HR1: League News / Proposing Rule Changes

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For the next two hours on this Thursday, as we have got plenty to get to, as always,

we're going to get through that backlog of tweets finally in our number two, as well as some fun

comps for wide receivers in this 2026 draft class to guys who have been in the NFL recently.

I want to talk some rule change stuff with you, Matt. Yeah, yeah. As we've got some proposals,

this is the time of year that that stuff starts to get reported. And then it really picks up

a lot a little over a week from now. And when when we're we'll be out at the owner's meetings

in Phoenix. So plenty to get to on the show today. But we start with some news of the day,

because I think there's a couple of significant things to touch on. First, Matt, let's talk

quarterback market here. Yeah. As two two names that I think listen, these are not significant.

These are not big fish. These are not tipping the scales type signings. But there's always

a ripple effect with this stuff. With that, the Vikings bringing back Carson Wentz,

the Eagles trading for Andy Dalton, pair of veteran quarterbacks on the move here today.

Again, that in itself is not needle moving. But the fact that both these rooms now have three

prominent quarterbacks is sort of eyebrow raising. Let's start with Philly, I guess. I mean,

it was reported like a month ago that Dalton was considering retirement. And if he was going to

do anything, I thought he would be some mentor, kind of like he was to Bryce Young. You know,

he's been around the block, you know, a clear number two, some Mendoza. I was just about to say

the Raiders. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Right. Something like that. But the Eagles, what do they need

before? You know what I mean? So I investigated a little bit. And first off, I think the Eagles

adore McKee. You said they adore Hertz personally and all that stuff as well. And I originally

thought might Hertz be on the move because maybe we're going to side with the AJ Brown side,

throw the ball a lot more, change our offense. And I looked at it very briefly. It would be

an astronomical cap hit for them to trade Hertz. And really, the only team I could come up with

is the Steelers. I'm like, I don't know who they even trade them to. Yeah, you know, and then

I thought about McKee, obviously, there's been a lot of talk that he could be on the move. And,

you know, could they swap McKeeve? I'm beginning tweets. Trade her big for McKeeble. And we've heard

that for months, whatever. But my co-host came up with a better scenario. And I thought was

Cardinals, you know, send them a team like that, you know, like third round pick,

kind of do the Malik Willis thing that maybe you got one. If he hits great. Yeah. If not,

you're picking the top five probably anyway. Right back at the same spot a year from now.

And he's Mason Rudolph for that guy's back up, you know, cool, you know, something along those lines.

So I think there could be another shoe to drop in Philly. And I wonder if the same thing's

true in Minnesota too. I mean, whence is only on one your deal, Kyler's only on one your deal.

That's noteworthy. But immediately when I saw that, I'm like, they don't need wins. And I think

he's he has been there before. They must like him him and O'Connell must go along well. But I

immediately thought like if I'm the Rams and I had a decent grade on McCarthy coming out, not

not a maybe they thought he was overdrafted, but as long as you didn't hate him, send a fifth round

pick to the vikes from McCarthy or the box, you know, I don't know if you saw, but we got we got a

tweeter to you and I and this morning and afternoon about would you give up a six round pick,

one of the six round picks for for JJ McCarthy. I think my answers know, but I can certainly see

the logic and the conversation around it. Yeah. I mean, to me, it doesn't matter what team

this dealer's box, the Rams, whoever, I would want to send him somewhere where he's not expected

to start it all. I mean, it's a whole set behind staffers, sit behind bait and mayfield. You

would not threaten those guys whatsoever. And the teams that would even be interested had to have

a good grade on him coming out of college. If you didn't like him then, then you dislike him more.

Point now. I mean, you like him less. So you had to like him then at least, you know, probably

have top two round grade. Maybe wouldn't have taken him at nine. I think. But still, I'm all four

reclamation projects. I throw Anthony Richardson in that mix, you know, like, hey, I'll buy those type

of guys at 20 cents on the dollar, not 80 cents on the dollar, but you rather have Richardson out of

those two. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. There's just more natural. Yeah. If he hits, he might hit huge.

Right. You know, I mean, I'd like to see him stay in the field for 70 games and see what happens

from there. I don't have any of them fit the Steelers timeline though. I mean, considering

you know, Rudolph's probably going to be here. Rogers is probably your scheduled 17 plus

game starter and Howard's my developmental guy. You know, like, okay, I get it. You know, I also

got a tweet in the parking lot a minute ago. The Steelers, Tom Arth, the Steelers quarterback coach

is in North Dakota as we speak. Yeah. I wouldn't look too much into that. That's what quarterback

coaches do this time of year, but they're I'm sure they're kicking the tires on this class too.

And it's really the same conversation as this class, you know, I mean, McCarthy Richardson and

Nuss and those guys are all kind of the same conversation. You'd have to like one pretty much

to say I'm going to him and Howard are going to battle for the developmental playing. Yes.

Yes. Last note. Steelers related. I love that they now have an assistant quarterback coach.

They did not in the previous regime. I'm almost certain they do. Arthas is a quarterback coach

like it was last year. Yes. And I think there's an assistant quarterback coach and I don't

remember his name. I thought my head, but I assumed when they hired him, I think we had this

conversation that I kind of feel like Arthas in terms, he's in charge of the varsity team,

which is like Rogers and Rudolph. And the assistant is in charge of the JV kids, the eighth graders,

you know, Howard and if they draft one of them or whoever, you know, Tom Arthas, quarterback's coach,

Tim Burbenich, game management and quarterback's assistant. Yeah. And you also have Frank

Signetti, Jr. as a senior offensive assistant. Yeah. So they might have resources, coaches,

a little more developed or more devoted to developing the younger quarterbacks. And I say

that during the season, because like, they get a lot of reps and OTAs and many KNP and preseason.

You better be. Yeah. I'm not putting Rogers out there in preseason. Right. I don't

know if you put Roger or Rudolph out there in preseason. So that was the crime of the Howard

injury as he got all those reps taken away from him. But I'm thinking like during the season.

I mean, it's really hard to develop quarterbacks during the season. All you care about

speaking to Ravens. You've only got so much time on Wednesday and Thursday to prep. And it's not like

you're running the scout team. Let's see if Will Howard can be our starter two years from now.

Let's work on his elbow getting a little higher on his footwork. We're trying to beat the

bangles on Sunday or Thursday or the quarterback coaches with Aaron trying to figure out

on Monday. You're now blitz packages. And you know, right? Yes. Yes. So that is that that's

interesting. I mean, you always have your eyes and ears open for quarterbacks. Even a few of my

homes in Allen and all these guys, but especially when you're in the Steelers boat. I just don't know

what the path is, but there are some paths. And one of the paths is don't do anything. Just roll

with those for it. Sure. And I'll be fine. That's probably the most likely path. I would say

as we as we sit here today, but a lot can change between now and even five weeks until the draft

and you know, a few months until the summertime and the start of offseason programs and all that

different stuff. But that's actually come up with 10 teams that should at least kick the tires on

McCarthy. Somebody that has a big time starter like that is not getting challenged. Josh Allen

and Stafford and those type of guys, you know, let them go to QB school for a year. Yeah, right.

And learn and maybe it's, it's things, you know, on track. Yeah. Listen, we've seen it happen before.

And it'll be interesting. Yeah, especially the wence one because it's like, all right,

we have your kind of quote unquote proven, proven established long time starter and Kyler Murray.

You have JJ McCarthy, but yeah, they're bringing back Carson Wentz. Obviously he was there last

year. We saw him in Dublin under under center for the Vikings there at Croke Park against the

Steelers. So they do have familiarity with him. But I would be shocked if they're just, all right,

we're going to have these three and try and it's just almost a normal one to many. Yeah,

one too many mouths to feed there and fill these even a little bit weird quarterback room now too.

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Matt, I wanted to talk with you about some rule change stuff here in the

first hour of the show as we've started to have some of the proposals roll out ahead of the owner's

meetings. And I just think this time of year, it's an interesting conversation to have. Yeah,

there's a couple things that I want to hit on with you. But first, I don't know if you saw

these reports yesterday was like at the very tail end of our show like right around six o'clock

when this came out via Adam Schefter that the NFL is laying the groundwork for hiring replacement

officials this season. If the league is unable to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement with

the NFL referees. Yes, the proposed approach is similar to what the NFL carried out during the

2012 lockout of officials, which extended 110 days and ended after the third week of the regular

season, the current CBA with the referees association will expire at the end of May. The NFL at

this point declining to comment. Matt, this just scares me a little bit because I remember that I'm

listen, I might not be old, but I'm young enough to remember that 2012 season. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

and you had that famous Packers and Seahawks game where at the end of the game, one replacement

official is signal and touchdown and the other signal and incomplete pass and it's this whole

and I just I understand how this business works. I understand in these type of deals and

these type of bargaining agreements, the 11th hour is almost always when it gets done.

Yeah, who's going to blink first and the two sides playing chicken and all this stuff.

I just really hope that I just really hope that this doesn't happen again. I really hope we don't

talk about. I don't say him here, but I don't want to talk about it, but I don't want us to get

to June and it's like the officials are on stride all the sudden we haven't even mentioned it either.

Yeah, I don't have a lot of takes on this. My guess is the officials are smart enough to realize

the league's making a ton of money and they're going to ask for a ton of money. Might as well.

Yeah, I mean, they're very important part of the mixture, obviously. My initial thoughts were

you people that complain about the officials now just wait till you see the backups,

you know, it's probably going to be a lot worse. But then I also thought that I don't even know

if this out works if they're different unions or whatever, but maybe the replacement refs,

five or six of them are really, really good and they earn a full-time job. One thing I say about

refs is a lot like driver's license. I think you get to an age where you need to take your test

again. You know what I mean? Yes, I absolutely know what you mean. Bless or soul, but my grandma

never drove her whole life until my grandfather passed. So she got her license at 83

and lived to be over 100. Never once went in reverse. She'd bring her car to my house if her

tank was like half full and be like, can you go fill us up for me? She used to go in reverse.

She's not going to reverse. Like, even though I don't know how she got her license at 83,

but she probably should have taken her test again. Again, another year or two later. Right.

Yes, it's, it, listen, hopefully this is something that's just now, this is all again kind of

jockeying for the court of public opinion and a little more money on one side of the other. Yeah,

I, I know that too that like the spokesperson or executive director for the referees mentioned,

you know, like vulnerability in the popular world of sports gambling now for these officials too.

How much more heavy are there criticized under a microscope now that there's even more and more

money, so much money wagered on each one of these games. So yeah, I don't think this story's

going anywhere. Hopefully it doesn't linger into training camp in the regular season, but

it was something that I wanted to make sure to mention today. Okay. Yeah, I hope we don't talk

about it again. But that's yeah, same. And then Matt, I, there's a couple of these. The

Steelers have actually proposed a rule change. The Browns have proposed a rule change. Now,

one of these is much more significant than the other. The Steelers, let's go over there as

first because there's I think is a minor tweak. And in fact, I, I feel like the Steelers proposed

this last year and it was close to passing, but it didn't. I'd have to go back and double check

that. But the Steelers have proposed basically making permanent. So I guess this year was maybe the

trial period for the rule that allows teams to have one call with up to five unrestricted free

agents during the negotiating period and to arrange travel once terms are agreed upon. So there's

certain, there's certain parameters there that even in that negotiating period, if, you know,

on that Monday, we say, Hey, Wednesday at four o'clock, uh, Jamel Dean, we're going to sign you

to this contract right three years. Here's the money. We agree. You agree. There's still some,

you have to wait to, you know, uh, officially talk to that guy directly to officially schedule his

travel of when he's going to come to Pittsburgh and sign the contracts and all those things.

This would kind of eliminate some of that waiting period, some of that gray area,

which makes sense. I can't say I see a downside to it. And this is just my, uh, maybe in naive,

why is five the magic number? Why isn't it? Seven or 10? Yeah, 10 or 12. I mean, I don't know how

you narrow it down to five. Maybe that would be better pigeonhole. If you're after five corners,

I can only call one of them because I also need to tackle and, uh, you know, safety, blah, blah, blah.

I don't, uh, I don't see a problem with it. That was, yeah. That's one that I think is, again,

minor in the grand scheme of things. Sure. Uh, but as it, you know, it changes any of our listeners

live. You're right. Right. And, and wouldn't change a ton of, of what we do on a day to day

base, I see there. But when it's something the Steelers are proposing, I always think it's

significant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But here's the real one that I wanted to bring up to you,

Matt Williamson, the Cleveland Browns submitting a rule that would allow teams to trade draft picks

up to five years ahead of time in the future. It's three now. Right. The current is three.

I do think there's some kind of funny irony in the fact that the Browns are the organization

that is proposing this. Yeah. Yeah. But Matt, can I tell you why I hate it? Please.

To me, it incentivizes the future. And, and if you want to drag that four letter T word tank into

the conversation, I, I think it allows organizations to kick too much down, kick the can way too far

down the road. Yeah. We've seen this in the NBA. The NBA about a decade ago, maybe 15 years ago,

made a similar change. I knew that there was something with them. Yeah. And all the sudden,

you've got teams blowing up their rosters, uh, the Brooklyn net, 15 years ago, the Brooklyn

net's like famously traded their entire starting five for future picks. Wow. And it's like,

and totally tanked and totally tanked. And they've never loaded with it. And they've, they've

never gotten out of that cycle. And now, now they didn't hit on their picks.

Not, they didn't make their, they made the playoffs once or twice since then, but they haven't

been close to getting back to it. They didn't end up with LeBron and another. If you, if you look

at the NBA, the bottom third of the league is so bad and so clearly tanking. Yeah. Yeah.

So clearly not trying for right now and just selling everything currently for the future.

Guys now for first round picks four or five years from now, when the current GM and coaching

staff isn't even going to be there. That's the thing. Yeah. To me, it incentivizes, it makes it

easier. It makes it a little bit, it expands the parameters of we're just going to punt on this

year and focus on the future. If you want to focus on the future, like the jets are in some of these

teams and you've got a bunch of first round picks for next year. Great. Yeah. Yeah. But five years

in the future, I think is too far. I think it allows teams to kick things down the road too much.

And I would worry that we would get to a point where it would be much like the NBA where you get

halfway through the season. And there's five or six teams that clearly have no interest in winning.

It's a backup everywhere. And they're just trying to trade for draft picks in 2030 when it's

2026. I just, I don't like it. It leaves a bad taste. Yeah. I lean that way too. So I've mentioned

before I play a lot of dynasty fantasy, which is you keep your team forever. Yes. Yes.

And sometimes you'll lose an owner here and there. But basically it's the same owners every year.

But if you trade a future first round pick, you have to pay dues for that year already. So you're

not like just live for today and then get out of league and you'll leave the next owner with nothing.

You know, and it's different this way in that ownership doesn't change in the league very often

at all. You know, but GM's do and coaches do if the bucks seem like they're on a hot seat.

If they're going to give you five first round picks for miles Garrett and TJ Watt combined,

they're going to be pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. And they're going to save their jobs. And maybe

they won't want to do both this year and have a million sacks and then be horrible in two years

and be shot. And nobody wants a job and nobody can take it over. Yeah.

Where I would think like it could, it could work the other way too. I mean, I always kind of go

the route of like this is going to just incentivize so many teams to tank and kick the can down the road

and kick the can down the road. What if you had a LA Rams type situation and McVey and less

sneeter like, Hey, and two years from now, we're both going to like step down and take some time off.

And that's it. So let's trade a bunch of our let's trade our first round pick four or five years

from now for Trent McDuffy. You know what I mean? Because who cares? We're not going to be here

anyways. Yeah. And trade at the team that I'm going to work for. That's a real move. You look at

who's probably not going to be I'm at McVey is a perfect example. I'm like the most sought after

coach in the league. I'll trade you. I'm going to make our next five first round pick. I'll make the

pick this year and I'll give you the next four first for Miles Garrett. You know, somebody in the

browns would be crazy to say no. And then you look at him like I'm going to take a year off and

then I'm going to be the brownside coach in two years. And I'm going to have my first two seasons.

I'm going to multiple first round draft. Exactly. Right. I just it's too much. Three years I think

is fine. That's reasonable. Five. I don't like it. I think things will get a little too wonky.

It could get slippery or ugly quick. It'd get a little too NBA-ish for me where there is a clear

cut bottom bottom half or bottom third of the league that's just not even trying for right now.

And I don't think that's good for business. So I like that the trade deadline actually matters.

When I was a kid, nothing ever happened to trade deadline. But then I was always jealous of like

baseball and hockey and there was a lot of action. It's not right. So now it's actually good.

But it could go the opposite way too. Let's say there's seven games before the trade deadline.

You're one in six or oh and seven. Trade everything. And then you're so easy to play against the rest

of the year. It sways the balance of power. It does. And so that's just something that I felt

deserved conversation. That's something that I'm sure at the owner's meetings. That'll be up.

That'll be up. We'll talk plenty about the push push. Some of these things. So I wanted to

real quick. Some of these things like this future draft pick thing. I've never thought

boy, wouldn't it be nice to trade four years from now? Like I never thought it was a problem.

Like he used to bother me to no end. You couldn't trade complex. I'm like, what's so special about

these? It's a 70 that's a 99 to pick as opposed to the 50th pick. Why can't I trade this one?

Like that bothered me. But now it's I've never thought once. Boy, wouldn't it be nice to be able to trade

your two thousand thirty first, you know, four tie Simpson on draft. I don't think that's been

a problem. No. So it's something we'll keep an eye on. It's something we'll continue to discuss

as we do get to that time of year where a lot of these new rules and proposals will be

will be brought to the forefront of conversation, particularly with the owner's meetings just around

the corner here. With that, I've got a couple of rule changes that I want to run past you in the

next segment. Wow. Okay. How does that sound? Do you like that? Sure. I'll, uh, I'll state my case

and you can be the judge. Amen. We'll do that when we return. Keep those tweets rolling in for

hour number two, planning to get to today as we roll along. Just getting started here on the drive.

What's your Matt Williamson Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers Audio Network? What's up NFL

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You're tuned to the drive on your 24 seven home of the black and gold Steelers Nation radio.

Back on the drive here as we roll along on this Thursday. Some exciting news, Matt.

Okay. This time tomorrow, Steelers Hall of Famer, four times Super Bowl champion, Penn State

legend, current part of the Penn State broadcast team, color commenter. Jack Ham is going to join

the program. It's a big one, man. Pretty big fish. That's a big one. Pretty big fish. So we're excited,

excited to talk to Jack. Obviously, we want to pick his brain on a lot of those Penn state names

that we've discussed. Yeah. That's a great idea. And just just catch up with the Steelers legend.

Here on this show. So tomorrow, we will have Jack Ham. We're pretty excited about that. And that'll

be a lot of fun. And we'll get his thoughts on probably two or three years ago. I put together my

top 10 or 20 steeler players of all time. And he was remarkably high. Yeah. Let's leave it there.

Like higher than anyone. Really that high for a man. Yeah. And when you when you when you when you

talk to the Bob Labrioles of the world. Oh, yeah. Yeah. My dad's generation. It's almost like

similar to, you know, people in between our age group, Matt, like in their 30s, 40s, 50s,

in the way they talk about Aaron Smith and how underrated he was. Yeah. Yeah. You get some of that

with Jack Ham, too, where it's like the people who were, you know, really watching the game.

Because that point in tuned out. Lumber next to him was vampire. Right. Right. Right. Right.

And they just right here. I mean, just Lambert's persona, not that I'm taking away from him. It's

just these six four with the crazy teeth that made all of that, you know, on the cover of sports

illustrated. Right. Right. Just look different. Yes. So we'll be excited. We'll be excited to

talk to Steelers legend Jack Ham tomorrow. That'll be a lot of fun. Hope, hope everybody will enjoy

that one. Matt, some rule change things that I want to run by you as it is that time of year.

Talk about talk about some that have been proposed. And this to me, like yesterday, we discussed

why can't the roster just be 53 active players on game day? I don't know if that's necessarily a

rule change. That's more of kind of like an operational type. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm talking specific

rules within the white lines. Okay. If there's this a catch or not or thing, things like that. Yeah.

Yeah. Like if we were having this conversation about college football, like I can't say, I want to

go back to the way conferences were 20 years ago. That's not a rule change. That's going to happen.

That's an operation. So I tried to keep this to the infrastructure of the lead or the sport.

In the biggest one. So I've got three that I want to run past you here. And the biggest one is

I kind of sit on the fence with this. But I'm starting to think as the years roll by I had this

first idea a couple years ago and it's gotten a little bit stronger in my mind. And I would like to

run this past you changing the parameters, the punishment of pass interference. Yeah. I go back

and forth on this to and making it like the college football route where it's a 15 yard penalty

regardless. Let me stop you and ask you one question because you asked you watch way more college

football than me. How often in college football is a corner clearly beaten over the top that's

probably going to be a touchdown that he just drags them down, knowing it's 15 instead of not as often

as you would think. Probably because he's beaten so bad he can't get off. Exactly. Right. Not as often

as you would think, but you definitely do see it sometimes. And I think I'm in big trouble here.

And I think you particularly see it in late game situations. Okay. Where the defense of coordinators

like, Hey, worst case scenario, no matter what, if someone gets behind you, grab them and pull them

down. Who cares? There's 40 seconds left on the clock. We'll give them 15 yards. The only thing that

can't happen is getting beat on the top. Okay. Yeah. Do see it. But not as much as you would think.

Okay. Now that would get to be my one worry is that you get to the last 30 seconds of an NFL game.

And right. You just drag, but take your any marshes throw them on the ground.

Take rain moss and throw them on the ground. Right. Right. But I do. But then when I think that,

I think it works the opposite way where we see so often a quarterback sees one guy down the field

and single coverage and just chucks it up. And there's a monochrome of contact. And it's a 60 yard

penalty. Yeah. So I this one I really struggle with. But I'm more and more year by year. I'm

leaning towards making a 15 yard penalty instead of a spot fell. It's the one thing I think college

should adopt NFL rules. I think it should have to be two feet for a catch in college. Not one.

Oh, I don't know if you know this, but in college football, if your knee touches your down,

you're not down by contact. Oh, yeah. I know that. Like I think that's a crock. Right. Right. Right.

If you dive and catch a ball and nobody touches you, you should be able to get back up. Yeah.

But this is the one thing where I think the NFL should take the college football rule. And again,

I'm not adamant pounding the table for this, but I just wanted to run it by you because every year

of my life, I think a little bit more. I don't need this. There's a there's a there's a tiny

little bit of contact downfield and it becomes a 60 yard gain for the offense. Like that drives me nuts.

So any of these rule changes, I think you have to first look through the parameter that the league

is going to want more points is going to want to help the offense. That's a very good point.

Because point cell fantasy, people like to bet overs. And I always go back to this and I can't

stress it enough. Dealing lines are better than no lines. So we need to give the advantages.

We can't just have the Joe Greene and these guys just wreck and shop that nobody could block every

play. You know, so we got to give them these guys some advantages. Now, I'm sure people around

here take this way too far. But like the Flacco led Ravens were so good at getting the deep defense

appearance. That's one of the ultimate examples. But like Perryman was like the fast guy and then

just chuck it for him and something good will happen. Maybe it's incomplete, but there's a good chance

we're going to get a big gain here, whether he catches it or not. Now we probably blame them more

than we should. They probably weren't the only steelers never did such a thing like that.

I'm kind of with you. But is there an any rule changes? I'm going to try to not put more on

the ref's plate. Always always a great point too. Because they have too much already. And the game

gets faster and crazier every year. And they might best write. But this would put more on the ref's

plate. Could you make it like hockey where there's major minor? Yeah. There's a there's a minor.

There's how roughing the kicker. It used to be running into the kicker versus roughing the kicker.

Yeah. Yeah. There's a minor. There's a double minor. There's a major like you clearly dragged him

down. I don't hate that. Yeah. Right. And there's a total judgment call that does put a little more

onus on the ref. But I also think in this capacity, there'd be a clear. Okay. That's two guys fighting

for the ball downfield. And the defender made contact a millisecond early. That's a 15-yard

penalty. Or 10 or whatever. Yeah. Right. First this guy gets beat and he just grabs the shoulder of

the wider the hand of the wide receiver and pulls them back. One use on a breakaway. So you drag

him down. You know, right. You know, so that should be a penalty shot. Yes. Yeah. Right. You know,

I like that idea. Yeah. Like a like a common foul versus a flagrant foul in the NBA. Yeah.

Exactly. If you just bump somebody going up for a rebound, it's a foul. But if they've got a clear

hoop and you're trying to hack them. All right. Yeah. Then it's a, you know, then it then it becomes

a. It's a worse penalty. It's a flagrant foul or whatever. I don't think that's too much to ask.

I don't think so either. Not to mention you still have replaying you somebody in your year to help

you. Be like, you were a little hard on that one. Just call it 15 or, you know, that I'd be cool with.

Again, but that's a lot to ask for the rest. But I think they can handle it. It is. All right.

Speaking of reviews, here's, here's West's proposal number two. Matt, I know you've obviously

been to a lot of football games. You watch more than you attend. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But are you familiar with anyone who's been to a, you know, college football or NFL game

when that goes to commercial break, there's the guy all decked out and read red jacket red hat.

He's got the big digital sign with like the two and a half minutes. Right. So that everybody is

super important for you guys on the broadcast. Very important on the broadcast. You're paying a lot of

attention to that. Hey, if you're somebody like me, because I go to the college games and you see

that guy walk out in three minutes and you're like, oh, I can go grab another beer behind me.

I'll be back in my seat. So for anybody who's unfamiliar with what I'm saying at football,

college football NFL, when it goes to commercial break, there's a guy who works for the networks,

Fox or CBS or ESPN or whoever it is, who comes out on the field with a big digital clock,

two and a half minutes, three minutes, however long the break is.

You're wearing all red, right? All red. So easy to spot. So that both teams, all the broadcast

people, everything know how much time is left in the commercial break. When there is a review,

a video review, whether it's initiated from the refs, whether it's a challenge flag thrown by

Mike McCarthy, I want that same red in the referee comes out and he goes, Pittsburgh is challenging

the rule on the or timeout for an official's review to see if the ball crossed the plane. And he

does the, you know, waves his hands and runs over to the video monitor. Yeah. From that standpoint,

I want that red guy to come out with 60 seconds on the clock and count down.

And as soon as that 60 seconds is over, the ref has to come out of the booth and make a decision.

If not, it stands, if not, it stands. You get 60 seconds to look at that video. If you can't make

a decision in 60 seconds, the rule on the field stands and we play on, I got no problem with that.

I don't even say the opposite. Like he was going to come out and start one, two and climb up.

So we know, like, we know how long it's come on guys. What are you doing? That's not bad.

Yeah, it's over. It's four and a half minutes and oh man, we really been dragging this.

But no, I want that same guy to come out 60 seconds bang and you have 60 seconds to watch the

tape and make a decision. And then after that, the video shuts off and you either the calls over

turned or the ruling on the field stands. I don't problem with it either. I guess we could fight

if it should be 60 or 90 or 30 or whatever, but I thought 60 was common. That seems about right.

They might be like, we don't get any of them in 60, but whatever the number is, I don't care.

Sure. Yeah. I need a different guy dressed in red though. Like you're asking that guy.

He's got to go back to school for that. The revenues are going up. We could pay these, we could

pay these refs of these game officials a little bit more money. All right, to make it worth their

while. But that's one that just, and I think every sportsman's like, I'm not qualified for that.

And I go back to grad school for that. There's not, there's not, I know there's a small portion of

sports fans who say scrap video review all together. Just go by the, I think that's not, I think

that's nuts. I went to calls right. But I think the vast majority of sports fans all agree too,

that the video review has gone a little too far, that it takes a little too long, that it clonks

up the game a little too often. Yeah. 60 seconds bang. That's it. I don't care about clonking up the

game, but I don't look at the game like everybody else does with an iron and a bunch of wings and you

know that kind of stuff. You know what I mean? I think the general public would like it better with

the way you said. Yeah. Yeah. And then the last one, Matt, and maybe I'm kind of doing as I say,

not as I do here, because I guess I could argue that this is more of an operational thing than a pure

rule change. And this also goes against your correct mantra of when the league does this stuff,

it's all in favor of offense and electricity and more points. Yeah. Yeah. I am so tired of living in

this world where teams get to the 50 yard line and suddenly they're in scoring position.

And hey, the Steelers have benefited from this too with a really gosh darn good kicker named

Chris Boswell that you might have heard of. You think kicking's too easy. I think kicking's too easy.

Yeah, I kind of lean that way too. Move the goalposts each side in one yard.

Fine. Make the goalposts slightly smaller. Slightly smaller. One yard in on each side. Yeah.

And I realized that this would have a ripple effect for college football and high school football

and all these things around the world, but kicking is guys now drill. They should change. They drill

60 yarders like their autumn. And that's true. They don't have to change. Differentize footballs

and everything. Right. Right. I wouldn't. Different dynamic kickoffs and all that stuff.

I said the goalposts. There can't be how many companies manufacture goalposts?

Can't be a time. Right. They would love this role. Like we get to make so many more.

We get to sell a bunch of goalposts. Right. Right. Right. The industry of big goalposts loves this idea.

But I don't think high school or college should change because the little I know about high school,

they can't even find kickers that can write anything in college kickers. You see guys miss and they're

pretty bad to 40 yarders all the time, but the 30 best ones in the world are unbelievable now.

And the kicking balls help and all these other things help, which, hey, I'm fine. We're using the

kicking balls. I'm fine with that. Again, bring it in. Bring it in a little. I don't, again,

I don't care what the number is. A yard might be like, wow, that's. It's just it's become way too easy.

Yeah, it is just there are so many kickers in the league. And hey, we've benefited here in

Pittsburgh. Oh, yeah. I don't want to seem, uh, but like the giant preseason game. And that

dude comes out from 70 or whatever. And it's like, that's too easy. Yeah.

It just shouldn't always be. I'm from 64. And yeah, you should, you should need to travel a

little bit further into enemy territory to be. I don't know. Or midfield here and all the sudden

now or like that just to me is, it's too easy. Kickers have become, it's a testament to the

kickers, but they've become way too good. They become way too good. Yes. And I wouldn't object to that

either. Something along those lines. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Uh, those were my, those were my three ones.

Offensive pass interference or make it like review time golf or there's like a pendulum

swinging in front of it. Now, keep it the same size. If you want my real crazy ID is just a pinwheel

buzzing through it, right? Eliminate kick, eliminate kicking, feel go kicking all together.

There's only, there's only kickoffs and punts. You got to go for two every time. Yeah, go for

to four, go for it on four or third, but that's a bridge too far. In football, that's not going to

happen. Exactly right. But I just, it's way too easy now. The kicking is way too easy. And I,

I just don't think that should be the case. They're in range. I don't think it should be that easy

to get three points, which is kind of what they want. But it also correlates with the kickoff

rules, getting tweet, starting positions, five yards better than was two or three years ago,

one first down more opportunity for the changes at the end of the game. Yeah. Yeah. Now I'm putting up

now I'm in feel go range, you know, right? And I think they like that part. But people are also

going for feel goals less and go for fourth, they're going for thaw more. That's true. You know,

but it is to it's I do think it's too easy. And it should be earned a little more, a little bit more,

just a little bit more. So let us know how you feel about those. If you've got any others that you

want to throw into the mix, you know where to get at us on the x Twitter. We'll wrap up this

conversation. I want to update the, uh, Steelers salary cap situation with you two, Matt. We've got

some some good kind of clarity on on cap stuff that has come out in the last day or two now that

the dust has settled mostly on free agency. We'll do that to close down the first hour when we

return. Washuler Matt Williams and it's the drive Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers audio network.

What's up NFL fans? The NFL draft is finally here. And while you might not know who your team

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Wrapping up the first hour of the drive here on this Thursday, Matt, we've got some new clarity

on salary cap situations across the NFL here. Albert Breer putting out some good information on

again, I think the term that I used in the last segment was the dust has settled mostly on free

agency. They're still going to be additional signings. They're still going to be some potential AJ

brown type. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Moves. Can I get waddle under my cap or whatever? Right. Yeah. Yeah.

But dust mostly settled. And I think it's kind of a good time to recalibrate where the Steelers are,

where the teams across the NFL are. Most of the contracts have gone through. There's always a

gray area there for a couple days, like, you know, sometimes contracts are reported differently.

Right. Right. Right. So let's talk about teams with the most cap space still as we stand here

today first. Is that cool with you? Because this is the list because some of these have a hard time

just spending that much. Yes. And I've got the list of the teams up against the cap the most,

but the Steelers, I'd like to hear like the top six or seven in the bottom six or seven.

Well, the Steelers, the Steelers have the 10th most. So they kind of round out, they kind of

round out the top 10. Number one is still the Titans with about 63 million dollars of space.

Now a couple notes, you can, this can roll over to next year. You don't have to, it doesn't

dread. It's not like your sick days at work that as soon as I knew your hits, you'll lose them. So

you think of occasion at the end, but they do roll over. Stealer really, all these teams also have

to sign all their draft picks. That's a big part of it too. You need probably 11, 12, 13 million

for your draft picks. Number is, but if you choose first, it's different than if you don't

have a first, you know, that's a good point. Yeah. So that's sort of chief service. Yes. Yeah.

And obviously, this is really noteworthy for this team, maybe more than any in the league.

You still have signed a quarterback. I assume. I assume there will be a move at the quarterback

position that is going to cost money. Now all these teams, including the Steelers, can also extend

Porter Benton, whoever, and maybe free a little up this year, or the cam move freed up a little bit,

or I keep bringing up Harrison, he could get cut still, maybe, or, you know, I don't know. So

there are a lot of levers to pull. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And we'll talk about that more

specifically when we get to the Steelers number. So Titans at the, at the forefront, chargers,

in second, about 10 million behind the Titans, 54 million in space, the commanders. This one

surprised me with all the business they've done. But again, though, when you're not paying a

quarterback big money, that's such a part of this equation. One of the reasons you want to draft

on the first round next year, you go five years with a cost-controlled start. And if you're the

Titans and you're the commanders right now, and you think you have your guy and ward and Daniels,

it's like, let's load up right now. And they're the first and second picks. Yeah.

Right. Commanders about 52 million in space, fourth, the Cardinals, about 42 million in space.

They didn't do much. They didn't do much. And you know, if they would have paid Maliquilus,

for example, that number would, would be much lower. 49ers checking at fifth with about 40 million

in space, the Eagles at sixth with about $38 million in space. Now, if they end up trading one of

those big names and take on some dead cat money, that could change, change, change that equation.

Jets at seven at 38 ish million. And then you've got the two teams that were just in the Super Bowl.

Seahawks, 38 million, Patriots, 37 million. And then the Pittsburgh Steelers at 10th with about 29 million.

Okay. So this small nugget, I mean, I'm not sure what Seattle's saving theirs for. Why not

just bring back Kenneth Walker. Kenneth Walker. Yeah. I mean, if that would have been,

well, maybe if you think about it too, because remember, the draft picks still factor into this.

So maybe if they're thinking we really only have 20 some millionish, I guess that would have

been enough to sign Kenneth Walker. I mean, I know that they're allocating money for Smith,

the jigbone, whether spoon, some of the other guys are warm or extensions and draft picks.

There's also things that we don't know. There's bonuses like crazy all through these contracts,

too. Like, oh, my homes do a $10 million bonus. Well, I'm not going to cut them. You know, so that's

he's getting it. It just hasn't hit the cap yet. Some of those type of things. Okay. The

viewers are in great shape is the bottom. And it's great shape is the bottom line into piggyback off

of that Derek Bell, who works for Steelers now. Yeah, he does good work. He does good work. I

actually, I've met him a few years ago at training camp. And then I talked to him briefly at the

combine a few weeks ago. We should have him on the show at some point. He does. I'd like to. I've

never met him. He does really good deep dives. Like he loves analyzing the quarterbacks out of the

draft. So he'd be a fun one to have on to talk about Nuss and Carson back in some of those guys.

Derek basically broke down that if you look at that Steelers number, estimate that about 15

million ish for Aaron Rogers. I think he was 12 hit. He was like 12 and a half last year.

So you say you give him a little bump for inflation. Say it's maybe it ends up being 13 or 14. But

let's overestimate a little bit at 15. I think it's safe to say just from the go-shaces last year,

Rogers isn't going to hold you over the coals. Right. I think he's doing okay in life. Right.

That would so that number would think he's doing okay in life. That's what I think made the second

most money of any of any NFL player in history and make it more than all of them. I think he's

doing fine. So if you take that number, you know, say about 28, 29 million about half of that goes

to Aaron Rogers. Let's say. So say that one year deal guaranteed. Basically, you're not going to

say that leaves you with 14, 15 million and say you need 11 or 12 of that to sign your draft

picks. Then all the sudden, okay, you could still. You can see where it gets a little more tight.

You can see where it gets a little tighter. And maybe that's when you cut Malik Harrison.

Maybe that's when teams like to keep like three or four to go into the season. Yes.

I need to grab a linebacker off because I need to grab it or the trade deadline we want to add this

guy. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Um, so that as you can kind of see how that number wow,

the dealers have 28, 29 million dollars in cap space. But you get Aaron Rogers in, you get your

rookies in. And that accounts for most of it. Or most of it. You could still cut Malik Harrison

and say, open up some money. You could still restructure an Alex Heismith and open up some money.

There's like Watts. Another one. You know, there's absolutely. There's there's some things

that you could do there. Don't save you much. You know, extending Porter doesn't open much

this year because he's not making much this year. Exactly right. You know, it's the big money

guys that you that you do that way. Yeah. The guys are making a lot salary, not bonus.

So the guys are making a lot of salary this year of the ones you negotiate with.

Correct. So, uh, the time of those to pick from they don't, you know, that's why you go to the

bank of homes or Allen or whatever. When you have a big money quarterback, that's the easiest,

that's the easiest one. Cause you know, he's going to be there too. Exactly. Exactly right. So

that's kind of the Steelers picture and the big names in the clubhouse and just Matt briefly

before we wrap up this first hour, bottom of the list, the bears only have about 200K

and cap space currently. Like those teams have to do stuff. They have to, the bears have to do

something because they still need to sign their draft picks. Forget about about adding anybody

else. You got to be able to sign your draft picks. I know we're up against it, but that's why it

shocks me that the bills gave a second on pick for more as opposed to the pitman trade because

the bears don't have any money. They needed more to go. They needed more to go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Panthers, panthers, second with about four and a half million, giants, third from the bottom

with about five and a half million, jagged, six million, Vikings, little over six million,

dolphins, seven million, bills, about 10 million. So they could all survive. They, they may

still want to add anything else. Right. They got enough for get them through. And then Cowboys,

Saints, chiefs to bring up the, the bottom of the top of the bottom 10, all with about 13 million.

Okay. You're not in bad shape for the one that's weird as bears bears. The one that's very weird

is the bears having next to nothing. And then the dolphins, they're looking at the sofa cushion.

When you consider the dolphins with all that dead cat money and a half, not much,

but I understand Miami has a lot of cap space a year from now. They're just taking it all on

the chin this year and then take a Mike Tyson, hey, maker in 2026 and then reset a year from now.

That'll do it for our first hour of the show. To kick off hour number two,

comps for the 2026 NFL draft class of wide. We'll get into that when we return also your tweets

in hour number two, West Euler, Matt Williams, and halfway home here on a Thursday. It's the drive

Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. We see you. Your calendar's color coded. Your

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