The Terrible Podcast — Steelers' Pro Day Process, WR Positional Draft Value, 2026 WR Class, Empty Routes & More

0:005 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink running 12 miles today grab a green juice quick change and head to work meetings workshops one more Celsius no slowing down working late but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing Celsius live fit go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius dot com you said you were over him but his hoodies stealing your rotation it's time grab your phone snap a few picks and sell it on D-Pop listed in minutes with no selling fees and just like that a guy 500 miles away just paid full price for your closure and right on cue nope but I've got tonight's dinner paid for start selling on D-Pop were taste recognizes taste list now with no selling fees payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply see website for details welcome to the terrible clock has with your house from stillers depot dot com where you can find all your latest and greatest stillers news

1:05it's Dave Brian and Alex Cazora always live talking stillers and now here's Dave and Alex welcome to the terrible podcast season 16 episode 112 he stayed Brian and Alex Cazora Steelers Depot dot com thanks for being back with us this Friday Steelers Nation Dave a busy day of pro weeks are wrapping up here on Friday did not see as much of the Pittsburgh Steelers on the pro day trilless we thought for a pretty marquee and eventful week but we'll talk about who we did see and who we did not see and what it all means I know it's spaghetti day over the day Brian households so it's a good Friday how you doing Dave yeah happy Friday to you it is spaghetti day looking forward to that I believe I jinx Paul schemes yesterday what uh what a what a very disappointing game it was for the parts as a whole and boy crews out there in the

2:08outfield somebody buy that kid some sunglasses or something where you position yeah or new position and man I you know what's going to end up happening with him I thought just briefly this morning they're going to end up trading him at some point he's going to end up going back to shortstop and then he's going to end up hitting like 380 for a season with like 40 home runs or something like that but yeah they just they're having trouble with that he's a tight kid too one day you'll drive you absolutely mad and then the next next night he'll hit three home runs you know that kind of a feast and fame and type type of dude but man I was all geared up to watch that watch that opening game day kids could mess and they jumped out to a two-nothing lead with that branded allow home run there and you think all right and then couple you know you don't even get Paul schemes out of first inning and then the bullpen could keep people off base for walks and all and thankfully the the penguins ended up saving the day for Pittsburgh sports that ended up being

3:14a very entertaining game against Ottawa and one that depends really needed but we're not here to talk about baseball or spaghetti or hockey or anything along those lines but we are here to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers and man a couple of pro to big pro days happening the other day that I felt pretty good at least from the early reports that we would see Mike McCarthy and or Omar Khan at one of the two I think there was even a report early in the morning by Albert Brear who I'm convinced was it even there at the Ohio State pro day I think he was just kind of parroting what the what the Ryan Fowler kid had put out on the internet there on Twitter the night previously there and long behold the the Steelers Mike McCarthy and Omar Khan were not visible or were not seen at either one of the Alabama or Ohio State pro days I think we're still at one on the pro day trail for both of those being the University of Georgia and not of a lot of

4:20exciting pro days happening on today on Friday be interesting to see if they they show up there I'm kind of doubting they will with with this being a Friday and then I think all that leaves us is the Indiana pro day next week there so your thoughts on one one pro day appearance from Khan McCarthy so far and what does it mean and you know kind of a continuation about the talk about that yeah how surprised were you that we did not see either one of those two two gentlemen at Alabama or Ohio State at the risk of being that guy technically Omar Khan was at a pro day yesterday he was at the pit pro day his little backyard but that really doesn't count considering it is right there but to answer your question very surprised I would have bet your house at least at McCarthy and or Khan would have been at Ohio State or Alabama they were as you said apparently

5:25credentialed as were Brian Angelico and Patrick Graham the coordinators but none of them were there now who did attend Ohio State Assistant GM Andy Whiteow was there so a pretty heavy hitter in the front office did show up as did area scout Jim were at least based on I know you went through a ton of video and that's all that we could you could clean from Pittsburgh's attendance so we'll assume it was just vital and Jim Ward so I don't know what the rationale is I don't know what other events were going on that took priority over Pittsburgh signing up to be there and then seemingly skipping maybe there's a world in which they were there for the pro day dinners and just did not show up for the workout itself that is a possibility I suppose but I don't know again where would you have been otherwise you weren't hosting players for visits or to our knowledge know for Asian situations going on that would take your attention or time away so it is certainly based on pro days wrapping up the new model seems to be we're going to see the decision makers and Khan and McCarthy be a lot

6:29less active than Mike Thomas was yeah absolutely especially where we're really one key siding at this point being being of course the Georgia pro day here you know I guess overall what what what are the chances that the Steelers would have ended up drafting one of the higher ranked Ohio State kids especially if they stayed at at 21st overall now look Ohio State has a lot of prospects Alabama has a lot of prospects and when you talk about Alabama specifically there's all the whole Thai Simpson conversation you would think and that's dangerous to say but if they if they had legitimate interest in Thai Simpson saying the first round that you would have seen more than just who is there I Taylor and who else at Alabama we have Zach Crockett area scouts at Crockett and I Taylor put the DBs through drills you would think that there would be a little bit bigger presence there

7:33especially with with with Thai Simpson so look you know we talked about going in or after Mike Tomlin stepped down and and Mike McCarthy was hired and what what does this mean towards the when it comes to the offseason process and notably the the pro days and pro day visits and things of that nature here and I mean we're we're we're getting the answer of of what it means at least on a visibility standpoint we're going to have to use the actual draft as a learning as a learning tool of what all transpired here hopefully we'll be able to build the pre draft visitor list out to the 30 total plus whatever local kids and whatnot come in but for lack of you know by selfishness hello and my own selfishness I'll join you on that and yours especially when it comes in likes position coaches as well too you think into yourself all right all right maybe

8:36you know maybe it's understandable maybe maybe Mike McCarthy isn't a big pro day guy overall and look you did have the whole Bob Harlan thing mixed in here and you know I don't know how much that played into maybe multiple pro days overall but I mean Khan obviously over the last several years has been very visible at at at pro days especially along with Tomlin you know I I don't think we're going to have a grasp on what this really means until after the fact that it might even take two or three cycles of pre draft process but I guess you know moving beyond the disappointment of not seeing Khan and McCarthy from from from once again from from my own selfish standards is is the fact that I think we've only still seen the one position coach right out out out on the trail well to Tom Arth at North Dakota State and CJ IU at Michigan so

9:37those were the two that we've seen so far but nothing from the coordinators and nothing super heavy Arth was notable with Cole Peyton and then Peyton coming in for a visit so the bottom line is they were probably going to have to lean on that pre draft visitor list to really kind of give us our best clues or who Pittsburgh truly has interest in and like you said once the draft is done once all the haze in the barn we'll have to go back and look and connect those thoughts and start identifying some trends but as you also said it may take a couple years to really have some good patterns to really trust in be confident in in our blues clues going forward so we talked about on Wednesday I want to revisit the conversation because there isn't a whole lot else going on for today's episode I showed a little more critique in Pittsburgh skipping out on these pro days than you now that we've seen them skip out on Alabama and Ohio State is that of do you have any additional critique should they have been there is there any good reason for them not to attend Oh I just think for at least from the quarterback perspective specifically if we were to get the

10:44idea that they were going to draft a guy like Ty Simpson I would have expected them there at the Alabama pro day at least McCarthy being as how he's the he's the quarterback guru quarterback whisper what what how many teams have drafted the first run quarterback and not attended the workout of that quarterback that maybe I don't know I mean obviously it would take it would take quite a bit of research especially if we're going to just look by me the last five years per say you know I suppose it's a rabbit hole week we can go down but overall I think it it feels like it's going to be more important to have these guys in for pro day visits obviously at this point and but once again I I don't know if I'm going to be able to wrap my head around this as far as to what is right and what is wrong until we get a couple of these drafts in the books at this point when we become so

11:46conditioned and regulated as far as what we expect in previous years and then be able to play off of that but I mean let's face it on top of it here I mean have had the stateers top of the drafts overall you know not counting the guys that are first rounders that are still in Pittsburgh at this point which is obviously still playing out with with guys like Carmen and Tyson and and you know these recent guys but this team overall you just look at the fifth year options and all and look in totality of the last I don't know 10 years of or at least going back to TJ what of how this team has drafted with their first round draft picks and and the quote unquote kind of hit rate if you will and but yet they were at those pro days. Yes so the point could be Pittsburgh wasn't benefiting from going to these pro days they weren't having a ton of success at the top of the draft

12:50so maybe doing something different or maybe it's not a big deal if these they don't show up to some of these pro days and I will say as I said before the last two first round picks fought Tauna and Harman Pittsburgh did not have a decision maker at that pro day those guys came in for visits but she would think if Tyson was the apple of their eye or somebody they were strongly considering you're at that pro day you're watching them work out you're watching him interact with teammates be unusual for them not to send a heavy hit or not even Andy Wydel who went to Ohio state instead now in fairness at Alabama I believe only one GM and the entire NFL attended the workout that was Ryan Poles of the Bears how much her how many had coaches showed up I think a couple so this was not super well attended by the NFL at large I think most did end up going to Ohio state where Andy Wydel attended so take that whatever it's worth but I always think this value in boots on the ground and being there and having all the information possible to not just know who you're going to take but who you're not going to take Mike Tomlin talked about whenever he would go

13:53to pro days they were multi-pronged purposes to learn about the prospects but then learn about next year's class and talk to the social media guy for the school and how that's evolving and changing the final ways to connect and interact and understand players that will be coming up through the college ranks to the NFL so there's a lot of value I still think I'm going to these pro days so selfishly as you said we would love for these guys to be at eight different places to have more things to write about and talk about and more blues clues out there but I do think truly even putting my own bias aside there is value and going to these pro days I'm disappointed to not see these guys be very active on the trail I said Tyson I'm Troy I'm sitting here with Tyson from Arizona state film up here so my maybe he'll be the pick this you maybe that's another road I want to go down today with the wide receivers here in a minute but once again I you know I think we are I think the the giant takeaway here at least at this point with really two notable pro days

14:57left at this point today and I think Monday with Indiana is the fact is Indiana Monday or Tuesday it's leave April 1st whatever day on the calendar that is what day is that April 1st is Wednesday Wednesday okay so next Wednesday I think the main takeaway here at least where we set right now especially when it comes to position coaches as well as a con and and Mike McCarthy is the fact that we are going to have to lean heavily on I think all star players which we normally all start you know invitees which we normally do anyway combine combine formal meetings and then obviously the pre draft visitor list there and at this point it would be extremely imperative I think for and hopefully once again we can build up this list to 30 in total I think

16:01it's imperative that this year's first round draft pick comes in for for for a visit here agreed and that's consistent with past years in the entire Omar Khan era the first round pick has come in for a pre-trap because it used to be that Pittsburgh would go to that guy at their pro day but even in the later Tomlin years mentioning Broadway Jones there are carbon joyful iconic they were coming to Pittsburgh now they went to Georgia for the Jones pro day because it's Georgia and even they went this year so they that just kind of box they always check but the other ones granted they were out west in Oregon and Washington they were having those guys come in for visit so that still could be predictive power but we're going to have to hear about some first round names because as we read off the first round list the other day the only real candidate of the group we currently have is Denzel Boston the receiver from Washington now that list will grow in April's usually the pretty busy time for pro for pre draft visits because pro days are done and it's kind of the last thing before the draft gets started so we'll have to hope that list fills up with some notable names in a hurry what is the probability percentage at this

17:04point with the pro day tape scouring that maybe we've missed a position coach or two along the way I'm sure we'll go back as a team and look back to the pro days that we've missed so far through our some where I know they were at I don't know who was sent for example I know they were at Arizona but I don't know the personnel member we may have to ask our buddies over there and in that neck of the woods if they have some footage or insight for who attended because I could not find it in my scrub through the other day so yeah you never know exactly unless you have the list from the team I don't think Omar Khan's going to give it away to us anytime soon you don't know exactly every single person he was there but we do I think a pretty good job trying to scour this thing find as many people as possible yeah and back to the to the main question there is are they right or wrong in in not attending these specifically McCarthy and Omar Khan we're not we can sit here and give our opinions about whether or not what they can glean by being there and as you

18:06said interact with the teammates and look you know even though the quarterback workouts are all staged and planned out coordinated and and you you still don't you want to get a sit of how those are or curse or curse or castrated overall and the quarterback's reaction say when say a couple of his receivers dropped some passes you know just to just to get the visible and they'll get through that they film when they send it out right right can still get it right but uh you know to me there's there's there's there is no better uh there is no substitute for actually being there sure yeah I mean I said last episode I think it was last episode that obviously the tape's going to matter the most and you know the pro day workout only means so much but I think there are some exceptions even for quarterbacks to kind of get a feel for how the ball comes out of his hand and and and just as I've talked about before leadership and interacting with teammates and

19:08getting to know the person when it's your quarterback you got to do every you got to turn over every stone possible to learn about this guy and be around this guy and if you're going to trap this guy in the first round and call him your next franchise quarterback and kind of state that that claim you better have all the information and done everything possible to to make it confident and declaring that which is what you're doing when you draft a guy like that in the first round so to me that says Simpson won't be the guy but we'll see we comes in for a visit and we'll take it from there and you know when you're dealing with it you know you've got guys like all or who evidently have had played a lot so you and especially with him being you know uh in state at Penn State you probably seen seen a lot of him with a scouting over the years and all like that but then you have and it really the same with uh Carson Beck you know to a degree because he's played so much but then you've got other guys like uh uh Cole Payton and you know Simpson obviously one year starter uh it would it would make more sense to go see those guys firsthand uh because

20:13you probably don't have a uh a lot of you know in game scouting uh over the years on guys like that that like those two and it's just good for your head coach to go there because he's probably not watch that guy in person before the way that a scout has for several seasons whether he's a one year starter or four year starter your head coach probably has not spent a lot of time following the the background of Carson Beck until you get into the draft process this year so you know that be nice but you know it as you've said before all that matters is you get to pick right even if you have a different way as long as you get the pick right and you finally have some real good hits in the first round and kind of continue the trend puts burgers on but hopefully further that with a real home run no doubt shot then then that's all that really matters all right so we'll set watch I'm not expecting at this point but I think what floor is floored in today now floored was yesterday or earlier this week all four states today right I think floored estates today let me look at the pro days today and you got there all Jackson down there

21:17is a notable name a deep unsalignment certainly has to build up a Pittsburgh Steelers deep unsalignment today is Arizona state Jordan Tyson is he going to work out though he's got the hamstring and she I don't know if he's going to be that or if there's a private workout later on or what his plans are I'll be shocked if they show up out there talking about common and sure but could they send Adam Henry receivers coach and if Tyson's working and I assume a bunch of receivers coaches will be going but I don't know Tyson status off hand floored estate Houston Maryland Kent State Mississippi State State and South Dakota State are the pro days today Charlotte is on the 29th and a couple of Sunday pro days Idaho Tennessee State the 30th March 31st Colorado Tennessee is a pro days or there's something notable there Indiana Nevada April 1st and then there's a smattering of private workouts throughout April I know the big citrus Dominique Orange in my state and those tackle is going to work out for scouts on April 7th but those are typically we're hard to get information on who attends those events all right and as far as we know no nobody's been coming in yet for a private workout for the for the Steelers yet

22:22and we'll see if that changes Kevin Colbert had the model where they never did private workouts some teams will let that Pittsburgh never held those there's been a indication that's changing under Omar Khan could that change under Khan and McCarthy it could but right now there's no history of Pittsburgh ever conducting I think Colbert talked about just not needing it and then he talked it I think one time a guy got hurt towards a key lease in a private workout and it just seems like a necessary risk for the players so Pittsburgh is sworn off but in the past we'll see that changes this year all right so the top of us top of the show today is the news is that there's no no big news right news is there you know my this is very random my favorite news story at least probably top three I don't know if the other two would be ghost type in what would you type in just Chicago no news story there's an old news story from like Christmas Eve in early 2000 Chicago and it's very funny because the city is dead it's Christmassy there's nothing going on and the reporter does a whole story about there is no news and just the way he does it is just very

23:24funny and quirky and just kind of old timey so anyway that's that's when you said that that remind me of that old news story that I love so much all right it looks it looks like the headline there's a look back at Chicago in 2003 when there was no news on what day was it I think it was Christmas yeah I had to go read that I look like there's a video or something it's a video yeah it's a video package it was a new story that ran on on the news at the time thankfully captured anyways it was a sign fell that was a sign fell episode today with with no news spring starts at the Home Depot and we are bringing the heat to your backyard this season fire up the flavor with our wide variety of grills for under three hundred dollars like the next grill for burner gas grill that's perfect for hosting your spring cookout then set the scene and turn your outdoor space into the go-to spot the patio sets for every budget bring it this season with grills that deliver flavor and patios that set the vibe from the Home Depot start your spring with low prices guaranteed at the Home Depot exclusive supply see Home Depot dot com slash price match for details

24:27now streaming the time traveling comedy movie of the year has arrived Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice only on Hulu the film stars Vince Vaughn James Mars in an Ace of Gonzalez in a wild action comedy about one disastrous night that spirals out of control and here's the twist there are two Vince Vaughn's don't miss Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice written and directed by Ben David Grubinsky now streaming only on Hulu rated R score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to five percent cash back with Venmo stash got paid back with the Venmo debit card you can infinitely access your balance and spend on what you want like game day snacks gear tickets and more the more you do the more cashback you can earn plus there's no monthly fear minimum balance sign up now at Venmo dot com slash college card the Venmo master card is issued by the bank court bank NA select schools available Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo dot me slash stash terms max one hundred dollars cash back per month all right well let's try to get away let's get away away from the

25:31no news and and let's kind of at least create some topics to talk about here wide receiver position I've been thinking a lot about that a lot of it stems from Warren Sharp I think about 17 hours ago put it put up list of first round wide receivers drafted over the last 10 years and he's got all the teams listed and the wide receivers that were taken in the first round believe it or not at this point over the last 10 years there had been 14s that have not taken at least one wide receiver in the first round in the last 10 drafts those teams would be the bills the cults the Rams and the Pittsburgh Steers and we had to talk not too terribly long ago and really probably have it annually to some degree that the last wide receiver to status took in the first round was many moons ago and that was saying Tony yo homes and with the Steers picking

26:3221st overall in this draft and on the heels of this team going out trading for uh Michael pitman junior this offseason here and you look at this wide receiver class is okay at the top I don't I don't think it's over the top great by any stretch of imagination I kind of feel that the value in this wide receiver class specifically when you look at what the Pittsburgh Steers are seemingly looking for at this point now in the offseason is probably the second or third round probably more to the second round than anything I guess Mike when you look at the names attached and you could you could obviously probably do this with every position in the NFL go back 10 years and look at the first round of of of the position group but when you look at this wide receiver group the first rounders overall over the last 10 years not a lot of names jump out to you overall and I kind of went through my head too can you name the wide receivers drafted and this this this really

27:41is insignificant in the big picture but it's just a kind of one of those quirky things to look at can you name the wide receivers drafted in the first round over the course of the last 10 years that have a Super Bowl ring now oh wow probably not I don't even know where I would start on that I guess Jackson Smith and Jigbaugh has the most right there you go you got the you got the the recent one out of the way it might be the only one that I can give you the chiefs drafting fresh John receivers during their heyday Tyree kill see one of them no no I I'd have to really write okay okay okay and I think that's it that's the list those are the only two I'd believe that's the only two here unless I'm missing someone I try to just go off the top of my head here

28:44but yeah I think those are the only two Jackson Smith or Jackson you know I all long I've been saying his first name wrong Jackson not Jackson there is no S in Jackson Smith in Jigbaugh think somebody pointed that out on Twitter globally not too long ago and I thought oh yeah I've been saying it wrong or did Davanta Smith win one with the Eagles since he was drafted Davanta Smith yeah I believe so when they beat when they beat the chiefs yeah yeah yeah okay so there's there's three of them then and you look at this list I think overall once again you can you can find a quick quick list by going to warn sharps Twitter feed here not that that means anything overall but when you look at a lot of the names you look at the miss rate and then the other aspect of the quite of the conversation I wanted to have is kind of twofold here in today's

29:49NFL with the fifth year option and generally if you find a wide receiver that's worked his salt especially a first round guy how many of those guys end up not getting extended another words how many of those guys end up playing their rookie contract out but technically before and going and then going into their they're picked up their exercise fifth year option and then getting the deal done obviously prior to the actual fifth year going into effect and I guess where I'm going with this overall is is generally if you have any wide receiver that you draft especially in today's NFL especially with the with the fifth year option and all like that aren't you aren't you making the decision after his third year whether or not to extend that guy and then give him the the huge contract per se I guess I guess where I'm going with this on top of where I'm going with this

30:55how much positional value is there in wide receiver in the first round unless that player can come in right away and help you get be be a guy that helps put you over to top for a championship. I mean as you said you could probably apply that to a lot of positions I think there is a lot of value we've see how much receivers cost and command and trades and I still think there's a lot of value in in a first round receiver just to clean up something worthy you said exactly worthy it was one of those guys I thought he was I mean he was the first round guy for the chiefs as he won a Super Bowl with him yet no he's in his second he just finished second here so so I think it's just the vantasmith then it's in jugba so it's just a two then right right the 49ers haven't won the Super Bowl right no yeah so so that that would rule out I you obviously but going through the rest of the teams only thing is very easy to go through the rest of them because a lot of them

31:57haven't even won the Super Bowl in the last 10 years so I think it is just a two okay and what we're cleaning things up something I mistated at least once on the podcast with the Sean Elliott just a quick side bar I had said he's contract expires after 2020 60 she runs through 2027 I keep forgetting the terms of that two-year extension he signed last summer to put him through 2027 so my mistake and my apologies on that his contract is through 27 no guarantee he makes it there under the regime but but contractually he is under contract for this year and next um yeah I'm not really sure on the big takeaway on receiver I think there's still certainly value in that and in this offensive world even though things might be shifting a little more back towards defense and ground and pound type of offense um I think the bigger question maybe to ask if we're going to talk kind of broad strokes here is why does some of these first-round receivers fail is there a commonality I think one thing for me sometimes you see those those big jump ball contest

33:00catch college receivers who dominate with their size and physicality that doesn't translate to the NFL super well I think back to the quan tread well in the keel hairy and uh yeah birks from Tennessee those those types of guys that just don't have the separation and the fluidity and route running to get open consistently and they struggle so those guys when I hear those types come out of the college ranks always give me pause you know who have been some of the more productive or uh I guess uh you know highly productive wide receivers in the first round over the last of the last ten years per se I think obviously jumps out at you Justin Jefferson would be one that you would add to that list uh Jamar chase obviously uh one that you would add to that list trying to go through uh do you do you consider davanta smith a a a NFL superstar uh maybe in the same category as you would say a Justin Jefferson or a Jamar chase or is he kind of next tier

34:06now he's definitely next tier he's not in that tier one with those guys all right uh what are your thoughts on roma do dunes a uh to this point maybe similar to davanta smith in that category he's not in that that a tier all right what about cd lamb obviously he's a superstar right yeah he would go in that tier with chase and Jefferson all right what about a guy like jaylon waddle that's a good question I think talent wise he's probably right up there maybe he's not he's behind those three guys but he he's up there all right what about uh Garrett Wilson I think same thing I think has been played by some bad quarterback play some injuries I think talent wise he's he's in that waddle camp all right and then I guess i'm mecha buka uh obviously still a young player but so far seems to be you know an extreme top tier wide receiver right yeah he's probably for me right now also in that waddle Wilson sort of camp but it is pretty early in his career all right smith in jigba

35:08yeah he's a superstar all right what about jaymus and will Williams with the lions yeah different type more situational vertical guy maybe in that waddle camp all right but there's been uh I don't know if there's anybody else on this list where you I I I guess Ted Ted Oroa Macmillan the jury still out on eight a really good rookie year so I think that arrows pointed up but we'll keep watching all right uh and and once again you could go through every position group in the NFL and say look at all these first round picks how many of those actually became superstars and uh why you focus in on why receive well why receiver uh a once again is just generally that position that's one ends up being one of the highest paid positions especially outside of the quarterback position on the offensive side of football right so uh and then market really heat up since really last year that market rocket it up all right and and right now as we just mentioned on the heels of the uh smith in jigba contract I think it puts uh DK Metcalf at fifth uh fifth uh in the NFL and in average yearly guy

36:12now let's translate this over to Steelers talk here in the fact that um if you're drafting a wide receiver in today's NFL in the first round he is a guy that you probably want to get on the field right away and get producing in other words he would be a guy that you would expect to come in and make uh significant contributions uh with your team uh especially in the landscape as we talked about you're probably going to have to make a decision on this guy after his third year regardless of even if you if he drafted him outside of the first round but specifically if you drafted him in first round because of the whole fifth year option thing and making the decision after his third year uh when it comes to the fifth year option you know those kind of things there so uh I guess specifically where I'm going with this is now that the Steelers have Michael Pittman Jr. in the fall and obviously got DK Metcalf under contract for a few more years uh what is the path of the

37:17Steelers drafting can the Steelers draft a wide receiver in the first round this year uh and end up getting getting the kind of contributions that they would need out of that first round player uh in 2026 sure if the opportunity is there you have two clear cut starting receivers and DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr the number three spot and beyond is open you'll have Roman Wilson competing and trying to impress this new coaching staff but certainly a role the opportunity is there for the taking now fair and Rogers comes back historically he's not played great with with rookies but depending on who the rookie is and as a number three not a number one those are different roles and different hats so yeah I think a first round receiver could come in and have an impact not a thousand yard season in rookie of the year and blow everybody away the way that other receivers maybe have in in recent years but somebody that could certainly contribute well in the short term and be a really good fixture for long term how much does the air and Rogers discussion

38:17in 2026 play into that thought process though not much if at all this is a long-term view you're drafting a first round receiver or anyone for the next decade ideally that's your your goal in your aim so Rogers is not going to be part of that conversation beyond 2026 if he's even part of it for 2026 so you understand that a rookie may not have immediate you know great chemistry with Rogers and if you get somebody who's a little more fed a little more experience you may understand that's going to help accelerate that learning curve maybe get that guy a little more production in year one but Rogers is not dictating that decision by at least he shouldn't all right if Rogers is the quarterback for this team or uh uh and this team drafts a first round wide receiver this year uh do you think they could get said receiver to 45 catches I am it's hard to put numbers on things so far away but you know I it's not unreasonable to think they could be around there this offense is it's hard to think about that in the moment because we're not used to

39:20number three receiver with 45 catches after the arthropic Smith experience and just some really lackluster offenses but with an offense that's humming sure it's possible okay all right uh I just I kind of wonder about the positional value with the current state of the Steelers especially now that pitman is under contract they traded for him and with it still I guess theoretically or probability wise with Aaron Rogers coming back I do kind of wonder I I will say this uh I am to the point right now where I you know barring the Steelers trading up for someone like maybe a Tate uh in the first round uh I'm I'm don't expect me to have a wide receiver in the first round for the Steelers and you know that even includes a kind of one of our favorites uh Omar Cooper Jr who really I think at this point I I won't be overly surprised to be get squeezed out of the first round in general and ends up being a top of the second round uh type of guy I just from where I am right now from the state of the roster construction from the state of looking back historically at

40:22wide receivers specifically those that are taken I don't know third fourth fit positionally uh say if there's that many drafted in the first round I just don't think that's the best bang for the buck for the Steelers especially when you look at this class kind of top uh top the bottom especially when you talk about maybe the top 10 wide receivers in this class uh I am heavily leaning to the Steelers not drafting a wide receiver in the first round nor do I think it feels smart for them to do so. So even in the sense of what you think they will do you lean towards them not taking your receiver even though the prevailing wisdom is the receivers the the most likely position in round one okay if that if that's the parameters then yes if if you're if you're asking the question I guess in that format uh kind of uh parlaying off of that is the fact that or it not a fact but is the discussion of what position uh position can the Steelers get their

41:23most bang for their buck uh as far as getting the player on the field and you know producing at a high high level what what position stands out the most uh for for for the Steelers the way the roster is constructed currently. Yeah it's a fair question uh I'm not sure how you've been answered probably would say guard is one guy that could be a plug and play if you get the right guy in the first round I think based on fits for plugging other roster holes to maybe maybe no other screaming need for this team right now in terms of a guy that can come in and contribute a ton of snaps right away so anything else besides guard. I think as we wait to find out more about the help overall help the uh uh Roger Jones I think it's fair to add just in general say offensive lineman obviously this team isn't going to draft his center so I think that narrows it down to obviously guard in tackle but yeah I'd put guard up there uh high what about the inside linebacker

42:26kit kit kit can uh especially with Queen being in his last year right now uh and we we've talked about the rest of the depth chart know uh could you make a strong argument that if you were to draft an inside linebacker in the first round that you could get that guy on the field playing a lot of snaps and helping the team out in in year one. I have a hard time understanding the plan to do that but I'm all ears if you have a plan of how that would be laid out. I mean I don't have a plan I'm just talking about theoretically if you if you if you had a first round or in there could could that be someone that sees a lot of time in base say next to a Patrick Queen with eyes of that guy becoming uh the uh the the the green dot either later in his rookie season or or obviously in starting is his second season potentially after a guy like Patrick Queen uh could be out of the organization at that point. Could could you could you theoretically get an inside linebacker on the field

43:30for uh at least 50 to 60 percent of the snaps this year. I don't see the path unless you're trading Patrick Queen or giving up on Pete Wilson even if you put that guy in a base role only then that's about 30 percent of the snaps I'm not sure whether rest are coming from I don't see it. Okay uh with the cornerback position now that they have Dean under current track going along with uh uh Joey Porter Jr it is kind of hard to to uh to carve out a lot of playing time for a corner right. Yeah I don't really see anything there immediately but you know just just to talk just to pull back it's not just about how they contribute tissue you want that first round of a key to be on the field then if he's ready to play you want contributions right away but this is a long term thing to 2027 and and beyond how can this guy help you for the long haul you want a slam dunk pick that's going to be a superstar that's going to really be on your team and get that second contract and

44:32and help change your your franchise so I think about it in terms of year one that's part of the equation how can this guy help us right now but it's also what can this guy do beyond is for key season. All right but okay going back to the to the original phrasing I guess is what what position group screens that you could get the guy on the field for more than 50 percent of the snaps and be very integral contributor for the for the theaters in 2026 specifically with the current makeup other rosters we said here on March 27th. Well like we've said I think Pittsburgh has addressed a lot of holes in for agency to kind of make that less of an obligation which is a good thing you don't want to have to have this haul we feel like you have to take this one position Pittsburgh is gone down that road before and they paid the price negatively for it whether that's quarterback or cornerback or a bunch of other positions safety so I think it's not size earlier bad thing but other positions where you can get a guy to have a situation or role in year one absolutely what you talk about receiver you talk about safety talk about offensive line guard primarily there's

45:32certainly opportunities for for those guys to see playing time immediately. All right why should I not be ruling out what or why should I not rule out why receiver in my head specifically of the steam team stays at 21st overall in the first round. I would I would respond by saying this rank the top two needs at the Pittsburgh Steelers right now positionally quarterback aside. I think guard remains and and all apologies to Brock Hoffman who I am a big fan of I really like the signing but I think guard is up there I think potentially tackle especially not knowing well knowing what we know and that's a the the quality of player broadrick Jones what we have seen out of Dylan Cook and the state of the health of one broader Jones as well too so I think offensive line either guard and then tackle position and then obviously throwing out the quarterback

46:36position I would say I would potentially put inside linebacker next in the group slightly ahead of wide receiver now that this team has pitman and decay but they need number three who's the number three for this team right now yeah I mean it links on back you could say there's a queen in Wilson you have two starting inside linebackers I I don't know like receive inside like it can be a need they can be a long-term view to it I'm not I'm with you there but I think receiver has to be above inside linebacker I think I have them real close I would still potentially put inside linebacker okay uh slight you know you know even be an A and B type situation there but uh well even even granting you that point the reason why you shouldn't discount receivers because one of your top three needs according to you so it's one of your top three needs how do you discount that in the class that has a good amount of receivers probably going to go in the first round well I guess I'm hedging in the fact that I think that this team can address and fill that need with a

47:39second round uh player to get everything they need positionally especially in his rookie season and the quality of type player and the type of player that they're looking for I feel can be had in the second round it may but you never know exactly how that board's gonna fall at 53 you're gonna be waiting a while and receivers can there can be runs on the position I think to argue the other side and argue more your point you know there are a lot of really good receivers in this draft how many great receivers are there and is there that guy you love a 21 if it was like that real transformative number one you know future type receiver I don't I think the best way here to assume that say the top three wide receivers whoever whatever list you're want to work with are off the board at that point yeah but even including those are the any of the top three receivers uh of the Justin Jefferson Jamar chase caliber when they were coming out leak neighbors I don't even know if I see a guy quite like that when we put together are great you know how many guys have that nine point oh which is our grading scale for the all pro type of

48:40grade I think only one has been assigned and that was macaie lemon right at nine points here everyone else is in the eighths and if you look at our board which I have not put together recently when I did it about three four weeks ago a lot of guys pooped together that eight point eight eight point four range and that kind of tells you okay there's there's some good depth in this class but there aren't maybe the high end names to your point maybe you consider and in weight and if you have somebody like a guard that has a really really high grade and a weaker class without as much depth you consider that instead so that'll be the the calculation Pittsburgh will have to make the strength of the class versus depth and you know what the top of the class offers but you know certainly I still put receiver as a you know will we're good possibility in the first round uh carnell carnell tape he's the first round guy right uh and a guy that the steeters probably aren't going to have an opportunity to draft it twenty first overall seems unlikely all right Jordan Tyson he is uh very uh there there's there's he's one of the ones that's kind of really controversial

49:41in this class and uh the kind of argument is is what does George you know what is Jordan Tyson superpower I guess he does a lot of things good how many things does he do great and then you got the history uh concerns with him as well but all that to say still probably going to be a first round guy and probably a guy that's off the board by the time the steeters pick it twenty first overall yeah I think after tata gets a little bit of money and who's going to go where we talk about flavors and different just preferences and so I don't know if there's a clear order after the fact of the mokai lemon will go go second but there's a good chance Tyson will be on the medical just really tricky with him and I don't believe he's going to work out as pro today just kind of researching that more mid show so there's there's no testing on him at all in the pre draft process that's another thing that'll work against them all right and Denzel Boston there's all you know feels like a kind of a polarizing guy even though he's going to end up in uh more than likely in the first round to a team this year right uh yeah we'll see where he goes it's probably right

50:41around where Pittsburgh's picking might be his value or below somewhere middle to end of the first round is probably the sweet spot for Denzel Boston and then as you mentioned mokai lemon there's a chance that he could be on the board uh there with uh uh I think at that point you're getting into talk about uh possibly at twenty first overall you're looking at probably a group that could be appetizing to the steeters of mokai lemon maybe Denzel Boston uh kacy conception and then Omar Cooper junior right yeah that that sounds right at the point I'm just trying to make is are there any superstar receivers in this year's class I don't I don't get that impression uh if there was one that you'd be willing to bet that uh we'd be talking about uh three years from now four years from now getting the mega extension of potential first rounders would it be carnell tape that you would head your bet on this episode is brought to you by white cloth search great podcast

51:43big friend no surprises there after all you're all about finding the tastiest flavors out there just like white cloth surge and with big bold flavors to enjoy like blood orange blackberry cranberry and more it's time to go all in untaste unleash the flavor unleash white cloth surge please drink responsibly hard celtar with flavors eight percent alcohol by volume white cloth celtar works Chicago Illinois protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good you can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha try it today at Starbucks I didn't write the report on him I might go macaie lemon I like carnell tape a lot it's probably one of the most high character individuals in in this year's class of any prospect and that doesn't always come with receivers who are you know heavy goes and can be difficult to deal with us Pittsburgh has found out Tate is not that at all I like Tate a lot but I don't I don't love him

52:43so I don't know if he'd be my answer okay who would be your answer might be macaie lemon I was on a big fan of Omar Cooper junior I'm not sure if he'll be the superstar that gets you know 30 million per year but I think he's going to be one heck of a player in the NFL all right and obviously I'm a huge fan of his as well too but I just kind of wonder if he's kind of that guy like what what is the big concern with Omar Cooper junior what is what is negative in Omar Cooper junior's game that that knocks him from being maybe that superstar I just think I don't I don't I don't think he's the kind kind of guy that takes over games you know what does that mean though I think I understand your point but I like to find just your game on the line you know you got it you got to have it you got you got to have it you know just a guy that that takes over a game a guy that's 10 10 10 11 12 catches 130 140 yards two touchdowns in a game I just don't know if

53:43he's going to be that guy at the at the NFL level but what is what is it's kind of technological like what what is preventing him from being the guy like I understand the point about what you're trying to say and I'll also say what game with the line that depends state game type of games on the line the incredible catch that he made in that one but what is preventing him from being the guy I understand what you're saying but why are you saying that I mean it could be obviously usage and look they had a lot of talent over there yeah uh uh I got the kid next year a becker who had a great year at Sarat so they ran the ball a lot I mean he just didn't he had good numbers he didn't have amazing numbers at Indiana but he had good production what was his how many how many let's look at his game log here you look for 100 yard games that he had or begins yeah yeah he had uh it looks like who was at Indiana state uh 10 catches for 207 yards uh he had eight catches 115 yards versus Michigan state uh he only had two games

54:48how many games over let's just even say uh 85 yards uh he just had three of those I think last year one of McGitz Merrill and uh overall there and then yeah I think that was it last year what about 2024 with him uh one game against uh WIU uh four catches 131 yards so you know he just hasn't had huge huge games at the college level specifically against uh uh powerhouse you know power four teams if you will and that's a fair point I think that's maybe one thing to talk about if he didn't have that production and college will that change at the NFL level now you might argue that the opportunity could be more at the NFL level but I I think that's a salient point he had did to someone appeared four 100 yard games in his entire career and three of them came against Indiana state Indiana state in Westerdale no so FCS schools he had won against Michigan

55:49state in 2025 and they were not a not a great team either so that may be the knockout I think just overall with Cooper you know he's not the biggest guy in the world he's I still think he's the fastest guy in the world he ran really well and ran better than I expected so kudos to him but he may ought to be that physically dominant receiver that you get from adjusting Jefferson's and chasing the world that he gets probably the the knock on him basically what I said a guy to take over a game right yeah I just was trying to work as to define those terms rather than just kind of the I think I said I understood what you were trying to say I just like be able to really nail down what exactly that means all right how many how many games how many career games in college did he have uh more than did he have seven or more receptions uh in a game seven or more six or two but is it five five games just seven or more okay now look he phenomenal catches he can make contested catches he obviously played inside and outside I think that's obviously a plus with him but you know it's just part of you know just you know partial reason why I kind of wonder if he's

56:55gonna end up being a first round guy uh now look once again I you know my view on this wide receiver class specifically when it when you talk about Steelers it feels like the second round because of players like him and and Jeremy Bernard uh I feel is a sweet spot for the Steelers where they could get the most bang for their buck when it comes to a wide receiver class this year yeah I get that yeah I understand the point overall and I felt that at times myself but we'll just see what the board looks like just one other point on on Cooper you know one reason why the numbers weren't as gaudy when you're in the end and you're blowing out teams repeatedly each week you're resting guys in the fourth quarter you're running the ball late they played more competitive games you're gonna throw the ball more maybe Cooper's numbers are higher I mean they won how many games that they win and blow out fashion in 2025 they beat and it saw a state Indiana state Illinois Michigan State UCLA Maryland Wisconsin Purdue the Rose Bowl against salad Bambi even the peach ball against Oregon became a laughter late I mean playing half your schedule by the fourth quarter the games are already over whether your starters are generally pulled so that that is maybe one

57:57explanation for why Cooper's numbers weren't super super impressive and look I'm not trying to box score cat scout here because I think he's incredibly good after the catch I think he once again I in the red zone I think he's fantastic uh in the red zone I think he can run all the routes uh that you need them to from both the slot in the outside position uh I think he's he's obviously got that kind of build where he's you know you expect him to be kind of a uh Debo Samuel tight to a degree where he's gonna break some tackles and get you the extra yardage so I think he's more than just a catch guy uh in the NFL I think he uh I think he can function uh underneath I think he can function over the top but but I do kind of wonder just and look I mean we obviously with Indiana being a high profile school for most of the season last year with with a lot of focus being on on Mendoza we got to see a lot of him but he even said when you go back through those games and even the games that he excelled in was is does he come off as the kind of guy that

59:03at the NFL level is going to be the takeover uh guy that you look back and say man this guy you know was drafted a second round he should have been a he should have been a top 10 guy. Mm-hmm yeah hey I get the overall point so we'll see it'll be interesting I think we're see we're part of that conversation but if Pittsburgh does not take one in the first round the calculation might be that there's good depth in this year's class like you said and you wait until round two and then grab one there am I hoping yeah Omar Cooper Jr ends up in a Pittsburgh Steeder's uniform absolutely I am uh uh you know I think him and him and Bernard I think after doing all the work on on the top guys and what they're expected to go I I think those two uh uh potentially have the chance to be uh the Steeder's choice at wide receiver now where they indeed end up getting getting those two is you know uh one of those two is obviously a different question because I think arguments can be made specifically later in the first round that Omar

1:00:04Cooper Jr could you know for the right team could could be out could be taken off the board in that that point right so that conversation will be good I want to see who else comes in for visits right now it's just Boston that we know has one scheduled they had a lot of combined Formals and in Formals with position which certainly signals interest as there should be so we'll see who keeps keeps checking those boxes and we'll see at that pro day Indiana Wednesday do they send I mean it would make sense for Adam Henry to go there he coached Indiana he I know it's a new coaching staff there he wasn't part of the Signeti regime but still just kind of old stomping grounds they got too draftable receivers I seem a bunch of receivers coaches are going I think Pittsburgh should be sending somebody but we'll keep an eye on it all right all right so uh I just want to kind of look at positional value there because all you know warn sharks tweets taking off last couple days wanted you want to kind of bring that into the equation and also the whole uh uh you'll premiere you know you look at the former first round draft picks and and as we went through

1:01:05the list of how many are kind of that superstar or borderline superstar uh level there and then you look at the fact that you know the Steelers do pick 21st in in the league this year and you know generally I think you see I mean there's not many times where you get down to 21 at least two or three aren't off the board when it comes to wide receivers regardless of the class now I know there have been classes in the past where uh the first wide receiver has it when was the last time let's see 20 when when the first wide receiver was taken off the board say see Jackson Jackson Smith and Jigba was the first wide receiver taken into 2023 draft and he went 20th overall and then Quentin Johnston of the charges went 21st overall and then to say what do you think about Zay flowers Zay flowers lived up to his first round uh selection at 22 overall in 23 so fair question I think he had a breakout year this year with the first Ravens receiver to make

1:02:07a pro bowl in forever I think so I would I would what overall was he take uh 22nd yeah I would say so I think it's probably lived up maybe hasn't exceeded expectations but I think he's kind of met them what about we've had a few talks about Brian Thomas Jr. with the Jaguars he was taking 23rd overall in 2024 obviously had a real real nice rookie season and last year was kind of met yeah you're asking me just my overall take on Brian Thomas yeah I mean it was kind of a tale of the two seasons a great rookie year then Liam Cohn consumer kind of weird that it didn't seem to work super well with Cohn a really smart offensive guy so we'll see what a third year looks like with him but I think the talent is off the charts with Brian Thomas Jr. just felt like he had some drops and just wasn't quite as locked in last year all right what was the knock on Justin Jefferson coming out uh in in 2020 that allowed him to fight he was the fifth wide receiver taken in that draft

1:03:08class in 22nd overall wow I'm that's a good question I can't think about what the knocks were on him after I forgot he felt that far I know the Eagles getting mocked for taking Jalen Ragerts one of the howie Roseman's kind of clear misses I think there was a belief they were going to take Jefferson and they pivoted to Ragerts last second one mistake that was yeah I'd have to go back and check the reports but I don't recall what the issues were unless it was just how he played with Burrow and Burrow made them look good and could he get that cool to back play at the next level yeah I don't remember what the big knock on Jefferson with the did he test okay what it was is pretty I know I'm trying to just recall I haven't gone down a rabbit hole with him to kind of remember back why because uh once again he was the fifth wide receiver taken in that draft class here here was that uh here was the six wide receivers taken in the first round that year Henry Ruggs was the first wide receiver in that class at 12th overall Jerry Judy uh was the second one

1:04:10taken at 15th overall CD Lamb uh was the 17th overall Jalen Rager uh with the Eagles was 21st overall and then Justin Jefferson 22nd overall and then the last of the six wide receivers was Brandon Ayuk at 25th overall okay yeah it was a really good class Rager aside get back to 2019 first receiver wasn't taken until 20 25th overall Baltimore Hollywood Brown only two in the first round that year to kill Harry at 32nd overall so I think we're going to see three four receivers taken in the first round take lemon think the rest kind of gets a little more pick your flavor after that but you're going to see a couple more names taken all right well let's circle that back to uh to all more Cooper junior uh do you know uh we would have to go team by team look at needs and blah blah blah but uh what do you think about the chances of all more Cooper junior falling out the first round I it's hard to say maybe 50 50 I think his first downtown uh I would have no problem taking him on the first round if I wasn't an FL team on the back half of the first round okay

1:05:13all right so uh just a just just a rabbit for lack of uh topics to discuss I wanted to talk about the wide receivers today yeah I really want to see our grades come together I'm excited for that issue with our new grading scale I'll put together probably a big board or these positional charts to kind of show our grades so I think we'll give a good window into how we view the strength of classes and what's top heavy and what doesn't have the stark talent but has good depth I think receiver falls in that ladder camp I think that's going to be illuminating because you always think about not just the positions think about the talent too and and and the strength of the class and the grade on the player and your thoughts on the player and and that helps dictate your your draft moves a whole lot all right we'll see uh if the bills cult rams or Steelers are one of the four teams once again that have not drafted a wide receiver in the last ten years in the Steelers now have the longest streak in the NFL thanks to the Packers last year by taking golden uh longest streak without a first round wide receiver

1:06:15yeah we'll see a Pittsburgh breaks that apparently Tom Pelicero on Rich Eisen show saying that Pittsburgh had called the Falcons about Kirk cousins last year now I assume this was before Aaron Rodgers signed I'm not sure the exact timeline on this so just kind of noting that to know that if Rodgers return does not happen that Pittsburgh may go back to Kirk cousins now granted my Tom and along with the head coach and so how does the team feel about Kirk cousins now but he continues to get some smoke if Rodgers is not circle back all right let's go back to wide receivers real quick you wrote an article and we have talked about this uh throughout last season specifically and I think even the season before that uh uh empty uh uh route route running with wide receivers yeah that's the phrase that I've termed for guys that you know run a lot of routes but the production isn't there you look at yards per route run which is I think a pretty useful metric talked about efficiency of a play or clay necker that pulled some data on this I finally got around and found some space to to write about it and predict predictably last year Pittsburgh

1:07:19did not rank well in this category of the 273 wide receivers and tight ends with 50 plus routes most of Pittsburgh's receivers and threats and targets fell towards the bottom of the chart DK Metcalf ranked best at 46th overall out of that 273 at 1.83 yards per route run the tight ends were next in Washington and Frymouth Washington 54th Frymouth 88 and then from there it really got ugly Calvin Austin 140th overall Roman Wilson 165 Adam Thielin 226 John who Smith 228 Scotty Miller 240 Marquez Valdis scantling 248 out of 273 I know Thielin involved a scantling that did also I think it include their time with other teams San Francisco and Minnesota but their Pittsburgh numbers were not any better I can promise you that and so this has been a pattern you go back to Van Jefferson I pulled his numbers last year he was 0.67 yards per per route in his 2024 year just a lot of guys that are running routes and not doing much with it and it kind of

1:08:22makes you feel like you're playing with 10 guys out there sometimes or nine guys when you have receivers are just simply aren't making plays you know whose fault is that is that offensive scheme is that air and rudders getting the ball out quickly there's a combination of factors by the talents not been good enough and that should change this year with a more vertical and potent passing attack under Mike McCarthy certainly needs to change Dave I yeah you just brought up an interesting stat with a yards for route run I guess a study good study would be go back and look at maybe these last 10 10 years of college yards for route run for let's say you know first round second round wide receivers and whether how that's translated especially when you look at the bigger schools the power four power five at the time type schools how a lot of those guys translated into the NFL you know at the NFL level with with those guys in and circling this back specifically

1:09:23to Omar Cooper Jr. last year 2026 specifically Omar Cooper Jr. had one of the better yards for route run stats in college football 2.47 you look at Carnell Tate 2.27 you look at Makai lemon 3.02 for lemon you look at Jordan Tyson who we talked about 2.71 you got a guy that we talked about Denzel Boston 2.02 KC concept shown 2.03 who else sticks out on this list Elijah Sarat that we talked about out of Indiana 2.5 60s right up there and then it goes back to the quarterback play too right both those guys are Indiana guys obviously Jeremy Bernard 1.90 a guy that we've talked a lot about as a potential Pittsburgh stair and then you got a kind of a obviously a small school guy Bryce Lance 3.07 so I think if you're diving into some of these

1:10:28kind of deeper metrics if you will specifically yards for route run for for 2026 you know you've got guys like like Sarat and obviously Omar Cooper Jr. and and and and Makai lemon up there very very strong producers in that category yeah I think it helps kind of mitigate what I talked about earlier with the Indiana situations where those guys were not playing in the fourth quarter and not needing to pass a lot late in games so the opportunities weren't there we kind of mitigate that by looking at the yards per route run to kind of make it more level and take away that noise of of playing in blowout games and when you do that it kind of makes Omar Cooper's numbers look better all right so circling us back to the stairs we need we need to see when these wide receivers are on the field not so many empty routes and that's something we talked about you know specifically throughout the last couple of seasons here with us team yeah I don't have a

1:11:31great goal for where it needs to be but you can't have half of your group in the bottom half and four in the bottom 20 percent you know one or two guys I understand might be a blocker type might be a number four not going to get the ball a lot I think McCarthy's going to smartly feed his playmakers more so than Arthur Smith did so it you don't need all these guys in the top 50 but it just can't be as ugly as I think it's been the last two years and certainly with the number showed in 2025 and obviously you hope Michael Pittman Jr plays a big role in that right yeah I mean I will his yards per route be incredible if he kind of continues that more dirty work underneath type of receiver no I know that Pittsburgh is talked about getting him involved vertically again and so we'll see exactly how much his usage changes and how much Pittsburgh walks that walk or if his role stays kind of where it's been but you know as long as he's finishing now give me give me another receiver in the top 120 and only one wide receiver finished in the top 120 in yards per per route run last year that was decay the next closest was Ben Skaronic at 136 and so you just

1:12:36have that big gap there with all the receivers sitting pretty low give me another you know give me Pittman in the top 100 give me that rookie receiver to be probably also right around top 100 just kind of giving some rough guides on on where Pittsburgh needs to be if you can do those things you're off that's just going to improve in a hurry I for this offense to have the kind of success that the Steelers wanted to have then you probably need three of those guys in the top 100 right yeah I would say so again I'm not trying to be super particular about what where it has to be and you can have to be at this exact metric but just the overall that chart that I have for 25 needs to look dramatically different we just eyeball it after the 26 seasons okay this this been a big change there with these guys being more you know that call them to your out you could just say inefficient route running whatever you want to couch it as but just it needs to be a visible change next year well it shouldn't it shouldn't be so obvious where it sticks out like a sore thumb through halfway through the season which which which is obviously been the case that we've talked about the last two seasons with this team yeah right so yeah I think it will change I mean even if Rogers comes back and some of these throws are shorter I think you're gonna see them push the ball down feel

1:13:39just have more talent that receiver in general those things when actually bring numbers up all right okay uh what else uh anything else you've written you want to talk about now I'm just kind of working through my small school prospects we're finishing up small school week the guys did did a great job so I've kind of worked through I don't know if anyone is really stuck out I I'm watching where Max Tom Zach from Youngstown State he was at the Ohio State pro day to the other day he worked out there to an addition to Youngstown State I like his they do it's got great hands dude doesn't drop it I think he literally had zero drops last year this do catches everything he might have one of the better hands if any receiver in his draft class and and that's saying something for our good this class is you know Tom's it's on to size and lacking strength but it is a fun fun study to watch I'm watching Jacob Clark the quarterback from Missouri state technically now FBS they moved up in 20 25 fun story to bring it full circle I didn't know that's the researching at last night Jacob Clark high school teammates with Jackson Smith and jigg but he was this quarterback in high school down there in walk wall Texas and so those guys could be any NFL together although Clark Clark actually reminds me of very much a poor man's will

1:14:43Howard like I get a lot of will Howard vibes from Jacob Clark but not nearly as impressive because level of competition and Clark is less athletic and um you know just didn't play against that that top quality competition but if you're looking for kind of this years will Howard in a sense this big well-built old school pocket passer doesn't have a great arm doesn't drive in the ball with super velocity or force kind of got to kind of got a will Howard feel from Jacob Clark all right one other we talked about this the other day uh kind of winding up some more wide receiver talk here is the drop passes from the 2026 wide receiver class I think we hit on some of this the other day uh Skyler Skyler Bell the talented wide receiver out of Yukon uh 24 drops uh according to PFF last year 6.9 percent drop uh percentage KC concept shown another guy that's very feels like he's a guy you know you love or you hate in this uh draft class 19 drops 6.5

1:15:46percentage uh let's see another Jordan Tyson 5 percent drop rate 13 drops last year and then the guys who did not drop a lot of passes uh Alabama's Jeremy Bernard uh four drops 1.7 percent drop rate Makai lemon four drops 2.2 percent drop rate Denzel Boston five and Omar Cooper also five both under 3 percent uh Bryce Lance also five drops under 3 percent so how much does drop rate matter coming out of college certainly does matter it's part of that puzzle just one piece of it I think you want to look at the take two and say for the guys dropped a lot of passes yeah why did they was it a focus issue is it a technique issue was it over the middle was it vertically what did they have those drops at with conception on the book on him he needs the brick he needs the brick exercise oh catching bricks or something is that is that you gotta

1:16:49keep his hands closer together yeah yeah I think he's talked about some of the focus drops last year like I think the book on him is that his hands aren't bad it's kind of deante Johnson with the hands are good he can make some tough catches it's just he has some focus drops and some easy ones and if you just clean up those kind of things that should be cleaned up and can be cleaned up then it'll be in a much better place but of course has to prove it so I think it's Epshaons a guy you'll be looking at very closely in terms of how teams evaluate his hands all right okay uh anything else before we get to some emails here that we want to cover today no I think that that covers it I know for maybe the Monday show we'll talk about my wife's character brown said there may be a weird thing with this contract that has a little bit of buzz going right now but you're going to take the weekend to kind of dig into those details they maybe provide an update on Garrett in his future and puts in and Cleveland I should say for Monday show yeah you would think whether as much buzz has been around his contract that has been on social media I would have gone down that rabbit hole to find out what the fuss is all about but I have yet to do so but it it does kind of feel like at least on the surface of what I've quickly read up on it that

1:17:54you know they are they at least cheapened the door open to potentially trade him even though he has a no trade clause I believe in his contract is this setting them up for uh at least later this uh because that they they pushed the date back on that until right before the start of the season right as far as the decision on whether or not they how they exercise the option bonus or whether or not they pro-rate it America leads the world in medicine development it matters we get new medicines first nearly three years faster five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home and not relying on other countries keeps us safe but China is racing to overtake us will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead when America leads America cures let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead learn how at america cures dot com pay for by pharma the world moves fast you work day even faster pitching products drafting reports analyzing data

1:18:58Microsoft 365 co-pilot is your AI assistant for work built into word excel PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use helping you quickly write analyze create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear path to your best work learn more at microsoft.com slash and 365 co-pilot yeah they get moved back from march to right around the start of the regular season or sometime in September so kind of some interesting it's not that he's not going to get the money it's just how you know uh when when he gets paid yeah the mechanism and and and potentially the pro-ration of it i i think is the most curious thing right and and why is Garrett doing this what is the incentive for him to delay his own payment and we'll we'll talk about that more maybe from under show all right uh let us get to some emails here pulling up the email machine right now we will start with uh Tyler Gold Goldford hello david ox what is the thought process when

1:20:06it comes to picking between mid-round project style quarterbacks it's a broad question but when i asked this i'm thinking about drew aller versus cold paint patent in the mid-round assuming they're both still on the board do you look mainly at upside how do you weigh the fact that aller is closer to being a finished product product both good and bad versus patent being like like a ball of clay with potentially fewer bad habits yeah i i think that's a great question and i think the two quarterbacks that you pointed out there we kind of mentioned loosely earlier in the show here drew aller you obviously have a lot more tape on and against tougher competition didn't you do a guy like uh cold patent uh i think a lot of your decision yeah i i would i would start with drew aller you probably got a better read on about what his ceiling is compared to maybe a cold patent and you also would drew aller you probably have a better sense of where his floor is as opposed to a

1:21:07cold patent and it also depends on you know what style of offense they've run uh how much under center uh how much pro style versus you know RPO heavy type stuff and all i i think there's a lot of consideration that needs to be made uh specifically when it comes to two specific guys like drew aller if you want to go the more kind of safe route well we know what we're getting we know what the low side is but unfortunately we kind of seeing him uh uh what what his what his what his ceiling is as well too versus a guy like cold patent where you have probably a larger variance and also you don't have really the competition aspect and you obviously have fewer you know starting games i guess it's it's all about kind of the the the the the risk factor right yeah i think it's a really good question i i think my overall approach and i've said before i'm usually all in or all out with quarterbacks you to take one in the first or don't take one at all

1:22:10because if you don't think is a franchise guy in the first round and don't kind of what are we doing here but if you're gonna think i quarterback in the mid rounds i i think you want to look for the upside in the traits somebody to develop i think you'll hire american carthy because you believe he's a guy that can develop quarterbacks maybe clean them up mechanically help them understand the game how to read it how to process it how to think about the quarterback position he can do all those things he can't make somebody's arm better he can't make somebody more athletic he can't make he can't really improve a lot of physical traits other than mechanics that can often help improve accuracy maybe you know tighten up your base and all those kinds of things to make you physically better but but you get my point overall so i think you want to bet on some traits here because you have a guy that you hired specifically to develop and mold that quarterback now it doesn't mean that jeweler can't be in that equation physically he has a lot of tools he's a big guy he's got a good arm like you can work with some things there if you think he just has to clean up mechanics or you know work on one or two things that may transform his game but i think you want to stay away from the guy should believe or more finished products you may be the Carson Bex were the physical arm talent quote unquote isn't quite as there and he started a bunch of

1:23:14games so how much better is this guy going to get and certainly for guys like cold pain that have a lot of talents and upside and ability but not a lot of experience in mechanically i think Peyton's kind of a mess right now those are guys you probably gravitate towards under the belief that McCarthy can fix them improve them and get the most out of their potential. All right good answer Paul Lutz writes in inside linebacker hello gentleman excellent job as always Alex made a very good point about middle linebacker in the last podcast all right you get some uh get some good here my 20 dollar bill is in the in the mail and the last podcast we're talking about his mock draft with the new coaching staff do you believe it's possible that they think the pieces are there however comma like when people write in there however common they uh they were utilized incorrectly in the Tom and Tom and slash Austin system i wondered that for a few years now because they've struggled with their middle linebacker group ever since Ryan Shazier was injured it's almost as if his athleticism allowed the old system to work and is not

1:24:16repeatable so could it be that it's not necessarily the personnel are correct but the system itself was hindering the position group. It's one of those questions i wish i had a good answer to i will have to find out based on the moves they make and the moves they don't make i think the point that he's referring to is whenever i said Pittsburgh could have retooled the rainside linebacker room they could have traded patch or queen or moved on they could have cut Malia cares and they didn't have to bring back all hope they'd so far have decided to do all those things bring back welcome key person and hold on the the patch or queen so that tells me they they like that room they like what that room can bring so either they believe that schematically there are some things that can be improved or they believe that improving the defense of line can help unlock those guys to run in chase players to queen and paint Wilson art to keep them clean if they say clean they'll be a lot more productive so we'll have to wait and see they still certainly could draft an off-ball linebacker because queens in a contract year in war soon's not taking the steps that that have been necessary so we'll have to kind of evaluate

1:25:20those things on the other side of the draft yeah uh let's see here's one from a name i don't recognize anthony ho to jack uh thank you for the uh pronunciation there anthony thanks for providing another great offseason of steeders coverage as usual my question for you guys is who are your favorite special teams demons to keep an eye on in the late rounds of the draft i know dandy smith isn't around to be thumping the table for players but losing killabrew peppers and conner hayward seems to leave a decent hole to be filled yeah and throw in the fact that james pier one of one of the uh better gunners iced i think in the NFL uh is gone as well too and killabrew gone uh peppers was uh i wouldn't call him a premiere uh special teams player but he was utilized as the uh the up back right uh after after uh killabrew went down and conner hayward obviously a good

1:26:21special teams player i have not gotten to the point of the free draft process where i'm where i'm thinking you know what this is a premiere six seventh round special teams player yet uh Alex uh do you have anybody that you've come across that you're saying you know what this guy is a fantastic special teams player i'll have to check and this will also be important i think for a big border however we format it we have a special team grade for prospects issue if we believe that there's a real good standout trade or background on special teams you can get that as part of our grading tags you at the the numerical score of whatever 8.0 with a special teams tag i've only given that to a few guys so far this year i think one guy and i mentioned a million times before so sorry for being a broken record but kentrick law is that receiver gunner coverage guy some return value the skillset to be a more productive NFL returner than he was in college so that's one name that comes to mind i mean there are guys with skill sets red murdoch from buffalo i think is a

1:27:21thumper could could do well there you know if eight and fishers going to make it from indiana that's going to be his path i don't know if he's going to be a pure ace type of guy but that's going to be kind of his path to the sticking michael taff from texas i love this story walk on he was running routes at the pro day just to get quarterback somebody to throw to kind of love the all in nature of this guy um so i will have to kind of go through it and and tally up and and continue to write some reports even even though he's not a special teamer i love that minro feeling the first round likely tackle from Georgia it was on the punt team and he's on because they got a shield punt and so you get some offensive lineman on those he was covering puns and blocking on puns so just kind of tells me the athlete that he is and he ran sub five at the NFL combine so yeah i'll have to to go down through our list here but i think you know the first thing that came to my whenever you said that was was kentrick law from Kentucky all right a buddy linny barsakowski back in here we hear from linny every now and then he says i really liked Alex's mock what percent chance do you give

1:28:21us for trading up versus trading down this year also is it crazy to trade down in the first round and receive a pick for next year i feel we want to draft a quarterback next year it would help our ability to trade up how different would our approach be in this draft of just these three players would have panned out for us the three players uh dotson romeo wilson uh Romeo like romanals uh he's got Romeo Wilson here uh Roderick Jones uh he says how different would our approach in this year draft be just if uh dotson wilson and Roderick Jones would have played out let's take the first part first about the trading up and trade down if you're talking about trading up versus trading down in the first round of the draft i'm i'll continue and and having history on my side saying you're better off probably thinking that this team will trade down versus

1:29:27trading up uh if this team were to trade down you know you're trading down because you still have one of x amount of players that you have no problem taking as a result of the trade down here so if uh now moving on past the first round i think there is a strong chance that this team the in fact if this team were to the first trade that this team makes in this year's draft if they do indeed make a trade during this year's draft in my opinion is likely up but i view that as being potentially second or third round uh overall uh there i don't like the chances of them trading up in the first round quite honestly i'm i don't think they're going to trade up or i think they're just going to stand put from where i sit right now at 21 overall but that i you probably agree with with my thoughts as far as first round and potentially if they were to trade up or down anywhere with their first trade in this draft it would likely be

1:30:30up right what tells you they won't they're less likely to trade up in the first round in the draft i just don't know if you're getting getting yourself into that realm of top 10 play i don't think they're going to be willing to go up as far as they need to go up to get a guide that they really love i know about a small trade like umar kahn's first trade going up three spots of broadrop Jones 17 to 14 i don't think that they're going to be i don't i don't think there's a player that they would do that for okay yeah maybe it's it's so these things are always hard to to know and judge until you're kind of there in the moment to be always talk about what are the offers what's on the board i would answer it two ways if Pittsburgh is going to be trading confined just to the 26 draft they're going to go up like there's no need to trade down and get more picks they have 12 picks they have five in the top 100 they have three semi-throwing picks there's no need to trade down in the second round unless you just get some incredible offer if it's just for 26 capital could they trade for 27 capital i'm sure they would love to

1:31:32i'm sure the entire NFL would love to get 27 capital because that seems to be the the thought that most teams have so the question is on about will Pittsburgh want to do it but who's buying who's coming up who's there to come up for and what teams are willing to give away premium 2027 draft pick so they do you know if they do trade down then you think you think would be have to be for 27 capital because there's no need to be adding more 26 capital i think you're going to see them trade up in this draft they have troll pictures and i think they're going to make about 10 i mean two picks are going to be traded away what that looks like who knows but i think confined to the 26 draft you're going to see the steam go up not down all right uh about the three players he mentions here uh dotson roman wilson and broadrick jones it obviously looking back in the rear view mirror at this point now you would have to i guess assume that dotson would have been given a second contract at this point right he would have to be uh it's been in the league for several years all right uh so that's uh and i would assume that you

1:32:37would have had him at right guard uh and you would have you would have to also be under the assumption that you still would have drafted based on mccormick and maybe played him at left guard uh so it's a little it's a little dirtier when when including dotson in this in this conversation obviously if uh you're looking at this point of guys like roman wilson and broadrick jones i mean if broadrick jones is playing at a at a first round pick level at this point and been healthy at this point you're not at all entertaining especially on the hills of uh Troy Fautotto being drafted a couple of years ago you're you're not looking at tackle uh all together and uh if uh there's a lot to consider with roman will even if roman wilson had done anything uh more than what he's done at this point with this team still have gone out and gotten a guy like michael pitman jr uh

1:33:40uh it's it's it's just real murky to look back at in the rear view mirror about how that how those three players specifically would have changed the approach to this year's draft because you have other draft classes that have come in since then as we mentioned uh Fautotto uh geez you've traded for pitman uh you obviously drafted mason mccormick uh you see where i'm going with this answer yeah it's it's so hard to think about you know that butterfly effect of this guy works out of this change happens especially with thoughts and like you said because it was so many years ago with a domino effect that comes off of that but obviously broadrick jones was healthy and had a great season they want to talk about left tackle and you feel like you can really center in on left guard and and upgrade there and then you're you're good to go and really happy about that that group of five going forward so if roman wilson was killing it then you got three receivers of pitman enrollment and in metcath and receiver becomes less of a need the board really starts to open up

1:34:41um i just wonder if jones was healthy you know what that conversation would look like i said that if your option comes back in the play we have a good conversation about that but with the neck injury that might be off the table now so yeah it's all they're all fair questions um it's just possible to answer it would help obviously if somebody was playing really well it would be one less whole one less thing to worry about um i just always think back to just a separate point we're jason point you know what if ryan jazier did not get hurt kind of the domino effect there you know go from jazier to the steam trading up for deppin bush and that not working out giving a ballad capitol for him kind of chasing and having to invest a lot of into line mackerel patrick queen contract and George factions yeah had had pickens not been you know the the head case that he was with that what it looked like so but of course the George pickens you know if he wasn't the head case would even it's good a player i think sometimes this guy's kind of go hand in hand they're crazy kind of kind of works for them some some some time so that they're just wired so yeah there's a lot of what ifs there all right uh Brett now we'll end with this one he says uh as

1:35:42you may know the Montana state university bobcats one the fcs national championship this year there are a couple players from that squad that i think may make interesting late round picks and i'd like to request that steeler's depot does a draft profile for at least two of them offensive lineman titan fleshman he played left tackle previously played by dillon cook athletic could be a late round still he's an fcs all-american wide receiver taco dollar uh he was a weapon in that offense a west walker type of player but he was absolutely electric as the kickoff and punt returner no shortage of production and could be a huge special teams weapon and develop mental receiver there's also running back julias davis who was tough to bring down he's a height weight but not speed guy might be work looking as an undrafted free agent he would like us to take a look at them and tell your thoughts i don't know did we're winding up small school week this week right we are but funny you mentioned that in my this is swear my notes here i'm looking at my discord

1:36:44notes i keep to myself right now i have a Montana state guy planned to profile not one of those three names maybe we'll get to them the returner sounds interesting but kennis edan set the fourth IV my room in new world knowledge is a little bit shaky but he was an outside linebacker i think he had eight sacks last year and of course was coached by shan how who is now puts broke assistant defense of assistant and so i kind of wonder there'll be a connection there so i want to dig into his statement get get edan's tape uh look that all right brat with our small school uh weak uh winding down this week here it's probably not a good chance that we get to guys like flashman uh or who was the other taco dollar that he that he mentioned there yeah but we'll we'll keep an eye on it maybe we'll look at the returner but we certainly will have eyes wide open for these guys and we'll get to at least one Montana state bobcat this year all right uh winding things up here on this friday what did you what did everybody think about the wide receiver discussion uh i guess a better way to put it is there anybody uh we'll ask the

1:37:48listeners this is there anybody that could potentially be that that most of you feel could potentially be on the board at 21st overall a wide receiver position that you're absolutely bang in the table for uh uh you know is it is it a uh macaque lemon type guy is it Omar Cooper junior uh what do you think about positional the positional value especially when it comes to this class of wide receivers uh how many you know which uh what should i i'm just going to kind of leave it very open-ended to kind of invite some some emails here uh what do you think about the you know the say the top top of the wide receiver class how many of these guys scream that three or four years are from from now that we're talking about mega contracts for uh in this wide receiver class uh uh how many of you out there kind of feel the the way that i do that the that the that the sweet spot maybe with this wide receiver class this year specifically when we're talking about the steers

1:38:50is in the second round at some point maybe a trade-up of of some sort there so just kind of get the want to get the kind of feel positionally from the listeners about the kind of encompass chat that we had about the wide receiver position when it comes to this year's draft class year so that uh i've given plenty of you uh those are the kind of emails that we want to read this week especially going into the weekend and into monday so feel free to chime in anywhere in that subject uh matter when it comes to wide receivers and maybe we'll read a few of those on the monday show there so in the meantime you can follow me on twitter at steeter's depot follow Alex at Alex underscore kazora fall the show at terrible podcast email the show the terrible podcast at gmail.com if you like what we do and want to donate to the cause steeter's depot.com hit the donate button also if you like an ad free version of the site steeter's depot.com hit the ad free button and follow the directions that way monday will start put really a bowl around these pro day uh uh sightings uh hopefully

1:39:52we'll have maybe a few more pre draft visitors to talk about uh uh within there and obviously any maybe we'll have some contract data on uh Brock Hoffman and Michael pitman we get the pitman contract details yeah we i think we do i think we already covered that did we okay yeah we we have that uh we don't have uh uh the new running back though we don't have the details on that one year deal but i imagine that's gonna come in or i think both him and Hoffman are gonna come in cheap is just getting a specific from them uh out there overall we're waiting still to find out if d'arnell savage is indeed going to become a pit spurt steeters and we talked a little bit about that uh the other day as well too so we'll see what the uh what the weekend brings us here and we'll talk about uh on monday whatever the weekend does bring us and maybe a little bit more so uh as always thanks for listening to the terrible podcast with dave and alas