0:13

This is the Steelers Standard on

0:16

Steelers Nation Radio and podcast

0:18

on Steelers dot Com.

0:21

Big Trade, chicking up the AFC landscape,

0:23

and something interesting that I saw in regards

0:26

to the Steelers draft strategy. That's where

0:28

we're going in this first episode on the

0:30

Steelers Standard, and let's not bury

0:32

the lead. Steph Diggs goes from the Bills

0:34

to the Texans. The second round pick is sent in

0:37

exchange. It's

0:39

a great move by Houston. They

0:42

are now I think, getting close

0:44

to that. See.

0:47

I wanted to say top tier, but there's only one team

0:49

in a top tier right now, that is Kas.

0:51

So you're saying tier two, which is fine.

0:53

I think they are in Tier two.

0:54

Do you want to say god tier? And then

0:56

my.

0:56

Tier one s tier God tier whatever,

0:59

and then there's tiers. Yeah, you've

1:01

got a lot of question marks though

1:03

in that tier now, because the Bills were a

1:05

firm member of that tier for years, I

1:07

don't know if they're there anymore. In fact, I would say

1:09

that they're probably not there. Let's see what they

1:11

do in the draft. But I

1:14

don't see the Bills is really as

1:16

threatening of a team as they once were.

1:17

I know the Bills had their run

1:20

in the late eighties early nineties of four consecutive

1:22

Super Bowls but zero wins. Is

1:24

this not one of the more disappointing

1:27

teams that we've seen in our lifetime?

1:29

The Bills with expectations

1:32

being as high as they were to start this

1:34

Josh Allen era.

1:35

How can you say that when you're in an era of just

1:38

mahomes or your dominance, like even

1:40

to the point now, I mean, it

1:42

feels maybe I'm just having a little recency

1:44

bias here, but it feels so far more dominant

1:47

than what Brady was, like even more dominant.

1:49

Yeah, See, I think we're I don't

1:52

like Burrow got through the cracks once and

1:54

Brady got through the cracks once. Yeah, but like other

1:56

than that, no one slips through the cracks past this

1:58

guy. Ben and Peyton were the ones that would slip

2:00

past well, and they got to

2:02

the Super Bowls. Eli, But I'm saying to get out of the AFC,

2:05

like you had Ben and you had Peyton in a year of Joe Flacco

2:07

that would slip through those cracks.

2:08

Yeah, it wasn't it Like from two thousand and

2:10

one to like twenty fifteen.

2:13

Or other than Flacco year, it was those

2:15

seventeen. Yeah, there was just the three of them out

2:17

of the AFC, So we

2:20

already have Burrow that slipped through once. Brady

2:23

himself was able to get past them. But that's it,

2:26

And like.

2:26

That was in this like I though he did it in the AFC.

2:28

Jis so right now.

2:29

Like as amazing as there was just two

2:31

quarterbacks being able to get by Brady and the Brady

2:33

era and then a Joe Flacco as well, Like

2:36

you've only really truly seen one so far

2:38

in the early days of the Mahomes era. One

2:40

guy that's been able to slip past him, and he wasn't

2:42

even able to finish the job. He didn't even get his ring

2:44

like Ben or paid Manning did once he got past Brady.

2:47

Yeah, because it's unfair to say, like, oh, Brady slip

2:49

past Mahomes, because.

2:50

Brady is Brad's Brady, Like there is no slipping

2:52

past for a guy like him. Mahomes had

2:54

to slip past Brady actually in that equation. No,

2:56

you're right, so you know you

2:58

see this dominance all ready. It's hard for me to

3:01

say, oh, the bills are an abject

3:03

total failure, one of the worst failures

3:05

of a team I've ever seen. Should they have made another

3:07

conference championship game, should that

3:10

that be held against them? I

3:12

think that would be fair. But then again,

3:14

who's the team that they used usually lose to in the divisional

3:17

round a couple of times before they could

3:19

get to that conference championship game. It's the Chiefs again,

3:21

So hard for me to say that they're

3:23

that big of a disappointment. They

3:25

definitely did not meet expectations. They were

3:27

supposed to go to the super Bowl, they were supposed to win

3:30

the AFC, I think at the very least

3:32

with that team constructed, with Diggs

3:34

and Allen and some of the pieces they

3:37

had on the defensive side of the ball too. So failure

3:39

for sure, But to go as extreme as you

3:41

said it, I don't know if it's that big of a failure.

3:44

We get into five years now

3:47

of it's the trunament expectations

3:49

for Josh Allen and coming

3:51

up empty every time.

3:53

And you know you mentioned I say that the Ravens

3:55

have been a failure for five years ever since Lamar

3:57

has been there, I.

3:58

Mean, especially this year have kind of failure.

4:00

Especially well, the Bengals are the I think they weren't

4:02

get there but well, they they got, they

4:05

cracked through.

4:06

They can get to the finish line. They didn't win, they

4:08

lost. They lost to Matt Stafford and the Rams.

4:10

So I don't know. It's hard for

4:12

me to really crucify the Bills other

4:15

than what I'm about to say is that they're not a Tier two team

4:17

in the AFC anymore. The

4:19

Ravens, I think you have

4:21

to default them into that tier. They

4:24

were the runners up of the AFC this year. Lamar

4:26

is still there, but they're a weaker team

4:29

for sure.

4:29

And my my thing about Lamar is that

4:32

he had home field advantage in that AFC

4:34

championship game.

4:36

The best team, I

4:38

guess, just looking at the roster right now in

4:40

early April in that Tier two

4:42

would be the Bengals. You assumed

4:44

Joe Burrow's health and you assume Higgins

4:46

situation maybe doesn't resolve itself

4:49

smoothly, but resolves itself where he's playing Week

4:51

one for them and you

4:53

don't miss any playing time or something like that. So

4:55

yeah, that's fair. That's the big question mark

4:58

with the Bengals and Joe Burrow already

5:00

dingham self up a nice little resume

5:03

of injuries in his career so far. I

5:05

don't think it's wise

5:08

to just default into believing that he's gonna

5:10

come back fully healthy and not

5:13

have any kind of lingering issues or have any

5:15

new issues pop up this season. So everywhere

5:19

you look other than Kansas City,

5:21

it's not like the other teams in the league are

5:23

really standing on the best ground. And

5:26

then there's Houston, who had

5:29

maybe the best season you've seen from

5:31

a rookie quarterback who already

5:33

had I think a receiving

5:36

corps that people would say is good

5:38

enough, people would say is

5:40

a threat. And

5:42

go out and get Joe Mixon and established running

5:45

back in the NFL, a guy who's got a nose for the

5:47

end zone.

5:47

Sure, just another asset to that

5:50

oftense.

5:50

And now you got

5:52

a young defense to Will Anderson hopefully blossoms

5:55

into even better of a player after winning

5:57

Defensive Rookie of the Year this year. And you got a hell of a defensive

5:59

mind as your head coach as well

6:02

in Houston. And

6:04

then you add Digs into this mix, and

6:07

you know, I saw a post

6:10

that said Houston has three

6:12

wide receiver ones now, and I

6:14

don't know if I really want

6:16

to get there yet. They definitely have a one, and

6:18

they might have got two ones and maybe

6:21

a one and a half, Like like.

6:22

Is this kind of reminiscent of Cincinnati.

6:25

Like they have a tea, they have a Jamar

6:28

you would put Tank Dell over,

6:33

but then but then, like, how much do you put

6:35

Jamar Chase over Stefon Diggs slash

6:37

better slash.

6:39

I don't know how big the gap is, but I probably

6:41

lean towards Higgins. But like Nico Coons

6:45

and Tank Dell can match up with t Higgins

6:47

pretty well.

6:48

Yeah, tink Dale got hurt.

6:49

It's that third receiver that elevates

6:51

them into just I think probably

6:54

the best receiving corn football right now, is

6:57

it I think it is.

6:58

It probably is Cincinnati.

7:01

We think Cincinnati was the one, right.

7:03

Yeah, I think it is probably two right now.

7:05

I think they were the ones before the trade, right

7:08

we were using Cincinnati as a standard.

7:10

You and Cincinnati still has the best one of

7:13

the receiving course, maybe Jefferson still the best

7:15

receiver, but you get my drift with Jamar. But

7:18

I think you know, this Trio

7:21

plus what the Bengals have lost from Boyd

7:24

kind of puts the Texans I think at the top of

7:26

that list when it comes to wide

7:29

receiver units in the pecking

7:31

pecking order in the NFL, well.

7:32

Yeah, let's let's just do this without

7:35

digs in the equation. If you were

7:37

to remove the wide receiever one from the Cincinnati

7:40

in Houston, you like Houston's

7:42

way more than Cincinnati's, right, You like Tank

7:44

Dellen and Nico Collins way

7:46

more than you like t Higgins and.

7:49

Cower Boyd. Yeah, and then you add now.

7:51

So it's got to be somebody else.

7:53

I mean, right, because Boyd and you don't

7:55

even know if Higgins is going to be there.

7:56

He's gonna be there again, they can't be just let him

7:58

not play. The one risk

8:01

I would say is that he pulls like

8:03

a Bell or just doesn't want to and sits

8:05

out. But I don't think he's gonna do that, and I don't

8:07

think they're going to trade him.

8:08

Well, we even think Belle was going to do it, and every every

8:10

week he said I'm going back, like in three weeks from

8:12

now.

8:13

The reason I don't think Higgins is going to do it, though, is because

8:15

Bell has now walked that path and shown a

8:17

lot of people what that

8:20

Yeah. Like again, maybe

8:22

Bell would have ended up making more money

8:25

if his career didn't fall off. But taking

8:27

a year off at a position like that is no

8:29

blino. And it's now

8:32

a fact that if he would have signed the contract that the Steelers

8:34

offered him, he would have made a lot more money

8:36

overall than he did with the New York

8:38

Jets. Even though the guaranteed money upfront

8:41

was richer in that Jets contract, the overall

8:44

money was more beneficial

8:47

here in Pittsburgh. So I think that's

8:50

the track record from the last high profile

8:52

player, all Pro caliber player to do

8:54

this. I bet a lot of

8:56

agents are looking at that and saying, we don't want to do that again,

8:59

like that didn't work out for him. It

9:01

did not, And do we really want to risk I

9:03

know you want to get your money, Tea, but do we really

9:05

want to risk you sitting out a year of

9:07

your prime in your career. And sure,

9:10

maybe you won't be left bell and do rap videos

9:12

and ride around on jet skis

9:14

in Miami instead of working out every

9:16

day. I'm sure you work out every day and stay in shape,

9:19

but let's not have three hundred

9:21

and sixty five days removed from actual football

9:25

when there's no injury that dictates that be the case,

9:28

like you got to play. So I don't think that

9:30

that's gonna happen. I don't think he's gonna sit out. I just and

9:32

trading him again, unless it's that fantasy

9:35

trade of Justin Jefferson coming in and te Higgins

9:37

go to Minnesota. I don't see a trade that would

9:39

make any sense for the Bengals, who really want

9:41

to win a Super Bowl now. The window is open

9:43

right now for the Bengals. Yeah, and the franchise

9:46

tagging off to Higgins, that shows you that they

9:48

think that too. They don't want to lose them. They need him

9:50

for at least one more year.

9:53

Yeah.

9:54

I mean it's I feel like we've

9:56

done a good job of not convincing,

9:58

but making the legitimate argument that

10:01

Houston is now Houston are now the

10:03

owners of the best wide receiver

10:05

corps.

10:06

In the league.

10:06

I really, because it goes three deep.

10:08

Yeah, Like you know, Minnesota has

10:10

the best guy, and it has a great number two

10:13

in Jordan Andison, But the

10:15

fact that it goes three deep. I mean, we

10:17

were talking about Houston having a good offense

10:19

overall with Dalton Schultz at

10:22

tight end and led by c. J.

10:23

Shroud.

10:24

They added Joe Mixon and then having

10:26

you bring Tankdale back hopefully he's healthy,

10:28

and then Nico Collins were claiming

10:31

to be an emerging wide receiver one

10:33

in this league, but then you add Stefan

10:36

Diggs onto that. It's you can't really argue

10:38

against it.

10:39

You can't. And I want to be clear

10:41

about this. I am very close

10:43

and I'm trying to bite my tongue right now to saying

10:45

that the Houston Texans are the

10:47

second best team in the AFC right now, whoa.

10:51

Second, Let's they

10:53

won a playoff game last.

10:55

It this way, it's crazy, Let's put it this way. Sure,

10:57

they lost to the Ravens last year, but

10:59

they've upgrade more than the Ravens have this year.

11:01

They've gotten a lot better in free agency than the Ravens,

11:03

definitely, and we still have the draft class coming up

11:06

where the Texans can get even better. They

11:08

did pretty damn good in the draft class last year.

11:10

I don't know if you heard. They got the Rookie of the year offensive

11:13

and not a bad draft

11:15

class for the Houston Texas last year. And

11:17

they found their franchise changing guy. And

11:19

I don't want people to be like they traded

11:21

for Stefon Diggs, who's maybe like the sixth seventh

11:23

best receiver, Maybe even

11:26

that might be a stretch if you really dug down into it

11:28

right now, Like he's not what he once

11:30

was. Still very good, but not in his prime anymore.

11:32

And why should he be. He's getting older. He's been

11:34

around, Like remember this guy making that miracle

11:37

catch for Minnesota in the playoff game

11:39

and taking his helmet off and dancing against the Saints.

11:41

Like, this guy's been around for a while. He's

11:43

winning and going to NFC championship

11:45

games with the Vikings in case Keenam for God's

11:48

sakes, the year that the Eagles and Nick Foles won the Super

11:50

Bowl. Like, it's been a long time for

11:52

Steph Diggs in this league. He ain't what he

11:54

once was.

11:55

He's still ten.

11:56

Yeah, still a top ten wide receiver. I'm

11:59

not taking that and saying

12:01

that's the reason why they're maybe

12:04

second, third, at no worse

12:06

fourth now in the AFC pecking order.

12:09

It's still all because of c. J. Stroud.

12:12

This just cements it and gives him that

12:14

other weapon and makes them this an

12:16

offense that can match the

12:19

firepower that the Bengals have. Chiefs

12:21

don't have the name firepower, but Mahomes

12:24

makes them always such a potent offense, like

12:26

they can now go toe to toe with these offenses.

12:29

And again Diggs helps cement it.

12:31

But it's all about Stroud for me, like

12:33

st I might, even without this trade, have through

12:36

the offseason convince myself and then maybe being

12:38

better than the Ravens this year, maybe being number three

12:40

in the conference, maybe for sure being number four.

12:43

When you find your franchise guy, everything

12:47

just falls right into place. Yep. The

12:49

Texans about seven or eight months

12:51

ago were laughingstock in the NFL.

12:53

Still, you know, the big question

12:55

mark around c J. Stroud was are

12:57

the Texans going to ruin this guy? They have no team

13:00

around him, Like what is this ecosystem

13:02

that he has landed in. It's a really,

13:04

really uphill battle for CJ. Stroud. And

13:07

then by week three when the Steelers go in there and they

13:09

blow their doors off, people are already starting

13:11

to kind of perk up and be like this dude is

13:13

for real. And now fast

13:15

forward eight months later, it's from

13:17

laughingstock to potential power

13:20

and undoubted favorite

13:22

to win their own division. Now I don't think that's

13:25

a.

13:25

Question, No, it's not even I mean, it wasn't

13:27

close before the trade, but.

13:29

I think you could have opened these microphones

13:31

and I could have made a good argument that the Jaguars

13:33

would have been able to bounce back and maybe catch them.

13:35

I can't do that anymore. I won't do that anymore.

13:38

I mean, tell me a player on the Jacksonville

13:40

offense that's better than the one on the Houston offense,

13:43

including the quarterback.

13:44

Not even close to the quarterback. I'm very low on Trevor

13:46

Lawrence.

13:46

Wow, how far he has fallen.

13:48

How far that team has fallen in just one year.

13:51

Just like far he has fallen. But he is on the edge

13:53

this year. If it's not a good year, He's just.

13:56

What a pendulum swing for both simultaneously

13:59

in the same year, we saw the Jags

14:01

take a huge step back at the

14:03

same time we saw the Texans take

14:05

a huge step forward.

14:06

I love the NFL because of that, because of

14:08

that quick changeability with teams. And let me tell

14:10

you this, I still think the Jags right now

14:13

are in that second spot in the division, or

14:16

in that rear view mirror of the Texans. But

14:18

I think I would be more optimistic about

14:20

the Colts potentially turning

14:22

into something that can compete with this Houston

14:24

franchise now and the.

14:25

Jags and the Jags, it depends

14:27

on depends on Richardson.

14:30

Well, if he gets hurt, they have Jo Flacco now too, so

14:33

I mean he'll just get.

14:36

Do you mean, but you can rely on him

14:38

for one year?

14:39

Maybe you gotta get that guy that's

14:41

gonna be your future.

14:42

Though. The reason

14:44

why I'm really biting my tongue but thinking

14:46

about making them number two is Okay, the

14:48

offense looks great, Like I don't have any questions

14:50

about the offense. Now, let's do some work

14:53

on the offensive line for sure. But

14:56

I think they're going to and I have no question

14:58

that they're going to be able to protect CG. And he's smart

15:00

enough to protect himself too already. He's

15:03

brilliant in the pocket. They

15:05

only gave up twenty point eight points

15:07

per game last year as a defense. Okay, that's

15:10

like fringe top ten. It's like ten to eleven

15:13

in the league. They were such a young

15:15

defense last year, and

15:18

the fact that they were able

15:20

to get to that level

15:23

as far as points per game allowed was concerned,

15:25

is really impressive for me. And now it's the

15:27

defense that I think is only going to get better,

15:30

and the offense is clearly

15:33

better. I mean, they have

15:35

themselves a well rounded

15:37

team, and yes the defense

15:39

is lagging a little bit behind the offense, but

15:42

I think people out there would be surprised at how

15:44

far that lag really is. The defense

15:46

is not going to be so

15:49

bad that it'll be their undoing. Like

15:51

the Lions two years ago when

15:54

their offense was finally up

15:56

to speed and Jared Goff had them being one of the best

15:58

offenses in football and unders Saint Brown burst

16:01

onto the scene. Their defense was so bad

16:03

that they didn't make the playoffs. But in last

16:05

year they fixed it just enough. Detroit

16:08

last year, you know, still towards the bottom of the league

16:10

in points per game allowed, but they fixed

16:12

it just enough and they get in. Houston

16:15

ain't gonna have that problem.

16:16

No, not top fifteen even

16:18

last year. It's not like they're they're hoping

16:20

for top fifteen this year. They were

16:22

already top half last year. It's

16:25

it's like, I love that you brought this

16:27

up, because it's ridiculous

16:29

how much we talk about the

16:31

Houston offense compared to the

16:33

defense. That defense deserves

16:36

all the praise that the offense gets.

16:39

Maybe not all of the praise. The offense

16:41

definitely deserves more of the praise. But I

16:45

but that what the defense does to me is

16:47

it makes me comfortable jumping

16:51

out on that legend saying how good the Texans

16:53

are going to be, Like I don't think that that's gonna

16:55

be this bad undoing.

16:58

Like okay, this isn't the same.

17:01

But you add you are, like just

17:03

hear me out right. You had CJ. Shroud,

17:05

Stefon Diggs, Nico call or sorry

17:08

CIJ Shroud, Nico Collins,

17:10

Tank Dell, Dalton Schultz, Like you

17:12

mentioned the offensive lines, a little beat up,

17:14

larming tunseel is there, but a little beat up

17:16

like we mentioned you look at the defense.

17:19

They signed Daniel Hunter. Well, okay, I.

17:21

Was gonna get at they have Will Anderson

17:24

up front, they have Derek Singleing in the backfield.

17:27

But then the equivalent almost

17:30

of signing Stefan Diggs as they went out and they

17:32

signed Daniel Hunter to

17:35

help bolster that defensive line

17:37

next to Deniko Auchtery and Will Anderson, Like

17:40

they are not just prioritizing the

17:42

offense here. They said we need a

17:44

guy to compliment and to maybe lead Audrey

17:47

and Anderson. Yeah,

17:50

and Daniel Hunter, who had what

17:52

top five in sacks last year, top three

17:54

maybe, and I'd say top ten, top five.

17:57

Even before this trade, the Texans were ahead

17:59

of the Steeler was probably in our pecking order in our

18:01

mind when it came to the AFC. But

18:03

now they're even more ahead of them.

18:05

And wait and has you know you want

18:07

to say that it's the Chiefs, the Ravens, and

18:09

the Bengals, And

18:12

then you always used to say the Bills too, as the team's

18:14

kind of contending. Maybe there still is only

18:17

four teams, but you just sub out one, put

18:19

in the other Bills, go out in the Texans

18:21

supplied in spot.

18:23

I mean, yeah, you mentioned the Steelers. You can't

18:25

watch You can't have

18:27

watched the game against Houston last

18:29

year when the Steelers went there and

18:31

make any argument that the Steelers could

18:34

contend in a tier with Houston

18:37

especially now, Well, but that was last

18:39

year and now they add

18:41

Daniel Hunter on defense, they add Stefan Diggs

18:43

on offense.

18:44

Now they're even better. Yeah, one

18:46

draft note that I wanted to talk about. So I saw Cavali

18:49

say recently that he doesn't think the Steelers

18:51

or he's hearing that the Steelers aren't really interested

18:53

in center in the first round as far as the draft

18:55

is concerned. And I

18:57

think that kind of plays right into that theory

19:00

that I had or what I want

19:02

them to do. And I'm

19:05

pushing my chips all into the center of the table on

19:07

that one. And that's the trade up in the second round

19:09

to get your frasier to get you a phrase Johnson

19:12

powers Johnson, I've seen sometimes follow into

19:14

the second round. So even if

19:16

you gotta get the gay from Duke and I'm just gonna

19:18

call him the gave from Duke right now, then

19:20

that would be fine for me, like the

19:23

third best center in this class, but

19:26

get him in that second round, get him

19:28

in that third round, which is what Kabali said the Stealers

19:30

seemingly want to do, And I

19:32

think that sets

19:35

up the possibility

19:38

of them trading up to get it, because anybody

19:41

you talk to, there's this top three centers

19:43

in this draft class, and

19:45

then there's a pretty big drop off between

19:48

the two of between everybody else

19:50

in the draft class. Like I don't know if any

19:52

of the other ones other than the top three are going to be able

19:54

to start for you if you need

19:57

them to, and

19:59

I don't think you want to wait until fifty

20:01

to see if Fraser slips

20:03

that far down to your second round

20:06

pick. I really think the writing's

20:08

on the wall for this. They're going to take a tackle or

20:10

a wide receiver in that first round. Maybe

20:12

a cornerback two, but I think it's

20:14

going to be a tackle or a wide receiver. I see

20:17

a lot of mock drafts though, where the tackle

20:19

class is deep. There is a

20:21

massive run on tackles in the middle of the round,

20:24

like fourteen thirteen is where it starts,

20:26

Like six of them go off the board. So

20:29

tackle, wide, receiver, corner. I think those are

20:31

all in play in round one, and then I

20:33

think the most obvious pick

20:36

that I would put a lot of money

20:38

down on is center, second

20:40

round via a trade up. I think that

20:43

is what I am

20:45

feeling in my gut. My tomstra Damis

20:48

senses are telling me, you know,

20:50

you want to predict tackle in the first round, wide receiver

20:52

in the first round, corner in the first round. That's still

20:54

a little bit foggy. I gotta rub my crystal ball a little

20:56

bit more on those. But center

20:59

second round via trade up, bookt

21:02

I can see it as clear as day.

21:04

Yeah, I mean, I it seems to

21:06

me that Omar Khan is not married to a single

21:08

one of his draft picks ever,

21:11

right, I mean, he's willing to give up a conditional

21:13

sixth round draft pick for Justin Fields, which

21:15

is a bargain and a half. Even

21:17

if even if somehow Justin Fields end

21:19

up playing more than fifty percent of the snaps this year

21:21

and they give away the fourth, still a bargain,

21:24

right, And just what we saw last

21:26

year, he made two He made two

21:28

trades during the draft. He made

21:30

the Day one trade to move up to get Broderick Jones.

21:33

He made the trade it was a night

21:35

on Day two, to re

21:39

enter into the third or fourth round

21:41

in order to snag Darnell Washington because there

21:43

was two big of a gap between certain

21:45

picks, and he gave up what a sixth

21:47

round or a future sixth round pick just to

21:50

move up into the fourth. Excellent move, even

21:52

though Darnell Washington hasn't done a lot with his team,

21:54

Still an aggressive move. And

21:57

what he showed by doing that last year is he

22:00

he's not only willing to make a move,

22:02

to make the splashiest move ever

22:04

right, it doesn't have to be just a Day one that's

22:07

the only time it's worth it. He's smart

22:09

with this, He's it's

22:11

like he's playing chess with these other gms.

22:14

He knows where he wants to pick, and

22:16

he is not going to limit himself

22:19

just to the picks that he enters

22:21

Draft Day with. And based

22:26

off of what we saw out of him last year in the draft,

22:28

based off of what we've seen him do in

22:30

free agency this offseason,

22:33

I can't imagine he would take his

22:35

foot off the gas.

22:37

For this year's draft, especially when there's so much

22:40

room.

22:40

I think there's so much more room to move around this

22:42

year compared to last year as well.

22:45

Yeah, and you don't have to give up as much

22:47

to move up in those second rounds, right between

22:50

the capital that's necessary to move up in the first,

22:52

in the capital necessary to move up in the second. Even if

22:54

it is a thirty three, thirty four to thirty five

22:56

pick.

22:56

You're missing your center.

22:58

But last year, I mean you

23:00

went into it with the season with Mason Cole,

23:03

you didn't really have a stud at center.

23:06

This year, you're gonna probably sign

23:09

someone as a veteran

23:11

and if they don't go center. I'm

23:13

just playing that hypothetical. You'll

23:16

have someone there. But the difference between this year

23:18

and last year is last year they didn't have

23:20

the tackle. Last year they didn't have

23:22

the cornerback. They had to go out

23:24

and get them. And not only did

23:26

he use the draft picks on those

23:29

positions, he nailed them.

23:31

You don't have to worry as much this year

23:33

as you did last year about the tackle and

23:35

about the cornerback. Yeah, you would like

23:37

some extra help, but you're no longer

23:40

drafting that guy to be your

23:43

tackle number one left or right, or your

23:45

cornerback one. You're asking

23:47

them to be an additional piece to

23:49

the guy you got last year. So there's a lot less

23:51

pressure I think this year. Not to

23:54

say that I would forgive him for

23:56

getting it wrong this year, but

23:59

you have a lot more

24:01

flexibility with what you want to prioritize

24:04

in your position rankings this year

24:06

compared to last year.

24:08

I think when you look at the corner of the wide receiver in

24:10

the tackle, wide receiver

24:13

two right now would be worse in their eyes than who would

24:15

be CB two and who would be tackle two.

24:18

And I just don't

24:20

don't roll out wide receiver round one.

24:22

Yeah, you are all aboard that train

24:25

saying, man, don't rule it out.

24:27

I think what I said there just makes a lot of sense. For

24:29

sure, Tackle two in their eyes, is better

24:31

than wide receiver two, or corner two is

24:33

corner two right now? Dante Jackson, I

24:36

guess he'd have to be right. Yeah, yeah, I think

24:38

he's the only guy you would put there right now.

24:40

I think they think he's better to do that than Van

24:42

Jefferson or Calvin Austin will be better to be wide

24:44

receiver two. I just I think they might

24:46

take wide receiver one. Wow, I

24:48

really do. I don't think it would be

24:50

bad.

24:51

Do you think, though, that wide receiver

24:53

one or sorry, wide receiver two

24:55

could still come in that second round?

24:58

No, because they're taking the center in this round. I told

25:00

you that there's no there's no, but you've laid

25:02

out.

25:03

You've laid out.

25:05

For the wide receiver. It's either the first or the

25:07

third round for the wide receiver, and I expect

25:09

you won't have your second third round pick after you

25:11

trade it up to get that number

25:13

two pick. But I take

25:16

wide receiver in the third or the first.

25:19

You know, I think the price is too much to

25:21

give away a second and then swaps or

25:23

to give away third and swap second.

25:25

Maybe you don't need to give away a third. Maybe I was skin

25:27

Maybe you can do like a fourth or fifth.

25:29

Yeah, up there, I think I think swapping

25:31

a give your.

25:32

Two third round pick. Still what

25:35

I will say though, with the wide receiver pick, it

25:38

just to me seems like, again,

25:42

they will be fine if they

25:44

go through this draft in their own

25:46

eyes. If they don't exactly hit on

25:48

a tackle, they're gonna take a tackle.

25:51

Yeah, that's a starter.

25:53

Maybe he's not ready, Maybe he's a bit of a project.

25:55

A mid round pick. I

25:58

don't think they can afford that luxury with the wide receiver

26:01

position as it currently stands right now.

26:03

Yeah, I mean you look around them.

26:05

You know, you just need someone to fill out a depth chart at that

26:07

spot. You look around someone to make plays

26:09

at that spot.

26:09

People are saying the Steelers have a bottom

26:12

five want with that.

26:14

I agree with that as it stands right now, because

26:16

after pickings it is

26:18

just a drop off that is a mess. So I

26:23

just feel like wide receiver makes

26:26

a ton of sense because the need is just

26:29

so prescient and

26:31

you can really get somebody that can step in and be wide

26:33

receiver two production wise in

26:36

that first round, but again you could do

26:38

it in the third round two and they've proven that.

26:40

So it'll be interesting to keep our eyes

26:42

on that. And Steelers keep having official

26:44

visits with players now and those are always something

26:47

of interest because they usually draft somebody that

26:49

they too, you have an official visit

26:51

with. We'renna have a little fun in this next episode.

26:54

Okay, this Episodemember.

26:56

In the last earlier this week, we talked about the

26:58

Steelers quarterbacks and we just had a little default

27:00

conversation about Cordell being the third best quarterback

27:02

in franchise history. Yeah. I started

27:04

to wonder, we are the best quarterbacks in every

27:07

franchise is history in the NFL, And

27:09

gosh darn it, USA Today did the work

27:11

for me. I love them for it. Just about a year

27:14

ago they had this list of every franchise's

27:16

best quarterback. Easy. We're going to disagree

27:18

with some of these. We are,

27:21

I mean they're not, but you know, it's a bit of the

27:23

dead period in the NFL. Let's

27:26

have some fun talk about all time great quarterbacks

27:28

and every single thirty two franchises

27:30

in the NFL that's on the way and then of course we

27:32

go to our edge We got our own list coming up next Edge

27:35

Rush for power rankings, that'll be in the third episode

27:37

today. Looking forward to both of them on

27:39

the Steeler standard.