DK’s Double Shot of Steelers: The inside sense

DK’s Double Shot of Steelers: The inside sense

[Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey guys, Dan Kvachovic of DK Pittsburgh Sports here back home in Pittsburgh for another double shot of Steelers. I was out on the west coast in Seattle specifically for the weekend covering the Pirates and all zero of their runs that they managed to squeeze out against the Mariners. Wow. I mean, wow. It’s hard not to take that personally. I mean, all they did across the river here was score a billion runs, win every game they played. I go out to Seattle to cover them and it’s just But you want to know something? I ran into a couple of uh a couple of people who are viewers, listeners, readers of the content that we produce and they were talking about Seattle and they were talking about a Pittsburgh team that played out there not that long ago. But it reminded me that it wasn’t, you know, what, just a year and a half since the New Year’s Eve game that the Steelers had against the Seahawks. A lot of people were still remembering specific plays from that game, especially the one where Mason Rudolph stood in the pocket, the Seahawks just completely collapsed on him and he puts up this seeming prayer and it’s somewhere up in the air, like really high up in the air, like higher than that 12th man section it seemed like. And man, he just got rid of that ball. That’s all he did. The press box at U Lumen Field is in that direction. So, it feels almost like he’s throwing it toward the reporters and it goes way up way way way up and you’re looking at George Pickkins down there and just because it’s George, you’re thinking to yourself, you know, there’s actually a chance that this football is going to be caught by human hands. And sure enough, somehow George gets it done and the Steelers go on to win that game. Mason threw two whole incompletions out of the 20 passes that he threw. Only 152 yards and a touchdown, but the efficiency was what really mattered there because the defense did the job. The running game really did the job. Naji Harris and Jaylen Warren both just a wonderful wonderful W that allowed you to believe in that team even to an extent going up into Buffalo. So what we’re going to ask you today this is a little bit different is in light of the many moves that have been made. There have been many and they have been significant. Is this a better football team? And I have a reason for bringing this up too. There is a sentiment within that headquarters over there within those four walls that this is a very good team. Now, could that just be, hey, you know, you’re in there and you’re feeling like you’re part of the group and everything else and you know, and you’re all you’re all stoked and we believe and we believe. Yeah, sure. Of course it can. But that’s not the impression I’m getting. The impression I’m getting is they feel like they’ve really got something. Now, can all of that get blown up by an injury or whatever else? Sure. But they feel like they’ve really got something. And what I want to ask you guys today, I’m going to be asking Chris Hock after this break as well, is if so, if they did get better, and I would imagine most of us will agree that they did, how much better uh better enough to be a real thing in the AFC? uh better enough that they can finally elevate themselves above that conversation. And you know the one where it’s just oh yeah it’s the Steelers, they start strong and whatever. Yeah, just wait till December and you’ll see how they’ll they’ll fall apart. We’re going to talk about that today and you can end up taking this specifically wherever it is that you want. But the idea that this football team is better enough to really become something, that’s a fun way I’ I’d think to get back into this week. So when we come back, Chris will join us. 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Go to www.dazzleheyports.com. Dazzle Sports is not just a store. It’s where sports memories come to life. I’m joined by Chris. Hi, Chris. Hey, what’s going on? How was your trip in Seattle? I’m feeling it in the right shoulder here. This It’s the red eyee that does it. Yeah. Uh I’m grateful for the Alaska Airlines non-stop. I think a lot of us are. Mhm. Uh, we went 20 years without a flight to Seattle from Pittsburgh directly. And to be able to go there, what a place, man. I have yet to go. I’ve never been to Seattle. Oh. Oh, you’re you’re in for a you’re in for a treat here. The boss went for the first time. Nice. And I don’t even want to tell you what she had to say about it because it it’s it’s it’s it’s gross the stuff that she had to say. One thing in particular about possibly wanting to move there. Like, get out of here. My wife’s been there before. She that was one of her many many stops and during her Navy days and uh that was one of her favorite places that she visited. Uh that includes other countries as well. So yeah. Oh yeah. I’ve heard good things within the United States of America. For me it’s a top three. It it really is along with along with Pittsburgh and San Francisco. Um it’s just got it’s so much personality, so much identity to it. And you want to know what’s funny? For those of us who who date as far back as the Steelers playing the Seahawks in the Super Bowl in the in the in the Jerome Bowl up in Detroit. Yeah. That city’s sports fans in general have really become a more serious thing. Oh yeah. It it is it because back then it wasn’t. Back then it was like, yeah, they’re just, you know, Steelers fans, they’re really into that stuff. Like we like the Seahawks and whatever, but it’s changed. It’s changed. I mean, the 12th man, I I don’t think that that’s a that’s just some sort of thing that they just Oh, yeah. We got No, it’s it’s a it’s a legit thing. It that they have a real homefield advantage in Seattle. And they built it so cleverly into Lumen Field. It’s like a it’s like a triangle shape for anybody. I don’t if you can if you pick it up on TV, there’s a triangle shape to this seating section with the city’s skyline. It’s It’s up the hill, but you can still make it out there on some of the camera shots. It’s right next to where the Pirates were scoring zero runs. So, I had a chance to walk past there a couple of times. And just a wonderful, wonderful city in general for professional sports. And now that they have the NHL with the Kraken, we’re going there with the Penguins every year. Yeah. And a a dude at uh at the at the baseball park was telling me, a guy who would know that I guess they’re trying to get the NBA back since they lost the Sonics to wherever. Where did they go? Memphis or something? Uh Oklahoma City, I think. Oklahoma City. So this the Sonics I I guess in some form or other Seattle supposed to be getting an NBA team and it would be in the same place is where the the Kraken are playing up by the needles. So yeah, really really neat place. Yeah. football and whether or not this is a good or better enough is the term I’ve been using football team based on the moves that have been made. I’ll ask you like washing the slate clean here, Chris. Is it a better football team than it was in 2024? Oh, yeah. I don’t think that’s that’s really much of a question. Um I mean you could look at you could break it down position by position. Obviously, uh they are are better better at quarterback than they were last year. Um not only because, you know, of of pedigree, but also fit um with what Arthur Smith wants to do on offense. Um Aaron Rodgers, what what Arthur Smith wants to do. That is not foreign territory to Rogers whatsoever. Um no, it’s not Aaron Rogers MVP version, but it’s better than Russell Wilson or Justin Fields last year. Uh, but then you add Johnny Smith to the mix, man, if they can stay on schedule, they can pretty much live out of 12 personnel on first and second down and just have have the advantage over the defense in so many ways. Uh, if they uh really really play their cards right, um, defensively, obviously, cornerback is a huge strength now. Uh, having Jaylen Ramsey in the mix. Uh, edge rusher still very, very strong. the linebacker is probably now maybe no safety is probably the the the weakest position, but linebacker all of a sudden even though it’s a pretty strong position with Patrick Queen and Peyton Wilson and Cole Hulcom and Malik Harrison like that might be one of the weaker positions on the entire defense and that’s saying something because I think linebacker is a pretty good position. So yeah, I was going to say I didn’t think of it as a weakness. I I as a weakness, but when you look at the other positions like edge rusher and corner and even defensive tackle, they’ve really reloaded through the draft. It’s like it’s kind of down the totem pole now that quarterback’s a a major strength having Ramsay in the mix. So, I I I think it’s on paper a much much better football team. Is it a Super Bowl contender yet? I don’t know if I want to go there, but can this team win a playoff game? I think it’s actually within reason. Well, here I come with some water. All right. Like like a bucket. Okay. I I can accept what you’re saying on the defensive side of the ball. I you know, listen, if you’re talking about free safety, that’s not really that much of a of a concern. Okay. We’re talking about a center field type safety and they of course still have time to add depth or maybe even reinforce the starting role at the safety position. There is there’s ample opportunity to do that. on the other side of the ball. And I’ve already seen a couple of people here in our in our chat bring up Brick Jones, bring up the offensive line. Yeah. Uh I’ll throw another one in. I understand that we are all, myself included, reasonably excited about Caleb Johnson. Okay. Mhm. And that is likely to increase many times over once we actually see him moving around the field with a football in Latroe and then into the preseason games. All right. So, still with the water here. We have no idea. Yeah. We have no idea. He’s never done it in the NFL. We don’t know what his weaknesses might be in an NFL setting. We don’t know what his weaknesses might be relative to this offensive line. For this team to become, let me rephrase that, for this offense to become what you just said, Chris, earlier, which is to be able to capitalize on um exerting their will. Okay, that is the the Arthur Smith MO. For them to be able to do that, all of it has to start up front. It can’t be an Aaron Rogers thing. It can’t be a DK Metaf thing. It can’t be a 77 75 tight ends thing. It has to start up front and it has to include the running backs. I trust one of the running backs right now. It doesn’t mean that I no hopes for Caleb, okay? But I know one of them and I can trust one of them and I don’t know enough about the offensive line. We can all say just give you a small example here because nobody ever brings this up. We all assumed that Troy Fanu is exactly what we saw that day in Denver. And part of that, and I’m gonna I’m gonna say this as it relates to me and you and people who are in our profession, comes from just communicating with Troy. He’s so composed, so mature, and he was like that the night he was drafted. There was just you just it it was like dealing with an eight-year vet. So, you think that he can be that guy? You watch him do what he did in Denver, but he didn’t have a chance to get exposed yet. He didn’t have a chance to have his weaknesses and flaws picked apart. He didn’t have a chance to uhoh that one move that guy was putting on him. He didn’t have his Greg Rouso day, right? Okay. that Broad had that it whatever it was that Russo did to him, whether it was confidence-wise, whether it was technical or whatever, he did it and everyone saw it and everyone feasted afterward. For anybody who doesn’t know what I’m talking about with Russo, that was a preseason game. Or was it was it even a game or was it a practice? That’s pre It was a preseason game. Okay. Preseason game against the Bills and Russo just just Oh, boy. I don’t even want to Yeah. But if you look at where he is now, he’s still in essence recovering from that. There’s a long way to go, Chris, on that side of the ball. That’s all I’m saying for me. That that’s the thing that that should keep anybody from going, “Whoa, hang on a second.” You know? Well, that and that’s why I I’m not going out going, you know, coming out here and saying, “Oh, yeah, this is a Super Bowl team now.” any because it is the biggest wild card because if that offensive line is about as effective as it was last season, this is probably a team that can win 10 or 11 games, you know, because shoot, they won 10 games last year. Um, but you would think there’s going to be some, you know, growth from Zack Frasier and Mason McCormack. And yes, Falanu only got to play what was it, 55 snaps last year, how, you know, however. Yeah. All on one day, right? um you would still think that even having a year of being in an NFL um you know getting to go to meetings and being part of a team and seeing you know going through the at least that process you’re not going through it mentally obviously not being able to go through it physically is still going to help he’s still going to be in a better position he’s not going to be having at the way Mason McCormack uh described it during mini camp was had to do so much thinking as a rookie you know and that mental part of it is at least not as much of a hurdle for any of those year 2 guys. If they take a gigantic step forward altogether, this everything changes. Now all of a sudden you’re looking at a team that could pot I think I put it in our Steelers feed if this team last year averaged like six more yards per carry. We’re not talking about getting up into the fives or anything like that. Like 4.7 yards per carry. They would have been a top five rushing team last year. And so just be a little bit better. Just just grow a little bit. You don’t have to we don’t have to see this offensive line become a top five unit in the in the league. If they can become a top 12 top shoot, man, just be in the top half. Yeah, it would make a big difference, especially when it comes to yards per carry as opposed to just doing it because you run the ball a thousand times a game, right? Uh Matt said, “Who’s the best Steeler to ever wear number 57?” He comes in with a $5.70 contra 70 contribution to celebrate this question. My reflex goes and I have a wild reflex when it comes to Steelers numbers. Like I just think of them instantly and the first one that came to mind was Mike Marweather. One of those old school uh inside linebackers here. Uh Matt says, “My birthday was Saturday and I’m now 57.” Well, happy birthday. I need the community’s help. Love the show and you all. We love you right back. You do know that. Um, but I also have to throw in there that that was Mon Adams’s number. So, you know, Monadams that, you know, there’s some recency bias there. Uh, much love for man Adams, by the way. What a just a what what a dude. Uh, let’s see who who do we have here. I see Sam Davis here from John Jubac. That’s that’s uh going back a little bit. The first uh guy that came to my mind, I’m not saying he’s the best, but the first guy that came to mind was Kieran Fox. or 57. I don’t remember. I don’t know why I remember that, but that’s who that’s where my brain went. Okay. Yeah, I don’t know about that. Um, no. John Glink says, “All this talk about having Medaf in the offense, I don’t know, guys. Is Medaf really Oh, DK. Okay, he’s being funny. Is he in NFL shape?” This one is not. This one, this one is suffering from a stupid overnight redeye flight redeye flight from across a continent that shouldn’t affect anybody. That’s uh especially if you do a whole lot of flying like uh like we do here. Uh Gerald Williams is a good one to bring up here, including the correct spelling here from Steeltown of Gerald’s first name. I I respect that. That’s good stuff here. Uh George Brownfield says, “I used to see him and some of the other H.B.CU CU Steelers uh in the 70s getting soul food from Dolphies in Mason Town. Mason Town has soul food. That That’s the craziest thing that we’re going to hear on this show all day. Mason Town is in the like the southern edge of Pennsylvania. And uh Okay, maybe he’s referring to another Mason town. I don’t know. Hm. Uh, Robert Freeman says, “I feel really bad about Dave Parker not living to see his day in the hall.” With that in mind, do you think the Steelers should start retiring numbers, especially Terry Bradshaw, you know, if you’re going to have those conversations and they don’t they haven’t started retiring, they wouldn’t be starting. There are two numbers that are retired. Um, three you who’s the third? Uh Ernie Stelner, Joe Green, and Franco Harris. Oh, Franco. Yeah. Okay. I just I was so used to saying two for the longest time. Okay. Yeah. Franco, of course. Yeah. Um Ratchaw just needs to shut up. Do you see his stuff about Chuck Null over the weekend? Like, dude, it’s been 50 years. Okay. How long’s Chuck been gone? Yeah. Leave him alone. You know, there’s something I couldn’t even open it. something something Bradshaw says null was not a nice person. Shut up. Yeah. You know, there’s just there’s just nothing that this guy won’t say to call attention to himself in in any context. And you know, I don’t even know that. Did he did he come to to Chuck’s funeral? I honestly don’t know. That’s actually worth that’s actually worth a quick type here on the screen here. Brad Jerry Bradshaw, make it to Chuck Null’s funeral. Let’s see what it says here. Carol says it right here. Terry Bradshaw is never going to shut up. He’s a talker. No. Terry Bradshaw did not attend Chuck Null’s funeral. He was in he was present in Pittsburgh the day after Null’s passing, but did not attend the funeral. Just shut up. Okay. You know, you won the championships together. You had a massive role in that. You have a case still to this day for the greatest quarterback in franchise history. Immense respect here to Ben in that capacity obviously. Okay. But come on. You know the barber says you must have forgotten that I m I did not. I did not. I knew exactly who I was talking to. I know all of your various aliases on here, Mr. Barber. And yeah, what was the line about Bradshaw that he couldn’t spell cat if you spotted him? The C and the A. Well, that’s funny. You’ve never heard that one? No. No. Yeah. Yeah. I just It had been a minute since I had heard it, but yeah, I remember that one now. Wild Bill says that Brad Show was Scottie Pippen and the other 21 were Jordans. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. No. Sorry. I mean, I can say all kinds of stuff about him and his personality, but you are not taking away what he did on the field. There’s a there there’s a reason why um you know like we I think we had even talked about it a couple of weeks ago. you know, those defenses in the 70s were were insane. And then the Mel Blunt rule gets passed. And then the Steelers were like, “All right, well, if you’re going to take that away from what we can do on the defensive side of the ball, now we’re going to start shredding you on the offensive side because now we can use our quarterback who’s got a cannon for an arm to be able to hit Lin Swan and John Stalworth down the field since they can’t get it.” Opened things up and that I mean those last two Super Bowls they won in the 70s were won differently than the first two won. first two were one. The best thing to me that you could say about about Brad Shaw, not so much in the context of the Steelers, but in the context of the league at the time, was that there were there were fewer than a handful of guys at the quarterback position who were guys. Mhm. Okay. And he was one of them. Yep. It’s not like today where I don’t know how many people you would consider in the NFL right now to be guys at quarterback, but it’s not four or five. I count only four. Yeah, that’s because it’s a different definition now, Chris. Everybody does respectfully here. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Because I can I can go back there. The the guys who were below the four and the five back then Yeah. weren’t, you know. Oh, it was a drop off. Matthew Stafford, right? Okay. Do do you follow me? Yeah. Okay. Bigger drop off. It was a way bigger drop off. Yeah. And and back I mean you’re talking about it was Brad Shaw and Roger Stack and Ken Stabler. Um and and these guys were so far above the rest of the quarterbacks and Brad Shaw was one of them. Oh god. Let’s get off this subject. See what he does though. And it works. It works. Uh, David brings us back. Says, “What’s your confidence level in the O line this year? Nothing matters unless those tackles can step up.” I I don’t want to limit the conversation to the tackles. No, I I I think that it it becomes more about their chemistry and how they work together. And by the way, if you have issues at left tackle or you have potential issues at left tackle, no, you don’t want to waste Darnell Washington and babysitting Broad over there. Uh Darnell doesn’t want to do that. Broad doesn’t want it. No. Okay. But you can you can find a way to fortify these things. Yeah. Well, the the number one thing that that this offensive line needs to needs to do this year is they really really need to become a cohesive unit in the run game. I’m not for all the the talk about needing to protect a 41-year-old quarterback and everything. I’m not honestly as worried about protecting Rogers as everybody else is. And that’s the reason why is because Rogers at this stage of his career gets rid of the ball very very quickly and he works most of the time in the quick game. Lot of stuff where he gets the ball three steps it’s out. And now that you have Pat Footh and Johnny Smith and Calvin Austin’s a good option out of the slot for it, he can just catch, you know, because a lot of times it’s gonna be pistol or shotgun. catch a ball, three steps, get rid of it. Not really worried so much about. Now, obviously, there are going to still going to be times in which they’ve got to protect and that’s where I start to get a little bit more concerned, but the the majority of the time that’s not going to be the case. The majority of time, the ball’s going to be out in two seconds. So, uh so the the biggest problem that broad has had is that he isn’t necessarily finishing blocks, right? And that becomes less of a thing if Rogers is but there are going to be plays you don’t get DK Metaf and then not want to extend the play, right? So there are going to be times when he’s going to be tasked with doing that. A massive man says, “Hey DK, do you think that the addition of John Smith means that the Steelers are out on picking up a WR2?” There is no correlation. No, there is I I cannot make this point strongly enough here. There is no correlation. you might see more of a distribution once the season starts, right, than you would have otherwise if Donald PM had remained healthy and he had been the other tight end target. Now, Massavan does say like a 1B WR2. Now, I do think that’s a little bit different because I don’t think the Steelers have to like if you’re like wanting the Steelers or expecting the Steelers to go into the season having a number one in DK Medaf and then having like a like you put a 1B like going to get Chris Ave. I don’t think that’s as likely now that they got Johnny Smith. Honestly, my money is on Gabe Davis. That’s that’s who I think they’re going to end up signing. I don’t think it’s going to be until later on once the knee is still even after there there was a visit. Well, that they had the visit and obviously Yeah. Well, obviously at the time they’re like, “Yeah, we’re not really comfortable with where the knee is right now, but we’ll come back around.” They’ve done this before where they’ve like brought a guy in for a visit. They weren’t comfortable with where with where things were at the time. Let’s revisit in a month or two months, however long, and then come back and show us the work you’ve done and the the buildup that you’ve created here. Keith Hadley says, “Are they a better passing team right now than last year?” See, that’s not easy either to answer. First off, very It’s not just that it’s a different quarterback in terms of a person, but Aaron Rogers is very different than either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. So any of the stuff that you liked about those two guys last year doesn’t apply here. The other part is as Chris would complain incessantly through the 2024 season, the Steelers offense became just about the Russell Moonballs and George Pickkins. George also is gone. So are they better? My answer is you would hope so, but you don’t know. So, because the moon balls were actually I mean there was no way to run an offense, but they did occasionally work. Well, it’s because Russ is still good at throwing them. He’s still good at throwing them. And there were a couple of people who were still good at catching them, including I don’t know if you’d call the ball in Landover a moonball, the one to to Mike Williams to win the game. Yeah. But it was it was up there. You know, it wasn’t quite moon height, but it was up there and it won the game. So, you win one out of 17 games on those plays on a play. That’s a pretty good play. Uh, some misconceptions here. James says, “No passing wise, too many checkdowns.” No quarterback led the league more in terms of checkdown rate than Justin Fields. And number four was Russell Wilson. Aaron Rogers was 11th in checkdown percentage. So, that’s not true. No, Aaron Rogers can see the field. I I don’t think that’s going to change just because he, you know, he’s he’s in his 40s. And a lot of the time he had to check down because he was like under duress because that offensive line was oh god, so bad. So bad. Mike says we could say a whole new part of the field has opened up in the middle. And I I wouldn’t overstate that. I don’t know that Aaron Rogers is a, you know, some middle of the field specialist. It’s just that he he doesn’t have he Yeah. He doesn’t have an area where you go, “Oh, no.” Right. That Yeah, that’s it. It’s It’s not that Aaron Rodgers all of a sudden is like the exact opposite where he does nothing but want to attack the middle of the field. He actually I think in his last MVP season, he attacked the field. He was like in the bottom half of the league and how often he threw to the middle of the field. But when he did throw there, he had a near-perfect quarterback rating. So that means he was really sure about it, right? Yeah. I mean, that’s what you’re saying there is. It’s the whole better be sure thing. Uh I I I enjoy this question here from Cody. That’s why I was making the face here as I saw it because it allows me to make another point to some other questions that came up earlier. Cody says, “With a $5 contribution that’s appreciated.” This says, “DK, if we kept George Pickkins with the current roster, would you say that the Steelers would be elite in all areas and would you say Super Bowl contenders?” Cody, I would if this were a video game. I’m glad so glad you answered it that way because that’s what this that that’s what the conversation is. We could we could get heck even Omar Khan acknowledged this at the time. Remember that Metaf was signed. Omar met with us for the first time and in that room and he was and he was asked about the two of them and he said we could very much we could see we could get excited about having both of them and he said it even though I’m sure he knew he didn’t want to have George around but the video games don’t take you into the locker room. The video games don’t take you into the team meetings. The video games don’t account for George not blocking on a play. At least I don’t think they’re that sophisticated yet. They’re not. They’re sophisticated and I’m really excited about the new EA college football game, but it’s still not that that that uh detailed yet. Well, let’s put it this way. The video game doesn’t force Pat Fri to have to play George’s babysitter on the sideline because he can’t stop getting into it with the fans. Yeah, they wanted him gone. They got him gone. So, what I wanted to connect to earlier in the show here was a couple of you brought up Chase Clayool. Oh, Clayool’s still out there. Clay just cuz he’s a familiar name because he was here because you could have him for nothing. It would look like you got, you know, an even better return on the trade and whatever else. No, no, you just got rid of, I think almost without exception, the people that you don’t want. And it’s not just George, okay? There were others. So, what what why would you say, “Hey, you know what? Let’s let’s go ahead and bring Clay Pull back and Deontay and let’s just start making some messes again, you know? Why would you do that?” Yeah, it’s it’s again I I the the the one thing I can always point to whenever it comes to how much of a problem really was George, I had players pull me aside to complain about it. and and they give you specific stories that that that blow your mind. Like really, this guy was on your team. How did he not get kicked off? That’s what I’m saying. Like like like players are very protective of the locker room. They will go to lengths, like serious lengths to keep things under wraps. Never mind the field, Chris. Right. When it when it it’s one thing to be a, you know, a weirdo or whatever in the locker room. AB did a lot of weird stuff in the locker room, right? AB did not, at least not in Pittsburgh. I don’t know what that was in Tampa, but the the but he did not take it onto the field. Why? Because he wanted to catch the football and he wanted to he still was resultsoriented out on the field. He knew that’s where his bread was buttered, where his money was made and all that other stuff. And he got it. But yeah, if you want those problems, you can go right ahead and bring back AB. Uh, says Jeff. Denny says, “What’s more important in a WR2?” Good question here. Pure receiving ability like routes and hands. Run blocking skill. I would think run blocking for the sake of versatility. I’m going to take two stabs at this before I throw it to Chris. Uh, one is on Arthur’s behalf. Arthur is going to go Arthur is going to want another wide receiver who can handle the run blocking but at the same time can be a backup for for DK Metaf in that specific role. That side of the offense in that level of routes. Okay. So that’s Arthur. Move Arthur aside. Me I want I want the routes. Okay. I I Okay. Did I beat you to it? I mean, so I my my the good Deontay. So yes, that’s that’s what if you had if you could like ask me like if you could pluck any realistic receiver to put in that role, it would be 2021 Deontay Johnson or it would be like 2018 Juju Smith Jester or something along those lines. But for 2025 with their actual options, again, I’m going to go back to Gabe Davis because when you have Pat Frier and John Smith and you are going to use 12 personnel more often than you did last year, which you are going to because you have Pat Fryouth and John Smith, you might need another receiver who can be on the field consistently that can block because John is not a great blocker. Pat’s a little bit better, but they’re both that that’s not their game. their game is primarily being a being a weapon in the passing game. They’re who they are, right? And so if you can add a Gabe Davis to the mix and he can block, but he can also help take take the top off of defenses because then defenses can’t do too much single high if Gabe Davis is on the field because you got Gabe Davis on one side and you got DK Medaf on the other and both guys are really good at going deep and getting open going deep. That’s why I’m kind of thinking now. I would like to have the route running tactician who can just get open all the time and Aaron Rogers would probably love that too. But if you can have a guy who can block and who can also help again help stretch the defense and take the top off, I think that’s again if he’s healthy, I do think Gabe Davis is probably the guy. So that’s a heck of an if you’re talking about a knee and then you’re saying in the same sentence, blow the top off the defense. That knee had better be 101%. Mhm. The good thing is it was a meniscus tear. It wasn’t like it was an AC. Right. Right. Right. Right. So it’s it’s a little bit lesser concern, but it also happened later in the year. So that’s why again I don’t think he’s signed yet. Uh John Glink points out and correctly so that Romeo Dobs scratches every itch. He can do everything he’d be asked to do in this offense. He’s young. He wouldn’t you wouldn’t have to break the bank to get him. Uh, even if you would dot dot dot. Yeah, the question the question is, are the Packers willing to trade him? Yeah. Slim says, “Uh, hey Dam, I’m surprised you even know where Mason Town, Pennsylvania is, there’s a Serbian church there.” Speaking of random things in Mason Town is like so small, I can’t believe anybody’s talking about it. Never mind that it’s come up twice on this show, right? But there aren’t that many Serbian churches in Western Pennsylvania. and Mason Town happens to to have one. So, um, yeah, pretty random stuff here, huh? Uh, Victor, where have you been, Vic? Been kind of quiet of late to say, “Hey, DK and Chris, I love the chalk talk considering uh how the Steelers ended last season. I’m like sleeping all the way till next year’s draft, but now I’m out here singing. Here we go, Steelers. Here we go.” I haven’t had a chance because of the the the flight. What’s chalk talk? What’s Vic all excited about today? Today Today’s was Johnny Smith. Uh looking at uh everything some of the things that he did. Um how the Dolphins used him out of the slot or even lined up out wide. Um 13 I think it was 13 of his 88 catches were whenever he was the the wide out on his side of the formation. So um yeah, some pretty interesting stuff on how the Dolphins used him. I’m curious to see if Arthur Smith tries to steal some of the stuff. What do you mean by that? Well, because Okay, so Mike McDaniel also from the Shanahan tree. Arthur Smith kind of grandfathered in through Matt Laflur. So, some similarities, but man, Mike McDaniel really did do a pretty good job of scheming him scheming him open. They would have this one play where they would fake a power run to one side. Meanwhile, Johnny was just running, streaking across the field, do the other side, and then the quarterback would just dump it over the top when the linebackers came up. It was some pretty good stuff. I’m I’m curious to see if Arthur Smith is going to either steal some stuff or do his own variation of it. It’s It’s interesting. Every once in a while when we talk about WR2, we’ll tick off some viewers because they’ll be like, you know, why aren’t you talking about Roman Wilson? Why aren’t you talking about Robert Woods? comes up from Chris Welch says, “Hey DK and Chris, we know the coaches are a fan of Woods as a run blocking wide receiver. Why wouldn’t you be? Do you feel that as a receiver he can still make an impact though? Is he still a downfield threat?” You know, I say watch what they do and not and you know, don’t listen to what they say and whatever else here, but every once in a while you can pick up a clue by what they say. Yeah. Whenever people like me will ask someone associated with the Steelers, are you still in the market for a WR2? Are you still in the market for a WR2? There are two ways to answer that. One, and they’ve done this. Omar’s done this. You say, we really believe in the guys that we have. And of course, everybody just blows up. They’re not going to do anything. They’re not going to do anything. And then they’ll also say stuff like, “Yeah, we’re going to keep looking. Yeah, we’re also So to me, just even acknowledging that they’re as opposed to just flat out saying, “We believe in the group that’s here. We’re going to give these guys a run, whatever.” That’s their answer. Yeah. Yeah. Uh Robert, I mean, so so there are so many like people who will bring up Robert Woods. Well, if it were Robert Woods from four years ago, yeah, that would be your guy. He’d be a great solution for what the Steelers need on that side of the formation. Now it’s just it’s just not just not not enough juice in those legs. It’s probably more true of the wide receiver position, I hate to say this, than any other where you can see a name Mhm. that your team picks up and you can get excited about it, but you got to remember the shelf for these guys is just Yeah. Okay. That’s not a knock. No, that’s not being mean. It’s just that they can’t even lose a tenth of a second on what it is that they’re doing. They can’t lose a twitch to the left, a twitch to the right. It affects their overall performance. There are only so many routes that get run over the course of a season and they’ve got to nail them. And in some cases, and this is also true, the athletes don’t adapt to their age. They’re used to being those cocky guys who can do anything. They’ve been able to do anything their whole life, their whole football career from amateurs to the pros. And then all of a sudden they get to around 27, 28 years old and it involves a different type of training. It involves a certain type of diet. It involves certain types of uh rest and recovery patterns. And they’re just like, I mean, come on. I’m still a kid. I’m 27, 28 years old. I should be able to do these things and then they aren’t. Yeah. Yep. That’s so the player that you got excited about isn’t that player. Yeah. It’s It’s kind of the same way. I think the Steelers recently have had some pretty good examples like Allen Robinson was a really really good receiver that you’d like to have as a number two or number three several years ago. Total pro too. Geez. But when the Steelers got him, they got him when he was on he was near the end and he wasn’t pretty much. Now granted, with the way that Arthur Smith wants to run offense, having a receiver like Allen Robinson would be great because you don’t find a lot of receivers who are willing to stick their nose in the C gap, take on a linebacker for a block, and just be and have no fear whatsoever. Allen Robinson was that guy. Now, I don’t know if they’re hoping that Robert Woods could be that guy or if they’re going to eventually sign Gabe Davis and he’s going to be that guy, whoever it is, but I think right now that guy’s probably Ben Scaronic, but we when we’re talking about blocking and stuff, leaving him off is a mistake. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s an actual omission. It’s not like to be courteous or whatever. He’s going to be out there. He’s going to be on the roster. No, no, no. Of course he’s going to be on a roster. I I some people don’t think that. They don’t. Well, some people are like, well, when you’re going through receivers be like, oh, it’s going to be like, you know, they’ll listen. Who thinks of him as a receiver first? And that doesn’t even make that doesn’t I’m sorry, that doesn’t even make sense. Oh, Jay Moods. Jay Moods remembers the the nickname Dirt Bag. That’s Arthur’s nickname. Yes, that is Ar Arthur’s nickname for for Skironic. Great stuff. Slim wants to know which of the two Green Bay receivers you’d want. We’re going to take a couple more today. Would it be Dobs or would it be Christian Watson? Well, um, so right now it would be Dobs. But if you trade for Romeo Dobs, you are going to have to possibly go into a contract extension negotiation because he’s going to the final year of his rookie contract. So, okay. Um, which again, you could just take him for one year, be like, “All right, you know, we’ll we’ll, you know, we won’t worry about that.” But, well, they just did a couple of those. So, yeah. Yeah. David Leech says the average longevity of an NFL wide receiver once they become a true WR1 or WR2 is roughly three to six years. I don’t know many sixes, but yeah, it’s it’s not it’s not long. Think about Antonio Brown and what he did for eight years. eight with the Steelers. From 2011 to 2018, no receiver had more catches, receiving yards, or receiving touchdowns. Chris, he could still be playing. I know. Okay, let’s not kid ourselves here, okay? Cuz you could still see signs of it. Even when he was losing his mind with with the Buccaneers, you could still see that he was doing stuff that other people couldn’t do. He was running routes that they couldn’t do, making breaks that they couldn’t, and those hands. And I mean, he could still He’s He’s up there with the best receivers that anybody’s ever seen. Agreed. And I I just don’t think I I really for everything else that he is and isn’t, especially off the field, and there’s a lot that he isn’t off the field, man, you can’t take take that away from him. Um, yeah, we’re gonna take uh we’re gonna take one more today and it comes from Denny. He says, “Are you more confident in the offensive line or the defensive line?” You got that one first, Chris. Oh, defensive line. 1,000%. Uh, even even if you don’t include the edge rushers, which really you should include the edge rushers because the Steelers do, right? And so that’s why you would 10,00% because you got TJ Watt, you got Alex Highmith, you got Cam Hayward, that’s a really good trio right there. Um, but even then adding Derek Harmon to the mix, YA Black, I understand he’s a fifth round pick, but still, you know, decent depth piece. Keanu Benton’s there, I feel way better about the defensive line than the offensive line. I man, I feel like I’m carrying all the buckets of water today. I want to see something. Yeah. You know, I I I just do. Maybe that’s because I I’ve done too much building up in my head of of of Derek Harmon in in relation to Stefon to it. I want the next to it and that’s not fair. I’m going to say that right now. It is not fair. I am admitting this. Okay. But I want I want some version of 97 and 91 out there again. I just do. Okay. because I saw the impact that that had on the entire defense. Heck, on the entire game. They were records, those two. And if you didn’t get Harmon to be that type of player when in fact his collegate profile says he is that type, not the scale, Steph did it in the NFL, okay? But that type of player, meaning that’s his style. That’s he he gets after. He’s in the back field. If you have that on your defense, we’re not going to be wasting anybody’s time this fall and winter. I can promise you talking about where is they where are they going to line up TJ to get him free because there nobody’s going to be able to afford to key on TJ. Yeah. With respect, they’re not because you’re going to have a Herbig here. You’re going to have a Highmith here. You’re going to have Jaylen Ramsay poking his helmet up into the line occasionally. There’s a lot that’s going on, but it hinges on this, Denny. It hinges on this defensive line. I’m not ready to say that yet. Let’s see something. You know, I I agree. You need to see something for sure. But when you’re talking about the confidence level in either side, I’m more confident in the defensive line. But yeah, if Derk Harmon can be an instant impact as a rookie, this is and this is why the Steelers went after defensive tackle in the draft and made it a priority right away. They had that 299 game happen. They were like, “This ain’t happening again.” As a matter of fact, not only is this not happening again, we are gonna get back to being pissed off if we allow more than 100 yards in a game. Oh, imagine that, right? Like it’s that type of course correction and it begins up front. It always begins up front. If you can’t win up front, the linebackers are in a less uh less than ideal situation to do their job. the edge rushers have a harder time getting back to the quarterback. It everything starts in the trenches. It just does. And so if they Yeah. If they can get better in between, you know, like in the trenches at defensive tackle, whether it’s defensive end, defensive tackle, nose tackle, whatever it is, if they can get better and more effective there, it opens up everything else on on the defense. Just as you said before, our last question for the day comes from Nathan, who says, “I’ve got a question for DK and Chris. Where did the Steelers not get better? The only way I the way I see it is only at safety where the Steelers took a step back. I’m looking forward to this season. There’s no question that it’s a step back at safety. Yeah. All right. Nobody should be coloring that any other way. They can still address it. But as for the the rest of the positions, I mean, they don’t have a George. Okay. Now, did they get a better player and a better teammate and everything else? Yes. Okay. But George had his own weird weaponry to him. Yeah. All right. Yeah. And let’s let’s go real easy here. It’s the second time I’m bringing this up on the show about Caleb Johnson. Uh versus the Naji Harris that you had in 2024 who was well into his NFL career, who was more advanced as a runner, as a player overall. So, just that’s all I’m saying here. Where did they not get better, Chris? Um, agreed. Safety is is the one position that you could probably look at and be like, for sure they’re not as strong at that position as they were. Um, running back, I I can agree that it hinges a lot on what Caleb Johnson’s going to do as a rookie because we know what Jaylen Warren is. Kenneth Gainwell is a nice depth piece, good RB3, can really help out. He can take snaps on third down because he can both be a a target out of the backfield and he’s trusted in pass protection. That’s always valuable to have uh at that RB3 position. But Caleb Johnson, man, if he can carry over what he was doing at Iowa into the Arthur Smith offense, then we’re talking about a a very very great running running running running uh running game. But as you said at the beginning of the show, it’s not proven yet. He hasn’t taken NFL snap yet. So, no, it’s not. It’s not. When we come back, we’re going to take care of some business here on the Double Shot Show. I don’t know where we are with memberships. Where are we with memberships? Are you looking that up now? No, I have it here. But she has it here. She Oh, there. Oh, guys, we’re under 2,000. Gross. All right, we need to start pushing. I didn’t even like mention it during the show, so I I’ll take the blame for this. It’s It’s Huh. Zero love. Zero. I gave it zero love. She says dkps.net/join is the place to do this. Uh to put you have to put it up in your web field here. You can’t just go click it on the video or something. There it is. dkps.net/join. The goal is to get to 3,000 of these. And the goal is not all that arbitrary. It might seem like it, but it’s not. Um, you know, we we really enjoy doing the show. It’s a significant time commitment and everything else to be here for you every day. Uh, we want this thing to be something that is a long-term staple of of the company really. And I can tell you that Chris and I enjoy it. I’m speaking I’m speaking for him, which I don’t like to do, but I know for a fact that he does. You can see it every day. Dude popped in here on his vacation more than once. Like he just he just missed it so much. It was so sad. Uh, but as much as we enjoy it, it also has to be something that works with the time commitment, everything else here. So, if you guys want to be part, if you guys want this thing to to continue, you’re going to have to drop the uh the the black letters and turn them into to green letters. That means you become a member of the show. And it comes with perks. We do special members only shows. We’ve done that. We again, that’s also a time commitment, especially since we do them on our busiest days, right, Chris? And we’ll just say, “Hey, stop everything.” And Chris is like, “No, I got to finish writing this article.” And I’m like, “No, Chris, we got to do this.” Yeah, but if it does if it’s not something that makes sense for the company, then why do it, right? Did I put you on the spot there, Chris? Oh, no. Sorry. I was reading comments. I was reading comments. Sorry. I just I read I read somebody say like like why like why is it so low? This is too good of a show. Um I I just appreciate that stuff. Um, but yeah, uh, yeah, we gota Yeah, it’s got to be worth the commitment for sure because like I’m thinking of like NFL draft nights whenever and we had a we had a great membersonly show like uh NFL draft Omar Cohen showed up in the background like Omar showed up in the back. Andy Whidle was in there. You could actually see stuff happening inside the Steelers headquarters. We can’t promise that on every program. No, definitely can’t. But that was actually pretty cool, huh? Um, but yeah, get in here. Like Denny says here, join up, folks. Love this whole channel. And that’s the other thing to remember. This isn’t just about Double Shot. This is for the whole channel. This just happens to be the only show where we bring it up. Maybe that’s a mistake on my part, too. You know that we could be U. And then she says, “Make sure you share this information with your friends.” Sometimes with YouTube, especially, it’s it’s not the easiest thing to to run into stuff. How do you open how do you find something on YouTube? You open it up and you just kind of hope that their algorithm is aware of what your interests are. Well, sometimes it’s not, you know, it’s it’s not automatic. So, uh yeah, but tell a friend to tell a friend. It says Mr. Barber. And uh what’s your Al says Al’s accusing me of having jet lag. I don’t do jet lag, man. That was my my shoulder got all funky on the on the fl. It’s that it’s a red eyee, you know, and uh you know, I fell asleep on the plane, which I never do. I never fall asleep on planes. Hardly ever do it for me. Yeah. I think the last time I really really fell No, no. The last time I fell asleep on on a plane was uh when I was flying to see my family on Christmas a few years ago after it was the when they the Steelers played the Raiders on Christmas Eve and I was I was up all night, you know, because I was getting work done and everything and then I was like I’m flying to see my family the the very next day and so I just stayed up and so I was I slept on the plane. That was the last time. But no, I typically don’t. Uh going through going through the the the ones who uh contributed today here. Bill just became a member. Appreciate that. Richard, like this second came in as a new member. Uh that’s very cool. Here a Manny came in with five gifts here. For some of you saying that it’s it’s, you know, it’s not easy. Even though it’s only 99 cents a month at times can be a little bit tough for various people. We respect that. Uh that’s why we have people that come in and drop the gift memberships. Uh they come raining down from the figurative ceiling. Cody dropped five bucks in on this. Danny Goss became a new member today and the barber and his many aliases also were part of this program as well. So we appreciate you guys. We appreciate everybody. Um we especially appreciate the members who come in and make a difference on this thing. And you know what? We’re going to be back with another one of these programs tomorrow. [Music] [Applause]

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The Steelers’ internal feel for these recent moves: Stuff’s about to get real

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