Big Ben talks Jalen Ramsey/Minkah Fitzpatrick trade, TJ Watt contract hang up, and more! Ep. 90

Big Ben talks Jalen Ramsey/Minkah Fitzpatrick trade, TJ Watt contract hang up, and more! Ep. 90

All right, welcome back to the basement. This is footballing. I’m Ben. He’s Spence. And we are back after our second byee of the year. Yeah. You know, someone had to do it and it was us. And it was us. We did it. Then when we were getting ready to start this, we forgot how to do it and what to do. Well, you know, cuz you know, you get a little you’re a little rusty. We get a little rust sometime. I would notice that sometimes coming off the by-week, you feel really good and sometime takes a quarter or something to get you maybe a half. First, first 15 minutes of this is going to be rough, ladies and gentlemen. So much so, I’m drinking a Celsius. This is brought to you by WD40. Been knocking the rust off since 1804. Rustoleum. Um, yeah. So, anyway, we’re back. We don’t know what’s going on. There’s um we we we do have obviously some some Steeler news to talk about because again, this is like the time of year where there’s not a lot going on. There are some trades happening. Obviously, a huge one with the Steelers um that we definitely have to dive into, but other than that, not a whole lot going on. Seems like every week we’re like, well, what are we going to talk about this week? There always seems to be like a little nugget that they give us, but that’s about it. It does. It does feel like um more so than any other year, this has been like the Real Housewives of Pittsburgh. Like the drama in the offseason this year has been insane. It’s been crazy, man. It has been. Um, and ob obviously speak of the Minka news. Um, I don’t need we need to dive right into it, but maybe we should dive right into it. There’s not much else to talk about, but let’s get into it. I I guess it’s going to be one of those things. You know what it’s going to be like? This this offseason feels like like there’s not a lot of news like typically. And then you’re right, we get these like Yeah. And it’s going to be like where were you when? Oh yeah. Yeah. You know, like like so, you know, my boys are like huge into football, right? They they kind of have the trading card, so they’ll be like, “Is this guy good dad?” And this guy, you know, like the older guys, like they’ll be like, “Is Eli Manning good dad?” Or like, you know, I’m just like guys that they don’t ask Tom Brady. Yeah. Um, and so they’ll ask me guys like, “Is he a Hall of Famer? Is he?” I’m like, “Well, probably going to be this, that, and the other, you know, like whoever it is.” And so, but they’re obviously diehard Steeler fans, right? So, they’re they’re huge into the Steelers and this, that, and the other. And um, uh, actually, I need to go back to the Jersey thing. remember to go back to Jersey cuz I don’t want to forget that but I don’t want to go all over the place. So we’re down we we we spent the fourth down at the lake um which we can kind of talk about and I I was on the golf course and I was in the cart cuz the boys were uphitting and I got the like my phone ESPN alert comes and it’s Minka traded and I’m like no way. Yeah, bro. So I was like hey Jam he’s like yeah. I’m like we just traded. No, how did I say it first? No, no. I said I said this. I said, “Um, we got we got Jaylen this Jaylen Ramsey just signed the Steelers.” And he was like Benjamin was like, “No way. Jaylen Ramsay, that’s awesome. Oh man, we’re we’re going to kill it. We’re going to win the Super Bowl.” And I was like, “Yeah, it’s pretty cool, huh?” I said, “But you know what? We also traded Minka way.” And they were like, that’s the dude, that was the response of the city floor. Like it’s the old cartoon the jaw. Um, and then so he yells he yells across the go, “Boy, we just traded Manga. Yeah, we we got Jaylen Ramsey, but we traded Manga.” So they were like hyped but then like no, yes, no, yes, no. Yeah, dude. Um, so it’s like but I know I was on the 16th hole, Great Waters. And I know exactly where I was sitting when I told them. Um but uh but no I was going to say with the jerseys it feels like so a J you know a football Steeler jersey is a big it’s a it was a big au not auction it’s a big um uh gift item and the kids all the boys all want jerseys right so I had told them that they couldn’t get anybody in the AFC North like they they wanted other jerseys right like they wanted um I think B I want to say they have a I know there’s a Saquon Barklay in this house which is that’s fine. Yeah. Um I think there’s a Christian McCaffy, but they wanted like uh Jamar Chase. Um can’t do that. No, I’m like you can’t no AFC North. I’m just y’all can’t do AFC North stuff. No, not not having them. Um but but the Steeler ones obviously are huge. So we in this house there have been James Connors um Fri Muth um and a Juju one. There’s there’s a Guju one at one point. Yes, there was a there there is a highmith. I mean, all these ones are still in the house, but but recently, um, for I think it was Christmas this last year, they each got like two, I think. And they got an aage. Okay. Uh, Anage, uh, Alex, Minka, and Pickins. No joke. So, let’s think about those now. One out of four ain’t bad. One, we’re batting 25%. Saying there’s a chance. That’s like every and it’s like cuz you because when I’m when you’re when you’re going to the when you’re thinking about jerseys to get Yeah. you you you’re looking at like okay who’s going to be here for a while and you’re thinking like all those felt pretty Yeah. pretty steady. I mean there was some stuff about you know potentially George but he’s still young still had some years like he got to be here for at least a couple years. You know how the old do receivers bro man. And so now they they have one left. Alex Steelers dare get rid of Alex for lots of reason. You burn this city for lots of reasons. Hey buddy. Um, speaking his head down. What’s up, Bo? Body just held up a sign. Can I watch the show? Yeah, it airs at six o’clock. Yeah. Yeah. I’m going tonight, bro. Um, no, but but anyway, um, yeah, you can you can stay there, bro. There’s a chair right there. Um, but anyway, yeah, so um that’s crazy, bro. Yeah, the jaws dropped. They couldn’t believe it. Um, I I kind of was I was I would say I was caught off guard a little bit with it, too. Um, you know, I I think I I feel like I’m I may go all over the place with this and I may bounce around with my thoughts, but I but I’m going to try and hit as many things as I can and hopefully it opens up some conversation and not just um me speaking. But I guess the first place I would go with this is I know that there had been some talks uh in the last kind of year. I’d maybe call it two years of just like maybe lack of production, you know, like like I shouldn’t say this, splash place. It’s not it’s it’s less and I’m not I don’t have the analytics. I don’t have the stats in front of me. This is all I test. Sure. And what I hear and what you see and things like that. Um you know, people had talked about the the lack of interceptions, the lack of splash, the the big play wasn’t there for Minka the last year or two. And so it kind of felt like, okay, they weren’t real maybe happy with it, but I didn’t think that all of us like but it was it got to this point, right? Um, and I had heard some things that, you know, Ma, didn’t Minka have a a little one or something? Did you hear that? I thought I thought there was something where there was like something home was going on. Maybe. Maybe. I’m not sure. And again, all all not positives, but but it was kind of like, okay, you know, it was going to get, you know, and then I guess I’m again, I’m just kind of going over the place. Those are rumblings, but are those rumblings outside the building or in the building? You know what I’m saying? Yeah. cuz people talk cuz just cuz the radio talks about it or the talking heads on radio TV just cuz they talk about doesn’t make it legit. What do you mean other than us? Um but um so anyway, I would say that was a big one. But but then my my counter to to the lack of production if you will for him was is kind of a twofold. He set the bar if you’re if you’re gonna compare him to a bar that he set a couple years ago where he was inter I mean he was doing everything you know he set his own bar really high right like and and you know he’s a leader back there now there were some rumblings that that maybe there was some mistakes now whether that’s by him or he was noticing other people making mistakes whatever that is again we’re not in the ropes inside the lines we don’t know um but he set a bar really high um all pro um this that and the other and So, um, those are those are expectations you have to do every year. And so, that’s one side. Then then what I’m also going to say is as a defensive back, corner safety, if I’m a cornerback and I don’t have a lot of like interceptions or pass breakups, a lot of times it’s because people don’t throw it at me. Sure. And that also speaks for how good you are. So, maybe his production is down because people just aren’t taking those shots. Maybe, again, this is all just asking the question. I don’t have the analytics. Maybe the analytics or or the stats say that he has given up more big plays on him than we’ve seen. I don’t know that, but I’m just I’m I’m just throwing that out there. Maybe it’s maybe it’s because people aren’t taking the shots at him, you know. No, I totally agree. And I can understand the argument for from the fan base of the lack of production thing, but correct me if I’m wrong. And uh not even correct me if I’m wrong, let me just ask this question. Did they move Minka from the position he was playing? I so from what I had seen yes a little bit trying to move him in the box moving back um you know kind of kind of getting him around and sometimes that’s tricky too because that can get you out of position when you’re not you when you’re playing a position that’s not your main stay position right you’re like okay I’m going to let let’s move him in the box or let’s move him out of the box let’s move them around you know sometimes you can make make a mistake if you go from a free safety to a strong safety that’d be like me taking um an outside receiver that is like an outside X which is like usually the single receiver side where he knows he’s doing this over and over and when you ask him to do something he’s doing this and now all of a sudden you put him to the trip side where there’s three receivers he’s outside. Well, now he’s got two more guys inside him that he in his mind he’s running doing these things. And when you ask him to do the same thing on the other side, well, your depth might have to be more important because there’s other receivers inside you or vice versa. You know, just I’m I’m just I’m just saying that there there can be some mistakes when you’re moving people around as much as there is. And I’m not saying there were mistakes around, but I’m saying that could justify where there there might be some some error because you’re moving guys around. I feel like that was a major contributor to the lack of production if we want to call it that for what Minka was um going through the last two years. I understand that argument though if FA is like hey listen man like he was to your point setting a crazy bar he gets moved around that’s you know not happening the same or at least as frequent as we’d like to see it now what you get in return like Jaylen Ramsey is an absolute animal like for sure my biggest hangup is when I when I um heard about this news is I thought this was going to be a huge culture loss I was like when you think about what Minka is Yeah. you think about what Minka contributes to the team. Obviously, there’s you can you can read numbers and do the math there. Be like, okay, cuz I I would imagine they’re going to have they’re going to ask Jim to play a little bit more safety. Uh yeah, probably nickel. I would I would imagine going to play in the nickel like bring him inside. I would think a little bit of that because he’s been he can Yes, he can. I don’t Now, is he the same dude that he was as a locked down corner outside? I don’t think cuz this is I think fifth team. There’s a reason that that happens. Don’t know what that is, but I’m with you. I haven’t been in the locker room for a few years now. So, I don’t know how things have culturally changed in that locker room in terms of how do people like um how what’s the locker room thinking right now when you’re losing a leader like Minka, a guy that is just a worker, doesn’t doesn’t talk a lot but works. When I was there, if this would have happened like the couple years ago that what I knew, there would be some upset upset dudes in that locker room. I’d assume it’s still the same way. Sure. Um but but no, to your point, I think you hit the the nail on the head. It feels like you’re losing a lot of the the Steeler cultural guys that are in there that know what it is. And you’re bringing guys in that are one-year guys in here, maybe two-year guys that don’t that they know about the Steeler the the the logo, but they don’t really know it. They don’t it’s not it’s not branded in their chest, you know? It’s not it’s not Yellowstoneed on their chest, right? Um but that’s going to be up for the the guys in the locker room to um to help with that. But but again, um I don’t know. It’s an interesting move. Uh obviously they were ready to move on. They felt like they were going to get they got enough for him. I think uh as as as great as Jaylen Ramsey is and I think he will help that team. Obviously they they must feel comfortable too with what they have a safety. Sure. I can’t imag like from from Jaylen going from a lock down corner to a to like a nickel kind of corner um to a safety. I I don’t know how much safety he actually plays. I I don’t I just don’t know. Maybe that’s a spot they’ll put him at, but they must feel really comfortable with who they have at safety at the depth um to to to move on from Minka. Um I think the um I think it’s John Smith, the tight end that comes in. To me, that might be the bigger deal. Just I’m just I’m not saying not take anything away from Ramsey. It’s cuz you’re a quarterback probably. Um I just He’s He’s kind of a a special talent, you know? He’s a dude that um can really, you know, open up a field. He’s a He’s a wide receiver playing tight end kind of guy. You put him opposite Fri move. I know you’ve got Mount Washington out there, but but what this guy brings could be something pretty cool. Um I I did text Pat when it happened. Uh he seemed to be really in high speed. He’s like he was excited. He goes, “I think the two of us can really do some cool things.” So I think that’ll be interesting to see how that transpires. And I, you know, a young dude that you might be able to keep here for a while. I’m sure Aeron’s really excited about it. Sure. Um but but to me that that is as big of a deal in this trade as Ramsay personally. Yeah. No, I agree. I didn’t even know he was part of the initial trade. All you saw with the like the you know the headlines and he the Steelers have been kind of there have been some talks about him and the Steelers for for like a little bit now. So I think it was a way they were able to get him in this trade, you know. Yeah. And this is something I said to you when we were kind of uh texting about it. It it just seems the whole the whole off season right now and I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It might mean the start of a new era, which is interesting in Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh is very set in its ways as far as how we get things done here. Um, but it’s it feels like the way we’re going about things is so anti- Pittsburgh. It it and from what again I I wasn’t born and raised in this city and so the Yenzers feel free to weigh in on this, but it seems like Pittsburgh historically has been a team that kind of develops its stars, right? we draft you and and and you are a Steeler truth like you’re saying the logo like you were it’s in your blood here. You know what I mean? And this offseason it’s like it feels like it’s kind of acting like a NBA team where we’re just trying to where’s all the talent? Let’s go get it. It it is very indicative of like let’s win this championship now. Why? I mean other than like we want to compete every year, but it seems more urgent right now. Yeah. I I I imagine I don’t know the exact reason. I can just speculate. That’s what we’re here for. That’s what the internet is here for. Speculation. You are um um Jason Jason Lane calling me. Don’t people know? I guess they don’t know it’s live. They they You should know better. Voicemail. Uh sorry, Jason. Um should answer it. Um you’re right. It was It felt like this team was always built on the guys drafted. Yeah. And or guys that you went and got like the 20 the mid to late 20somes that were like about to go into a second contract or early. And it seems like recently it’s like okay now we’re going for like the 30somes or 40 Aaron. Um the 30somes that are kind of on their last which which when you’re going for the 20somes that that’s still building for the future. That’s that’s okay. We got a guy for the 5 10 years moving moving forward. Um this feels like we’re getting guys for like a a one to two maybe threeear stint depending on you know what. And to me that says all we have to win now. Mhm. Now my speculation on that is um maybe a couple things. I’m just trying to rack my my brain around it. Maybe they feel the defense is is getting older. Sure. Cam, what’s TJ? What’s going on with T? Like listen, if TJ doesn’t come here, bro, that’s another thing we need. Like everybody got a pay raise on the most expensive defense in the league. Yes. And you got your star player over there asking like, “Hey man, what’s going on?” Yeah. So that’s that’s a whole another animal that we have to address. But I think it’s like, okay, we want to try and get one for some of these older guys on defense. And honestly, I I think there’s probably a little bit of everybody’s got to be feeling the no playoff win. Sure. Pressure. Yes. And we’ve heard Evan talk about and we’ve we’ve seen the the the the family talk about it on here. Okay, cool. Yeah, we’re over 500. Whoopdedoo now. like it’s and and and as much as coach T, you know, like can act like that’s not a like that’s not important, that is a that is an important thing, but it’s not a bad thing, but but winning a playoff game is more important and obviously getting to, you know, just won a Super Bowl. Um I just think that the the the pressure kind of being felt and maybe it’s coming down from the top, maybe it’s from the fans, whatever it is, I I feel like there’s got to be some pressure and it’s like listen, we’re all in. like we’re we’re DK Metaf. We’re we’re Aaron Rogers and and Ramsay and now getting addition by subtraction as coaches say getting rid of Minka, you know, does feel a little counterintuitive, but obviously to get the guys they wanted that they feel can be the right now guys and and maybe there was more maybe there’s more to the Minka thing. Maybe there’s sure, you know, things that we just don’t know about. So, um, but it it really feels like it’s a, um, we’re going all in right now, which is, listen, not a bad thing. You know what I mean? Like, you want to you want to do the get the best talent you can to try to win. All for it. It’s just interesting when we talk about um, in the draft, it was like Steeler DNA. Steeler DNA building, you know, that was a big thing. And I think the draft, I will give it to them. I think they did that. I think they got guys that that, you know, kind of embody Steeler DNA. The interesting thing is when you get a bunch when you then fill your team with a bunch of people that are not really still maybe they have it like maybe they have it the same way that like the the guys getting draft have to learn it but who on the team Alex Cam defense um I would say Pat um is kind of got the torch passed to them but now you got guys that are they have rings I mean you’re they they filled the the holes in the secondary that were an issue last year with guys that have rings, which is, you know, very valuable when you talk about what it means to be a Steeler, having pride in that logo. Um, and what knowing what it means well enough to be able to pass it to the young Bucks that have the Steeler DNA. You’re Zach Frasier’s. Yeah. You know, but you don’t have all the old heads you brought in, they’re like, Yeah. You know what I mean? They don’t have it. I I wonder if there isn’t something there in the sense that like I I I’m thinking of like for just Aaron for instance. Um maybe there’s something there where yeah he was never he doesn’t have it necessarily in his blood but he knows what it is to play against him. So maybe there’s something there. Maybe it’s like a secondhand DNA if that makes sense. You know does that make sense what I’m saying? Like no I think Aaron I think yes I do. That does make sense. I think Aaron is probably a an exemption to the complaint because I think he comes from an era where um that the Steel I mean playing the Steelers was like, “Oh, we’re playing this.” Yeah. And we’ve played him um you know played him many times here, there Super Bowl, I mean all this stuff. So he knows it’s it’d be like maybe not the same, but like me going to you know a place cuz you played so long. It’s like I know what it is to be a what maybe not exactly like you know it but I know what it is to go play for this city or this city or whatever. You know what I’m saying? 100%. Do you think um like teams within a division probably know that better than other teams? You think if like if Ray Lewis came to Pittsburgh, he’d be like, “Oh, I know what Steeler J.” For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Espec in your division. There’s no doubt. like you can go be a part of. I mean, if I wanted to go, you know, I knew if I were to go play in Baltimore, we would never do it. If I wanted to go play in Baltimore, I I would know that, okay, it’s it’s it’s tough nose. It’s it’s physical, you know, I I could fit in that culture. It’d be hard to fit into Cleveland because I win. I was waiting for it. Oh, no. I was thinking joking. I was thinking like, okay, what’s going to be the Cleveland? Just joking. Just joking. again. Love that fan base. Um, but anyway, Dog Pound’s real. It is. The Dog Pound is real. The team. Um, so anyway, um, so so I think there there’s definitely something there when it comes to to him being able to help. Well, and that and that goes back to kind of the initial point. It’s like, is it a new era? Is because we had asked this question. New Aaron. New era. There’s Yeah. Brand new Aaron. Um, is it a new era of what the Pittsburgh Steers are going to look like? cuz it’s it that was something that you heard rumblings last couple years of like hey man like we got to get this is an offensive dominated league. We are defensive through and through and running the ball right and it didn’t seem to have been producing the same historically as it had. Is this a okay let’s let’s kind of this is what the steerway look of the future looks like. Well I don’t know because they put I mean look at the amount of money that’s put on the defense. Yeah. Did you do that to stop all these highpowered offenses? You know, when you get in the league, when you when you’re a team in this league, you and the league goes through es and flows, right, of like um okay, all of a sudden everyone’s going five wide receivers, they’re trying to how many points can everybody score to okay, let’s run the ball, let’s figure out this or or a quarterback that’s more mobile that can do, you know, less pocket passing, moving around. The league goes through these es and flows of different styles of play. Um, and so when when you have a league that is scoring more points, okay, o over the the over the all 32 teams, scoring is up. Okay, I I assume. I don’t I don’t know if it is, but just let’s say scoring up. Yeah, let’s say scoring is up. As a as a as a team, Steelers, whatever team you want to say, you have two options. You either invest in your offense to score with everyone else or you try and invest in your defense. Sure. To stop everyone else. The Steelers have always been always maybe a strong word have almost always been a let’s let’s defense. Let’s let’s find a way to get a defense. Like I I’ve told any any running back or or or rookie that comes in here, the Pittsburgh Steelers will always be about defense and a running back. accept it. Mhm. I have no problem with that. And and I tried to I tried to preach at the Nage um said it to Will when he was Will um um James Connor who obviously knew from being around here that that’s what it’s about. And that’s great. No matter no matter when we were the the the the flying high offense, the Killer Bees, when we were scoring, we were the top scoring offense in the league and we were putting up all those points and all those numbers. It was still about the defense. Like that that’s what everyone wants. Like we got to have a defense that can stop people. So, I just think that that’s what they’re that that’s the mentality that this city and this team and the ownership and the head coach all the way from Coward, null, all those guys to Tomlin now they want to build a defense that can stop people. Um, and and that’s what they’re investing in now. I think they found ways obviously they put a lot of money to DK Metaf contract. It’s spread out but it’s still a lot of money to that guy. They’ve got some good tight ends. Um, you know, kind of getting the line back together. You got Aaron. So they they’re they’re doing it feels like they’re putting pieces into place on offense, but it’s still they they’ve invested in the defense to try and stop people. Yeah. And they still have to invest in one more guy obviously who’s one of the baddest dudes to play, but at some point they’ve got to do that. I mean, I have so many questions. It’s got there’s got to be there’s got to be somewhere in this thing. There’s got to be a hangup between the two. It might it could be one thing. It could be three or four things. Like, and again, totally just just throwing random things out there. It could be like like like say they’re they’re saying, “Okay, we we’ve got we’re going to offer a four-year contract or he wants a four-year contract.” They could be like the first three years all year one, we agree. Year two, we agree. Year three we agree. Year four, uh, I don’t know that this, you know, TJ might be like, “Well, year four, I’d like this.” T might be like, “Well, we’d want this.” And that could derail the whole thing. It could be it could be a guaranteed money in year four only. It could be a a no trade clause in year four. Like there could be some or it could be something huge, but it could be something that small that we don’t even know how close they are to getting it done. But it it’s like we’re so close but yet so far. Yeah. Because it feels very far right now. It does. It does. And again, my main concern here is going to be the culture. It’s like because we’ve seen we’ve seen what the the Steelers look like when the culture feels off in the locker room the last couple years. The quarterback debacle, the where’s the leaders on offense, like the the holes in the secondary, which you know, I think we have the talent to fix some of the talent issues that we’ve had. But the problem is when the culture isn’t solidified, it doesn’t matter how much talent you have cuz they’re not playing together, right? And so now you got really good talent just trying to sit. They’re on their own little islands that you know they’re not coming together. And I think with the Minka thing that’s going to be a huge cultural impact on the guys, not only because of his playing. Yes, you could. I’ll give you the production down thing. You can have that. Sure. Um but what he meant to those guys, what he meant to the fan base. I went to the So the day that happened, I went the WWE was in town. They did Monday Night Raw and they filmed u Smackdown. U so it was like a double header. Uh, I found out that morning I almost wore a Minka jersey to the thing, but I w I went there with a couple of guys from the team and I didn’t want that to be a thing. Uh, but just because it was for the for the fan base, it was like that’s our guy. Yeah, I think the fans like Minka, too. Like there’s some guys that like when they’ve, you know, no knock on Naj, but I think when Naj got or or Piggins got out, the fans are like there’s some fans like no, but there’s but people like, you know what, good riddens. I can’t imagine there’s too many people that are like good riddens, Minko. Even the people that are like, “No, good trade talent level is like, yeah, but all right, but it’s Mink.” You know what I mean? So, so my my point in saying that is like with that happening on defense and then if you can’t work out a thing with TJ and god forbid he goes somewhere else, what are we doing? Or or maybe even worse, you do work something out, but it’s bad blood and now it’s like I don’t like how this got done and now I’m over here and it’s like I’m glad we did get it done. Let’s focus on ball. But it’s like the distrust from maybe the higherups is just Yeah. I think I think if they get TJ done, but CJ’s got one year left anyway. So either he holds out and doesn’t play, he comes here. I mean, he he’s he’s only got so many options, right? Yeah. Yeah. He either just bites the bullet and comes here and plays and then, you know, does his thing. He doesn’t come and play and sits out all year. Um they trade him, they get the deal done. What, you know, whatever it is. I think if the deal gets done, I think you typically you you kind of forget about or the bad blood like why did you take the team? So like once it’s done, you’re you’re like it’s all good. You know what I’m saying? So I think that’s okay. But if they don’t get something done and excuse me um TJ doesn’t show up or, you know, shows up and I I I I just trying to think in my head like what is TJ going to do? Like if they don’t get a deal done, will he will he show up and not do anything? I don’t know. But it doesn’t seem like him. No. TJ’s a like TJ’s very much like a let’s can we just work? Yeah. Or is he or is he going to show up and just and just go and work and literally just I’m not talking to anybody. I’m not doing anything. I’m just going to work. Which is another frustrating thing because I understand the media it’s a big story and the media has to have things to talk about behind me. We’re sitting here running our mouths about it right now. But it there seems to be more and more things that like start painting narratives and I’m like and I don’t like that. Right. No. Yeah. I mean there’s there’s yeah there’s there’s a million things out there was brothers doing stuff and this that and the other. I I’ll I will I’ll put the narrative out there that maybe not the first one, but I I’ll I’ll reiterate it if someone else said it is maybe the team just doesn’t want him around right now because for to protect him from himself. Like he’s going to be ready to go. like this this you think he’s just sitting around like waiting like I’m just going to sit on my couch and not get up until I get a cont. No, dude is working his butt off right now. So, he will be ready day one when it’s time. Um, you know, I don’t know. It just feels it’s going to be crazy around here if they don’t get something done. I just can’t Yeah, it’s going to be crazy. I Well, I was going to say I can’t imagine that, but or if they trade it if they do something if they do something bizarre and do something like that. What’s the What’s the response if they trade? I It’s interesting speaking to some some real users. Some of them are okay with that. The idea that I’ve heard that. I’ve heard that, which to me is crazy, but I will admit that I’m biased. Yeah. Um, so I would say this because that just made me think about something else. Like if you were going to because people think I’m going to try and wrap all this up in one thing. I believe people think that you have to tank in order to get a high draft pick. You don’t. You do not have to tank or not tank, lose. You don’t have to have a bad record to get a high pick. That’s one way to get a high pick. But there are other ways to get high draft picks. And if you want to get a high draft pick to get a quarterback or, you know, trade for one that you really there’s ways about ways to go about that. Could they have if they knew they wanted to move on from Minka? Could they have not have done it before the draft to move up in the draft? Okay. So, that’s something I’m like, okay, so they they could have done that. Is that their next thinking? Is that a thinking with TJ? Do you trade him? Because listen, you trade TJ, you’re going to get draft stock. Yeah. Yeah. Is that a thought? I think that’s crazy, but but but it is a thought. That’s There are ways to move up in the draft besides having a bad record. So, you don’t have to go six and 10 or whatever to get a high pick or or four and three and whatever it is. You you can also trade and move move things around to get a good player in the draft. So, um but again, I’m still on the Will Howard bandwagon. Like, I want to see him play because I think he’s going to have a chance to be good. Well, that was that was my other concern um with the all chips in this year is that if we fall short again this year Mhm. I mean, Aaron’s made it pretty clear that this is going to be it. And then what are you doing? What are you doing moving forward? Well, you have to see what’s in the draft. You know what I mean? Like, who knows? You’re hoping you’re hoping there’s either another quarterback in the draft or will. Again, I’m I’m high on Will as well. I think he’s going to be great. Um, but you’re hoping that pans out that the year under Aaron is But if not, or even if still, then you’re back into a rebuilding, restructuring. you’re back into this thing. I’ll say this though, like Will Howard is behind the eightball big time in the sense that he was a sixthrounder. And so unless he comes out, you hear me out now. Unless he comes out at some point this year for whatever reason, like he’s going to he have to play this year. Yeah. Um not just practice like like Aaron would have to get hurt or we don’t you don’t want that, but it will would have to play and play well. Otherwise, they’re probably going to go draft a quarterback high. When they draft a quarterback high, they’re never, not going to say never strong. They’re most likely, very, very strongly, most likely not going to put the sixth rounder in above a high draft pick. Business. It’s business. Otherwise, it’s like, oh, we made a mistake. Same reason you draft quarterbacks in the third or fourth round and you don’t get move on from like, oh, we don’t want to say we made a mistake. Sure. So, Will is going to be behind the eight. So, yeah. Yeah. you know, he’s he’s he’s that dude. Even when he’s playing well, they’re not going to put him ahead of a high drafted dude. He’s going to have to roll out and do one of yours. He’s going to have to come in like this year or it’s going to have to be like, “Holy cow, like this dude can play. So, Will’s Will’s road is going to be tough here in Pittsburgh, I believe. Unless he gets a chance to get out there and he plays well right from the get-go, he’s not going to be able to have hiccups.” So, say I mean, we’re going to get to see a little bit of him uh in the preseason. I would I would see all of him. Yeah, I would I would cuz you know what Mason could do? I Yeah, what I would do, but here’s what I would do. I would split time with Mason and Will. Sure. In the preseason, Aaron’s not You don’t think Aaron gets no snaps last game? I think that he should. I think he should just because of the new of the system and some guys, but you also can’t afford to like you don’t want to lose this. So, yes, he should get some, but I would split as many reps as I can with Will and Mason because you want to see each guy with the same offense, right? The ones or whatever it is, because otherwise it’s like, okay, if I’m if I see Mason with the ones cuz Aaron’s not in and he does well and then Will comes in with the the twos, threes, and stuff like that and he doesn’t do well, you’re like, ah, how do we know? Yeah. So, so you want to see as much um uh equal playing ground as you can. Um, so I would want to see a lot of that in the preseason and it is still the preseason, but at least you get to see something. Well, that’s what I’m saying. If he comes in and he is with the ones and and he plays a significant amount of time for the preseason and balls out, are is it like, oh, it’s a preseason or is it like, oh my gosh, something there? A little bit. A little bit. It’s like, ah, preseason, but but you can but you can still see if there’s something there. I think they’d be playing for the backup job. Sure. Like that’s what I’d be doing. Like, okay, this whoever is is the better one here is my is my two. Mhm. Um so so yeah, I just think that that that’d be the smartest move in my opinion to do in the in the preseason to give to give those guys like let them battle for the number two spot. Mhm. Um and and yeah, you definitely are going to say it’s a preseason, it’s not that big of a deal, but you you can see something like I don’t even remember my rookie year preseason. I don’t I’m don’t know how if I did any good or not. Like I have I have no clue. I just remember how far they’ll tell us how far Detroit um I had to go to the locker room as I did a two-minute drill and I was exhausted. Ran the tunnel, got all the way to the locker room, sat down, that was a long way to the field. They’re like, “All right, 2 minutes. Bring it up.” I’m like, “Wait, what? Wait, what? I thought halftimes were longer than this. Can a brother get a golf cart?” Yeah. And I asked for my hip and butt pads, which they don’t wear in the NFL. I didn’t know that. I was like, “Uh, hey, uh, Rogers, I don’t have my hip and butt pads. Like, where’s my uh son? This is the NFL. We don’t wear pads.” Oh. Oh, yes, sir. Okay. Shout out Raj. He said, “Boy, come on.” Yeah. What are you doing? That’s so funny. Yeah. So, anyway, um yeah, but but yeah, it’ll be interesting to see. Yeah, there’s a lot going on. Um I think it’s it’s really cool. I saw a clip of um the offense. I think Aaron had receivers, a couple tight ends together, uh working out, which was really cool to see that. I’m really excited to see what this offense can do with Aaron. Mh. Um, you know, it’s it’s I feel like we’ve been in this quarterback purgatory for a while since you left and like it feels like the best shot we have is getting another like grizzled veteran back there. So, it’s a I feel like it’s a it’s a framework that the coaching staff is familiar with. Mhm. Right. So, I would imagine they’re hoping it produces the same results. Right. Um, but then again, I’m I’m just concerned of like I you are we too nearsighted? Yeah. I don’t know, you know. Yeah, it’s there’s a lot of questions that won’t get I mean, we won’t have answers till maybe weeks five or six. Ask Chad GBT. Maybe JP, let me ask you, what do you think is going to happen here? Um yeah. Yeah. I don’t. So, uh, a lot of questions, a lot of, um, uh, lack of answers, but ultimately for the Minka trade, do you feel like that is net positive or can you even give something that absolute or is it like, all right, cool, man? Man, not being in the locker room. So I again if I’m answering it off of when I was in the locker room with Minka. Yeah. I would say it’s I would not say it’s a net positive just because of the a dude. He’s a dude. He’s a leader. He’s a guy that just goes about his business because of how high you view Minka. Yes. How high I view Minka. That being said, um when you can go a two for one, you know, you get Ramsay and Smith studs. Um two dudes. Um that’s a big deal. You get one on both sides of the ball. Um, again, we we may be looking at this uh in in, you know, week three or four and being like that that might have to be when this is answered. Um, right now it’s all going to be on um paper one and in your heart as like a like where’s the passion? Like are you as a fan? Are you mad because you’re you know you think that they’re not sticking with their Steeler guys or are you you know M hasn’t made any plays so we’re not doing that. like there’s a lot of like that kind of out there. You know what I’m saying? Does that make sense? Yeah, for sure. I just think the culture thing is going to play a bigger part, man. I don’t know anything about um Jaylen Ramsay. I mean, just because he’s not been on this team, you hear reports obviously. I think something just came out yesterday about um more details on that whole exit from Miami and what might have contributed to that. And I what I do know is that the tension that we had culturally with GP that was a that was impacting and we were seeing that on the field. I’m not saying that’s the same thing. Uh I want to give uh dudes the benefit of the doubt but um this is fifth team. I think you always run the risk. What’s the you always run the risk. Yeah. So um but again talent you know coach you do have coach T out there that a lot of dudes want to play for. Is that would that be enough to kind of curb some of those things if they that does exist? Maybe. Um I don’t know, man. I just think I think um 11 dudes moving in one direction is better than 11 really talented guys kind of doing their own thing. Yep. Team is ultimate team sport. Not not one dude. So, we’ll see. Unless TJ is one dude, though. That’s more than one dude. Unless Unless 90 shows up. Yeah, let’s sign him thinking about it. All right, we’ll get out of here cuz um I know we got some some other stuff going on. But before we do it, just last last TJ thing. What’s What’s the deadline for that? Cuz week one, you think like all throughout training camp? Listen, if I’m if I’m if I’m the Steelers and I’m or I’m the quarter, like I’m like, listen, week one, we’re here. What time is it? One o’clock game. Hey, I’ll see you at you know 12:59. 12:59. I would be just completely h I’d be in the locker room. TJ walked in. I’d be like, “My man, let’s go.” No uh no animosity, no feeling any kind of way. Glad you’re here. Hug him. Let’s go get it done. Dude has earned it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yep. To the, as coaches say, the 11th hour. I feel like we’re not blinking. We got our eyelids on. We ain’t blinking. Feels like we’re in it, brother. We are there. We’re almost the 11th hour. We’re in like the 10th and a half hour. Yeah. 10th hour. 10th 45 hour. 10th 40, 50th hour. Yeah. All right, man. All right. So, we’re done. Yeah. That’s how you want to end it. Uh, so we’re done. We’re done. Uh, yeah. Nothing else for the July was good. We’ll move on from that quick. Uh, saw fireworks. Um, we did sparklers for the first time, dude. With Yeah, with Yeah, sparkers scare me cuz you know that is as hot as a blowtorrch. Oh, no. Yeah. And you can It’s just like, “Oh, let’s touch that.” Nope. Let’s not touch that. Well, then our neighbors came over and gave those little poppers. Yeah, those are fun. Man, if I couldn’t figure out a more fun way to ruin my driveway than those little things. Well, the rain’s going. You’ll wash them all out. So, but anyway, yeah, that’s it. We’ll um see if any more trades or anything happens before next week or we’re just going to be talking about nothing again. We have just a couple more and yeah, how’s that cookbook coming? We’re We’re on the same page, man. Cookbook’s done, bro. The cookbook is finished. It is It will be in your hand. I don’t know. Week one. It’ll be available for purchase soon. We’re working on some really cool things for the roll out. Um maybe you guys can come out and see uh the big fella and Pittsburgh’s favorite chef and uh pick up a cookbook somewhere. If you guys want to do that, let us know. Let us know in the comments if you guys want to do like a uh like an event, like a live cookbook release. That’d be kind of cool. Cool. Eat a little something. Love it. Ask some Q’s. Get some A’s. Maybe some A’s. You know what I mean? It’d be a good time. Yeah. So that’s finished and we’ll get it to you. Other than that, we appreciate you. Thanks for coming. Yeah. See you when we see you.

In this episode, Ben and Spence discusses the recent trade of Minkah Fitzpatrick and its implications for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They reflect on the offseason drama, family reactions to the trade, and the cultural impact of losing key players. The conversation delves into Minkah’s performance, the shift in team strategy, and the importance of maintaining a strong locker room culture. The guys also address the contract situation of TJ Watt and the potential future direction of the team, emphasizing the need for a cohesive unit to succeed.

00:00 Welcome Back and Offseason Drama
02:51 Minkah Trade and Family Reactions
05:26 Analyzing Minkah’s Performance and Position Changes
07:59 Cultural Impact of Trades on the Steelers
11:00 New Era for the Steelers: A Shift in Strategy
13:39 Defensive Investments and Team Dynamics
16:06 Future of the Steelers: Draft and Player Development
19:06 Concerns About Team Culture and Leadership
21:36 TJ Watt’s Contract Situation and Its Implications
24:44 Final Thoughts on Trades and Team Direction