

23:15

Role, Like we were just talking about where he should be

23:17

as a as a mid round draft pick.

23:18

But no, no, no, But to your

23:20

point, though, if he

23:22

can't also show signs of being

23:25

capable to be the backup at right tackle,

23:27

you know we only seen him at left we

23:29

had we we've seen Broderick

23:32

Jones, or we saw Broderick Jones play

23:34

the right tackle position for the

23:36

remainder over the course of the end of the

23:38

season last year. Because Dan

23:40

Moore junior couldn't make that transit.

23:42

Jones was better at right tackle than More was,

23:45

so line fell together.

23:46

The More junior can't be a

23:49

solid starter at the left tackle and

23:51

he can't even figure out how to play right

23:54

tackle at all. That's

23:56

to me, that's it.

23:57

Well, and then I'll go one step further.

23:58

If Dan Moore really really wants

24:00

to concretely solidify himself on this team

24:03

for a while. And actually,

24:06

now that I'm saying that this guy started at left

24:08

tackle for years, like who knows it, he probably

24:10

doesn't want to be a backup. He'll probably want to go somewhere

24:12

else in free agency and start somewhere. But my

24:15

point being, he's always shown

24:17

guard capability too, and people have always

24:19

said, like he's a pretty good run blocker. If you wanted

24:21

to bump him inside, get

24:23

the guard spots down, get the right just become

24:25

a chameleon on that line. You'll last in

24:27

this league forever, and

24:31

you have starting experience. So even

24:34

if the Steelers do move on from you, someone

24:36

gonna pick you up. Yeah,

24:38

Matt, I'm not trying to give advice to somebody who's accomplished

24:41

a billion times more than I ever will in my life.

24:43

But it just seems smart for my perspective

24:45

for him to really embrace learning

24:48

more than just one spot on that line,

24:50

Like, yeah, you ain't gonna be Orlando Pacer

24:52

and we're not pulled down one anchor spot.

24:54

Forever, and you're talking about one

24:56

out of five, Like we haven't

24:58

even gotten confident it yet. By saying that

25:00

he can do either tackle,

25:03

we're talking about one singular

25:05

position and that's kind of why we're here.

25:07

You haven't mastered left tackle, so

25:09

was to assume that people will just always put

25:11

you there, Like if you want to just stay

25:14

at left tackle, then make it

25:16

so no one can take left tackle from you.

25:18

All right?

25:18

To wrap up here, you talked about how

25:21

fast are these guys gonna play? And we kind of

25:23

just were tiptoeing around them with Dan more conversation.

25:25

Fraser's gonna start day one.

25:27

Yeah, there's just no one else that's gonna be able to play

25:29

the center at his level. Already, I can't

25:31

imagine an injury. The

25:33

injury thing doesn't seem to be a problem. He crawled himself

25:36

off the field towards the end of last year.

25:37

What Mike Perzuda compared

25:40

that to the moment where Byron left

25:42

which like broke his leg from Marshall

25:44

and his offensive lineman carried him down

25:46

the field just to get the snap off. So

25:49

they want to get costs for a time out, called

25:51

for a time out. Yeah, he's a hero.

25:53

They should put a statue up of him outside of

25:55

West Virginia Stateium, like and.

25:56

And Michael's push car. That wasn't

25:59

like that was for West Virginia. That game wasn't

26:01

against Pitt. That game wasn't

26:03

against any kind of rival. That was

26:05

against Baylor. There's no rivalry

26:08

between Baylor. And he said, like, I don't care.

26:10

I'm crawling my way off this field to not

26:13

afford my team anything.

26:14

He avoided a ten second Put it in a context,

26:16

he avoided a ten second runoff penalty for

26:18

the offense they were out of timeouts.

26:20

If you were at a certain point in the game, which

26:22

they were, and the refs have to blow

26:24

it for an injury timeout, it's a ten second runoff

26:27

or else. Why wouldn't every offensive player

26:29

just fake an injury to help, you know, settle things

26:31

down instead of a play.

26:32

Well, they used to some player.

26:34

It used to happen ed second

26:36

round right, So you know, very

26:39

smart first of all to know the rules like that,

26:41

to know I'm gonna cost my team if I go down,

26:44

but also his brain's working in that way while

26:46

he's suffering a terrible injury. Listen

26:48

to the Blitz, Listen to Wesleyuler. He'll

26:51

he'll will paint you. I mean

26:53

you should have heard him on the draft.

26:54

Draft Dale

26:57

and Matt just sat back, go

27:00

ahead.

27:00

It was like his agent jumped on

27:02

the air with us and was giving us the pitch that we need

27:05

to know. And like at one point it's like, you know, we drafted them

27:07

already, Like, you don't need to sell us. The car's

27:09

already been paid for by You're like, but yeah,

27:11

listen to the Blitz. You'll get all the stories about

27:13

Zach Fraser. I don't want to spoil them for you, but like, and

27:16

I'm talking about in the realm of like children's hospital

27:18

visits and and Walter Payton Man of the

27:20

Year type stuff that you're going to get from Zach

27:22

Fraser.

27:24

Another true Steeler kind of like what

27:26

they said they were looking for. He

27:29

will be the guy. Faltanu's

27:31

the debate.

27:32

I think this offseasone that blows

27:34

my mind. But it only blows my

27:36

mind, Yes, right, it only blows my mind

27:38

because we play on a team of which is

27:40

based in such tradition and

27:45

and they are very entrenched and

27:47

and their way of doing things. And

27:51

we saw last year. We know that broder

27:53

Jones was more talented than chucksacorp

27:55

For and Dan morge from day one, and

27:57

yet it took him until chokes

28:01

now Dog Yeah, to actually get

28:03

a starting role, a consistent starting

28:06

role.

28:07

And have you seen the tape of Faltano

28:09

Man. He is one of the faster

28:11

guards or tackles.

28:12

I've seen, and just aggressive, violent

28:14

on the line. I really

28:18

respect Broderick Jones on what he can do for

28:20

the Steelers as a as an offensive lineman,

28:23

but I think Troy Fatanu he

28:26

was unquestionably the better recruit. I mean,

28:28

let's talk about this. Troy fatanhos

28:30

started more games of tackle than Broderick Jones

28:33

has in his NFL career.

28:34

He walked us right into the final point.

28:37

That's why I have more confidence experienced

28:39

guys playing more that can extend to into

28:41

like a Peyton Wilson who will get to in the next episode.

28:44

This isn't Broderick Jones where he had

28:47

a limited amount of starts at Georgia and

28:49

then came into the NFL still pretty raw. Faltanu

28:52

has thirty one career starts at

28:55

Washington. He's got twenty nine of those

28:57

starts at

29:01

left tackle, and then he's got two starts

29:03

at left guard.

29:04

Zach Fraser has been playing at West Virginia since

29:06

his freshman season.

29:07

He played guard his freshman season because West Virginia

29:09

had a center that ended up getting into the NFL,

29:12

and then as a sophomore he moved to center.

29:14

He played every game he

29:16

was healthy to play until he crawled himself

29:19

off the field against Baylor to end his West Virginia career.

29:21

Like, these two guys have as about

29:23

as much seasoning as you can at

29:27

that level. Another

29:30

thing that might give you a cold feet rookie

29:32

wall, right, Oh, I don't want these guys to kind

29:34

of, you know, slow down a little bit as we get deeper

29:36

into the season. FALTONI played

29:38

like fifteen games last year, right,

29:41

because they went all the way to the Pac twelve championship

29:43

game and then then all the way to the National Championship

29:45

game. So, like, I get it, fifteen

29:48

is a long cry from twenty because he counted the

29:50

preseason games too that I'm sure Felton is going

29:52

to get some runs in, and.

29:53

You want to say it's more than twenty because you want to include the

29:55

postseas.

29:55

That's as much as you can get under your belt at the college level,

29:58

and he did it all these two with Fraser

30:00

starting yes, one year at guard, but then

30:02

center every game he could

30:04

since a freshman, with Ftanu having

30:07

thirty one starts under his belt. You can't

30:09

get more seasoning when it comes to guys

30:11

coming out of college, and

30:14

that I think is what is people

30:16

ask me all off season, you know why will be different this

30:18

year? That's gonna be my main point is you know, say

30:20

what you will about Broderick Jones and how incredibly

30:24

overwhelming the talent difference was between

30:26

him and the other two tackles. Last year you

30:28

could always fall back on he really didn't play that much

30:30

at Georgia. We need to bring him on slowly. You

30:32

don't have that excuse right now with Fraser and Faltanu.

30:35

Those guys are ready to go. They have been in

30:37

the incubator long enough.

30:39

Definitely. I think

30:42

that it kind of is funny that

30:44

we've seen that even though broder Jones

30:47

has an entire year of experience

30:49

over Troyanu, Fatanu still has

30:51

more starts at the tackle position than

30:53

Broderick Jones.

30:56

That stat's awesome.

30:57

It reminds me of the stat that I see

31:00

over draft weekend that Bo Nix and Zach Wilson are

31:02

the same age twenty

31:04

four years old for three

31:06

years.

31:07

Also to it, just we

31:10

talked about how refreshing it was to talk about

31:13

Nate Herbig and

31:15

McCormick as your backups.

31:17

We're talking about the position battle as a backup spot.

31:19

But not only that, we're talking about

31:21

a guy. We're talking about guys now that have legitimate

31:24

starting experience rather than three years

31:26

ago when the Seelers drafted uh

31:29

Kendrick Green in the third round as

31:32

a guard to be their starting center,

31:34

right, and it was from day one, Okay,

31:36

this is gonna be the center. We have no

31:38

other option. This is what we're gonna go with.

31:41

Roman Wilson and Peyton Wilson. We're gonna talk

31:43

about the Wilsons in the next episode. The other

31:45

picks of the draft. We got to get into teams

31:48

three. Wilson's on this team. Wilson Wilson Wilson.

31:54

Run for their money.

31:55

We'll give those two their shine.

31:57

Next, talk about the other two picks as

31:59

well, as we continue our Steers

32:00

Standard draft recap here on Steelers Nation

32:03

Radio.