The South Side Beat - Ep. 295: Roster's set, almost there

0:00football is back and this is believed your home for NFL and college football news and analysis all season long. Now let's start the show. Hey guys, welcome to the south side beat here on DK Pittsburgh Sports. My name is Chris Halick, Steelers beat writer here and joining me as always is my co-host, my good friend Matt Williamson. We are talking about a Steelers team today that has a 53 man roster that has a practice squad set. Matt, before we get into that, how are you doing my friend? I'm great. How are you? It's kind of toasty out here in Pittsburgh lately, but yes, doesn't feel like football weather. So this show was brought to you by our friends at the Fandals Sports Book and I don't know if they have prop bets on the temperature for what kickoff is going to be on September 13th. But right now with the way the weather has been in Pittsburgh, I was like, I was looking at the weather on my phone yesterday and so I lived in

1:01Texas for 23 years in North Texas and so I'm looking at the exact town that I lived in and it was more pleasant there yesterday than it was in Pittsburgh on the side. It was just not great. So it's been hot. It's been hot. Very hot. So hot to the point where the last practice that the Steelers had before their actual week of prep for the Falcons was today, like they cut today short because the practices that they've had this week have been in this extreme heat. So it's because they went long yesterday. They went like over two hours yesterday and then like today they're like, yeah, we're going to bring this. We're going to put the pads on, but we're going to kind of cut it a little short today. So okay. Okay. All right. Quick question for you. Yeah. Joey Porter involved. We can start wherever you want, but I just want to start with the new thing that you're doing. So as much as we can actually report on practice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to break any rules or anything.

2:01Yeah. Yeah. So I'm even then the media doesn't even watch all the practice anymore. This is kind of the new the new things under under McCarthy, which is by the way, it's not like McCarthy is like being like a douche about it or anything. It's just. Yeah. This is how it's like the if anything, the Steelers were behind the times by allowing the media to watch it. So the Steelers are definitely more in line with. Okay. This is how the rest of the game. Yeah. Yeah. Joey Porter from what I can see is and what I can report is participating in individual drills. He took part in every individual drill I saw today. So he is now he and he was in pads with all of his teammates today. I don't know and even if I know can't report on his involvement in team. Okay. But the one thing that I can say is that he is ramping up. That is. That's the words I've heard them say

3:01in BIA. And that is in line with with what McCarthy's doing. And what he said and he's ramping up and he's got he's got to physically get ready. And so that's just the way it goes. And we'll see what happens because he's non-committal to playing in week one without a without a contract. I would say without a contract without a contract extension because he has a contract. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's under contract. Yeah. Yeah. So that's what's going on there. Okay. Now this 53-minute roster is set. What were your initial impressions of who made it, who didn't keep in four quarterbacks Kevin Jolbady making it everything? What were your initial impressions? Jolbady for one is one I did not see coming. I do understand it. And maybe I should have given Jolbady a little bit more of my attention during camp and whatnot because from what I understand you might remember this better than me, but of their undrafted rookie class he got by far I think the biggest signing books.

4:01I'm almost certain of that when it happened. I was like, oh they must have really liked this guy. And if I'm right, which I'm 90% certain I am, that I bet that when the draft comes around, so I know as these things work, I bet they were like, do we want Jolbady or Rubio? And they picked Rubio and probably got on the phone immediately with Jolbady. And so I'm almost treating him like an extra draft pick in that. I tell a story all the time. Like when I was with the Browns, I was in charge of bringing three undrafted free agent wide receivers. And they gave me ten grand to disperse however I wanted in signing bonus. I gave like $9.9 to Josh Cribbs and then everybody else I didn't care about. So we almost treated him like a draft pick too. You know, like you really went out of your way to get the guy. Yeah. So including Jolbady, obviously there's a youth movement going on here and they're very happy with their rookie class. And I see why. I see you know, something alluring about

5:02a honna chore all the way down to Jolbady in terms of those 11 draft picks for now and the future. And I think that there is a misconception with a lot of fans because if you add up the average age, this is an old football team. But I think it just has a few old players as opposed to not really having an eye on the future. Yeah, I think there's a clear eye on the future because if you have a 53 man roster when nearly a fifth of it is taken up by rookies. Right, right. So it's actually more than a fifth. Yeah, 11, 50, thirds. Right. Yeah. So I mean, you've got, you've got, yeah, a fifth of your roster is rookies. Like that, that's, that's a commitment to the future. And, and I think the reason why the age is skewed is because well, you have came Hayward and you have, you know, a few other 30 something guys that are going to, you know, I mean, Aaron Rodgers himself.

6:02I mean, he skews it so much. Yeah, there's something, anyone over 40 in the lead. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's a mess. Right. So I do think what you, what you have is you have a veteran team. But you have a veteran team that is starting to pivot toward the future. Now, that could be called, you know, a re-tool or, you know, whatever you want to call it. But the fact is the, the stimulus have enough veteran players. And enough, I would say even star power among those veteran players that they can still be. I wouldn't say super role contending team, but a team that can potentially win its division. Oh, yeah. That's not a stretch to say they won their division last year. And on paper got better. So this is a team that is capable of at least competing for its division, potentially winning a playoff game. You know, and I, I mean, we just did the double shot show. And somebody was like, you know, somebody asked a question like,

7:02what game would the Steelers need to win to be thought of as a Super Bowl contender? And I was like a playoff game. Yeah, a playoff game first. And then, and then we could start talking potential Super Bowl. But even if they were to beat the Broncos on Black Friday or beat the Eagles in Philly for the first time in decades, I'm still not there until they win a playoff game. Yeah. I mean, like they beat, if they go to New England and beat up on the Super Bowl team, they beat New England in New England last year. Yeah. And then they go, they're back in the hunt. But I do think it's a very strong roster. I don't think it's a star-studded roster, but I think it's a deep and strong roster. The way I've put it, and I want to see if you agree with me, is if you were to, I'm not talking about like Josh Allen or Joe Borough or any of these, like top tier quarterbacks, because I think if you put them on all of it, maybe five rosters in the NFL, they become a Super Bowl contender. But if you were to take Dak Prescott and put them on this roster, they become a Super Bowl contender. I think it might be best to even lead your only behind the

8:03Rams. Right. Yeah. Like, I don't think like a lot of people consider Dak to be like top five in the NFL. A tier two guy. Right. He's in the tier two. He's clearly one of the better quarterbacks in the league. Makes a really good case to be an undoubtedly top 10 guy. But I think you could name potentially five quarterbacks that are better than him. Yeah. I think that's what I said. I think he gives you the quarterback advantage. Right. And still a guy that could potentially compete for an MVP type season when he's playing as absolute best. Yes. But most of the time, I think if you were to take Dak, and I'm not even talking about his familiarity with Mike McCarthy, and I'm just saying a quarterback of his caliber and put him on this roster, I think they're a Super Bowl team. Like, that's how I feel of the roster. I do too. I think the quarterback play, and this isn't, you know, not a shot at Aaron Rogers for where he is right now in his career because Aaron Rogers over the course of his career is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Of course, we're going to have to pay.

9:03It's just what is he at 42 years old? And if he is a top 10 quarterback, which I would have to see quite a bit, then yeah, the Steelers are a Super Bowl contender. But I would need to actually see that from Aaron because he hasn't been that level of quarterbacks since he won MVP in 2021. I don't think anyone would argue that the Steelers' quarterback situation is third in their division. Pretty obviously. You know, right? Yeah. I think the only thing that the Steelers have that those two teams that have better quarterbacks don't is a better offensive line to protect their quarterbacks. Especially big picture. Well, and also like two quarterbacks that have missed significant time because their offensive lines haven't been able to protect them. Or one of them runs themselves into getting injured. So yeah, like Lamar doesn't have a middle of an offensive line. And Joe Burrow has lost a lot of games because his offensive line year

10:04and year out hasn't been able to protect them. So yeah. But yeah, real quick though, and I said it isn't star studded. That is one of my concerns is I think in terms of like tier one players that they're positioned, Frazier and Hayward are probably the only ones I would say are definitely at near the top of their respective positions. Like what I'm going to have. How many all pros can they have? And those are the ones that they will have to be able to have. And but I do think their outside linebacker slash edge room is as good as any in the league. I think their tight end rooms is good as any in the league. But they don't have guys like Randy Moss or Tyree Kill on their prime or DJ Wattene's prime that they don't have coordinators. Yeah. Yeah. The coordinators just can't scheme around, you know, or or stay up at night worried about, you know. Yeah. And that is I think one of the other reasons because I think if you had even this version of Aaron but you were to supplant, you know, 2017 Antonio Brown onto this team. Right.

11:04It changes, you know. Yeah. It absolutely changes. Or if you were to take, you know, after a few years. TJ from two years ago. Right. Yeah. Or like 2021 TJ, you know, I don't know if you got his second contract. Yeah. That would be something that would also put the stakeholders over the top. But I agree with you. I look at this roster. And I think number one, it's better on paper than it was last year. Yeah. And I also agree that, you know, it's it's deep and it is it is a roster that can compete. At least for its division. But the ceiling is as high as the quarterback a lot that can take it. Yeah. And if Aaron can, you know, not just dip his toe into the fountain of youth but find, you know, in what's going to be his final and 22nd NFL season that he can, you know, summon some of the greatness that he had with Mike McCarthy in the past. And, you know, play better than he has in five years.

12:06Then, yeah, then maybe maybe the Steelers can be that kind of a team. But it would it would have to be something that I would want to see first. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if he comes out of the gates and he's ripping teams apart the first couple weeks, like, whoa, okay, this could be a very dangerous team. Guys, this show is brought to you by our friends at the Fandals Sports Book. If you are into sports betting, they are the place to go. Football season is literally like the first Sunday of the NFL season is 10 days away. So now is the time to check out the Fandals Sports Book and place your bets on the Steelers even to win the AFC North. They have the third best odds right now. If you were to look on Fandals, that seems like a pretty, you know, a bet worth making. Maybe, you know, if the Steelers are defending, you know, the AFC North champions and they got better on paper. And you like to, you know, feel pretty good about that. Then now is the time to lock in your bet because whatever your game, the Fandals Sports Book delivers all the latest lines, features and specials.

13:06So you can join in on all the action. 10 days from the opener, how are you feeling about beating the Falcons? Well, I've done a lot more homework and Matt Stats has almost done. I think they're a wonderful first opponent. I think you're really getting the Falcons at the right time. Total rebuild year for them. You know, what's what I find kind of funny and I almost feel bad for them is. Remember whenever they sign Kirk cousins with a huge deal and then a month later they take penics high in the first round. And then last year they take an edge rusher and then they trade a future first round pick to take another edge rusher and they finally fix their past rush. Well, like the two weakest positions on the team right now are edge rusher and quarterback. And it looks like they finally fixed the past rush and you know the whole organization thought, hey, we got quarterback set for years. We got Kirk cousins in the first round pick. Well, I know we don't need them both, but we're going to be set for life.

14:08Both positions are really bad and frankly, they probably did less this off season to improve their team than just about any team in the league because they have cap issues. And it's just been calling it a eat your vegetables type off season for the Falcons. So I think it's a really good time to play them. Yeah, I mean, there are definitely going to be matchup issues. B. John Robinson is a matchup issue every single week. Kyle Pitz is a matchup issue. Drake London. Yeah, Drake London is really good. But there is not much on the defensive side that scares me. I feel like this is also a really good game for the Steelers offense to get things going. I don't feel like you have to be perfect in order to play a good game in order to put up at least. I'm I think you got to put up at least 20 points against this. I would hope so. Yeah. If you can't do that, there are some. We're going to have some some significant issues. So yeah, I agree.

15:10I feel like it's a good first game to get things going. I think it's also going to be a good like barometer test. Again, if they if they just steamroll the Falcons, I feel good about the same because to me, the Falcons are a team that you should probably steamroll. I think so too, especially other. I'm multiple scores. I mean, they've even announced the starting quarterback yet in September of third, you know, yeah. Yeah, this is a game that not only should you win, you should win better than 28 27. You know, this is a game, you know, you should win pretty handily. Yeah, I'll feel I'll feel better one way or the other about this team's trajectory. Now again, you know, teams don't win the Super Bowl or make the playoffs in September. I think they're going to be some. There are going to be some rocky moments. It's September football still. Oh, yeah. I mean, your line's not jelling yet. You're just now starting to get the secondary on the field.

16:11Michael Jr and DK Medcaffer are starting to get back into the fold. Like I feel like there's going to be some some bumps and bruises going along in terms of like team chemistry and, you know, jelling and things like that. But yeah, I. They got to win. Yeah, you got to get that one. You mentioned the secondary and again, don't answer if it's putting you on the spot. Do you think Jenkins basically just replaces Elliott in all shapes and sizes? I mean, I'm assuming that's how they'll handle nickel and not make. Eccles the nickel and Ramsey a safety. No, I don't think I'll think that's happening. I think Ramsey as a nickel is way more valuable. Ramsey's the nickel. Okay, so you think Jenkins just becomes Elliott basically in nickel. I think I think brisker probably becomes more Elliott. And, you know, then you have Jenkins or spirits Jennings back, you know, more as the free safety.

17:11Oh, okay. Just because I think brisker plays. I was even thinking raw as much as, you know, playing time. Oh, well, yeah, playing time. I still I do think Ray Sean Jenkins probably gets the first crack at playing as a brisker. I still think they really like Robert Spruce Jennings. I think so too. I think he's going to play like. Oh, okay. I don't I don't think like if you were to, you know, ask like, is spirits Jennings snap count going to be zero? I would say no. Like I'm talking about defense, not special teams, but his defense up snap count be zero. I would say no, he's going to get out there. Oh, I think he's going to get like 15 snaps, probably not. But do I think he's going to get something? Yeah, I think so. Oh, it's going to be just Jenkins back there with brisker. I think you'll you'll see Spruce Jennings every now and then. And Spruce Jennings has been getting a lot to think about it. Like he's been getting a lot of first team reps this summer. Oh, yeah. Like three amp preseason. More and more and more. Yeah, he's been getting a lot.

18:12He's very plugged in and that helps a lot too, especially when you're trying to have everybody on the same page. They may have found something there in the late late rounds with him. At least he shows up a lot. Yeah, at least to start off as a guy who can like, contribute on special teams and be a guy who can. Activon game day. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, not just an active on game day, but active in the game. Yeah, good way for now. He's going to play like he is going to play special teams. He's going to I think I think he'll see a few snaps on defense. I still think Jenkins will be more of that guy. Yeah, we think. But I think having a guy that you can rely on, especially a seventh round rookie, to come in like, hey, Jenkins needs Jenkins. He rolled his ankle or something. I need you to be out there for an entire series or something. You can trust him to go out there and do it. That's a great thing to have, especially when the guy that you're expecting to start at safety next to risker, is going to be missing the first four games at least on injured reserve.

19:12Yeah, I'm getting away ahead of myself, but it wouldn't even shock me if Spears Jennings was in the starting mix a year from now. Like when we go to camps. I mean, could be. I mean, version is on a one year deal. I think it's going to be. Right. I mean, she needs. You need to start to stay healthy. Yeah. Might be If. What are some of your biggest concerns? Not just in terms of beating the Falcos, but when you look at this roster, you're like, yeah, still don't feel good about this. Quarterback aside, yeah, we kind of did stick on that for a while. Offensive line jelling, because I believe, and I know this sounds crazy, but I wouldn't trade the Steelers' offensive line min for any teams in the league. I think this has a chance to be one of the best lines in the league within two years or so, you know.

20:13Now, there's players I would love that penny soul and joe, all to blah, blah, blah, blah. Of course, but all in all, like, what I trade that room for any, and I'm not saying it's the best line in the league. So I do have high hopes for this group by Thanksgiving or so being a real strength to the team, but I don't know that it's gonna be the first month of the season or so. And this is another question I have for you that goes to practices now. I would play a hornet chore from week one. My hunches, they won't do that, but I just think the right side of the line's gonna have growing pains and I could see some communication issues on the o-line and just not being smooth out of the gates. Yeah, I could see that being a concern, at least right away. I do think that there is a little bit of merit to what Dylan Cook described. I think a little over a week ago, whenever he said, you know, so much of what they do in training camp and preseason is internally focused.

21:15And it's not as much about beating the opponent across from you. Yeah. Obviously when you get to this, like everything that they're doing in practice now and we'll be doing in practice next week is geared toward beating the Falcons. Yeah, people don't understand the difference. It's a huge difference. It's a huge difference. You know, especially if you're going into a game and you're like, listen, we cannot run outside zone against this team. We're gonna fail. But we can run a boatload of duo or we can run a lot of inside zone, whatever it is. That's what you'll be focusing on. That's the reason they would run the outside zone anyway. Yeah, because they're literally trying to continue to install their playbooks. So yeah, they, I think when they go to scheme against a defense, it should look better. No, I still think that there's going to be some growing pants early, which, which I'm fine with.

22:17I'm fine with that. Yeah, yeah, that's to be expected and they won't be the only align to lead going through that. They will not be. And I don't think it has anything to do with, you know, guys switching positions or anything like that. I think if this is all geared toward, let's get this team not just in the best position, schematically, but also and maybe even more important, physically more fresh in December and January, than I feel like. Been the goal so far, you know, right? Yes, it absolutely has. I think that's like they accomplished it too. Well, and that's another thing that I wanted to almost bring up like with this roster, they're very healthy. Like I understand to show me, Elliot's out, that sucks. But that's about it. That's it. Like of all the expected starters that you have, everybody else is expected to start in week one. Everybody. Yeah, it'll take it. And the depth is pretty good.

23:17And you know, right? Yeah. I think that's big to me. Like I understand like, like, are they going to be physically ready to go and we like, I almost don't care. Like do you need to punch the Falcons in the mouth in order to beat them? I mean, no player in the league that's going to start in week one has played 60 or 70 snaps in a game yet. And then you're going to be able to do this season. I mean, to begin the years more and more. So there's going to be fatigue. There's going to be getting your football legs under you, all those things. You know, that's just a league wide situation, though, whether you're hitting and camp or not. What are some of your favorite parts of this roster? What are some of the things that have you most excited about? Possibly. Well, the old line certainly is, and we just talked about that, even though it's also a short term concern. Hmm. It's both those questions you asked to me are hard to answer because collectively, I don't look at this team that has massive peaks or massive valleys. You know what I mean? And I,

24:18a lot of that's a testament to the team building and the depth and the recent drafts. And some of it's also not finding superstars yet. You know, I mean, again, it's not Tyriek and his prime or somebody like that out there. So I have problem answering both those questions with great conviction. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, there's a lot of individual players starting a Washington comes to mind. Her big, you know, who I think are Benton. Benton is one in particular that I really think is improving at a rapid rate. You know, that there's not yet hit their prime, but could be real foundational guys that are hard to play against. And any surprises when it came to this setting roster, I know we've talked about Jolvity, but is there anybody else outside of Jolvity or keeping four quarterbacks that kind of surprised you? Or was this pretty much a good idea? Well, the keeping four quarterbacks thing was the worst kept secret ever. I mean, everyone knew that was happening. Yeah. So that I was not shocked by that in the end.

25:18And oh, by the way, they were one of four teams to do so. People think that this is like outlandish crazy talk. I mean, the people are keeping more quarterbacks now than ever. I would, I feel like I'm on an island. I would have liked to see more competition for Roman Wilson's individual spot. And I was shocked he didn't play the last preseason game. McCullum shocked me that he made the team, but I'm not sure he would have if broader Jones hadn't been traded. So I think he was the direct benefactor there. Yeah. We talked about Jolvity. I like everyone else. I thought a land in Roberts was basically a lock two and maybe he's going to do the vested veteran thing after week one. Yeah. Who's to say. But overall, again, it speaks the same questions that there were 95% of the roster. I think we were all pretty confident of how it was going to shake out. And I didn't know the Elliott situation was an I or situation.

26:18Yeah, and that sucks, but I also understand why they did it. You know, they're, they're, they're really just wanted to make sure he's, he's completely ready to go by the time he steps on the field. Yeah. I understand he, he got in the preseason game and that's great, but it wasn't a full game. And it's also still preseason, not that the guys aren't out there trying hard and everything, but it ramps up whenever the regular season starts, even against the Falcons. I understand them one to one to take their time and make sure he's ready to go. He's a really important piece of what they're going to be doing on the back end. Yeah. He really helps in run defense like you want that guy right? And I understand that. Yeah. And it's pretty clear like we talked about, the staff is going to side on the air on the side of caution. It's very recent things. Yeah. It's very, very much been part of the plan. I'm going to detail that more in in our Friday insider feature on our, on our app on our GK Pittsburgh sports app. It has obviously been something that they've really harbored on from the very,

27:21very, very beginning. They want to have this team healthy and it does. Again, not just having an impact on, hey, we have a really healthy roster going to week one. But again, it could keep everybody more fresh in December and January. I mean, I can't harp on this enough and I feel like I talk about it a lot, but I should even talk about it more. Their fourth quarter defense was so bad last year. It's bad. I mean, like one of the worst in the last 20 years in the whole league in terms of just allowing points per drive. And it's just undeniable that if they can be fresher, latent games, late in the season, that's another big step to fixing that problem. Deeper, you know. What? Okay. So this is the last show we'll do. Oh, I've one other big concern. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. So I think everyone on the planet knows and I talk about this on my podcast a lot that turnover differential is the biggest. You know, if you told me predictor of wins and losses,

28:23the second most now is explosive play differential. Yeah. And I don't know how explosive this offense is going to be. That's a big question for me. Yeah. Now I can be efficient. I don't know. It'll be explosive. I do think the one thing that I do think that they will be. And even with what they've added at wide receiver with Michael Whitman, junior and Jeremy Bernard, I think this offense through what they have in terms of the roster and what they have in their coaching staff from Michael Carthy, obviously through Brian Angelico and everything. This team will be more versatile on offense in terms of how they roll their personnel out there. What they can do, how they can, you know, there are a number of different ways you can run, you know, dragon lion out there. You know, just, you know, for, you know, people who understand like West Coast concepts. There are just a number of different ways you can do it. And you can do it out of 11 personnel. You can do it out of 21 personnel. You can do it out of 22. Yeah.

29:23You there are so many different ways you can do it. And I think McCarthy has always operated best whenever he's been as versatile as possible. So it's definitely, it's definitely something that I think is going to help. Do I think that it's going to help create a bunch of explosive plays? I'd like there to be a undoubted superstar to be able to help create those, which, you know, I don't think they have. Again, DK Metcalfe is a really, really good wide receiver. But I wouldn't put him like in the Jamar chase just a chance. No, no, no, no, right. You know, the category. So yeah, I don't think it's, I don't think they're particularly fast at the skill position players. You know, I still think DK Metcalfe is, but he definitely is. Yeah, but no, I see what you're saying, though. And I do think that that is a concern going forward. Then like, okay, should they be able to do better in terms of like eliminating explosive plays on defense?

30:26I think so. Yes. But you got to be able to create them too. The Raiders are great at it. They did not allow many explosives on defense. And that's part of not worried about. I'm worried about creating. Yeah. And that's somebody who drafted action, Genty in my fantasy league. I really need the Raiders to do better on that. Okay, so to wrap this up, this is the last show we're doing prior to the actual preparation. Because next, our next show will be. I'll get a lot more toward looking at the Falcons. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what was been, what's been your favorite development of the team development period? What is one thing that you've seen? Whether that be, hey, the Hanator's looks great. And he looks like a guy who could say that was the obvious one to me, even though I haven't seen a ton. But I'm so enamored with him. I was before the draft. I even more so now. I even threw it out there. 20 minutes ago that I would just start them in week one and. Secret swim kid, you're too talented for me to have you on the bench. Yeah, I think that's a really good development to that from Trump pick.

31:29Who initially wasn't looked like viewed as a guy who could come in and start day one. Looks like a guy who potentially can. That to me is a really, really good development. Yeah, that's that's playing no question. All right, guys, well, thank you so much for tuning in. Really appreciate everybody who watches this show live and who listens to it. Afterward, the numbers on the show have been absolutely phenomenal. You guys just keep coming with it and we'll continue to bring bring the content. Bring the the Steelers talk next. We'll be back and we'll start to get into more of an actual routine because this will be. The start of the regular season. So yeah, like a lot of Falcons preview will have a lot more homework done on the Atlanta Falcons and get you ready for week one against the Steelers on September 13th at Accurus Stadium. Between the between the Steelers and Falcons. Anyway, catch you guys on the Foupliti Flip. We'll see you later.