HR2: Wide Receiver Comps / Tweets from Steelers Nation

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Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

Good evening, Steeler Nation. How we doing? That's good. Us too. Our number two here

of the drive. Man, I'm already in it. Tomorrow's a big day here in this building.

Oh, yeah, it is. As we mentioned in the first hour, if you didn't hear, Jack Ham is going to

join us on the show tomorrow, which is very exciting. That's a monster. That's a Hall of Famer,

a four-time champion. The word legend gets thrown around way too casually in our modern culture,

but Jack Ham is an absolute legend. I think he was like my number three stealer ever on the field.

I know. I know green was 75 then 47 and then 59 was in the conversation for number three.

My grandpa growing up loved Rocky Blire and Jack Ham, but he would always lament about how they

just had to be Notre Dame and Penn State guys, you know, because it's a WFAN in the 70s and the 80s,

those schools more often than not would take us out behind the wood shed unless we had like major

Harris or those couple rare exception years. But yeah, just just an absolute legend and it will

be very excited to talk to him tomorrow. And then Matt and I are kind of geeked up because Brit Floyd,

who is a very popular well-known worldwide touring Pink Floyd cover band. They're going to be here

in our studios tomorrow playing a little private show here at the I heart. That will be on DVE live,

I think. That will be on DVE live, I believe. And so Matt and I are going to get to go into our

little theater here with just a few dozen people. Yeah, before we go in the air, that's so awesome.

And watch this awesome Pink Floyd cover band, Brit Floyd, tear it up here in the little theater

right next to us. So big Friday tomorrow. So I'm going to see them tomorrow night. Yeah.

And they're at the Peterson. They're in Oakland, which is kind of, I don't know if that's good or bad.

That's big. I mean, I love them, I love them. And that's that's the kind of trajectory you climb.

You know, you play the Bededom State, J.E. type few thousand. Yeah, yeah. And then you go to the P,

then you go to PPG. Okay. Then, you know, I've never seen a show to pee. I have. Yeah.

The in-and-out is. They let you in there and they do that. So it's, so it's funny.

I've made this joke before to like Dan Quinlan, because you know, he's a concert guy. I don't know if

you remember Joe Roe Kiki, but he was the former producer of the DVE morning show. He's a big concert

guy and he went to pit. So he was a big pit fan. I used to always joke. There's only two things

that can get me to go to Oakland. And it's the WVU basketball team and Billy Strings. Okay. There you

saw him there. I saw him there a few times, but he's moved up now. He plays PPG now. Yeah,

I know he's too big for that. So he's, so it's funny to kind of just see those guys. That's cool.

The climb that climb that scale. That's in Brit Floyd, probably 15 times. And I've seen him in the

small venue either here at the old station for year four. Yeah. Yeah. Moats and I saw them one time.

It was like, I think out of COVID, so like 21 or 22. And they were playing at two o'clock in our

old building. Yeah. And Moats and I were on from noon to two. And you and Dale got there early

because you guys wanted to see them, you go on air till four, but you wanted to see them at two.

Moats and I were like finishing the show. And you and Dale are like leaping through the

whole way. I'm like, what's going on? And you like, dude, Brit Floyd's upstairs. Moats and I went

up there too. So that's the only time I've seen him. But I'm looking forward to tomorrow. And

to call them a cover band is selling them short. Yes. Like they have a very good relationship with

the members of, you know, they're like, we're basically retired. Play in 10,000 seat venues. Oh, yeah.

They're not just real. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Playing at your local pub to two dozen people in your

in your little town. And shows. Yeah. Exactly. Right. So big one on the drive and four of the drive.

Big Friday tomorrow. And it's March Madness is rolling along Matt. So just a very fun time of the

year here for sure. Matt, you sent me a very good article. I think our listeners know that you

do this. But for those who haven't heard before, I think we're picking up listeners every month,

which is great. Welcome to the part. Matt a lot of times will send me just, he'll forward me an

article and be like, this is good stuff. Check it out. And basically, you know, we'll probably just

do a segment on it. Yeah. And a lot of times it's more minutia detailed DVOA and EPA and things

like that that like back in July and August, Matt would send me a lot of articles and be like,

get familiar with this. Like now that you're now that you're called up to the major leagues here,

you're going to have to speak my language. Yeah. You might have to take it one more, you know,

level of Chinese to have this conversation. Right. So some of them are like, Matt is coaching me

while I try to get my PhD and write my thesis here on football. And then other times, it's like,

hey, I think this would be a fun segment for the show. Yeah. And it's you would kind of segment

brings up. And and Steelers would be heavy in the receiver market. And so the wide receiver stuff

is always it's a lot of fun when it meshes with current timeline of the football world.

And specific for the Steelers too. And wide receivers in this draft class certainly

fit that bill. Is it fit the bill or foot the bill? I've heard that both different ways.

I think foot the bill means you like pick up the bill. Yeah. You pay the bill. Yeah. We're fit

the bill is like this guy is I'm looking for this wide receiver type. You're you're you're

foot. You're shooting fits in the shoe. Yes. Okay. That makes sense. I'll roll with that. But some

could be very wrong. Some some some wide receiver names here and comparisons that McShay makes for

them to current wide receivers in the NFL. I'm terrible at player comparisons. Some people that

are good at them really paying a good picture. Like people I saw who's your mind you. I don't

know. Yeah. You know, like I just don't see it that way. Yeah. I love when people have good ones.

Yes. Same here. Uh, so let's start. Elijah Sarat wide receiver out of Indiana NFL comparison

Michael Wilson of the Arizona Cardinals. Now I like. Okay. My other. I was just just

goes both boundary X receivers who win with physicality and his technicians. Just strong hands.

Excel. I'm back shoulder routes and digs. Neither has top end speed, but use their length and

strength to win downfield. Yep. And Wilson was a guy I really like coming out of Stanford. You

had a breakout year last year. I didn't like your three always in the right place. Always smart.

People that watched Indiana probably understand exactly what we're talking about here. I think

it was Sarat that coincidentally enough went and studied is one of their two receivers or maybe

it was both of them that they did their own little project on Aaron Rogers, Devonte Adams,

back shoulder throws. And basically said, Hey, Fernando, we need to be this good at it.

And by calling standards, they kind of worked. They were very well,

ridiculously good at it. You know, and Wilson's considered also a student of the games,

smart guy, Stanford, et cetera. Now the one thing I was going to say about comps and I say this

all the time and but I do find it funny. So many people play our comps. It's like they just

overshoot it so much. Yeah. Who's your mind? Yeah. Right. He's kind of a mixture of the

high standards and Jim Brown. You know, right. That might be a bit strong.

Styles, who's you remind you of Ray Lewis? Yeah, but better taller, faster. Yeah.

Developed it right. Exactly. Yeah. It's like, okay. Yeah. You know, maybe, but yeah, okay.

Safety with long curly hair. I can't wait to compare him to Troy, Paul, I'm all like I always

use exactly like all the running back reminds me of Jim Brown. Okay.

Jeremiah Price is the next Emmett Smith. Exactly. So Michael Wilson's great. You know, yeah.

That's two. I like those comps even more. Yeah. Like that's not bad. If you get a second round

picking turns to Michael Wilson, you're happy. This, this, uh, you know, this, this next

power hitter doesn't necessarily have to be Barry Bonds. Okay. Give me, give me somebody who's

had a real nice productive kind of reminds me of Willie Mays and Babe Ruth wrapped in the one.

You know, oh, okay. Good. And Matt, you know that, uh, that point guard from Duke can really shoot

reminds me of Steph Curry. Yeah. Yeah. Next on his list, though. Yeah.

You know, he's ahead of Steph Curry, where he was at age 20. Uh, next on this list, Antonio Williams,

out of Clemson, his comp, lad McConkey, uh, we even talked about Williams enough. We had,

and that's what I like. He's an interesting couple of the names on this list. Aren't the Tyson,

and Tate, and right, right, right, that we've mentioned a million times. I think Wilson probably goes

in the third or Williams probably goes in the third round. Um, but that's easiest say because

only so many can go in the top three rounds. There's a ton of these. Of course.

Uh, their sizes sizes are nearly identical. Speed and explosion numbers are very similar.

Williams a little bit more explosive. McConkey a little bit more twitchy, but statistically,

they're stylistically part of me, both excellent route runners, both guys do a great job of

tempoing routes and using their leverage. And they have a good feel versus zone coverage.

So Williams also probably does his best work out of the slot.

But folks, just because McConkey's white does not mean he is only a slot receiver.

He does a lot of work outside the numbers. He's not less welcome to the high football IQ.

Yeah. I mean, coming out of Georgia, it made me say like he like hardly ever lines up in

the slot works hard. It's like, okay. Um, so off his nails. So Williams is not just a slot.

He would do a lot of different things here or wherever he lands, you know, real quick, uh,

outstanding video producer, TV, fit the bill is used when something is exactly what is needed.

Example, this hotel will fit the bill for our vacation.

Foot the bill is used to describe for paying costs. I guess we're right.

We'll put the bill for the trip. So yeah, okay. We were good. Look at you. Link.

I think I got that right. Those seven years of creative writing really paid off.

Yeah. Yeah. Six.

Yeah. Seven. Seven sounds. You know, I remember the Titans.

Yeah. Denzel Washington gives like the big speech to the to the backup quarterback. He's like,

well, I had 12 brothers and sisters. I was the youngest one. And when my parents passed away,

I wasn't ready, but they all looked at me to lead. And then the quarterback goes in and his

assistant coach is like, you had 12 brothers and sisters. And he's like, I had eight.

Yeah, 12 sounds better. You did seven years of college, Matt was six. Yeah, seven sounds better.

Deon Barks out of Oklahoma. His comp is Tank Dell of the Houston Texans explosive vertical

slots, toughness to run routes over the middle. Dell is the comp that I see on tape.

Yeah, interesting. Vertical slot. So again, not just a nickel and dime or just five yards from

the line. He's not just a walker. He'll do a vertical routes out of the slot as well. And one

thing of note there is the quarterback play in Oklahoma was really bad. I was going to say he

brings that up. Like Mattier hadn't gotten hurt. And what you saw from Barks early in the season

before Mattier messed up his hand. Yeah. Like if you would have got like this guy could be a first

round pick if he would have had that same production throughout. You need to look at him through

that light. Yeah. Okay, he's running a vertical routes and nobody hits him. You know, like, okay,

great. Yes. And his two quarterbacks before Mattier, Jackson Arnold and Hudson Card. They're not

too great. We're not NFL caliber quarter. Okay. Yes. A couple more here on this list.

That was really good before you got hurt too. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. If you're looking for that type of

I like that term vertical slot. Tank Dell is one of the guys that you would use as an example.

As a profile. Matt two names here to round out this list. I think that our listeners are more

familiar with the first, of course, is Denzel Boston, the big wide receiver out of Washington.

And his comp I like this is Cortland Sutton of the Denver Broncos. Okay. Both guys display contested

catch dominance and are fearless and traffic over the middle. They win physically and at times

are physically dominant. A lot of a lot of their measurables match up too. Yeah, that's great.

They can bully some of those smaller corners. I like the double use of the word dominance.

Especially at the catchpoint over the middle. I don't I have reservations about how

truly athletic Boston is. But I also think he's very, very Aaron Rogers and this offense friendly

because he's always in the right place. He's got huge hands. He catches everything at the catchpoint

whether it's contested or not. This is something I stole from Rob King, but he mentioned it a lot

frankly during like the Matt Kennedy years and early Pickens years like, man, Pickens is a great

contested catch receiver. And Rob's many times mentioned like, yeah, but can't we scheme him up

to not be contested once in a while? It doesn't mean the always has to be in contested situations.

Can't we do some rock combinations to get these guys open? But that was more that was down the line.

But Boston, that's a really good comparison. You know, Sutton's not the most

fleet of foot physical guys had a really good career. You'd definitely take that.

I absolutely would sign up for that. And then the last one, this is a name that I'm getting

more and more intrigued by as we get closer and closer to draft day. Chris Brazel, the second

out of Tennessee, his comp Christian Watson of the Green Bay Packers. Oh, that's like a one for one.

That's a good one. Yes. He says Brazel will need to add some more weight and get a little bit

stronger, but the height and speed numbers are nearly identical production after the catch.

They win on go routes, overs and posts, long striders, able to put a lot of pressure on cornerbacks,

a little bit slow starters in their buildup. Also, some shades of Alec Pierce in there too.

Okay. Interestingly brought up Pierce too. So to say the exact same thing about Watson that

both those guys Watson and Pierce. And I think Brazel will be this way immediately.

Will be the outside the number post go long strider stuff. But Pierce and Watson this past year

definitely made strides as more well-rounded receivers. That Tennessee raltry they run into

a total Mickey Mouse. That's the only thing that's tough to about. I mean, they asked their wide

receivers to run like two routes. Yeah. And frankly, Pickens was that way. When he came to league,

he led the league and go routes and didn't do much else. And every step of the way, including

at Dallas, he's developed more and more and more. So Brazel might be perfect for that. You know,

you're one run fast on the sidelines, be big, take the top off. But they're probably more there

because he's not just a pure linear athlete. He can break down and sink his hips and change

directions. He's really intriguing as like a round two guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like pick 53. Who

buddy? Like it wouldn't even blow me away if like a team at 30th overalls. Like they don't make

many of these. I'm just going to take them. You know, I mean, like draft. He's always weird.

It's always very weird. And we're looking forward to it a little over a month away from now.

One more there. Yeah. I know. It's crazy. I think we're like

worth and we're within 35 days. I think we're within five weeks now.

Pretty darn close. Yeah. It makes sense. One more for you, Matt. I would like to comp,

Carnell Tate to Jerry Rice. I mean, just have you sheen. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah.

And Fernando Mendoza is the next Peyton Manning.

Yeah. Those comps make me bonkers. We have gotten a ton of tweets today. Yesterday,

this week over the last few days, Matt, clear them out. I say we do. We're going to do the double

tweet segment here to close this thing down on a Thursday. We have got so many tweets to get to

about the Steelers, about the free agent free agency about draft picks. So we will knock those

out in our final two segments, tweet now or forever hold your peace. Not really because we'll

probably do tweets. We'll probably do tweets again tomorrow. But you get the gist. You know where to

get at us. If you want to get involved on the X Twitter at Wesley Euler at Williamson NFL.

I am West Euler. He is Matt Williamson. This is the drive Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers

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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 on this Thursday. I guess we're in the time now where it's no longer

the afternoon. It's now the evening. And with that, we are going to get two tweets early and

often here for these final two segments. We have got a dozen at least of these things

backlogged. And so that doesn't mean we have to rush through them, but we're going to do two

awful lot of time. We'll give them a lot of time. And to credit to our our listeners slash

tweeters, you know, the people that participate in this. There's been there's a lot of times where I

think shows like you and I do just go to tweets or mail bags because it's easy low hanging fruit.

Yeah, yeah. I promise you if we were getting a bunch of tweets, but they were bad questions,

we wouldn't be going to it. You know, this is like you guys would do a great job of bringing up

interesting points and angles and would you rathers and either oars and have the same thing over

and over. When's Rogers going to start? Right. Exactly. Right. But it's a testament to all of you

that every single day I look at these and I'm like, man, we've got so many good ones. We can't

even get to them or do our best to catch up to some of that backlog here today. First one,

leading off is John, who shares with us a tweet from the NFL on Fox, basically with free agency

teams, each division who got better, who got worse. And Fox, Fox listed the Steelers is getting

worse, but the Ravens is getting better. And basically, John is like, can you guys explain this

to me how the Steelers worse, but the Ravens have gotten better? The only way I could excuse that

is the Steelers are right now worse at quarterback than they were. That would be my only thing.

There's no other position where they're worse, maybe left guard, but I mean, like across the

O line, they're not worse. Nope. The line's better. Wide receivers are bazillion time better running

back room. I think is at least the same. Or at least on the same tier. I don't think you can look at

it and be like, oh, they're running back room took a big step back, losing Kenny G, you know, maybe

somebody likes Pierre who played great last year than Dean. Sure. Okay. Or maybe you don't love

brisker or whatever, but we're nitpicking there. Exactly right. The only position as it stands today

is they're not as good a quarterback as when we lost last saw them on the field. I think we

talked about this yesterday. Hendrixson's great. I don't know if the Ravens are better. I definitely

lost so much. They lost so much. They lost their offensive line was already an issue. Yeah,

they lost their best line. Right. Yeah. Don't I I I look from a Steelers standpoint, if you're

just viewing it through the quarterback lens, I could understand it. I don't know how you could

kind of convince yourself that the Ravens right are better, but hey, like hypothetical if Roger's

signed a minute from now and Fox put this out tomorrow and they still were worse. I'd be like,

you're not. I mean, what are you talking about? Right, right. Andrew tweets and says the wide receiver

room finally has two capable two good wide receivers, but feels very thin after. How would you

ideally fill out the rest of the room? Everything. I would add a wide receiver with certainly one of

those five picks in the top 100. You be malpractice not to and then maybe another one on on day three.

Yes. Yes. I mean, I would even again, subject to change. Just I'm not chiseling this in stone.

More and more, I like O line in round one receiver and round two and you could even convince me

take another receiver in the third round. You got three picks in the third round. I'm torn between

two guys in the second round and they're both still there. I might take about. Yes. Especially

they're different. If it's brazil and birds, you don't want to be like that. Yeah, one bigger body,

one smaller body, one boundary, one more slotty, one more. Yeah, it can be a returner. And I bet in

the fourth round, when we when we disperse on Friday night and come back Saturday for the last day

to draft, I bet we'll be like, there's still five receivers. I really, really like, you know,

that series of two fourth round picks, too, by the way. Right. Right. We're going to get down.

Twelve in total. Yeah. So I would probably draft two in some capacity. Yes. Even one of them

is a six rounder. You know, and then you go, you go, you go DK, you go Pittman, you go two rookies,

you go Roman Wilson, Ben's chronic in that conversation. I mean, then all the sudden you feel like

you've got some real, yeah, some real types. Then you could still even get a three million dollar

veteran type guy to, right? Totally. Christopher tweets Matt has spoken plenty about drafting an

offensive lineman that might start at guard and then bump out to left tackle. But it feels like

right tackle candidates are the one dominating this draft class. Yeah. Any chance Faltanu who played

left tackle in college could move over in a potential future first or potential future right tackle

is the pick this year with the classes strengths. It's a fair question. It's a real fair question.

I don't think they're going to want to continue to do that moving their tackles from side to side

thing. Yeah, I agree. I mean, it would be a something you do after this year. I mean, Faltanu is

your right tackle this year no matter what. I mean, you're not asking to change now, no matter what

happens in the draft. His draft class is the perfect example, though. There were a lot of really

good tackles in that draft. Latham, Alt, Flaude, I mean, there was a ton of them. The fact that the

Steelers got him as late as they were. And almost every one of them changed sides. They're looking

here, including Troy. Yes. I mean, true. Alt, Alt's like the prototypical left tackle, but they

had Slater. They said you're going right. You're going right. Side. Yeah. So it's become more and more

common. Not to mention the responsibilities of right verse left is way more the same than it used

to be. It used to be you run behind the right guy. The left guy's protection quarterback. The right

guy has to pass block against TJ Watt now. You know, but still it's an adjustment. I don't like

moving guys around. I don't think that helped Broderick's career. Troy to his credit did it very well,

but he was also injured his entire look a year and could probably just think through the mindset

of a right tackle. And deep down, I don't ever want to move him. I want him to be Lane Johnson.

It just be like the best right tackle and league for 10 years and just never worry about any Johnson.

Right. Yeah. Lock it down. Yeah. Yeah. So if they draft someone that's more right tackle oriented,

I keep getting that blowback with I anchored, you know, like, but he's a right tackle. I mean,

I'm like, yeah, you're for night. I might not be. Yeah. It's exactly right. Here's a name too

that we have not brought up in the first round of the Steelers. What do you think about Proctor?

Kate and Proctor. I think he is a very interesting conversation, especially as a left guard this

year, mash your face. Maybe stays there forever or maybe is your left tackle. So he's in that

equation for me. There's about four or five O'Lime and that I think he's in that conversation.

Yeah. He's such a unique body type. He is a massive human being. Yeah. Um, he's always been a

weird e-vow to me. And this is, I mean, you know, just equate him with the Steelers. And I just

wanted to at least put a name on the people's and people's tongue. It should be. You're right.

And I've told you, he's got, he had a really weird background. He was the number one player

his high school year from Iowa, originally committed to Iowa, but at the 11th hour,

decommitted and went to Alabama, spent a year at Alabama, transferred to Iowa, transferred

back to Alabama. That's like stranger. Yeah. Just strange. And he's always been in the spotlight

because as you can imagine, he stands out amongst NFL body types. Imagine what he was like when

he was 18, 19. Of course. I remember watching his, I think it was junior year. He was at, uh, you

know, playing like one of those academies or something. And he just, I mean, he looked, you know,

he looked like Lane Johnson playing against high schoolers. Like it was just unbelievable.

And he's not fat fat. No. He's just massive. He's just massive. So I don't know. He's just always

been, he's always been a guy that's tough. The pinpoint. I think that's the best way that I'd

put it. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on it. Wouldn't, wouldn't either. Certainly, especially

with all the offensive line minds that they have on that coaching staff now, you really think you

can coach this guy up and mold him into a, you see a perfect role for him. Yeah. He's a man

to it at guard first. Yeah. Cody tweets and says, starting to feel like the breadcrumbs,

breadcrumbs are leading the Steelers to drafting tie Simpson, uh, other than guard and maybe tackle,

there's not anything else. It's really glaring. I don't believe they will select, select Simpson,

but more and more, I don't think we can rule it out. I think that's well said. And I think

that's a really good reading of the breadcrumbs because they could. Sure. And you know, they option,

they want the options to we could take a guard slash tackle. We could take a wide receiver. We

could take a quarterback. We could take a safety. Yeah. I don't know what their feelings are on

Simpson. Um, I get the impressions that he's not for them at 21, but if he is, they could swing

it now. And you can still have a rest other needs for those four other picks. Totally. Another

Chris back to back, Chris is here. Chris G tweets and says, I know people love to say to mock drafts,

the player won't be there at that spot. We all know mock drafts are just for fun. Okay. But would

you guys take this one or spin again, Jordan Tyson pick 21, CJ Allen in the second round,

Kaelen Rutledge, Skyler Bell, Bud Clark in the third round. I think I would spin again.

I'd probably spin again, but that's good. I don't hate that. Yeah. I would accept it. But I,

I don't also, I'm not rushing to the podium to draft the linebacker with my second pick.

That's a part I didn't love. Yeah. Like I like CJ Allen, but and I don't think he will be there

in the second round. So I think that's why he took him, you know, I think that's why the BPA type.

Yeah. Yeah. I can't believe you're still available blah, blah, blah, blah, which,

which I don't hate that logic. No, I don't either. I'm sure that's why he mentioned it in the tweet.

And I think that'd be a fine draft. And if we get together on Monday, after draft,

and that's their first pick, so I'd be like, I get it. It's a good, it's a good draft. But I would

not grab it now. I wouldn't draw trade those five picks for those five players today.

Now, if you told me Jordan Tyson at pick 21, and then one of these Pregnon from Oregon or

being M dude, or I was just going to say, yeah, we were just let up best honest. That's right.

Right. Yeah. I really been Matt trying to nail down these names. It's a weakness of mine.

It's something we've been laughing at. Oh, it's coming when you get older.

If you give me wide receiver at 21 Pregnon or Bistonus at, at, at second round, I'd be very

interested. If you give me venga at 21, and then one of these wide receivers, second round,

I'd be very interested. Yeah. I don't know that any of those on taking now, though, because I think

those are very, those are kind of the bar. Yes. I think that's probably what will happen. Yes.

Annie tweets us and says, do you see the Steelers making any moves in the draft to parlay some of

this year's picks into picks next year? Yes. And will you guys consider any mock drafts where you

make trades and that happens? Thanks. Yes. And yes. Yes. And yes. I think it'll be harder to do

than ever, because the whole league, every source you took you to listen to once next year's picks.

And they're just not going to be real excited to give them up, especially the teams that don't have

Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and clear cut franchise quarterbacks. And even those guys want

the wide outs, I guess, that are coming out. I mean, everybody just talks about it's an amazing

draft and even just non-quarterbacks. But one of the advantages, and this was very true,

obviously, going to the Tomlin era, but it's still, I think, very, very true with this organization,

is there's always five to ten teams who seats are a little warm and aren't so worried about

next year's picks because they may not be here if they don't hit. And those are the teams that

are active, right? Exactly. Right. Yep. Yep. Yep. I think I referenced this tweet earlier. When we

were talking about JJ McCarthy at the start of the show in the quarterback situation there in

Minnesota, but Cody tweets and says, would you guys trade a late pick for JJ McCarthy if he

becomes available? He said, I don't love the idea, but new environment chance to potentially

set under Aaron Rogers and learn would have me intrigued. Yeah. And we did talk about this.

I don't know if we talked about it enough through the steel or lens. We had a really long first

segment just going around the league and whatnot. I would never object for any team to do that for

McCarthy, Richardson, even if you have borough or Lamar, because you might hit, you know, I mean,

it wasn't long ago that they were sought after. I never thought McCarthy was not high on my list,

but I would have given you a fifth round pick for him coming out of Michigan. You know,

I mean, you know, I mean, right. So maybe I don't like that style of car, but I'll still give you

two grand for it when it was worth 20, you know, and drive it anyway. It doesn't mean you're married to

I just don't know where one more quarterback fits in this room. Because again, it goes the same

to the conversation, but you take nuts and the third. Exactly right. Right. Right. And the answer

always is if you really, if you study them to the degree they do, which is more than us, and the

answer is you'd love the dude. Well, then yes, the answer is definitely yes. If you're,

and that'd be kind of nice. And probably maybe not this year. Matt, this

tweet comes from longtime fan recent co-host Wesley Yuler. Yeah. Would you rather

Nuss or JJ McCarthy? Let's let's let's let's Nuss. And I'm not going to say like one for a third,

one for just right or rather have on the roster in July in Latrobe. And what you just said crossed

my mind, because like right this minute to me, Nuss is worth more than McCarthy. Yes. Yes. And

it's a whole burden. The hand burden, you know, door number two, go fish conversation. Yep. Like

you, if you offered the Vikings the pick, it would take the Nuss. I'm sure they'd take it.

You couldn't get Nuss with the pick. It would, you could get McCarthy. Correct.

But if you loved McCarthy more than you loved Nuss two years ago, and you don't let

the NFL film sway you too bad, there's it's a good conversation. Yeah. Who is it? If they both hit,

who's better? Oh, Nuss. I don't know. I always thought JJ McCarthy had a little bit of just

a inherent ceiling. Yeah. He's not the biggest friend. I don't think either one can be

judged out the most. Like McCarthy kind of always struck me as the jack of all trades, but master

of none. Mm hmm. I guess it wasn't a huge glaring weakness, but you also don't look at him and go,

wow, he's got an incredible arm. Wow. He's crazy. Accurate. Wow. He's six foot six. Wow. His

athleticism is off the charts. It really bothered me. They're winning national titles and he's thrown

into 11 times against good teams sometimes too. It wasn't like they were second half of Penn State.

I think he threw once. Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn't like they were blowing out little sisters of the

poor. And you know, he finishes with 11 attempts because they won 48 to nothing. Right. At Penn State.

Exactly. Right. Exactly. Right. For all those reasons, I'd rather take Richardson.

Like if all those kind of options, I of those three, if you throw Richardson into the conversation,

I would, I would agree. Right. Because he just again, he has the most just raw ability, things you

can't coach. And he might just get hurt every year all the time and oh, well, I threw a draft

pick away. Okay. That's worst case scenario. You know, that could happen. Let's do one more here

before we take our final break. Sudez tweets and says happy Thursday. My guys two very important

questions. Number one, has our bourbon savant tried eagle rare? Of course. Eagle rare is one of the

bourbon world so weird. It used to be like when I was in, I don't know when I was 25, there was like

buffalo trace, blantons, eagle rare. They were always on PA shells. And then there was like this

bourbon craze. A lot of our listeners know better than me. And the price of all that stuff went crazy.

And went from 30 bucks to 100 bucks. Yeah, like 20 to 80 years. I don't know. Yeah. So

back in the day, it was a treat. And it was like, oh, this is good. But now people act like it's

like gold. And I don't think it's changed. And I know it's a weird world. And I don't go down that

road very often. Just the demand went way up. Yeah. And a couple of the real good ones that were

nice bargains then got like overpriced all of a sudden. Sure. Right. Like they're, they're

Alec Pierce. Matt, that's like me with concert posters, dude. Okay. They were collectible.

You go into my basement. And I have probably 15 different concert posters hanging on the walls.

And I used to be able to get them for $4 at vintage stores. Or if I went to a show where I wanted

to get a poster, I could buy it from the merch stand walking out after the show. So I didn't

have to have it with me the whole time. So you don't want this mangle it during the show.

Now if you're going to see Billy Strings or you're going to see Bruce Springsteen,

you better walk in the doors the second they open and go right to the to the merch table.

And you're still in your, and you're still in a battle for a poster. And the resale market is

crazy. I'm like, where were all you jerks 10 years ago? Huh? Paul Schien's Bobblehead nights or

whatever. Bobbleheads is another great example. It's still a $5 product. Why are we making lines

all across the Climeni Bridge for one? Get at it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Beanie Babies. Second one from Sudesha's. Do you both still laugh at the movie Tommy Boy like

you're watching it for the first time? Absolutely. Pretty much. Yeah. Fat guy in a little coat. Yeah.

He's pretty much a genius. Oh, yeah. Unbelievable. Always makes me think a wolf too. Wolf loved

Chris Farley. And I could see why some character. First of hers. That person. Yeah. Right.

Personality's that wolf used to love a good, a good Chris Farley. It's great. It's too.

Oh, fantastic. It's, it's, it's excellent. And, um, what's his name? The good looking guy?

Rob Lowe. Rob Lowe. Yeah. Mr. NFL hat when he's, when he's sitting at the San Francisco 49ers

games. Wait before time. But if you ever see the young blood, I did see young boy hockey movie.

Yeah, he was like 16 good looking. Yeah. You ever seen, you ever see beats him up?

You ever seen mystery Alaska? No, but I know it's a good hockey movie from that like that hero.

Yeah. Now every time you and I have these conversations, I want to just go home and watch

seven movies and grow all these old classics. There's a big dent into the tweet. But wait,

there's more. And we will close this thing down on the other side to put a bow on the day's

operations. Yulor Williamson. 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

is drafting this year, you do know your watch party's number one pick. Bud Light,

the clean crisp taste that has all the scouts talking. Guess that's why it's been the groups go

to draft beer season after season. Be sure to order around for the table before your teams

on the clock. Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly and has her

Bush Bud Light beer St. Louis, Missouri.

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

Final segment of the day here on the drive. And we will close this thing down by continuing to get

more of your questions, comments, concerns and reactions via the X Twitter. Matt, let's roll

along RJ tweets and says, fellas, we need our weekly mock draft segment. Love the roster building

process and all the moving parts that go into it. You guys do a great job covering all the bases.

Thank you, RJ. And guess what, Matt? Tomorrow, we'll do our weekly mock draft segment.

You know what I want to do soon? Yeah. Hit me. And it could be tomorrow. Sometimes we put

rules on these mocks, too. I was thinking maybe we'll do back to back mocks, make them super

quick. Don't talk them out too much. The first one, we have to go O line wide receiver. The second

one, we have to go wide receiver O line. And see what's there. And then see what you do in the

third round accordingly. I like that. And then maybe any time. Maybe eventually we do one where

you can't take an offensive lineman or a wider. We are going to do those things, right? Like you

have to take somebody other than those two positions and see what, especially when you do the whole

draft, when you get it, when you start doing like, and you look at the draft at the end, it's like

if you're fantasy draft, like, and I took that tight end the first round. And now I got nothing.

That's those those again, those exercises, they're always fun, just for kind of painting a

picture and and team through this stuff. Absolutely. You know, like they talk through it.

Matthew tweets us and says, how do I like this one? How do you guys measure whether a first round

pick is good or bad? For example, if a player never makes a pro bowl, do they are, do you consider

them a miss, etc? What parameters do you put on that? That's a really good question. A first round

pick. Yes. I guess I don't have rules. You better be a starter. Like mine was going to be if

you pick up the fifth year option. But I also realized that might be a little like lender bomb

didn't that's the, but that's also the rare. That's a one percent. That's kind of like like if they

are a no brainer, sign them to a second contract, I think that's a good first round pick.

Probably the easiest way to do it. Yeah. If you want to extend it, if you get to year four,

and it's like, we don't want this guy to go anywhere. We want to keep him around. That to me

means it was a good pick. Yeah. Cause I can't even think of a position where you just want to

rent them for that long or whatever, you know? Right. Maybe if you're a super bowl contending team

and you add a running back and he's really good for you for three or four years. And then he looks

like he's hitting a wall and he doesn't want to pay me like one of the best on Lee. Right.

Kenneth Walker. Kenneth Walker. But he wasn't a first round pick. But if he had been a first round

pick, it's still successful. They let him walk. They won the Super Bowl. They would take him 10

picks later and you end up being around one. That's still a success. But overall, I like your

parameters best. I just want to extend it. Maybe tells you no. Right. And maybe it's a lender bomb

situation. The fifth year numbers way too high. And then he ends up pressing it. But if you

would say, Oh, yeah, no doubt, we would love to resign that guy. I think that's kind of a pretty

good indicator. You could two contracts out of a player in today's NFL first round or whatever

is a success. Now that's not the same for a fifth round or a fifth rounder might be a core special

teamer for four years. And you send him on your way. And then you're it still is a good pick.

May Joan R tweets us. That's not like trying to sneak in some naughty name or anything. Is it?

We've gotten a lot of tweets from me. Okay. I'm not saying it's not true, but

you know, I'm like in one of those minds. Like, you know, is this is this a see more butts type joke

from me here. Our friend Anita. Yes. Big shout out to Dale.

May tweets us and says, feel like the order of operations and your guys draft segments is off.

The obvious value economic analytic pick at 21 is wide receiver. You guys are given way too much

love to the guards. The obvious economic pick is quarter back or tackle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I see what's being asked because if you if Pierce cost me 25 million on the open market.

But I think the wider see markets also skewed right now because

if I can get pitman for a seventh round pick or Pierce for 25 million a year

or I can every year get a receiver on day two. Like the Packers did for like Rodgers whole career

there or the Steelers did all throughout that career for the most part. I just don't ever.

Tackles are different. You know, like you have to take one in round one or you have to fish in

a horrible free agent market where there's no groceries on the shelves and they're all expensive.

Receivers. They're still you can always find a different avenue and I know it didn't happen

here for a while. This is not this is the worst city to talk about it because we went

I you can always. We've been starving for a few years. Right.

But I hear what you're saying. All alignment are premium though. And guards are even a little

underpaid at the moment. I understand. Look at them and they think they're in the lender bomb.

Right. I mean, that's that's pretty good value. Yes. Yes. Jeff tweets and says in my opinion,

the linebackers have been a little underwhelming the past few seasons. Not awful, but also not up

to what we would want for the standard. How would you guys not Jack Ham? Not Jack Ham. Agreed.

Not a yes. Not a potsy. Not James Ferry. How would you guys rate it? And would you consider

taking a linebacker earlier than expected? Maybe rounds two or three. Jeff says I love Jacob

Rodriguez and think he would be a great fit. I love Jacob Rodriguez too. On my other show today,

we did. Who's someone in that could sneak in the round one that no one ever saw coming? Jacob

Rodriguez. What don't we like about him now? I mean, he makes every play and he's tested off the

charts. You know, I think a lot of years he could be LB1 in the draft. Maybe the league just looks

at it like I don't know what you guys are all thinking, but he's he makes every play and he's

super great to turn over every game. Yeah. Yeah. They'd use them on offense in the red zone as a

tight end fullback H back like you just yeah. I agree that yeah, little underwhelming not awful

the linebacker play, but a little underwhelming. Yeah. I would also say that through the scope of

I think that's how most teams in the NFL feel. Linebackers and offensive lineplay right now across

the league feels a little underwhelming. Yes. It definitely is like if we were to do the top 10

off of all linebackers walking the planet right now, it's way worse than it was when I was a kid

or 15 years ago. I mean, you used to always be Erlac or Lewis. You know, there'd be Willis and

Keekley and Wagner. There's always five studs that are Hall of Fame caliber type dudes and Wagner

doesn't count anymore and you know, not at 36 and Warner's the only guy that just Warner's the only

one now that's a matter of what generation he's one of the best in the league. So this is kind of a

league wide problem. I understand what you're saying, but it is a good linebacker draft and if in

the second round they took Rodriguez, I'd understand. You know, I mean, around two or three pick,

I would be a, I wouldn't predict it, but I would understand it. I guess that makes sense. You know,

it does. Yeah. But they got three guys under contract that they like and I'm so rough on hairs.

He's going to find me in like training camp. Like, you know what? You would call for me to get caught

for six weeks. He's going to come up and be like, I'm still here. Right. They never, they love me.

Another one. All of our favorites are in the fold today. I love it. Another one of our

favorites, smooth Dave tweets and says starting caliber safeties feels like starting caliber safeties

are available every year in free agency and don't cost much money. With that being said, would it be

roster building malpractice to draft Dylan Thiniman in round one? Maybe. Maybe. Like, this is one of

those like Omar might sit here with us and say, you guys are crazy. I'm not taking a safety in

round one. I think there's a good chance you won't take it running back in round one. Right.

I think there's a good chance he would that he would be saying those words like great player.

Is he one of the top 21 players in the strapped? Sure. But if I can again, if one of them,

if okay, I guess this is the best way to put it. What did brisker cost? He's like one year,

four million, five million. Sounds about right. Let's say five million round number. And I think

he's worth five million. He didn't get it. If he's one year, five million, what does brisker

cost if he's a tackle? It's like one year, twenty eight million Dan Moore, Jr. He's better than

Dan Moore. But yes, you know what you're saying? Yeah. And if the equivalent of brisker

was a true free agent on the market for anyone to sign, he'd be at least two years,

fifty million. At least probably sixty. And that's kind of answers the whole question right there.

You know, and I must say they have to tackle in round one. That's the obvious example.

Man, we got so many. And a lot of it's also scheme related. I mean, if you if you need your

safeties to be studs or you ask a lot from them, well, then you're going to pay them more than

the other teams. You know, we got we got through most of them. We got like two or three tweets

left here and we only have about 60 seconds. Matt asks us a really good one about the profile

of draft quarterbacks changing. I want to save that for tomorrow because that's a good one from

Matt. So this quickie from Ian to get us out of here. Do you guys have a favorite place in the

city for a Friday fish fry? No, but I wish I did. And I should take advantage of that more. I mean,

this city is probably as good as any in the world for it. Unbelievable. Yeah. There's probably

something that I could walk to in my house and I just don't take enough advantage of it. Yeah.

I'd like them and appreciate them. And yeah, I love the St. Killian's Parish. They do a fantastic

one man. I love freedom farms there. They have a farm to table restaurant and they do an incredible

fish fry. But you're right. Everybody in Pittsburgh has their spots. They're all amazing.

Right. It's like an art. It's like, where should I go and Buffalo for good wings? Yeah. Everybody

has their favorite, but there's a dozen places you can go that are going to knock your socks.

Good pizza in New York. Right. Sabara. Great questions today. We got there most of them one or two

that we'll hold over until tomorrow. And I'm sure we'll get plenty more tweets between now and then

as well. Great stuff today. Big fun show plan for you tomorrow. We'll have our weekly mock draft.

Maybe one or two if Matt has his say about it. And we will talk to Hall of Famer Super Bowl champion

Jack Ham here on the drive on Friday. But that will do it for us today. Big thanks to Nate Dog,

Nathan on the ones and twos. Mr. TV on the video side of things and the bourbon Savant himself,

Matt Williamson. I am West Euler. Take care, everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow. As always,

you know where to find us. It's on your 24 seven home of the black and gold Steelers Nation Radio

on the Steelers Audio Network. We see you. Your calendars color coded your outfit for tomorrow is

already laid out. You have everything in top of where labeled in your fridge. You buy in bulk.

You meal prep. You know what you're doing in 2027. You're a planner. And we're here to say you

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