DK’s Double Shot of Steelers: Watt’s coming next?

DK’s Double Shot of Steelers: Watt’s coming next?

[Music] [Applause] [Music] All right. So, what happens next? Right. Good afternoon to you. I’m Dan Kamachovich of DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Double Shot of Steelers. It comes your way at 4 PM Eastern every weekday from here at our headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh. And I’ll be joined shortly by Chris Hock, who’s our beat writer covering the Steelers. And we’ll be talking about what comes next. Notice the clever pun over there. You see that? See that? I could do those all day long, but I’m not going to. I promise. The question though is legit. Training camp opens with reporting date on Wednesday. And isn’t it nice? I don’t even have to say next or two weeks from now or whatever. It’s just Wednesday. It just opens up Wednesday and the first practice is Thursday. And depending on your perspective, the Steelers either do or do not have remaining needs. As I see it, I don’t believe they have needs. I don’t believe that if they they take to the field, you say, “Oh, no. How can they do that without fill in the blank?” But I do think that they have a pretty strong want. And then there’s another question where they’re kind of maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we got dot dot dot. The pretty strong want would be for me WR2. I’d state that with more emphasis except that I believe that Omar Khan is going to go ahead and get himself a WR2. There’s still plenty of cap space. You’ve seen by now what the contract details are. If not, they’re on our website. Chris has to there it’s at DK Pittsburgh Sports for TJ I mean you’ve seen what the contract details are for Jaylen Ramsey John Smith you know what’s left it’s it’s 20 million or so that can get you a whole lot of WR2 that also can get you some FS1 if you’re interested in it and I I am not the Steelers medical staff I am not Juan Thornnehill himself nor his agent to know what his health is. I do know that he had calf issues in Cleveland. And I do know that calf issues, you’ve heard me say this many times are are something that linger. They don’t go away. There’s not a quick heal to it. They don’t get discussed as much as say the infamous high ankle sprain. But calf issues are problematic. If you don’t have Thornhill ready to go for 60 to 70 snaps a game for 17 games plus playoffs, what’s behind him? You know, that was not one of those puns, by the way. What’s behind him? You know, is it Miles Kilibru? Is that what you’re doing? I think you got to get another safety in some form. I I don’t know that it has to be, you know, Justin Simmons, and I don’t know that the WR2 needs to be, you know, Romeo Dobs. I I I think that you can do this in a way that you can be realistic about what you have, but at the same time, listen, all of your arrows are pointing into this season. Okay? All these older guys, one-year guys, and everything else, Aaron Rodgers himself, all of it’s pointing into this season. So, why would you enter? Why would you enter a season knowingly lacking something even if you just want it as opposed to needing it? Adam says, “Uh, could you see Calvin Austin getting dealt in a deal for WR2?” No, no, no. I really couldn’t. Cal’s part of this offense and Cal’s not WR2. Cal’s going to be WR3 here. Meaning in terms of the schematics, uh, Mr. CJ says, “Do we think that Gabe Davis is WR2 and waiting?” Gabe Davis was in the house, man. If they wanted him, he’d be signed. Uh, he was walking around the facility with a Steelers shirt on. Dude was he might as well have been waving a pen in his hand. They didn’t sign him. So, I don’t know who would be waiting, whether it’s the Steelers or the player. either Davis just needs to be healthy and if he can come back for some sort of follow-up checkup, if there’s certain things that they wanted to see from him, a certain threshold they want him to cross from a health standpoint, uh, you can do that. And Mr. CJ says, “I mean, after he’s healed.” I mean, yeah, sure. This is a real life football player. Steelers know that better than most. You know, Steelers says, “Don’t be getting rid of Cal.” No, nobody’s doing that. Jay Moon says, “Not get rid of Cal. Not gonna do that at all here. Jack Long says, “DK, I read your piece.” That’s on our website, DK Pittsburgh Sports, about utilizing Caleb Johnson in the passing game. Johnson was not heavily utilized in the passing game at Iowa, but he still had 22 catches for 188 yards and a couple touchdowns this past collegiate season. Uh for anybody who missed it, first off, follow Jack’s lead and get over to our website. You will not be disappointed. Uh the app is free. The website is free. Uh we don’t bite. If you want a better experience, meaning ad free, we have that option as well. What I wrote was that I have heard from the inside that the Steelers are interested in like really interested and really upbeat about throwing the ball to Caleb. like they see that as some sort of I don’t want to say secret weapon but some sort of alternate weapon that they can be utilizing maybe even more than they expected possibly Jack because of you’re referencing which is that he didn’t have huge bulk in IO when it came to catches they feel that he is eminently capable of catching the football out of the backfield unlike the guy he’s replacing by the way and they know that about Jaylen Warren as well. So, with all these other targets that we’re talking about, you can throw not one, not two, but all three running backs into that mix, including, of course, Kenny Gainwell, who’s been good at that uh throughout his own career. Craig Cole says, “Didn’t Cory Trace play some safety last year?” All I can tell you is what Corey Trace told me at mini camp, which is just give me a position, put me out there. Uh he believes that he’s capable of anything at all in the secondary, outside corner, slot corner, uh nickel, dime, safety, free, strong, you name it. He believes that he’s capable of it. He’s he sees himself as a football player uh in the secondary. So, when we come back, we’re going to get into this with uh with Chris, and we’re going to take more of your questions and so forth. I’m gonna have some caffeine. At DK Pittsburgh Sports, we take pride in coverage that connects our city’s fans to their favorite teams. Now, that connection’s stronger than ever. Introducing our all-new state-of-the-art app. Find expert inside reporting and original podcasts. Check live box scores. Track the latest stats. Chat it up with our community of thousands of fans, all in one place. The new app from DK Pittsburgh Sports. coverage that connects. [Music] This episode is brought to you by Dazzle Sports, proud sponsor of the Double Shot of Steelers. Whether it’s one item or a whole collection, don’t hesitate to contact them. Dazzle Sports buys trading cards, memorabilia, big or small. Join Dazzle Sports Auction on Facebook to buy, sell, or trade memorabilia, plus exclusive deals and giveaways. If you prefer eBay, search for Collectibles Central for you, like the Prince Style, and discover rare items and weekly drops from Dazzle Sports. Dazzle Sports isn’t just a store. It’s where sports memories come to life. Memorabilia, custom framing, autographs, cards, collectibles, and more. Visit to browse and buy your next collectible from the comfort of home. Use the code double shot. Make it one word at checkout on dazzleports.com for a 20% discount on your entire order. Hi Chris. What’s going on? Happy Friday. I’m not I I I’m afraid that it’s showing. We’re nine minutes and 12 seconds into this baby and I am in need of more of that stuff over there. Oh, yeah. I’m not there at all. I hear you. Um, just being honest. No, no. I’ve been I’ve been trying to get set up with a dentist appointment. I pretty much had to call them as soon as they opened and just to get a hold of somebody, which I did. I like set an alarm and everything. So, I got my appointment set before training camp. So, we’re good to go there. Um, but yeah, I’m still running. It needs in needs of of some caffeine, but I’m going the Coca-Cola route. Is that what that is? You have Coca-Cola in a Starbucks cup? No, McDonald’s. a McDonald’s cup. That makes that would throw you off though if it was a Starbucks cup and you were drinking. You know what I’m saying? Like your brain is expecting something and then it’s all of a sudden it’s all fizzy. My brother-in-law used to play that prank on my sister-in-law all the time. He used to give her like root beer and say, “Hey, here’s a Dr. Pepper for you.” And she would take a drink and just like immediately just want to spit it out because your brain’s thinking Dr. Pepper and it’s a very very different flavor in root beer. And it’s it’s mean. It’s just it’s Are you a believer that Dr. Pepper makes you burp? Oh, yes. 10,000. Okay. All right. I have a skeptic over here who might or might not be the boss of this oper. She’s like, “Get out of here. There’s no drink that makes you burp.” Dr. Pepper absolutely makes you burp. Talking about every carbonated Oh, no. No. Not like Dr. Pepper. Uh, but I will say the one that makes me burp, at least for me, makes me burp the most is Sprite. Sprite. Yeah, Sprite makes me burp more than Dr. Pepper. I can’t I can’t drink Sprite. I have no idea. I just I take one half of a sip of that. I’m like, “What the?” Anyway, we’re losing potential sponsors with every passing millisecond here. We’re talking about today uh what comes next whether or not we consider these things to be needs or wants. Mhm. And when you’re talking about WR2, especially with all the targets that Aeron’s already got here, need, want, who, when, what you got. Again, that’s why I think yes, you still need a WR2, but it doesn’t need to be. I think when people think that they they see what the Bengals have in Jamar Chase and T. Higgins and they see the Cowboys now with CD Lamb and George Pickkins and they see these few teams that have two legit number ons as their one and two. That’s not the way this offense needs to be run and that’s not the way most offenses in the NFL are run. This needs to be a guy that can complement what the Steelers have elsewhere which obviously you have DK Metaf on the other side. He’s going to I mean he’s your true ex receiver. who’s going to get triple digit targets. You’ve got two passcatching tight ends and Pat Frier and Johnny Smith. We’re talking about a guy who needs to be targeted maybe 60 to 70 times throughout the season. Again, that’s why I keep bringing up names like Gabe Davis. It’s not anything that’s going to move the needle a whole bunch, but it’s going to be in terms of what Arthur Smith can do schematically, something that helps fit what the Steelers need and adds a little bit more to the offense in which the defense then has to make up for it. They have to take they have to not not make up for it. They have to defend it. And if they don’t, they’re leaving themselves vulnerable, which then puts the Steelers in the advantage to be one step ahead of the defense. People asking about the mug almost every day. This this this thing here, which is now kind of hidden behind the plants. I feel like Mr. Roger showing you how the trolley works. I hated when he did that. And I’m going to really date myself with these references, but like to me it’s just a magic trolley. I didn’t want to see where the switch was. It was down below his bench. Like no, no, it’s just it’s just the trolley. It’s a sentient trolley. Okay. Let it let it be that. Um, sorry. If you want the mug, there’s the web address. It’s It’s a little bit of a mouthful there, but um, no, we don’t have different sizes on the mugs. Don’t get greedy here. I I I look at the I I look at I look at the wide receiver position and the WR2 position specifically, and I know I’ve mentioned Mike Williams, who just retired from the NFL, by the way, yesterday and after eight seasons. Congratulations to him. Mhm. really good dude. For some bizarre reason was never just utilized after winning the game for them over a conference finalist team. But okay, uh when you look at uh what the needs are on this offense, if I if you were Arthur Smith and you had a chance to draw up your perfect WR2 for what he needs within this scheme and everything, you’re probably looking at a guy who’s, you know, a good blocker. Yep. Okay. I know nobody wants to hear that, but that’s this is the coordinator you’ve got, not necessarily the one you want. And who in times of distress, meaning DK Metaf going down, can just go over there and play that position. Now, Mike Williams, where isn’t the world’s greatest or necessarily the most eager blocker, okay? That there’s there’s on the Bencoronic scale, he was kind of on there. Okay. Yeah. But when you’re looking at who who you could have that would make the offense, it would be someone like that. It would make the offense more complete. It’s not going to be one of these guys where they they get signed, I think, and people are going to go, “Whoa, I can’t believe they got fill in the blank.” I don’t think it’s going to be that. I think it’s going to be something that kind of deflates everyone to an extent and then they realize, listen, I don’t know how important this position was going to be anyway. You know what I’m saying? Yeah. But they’re going to get somebody. They’re going to get somebody. They are. And yes, I I I I think when we talk about the ideal WR2 for what the Steelers need, and it’s always different between each offense and based off of the rest of the personnel you have. The Steelers didn’t have what they have at tight end. They might need they might be better off trying to swing a for a a more attractive target. That might be, hey, I’m going to annoy the absolute crap out of the Saints GM and be like, the first second you even think about wanting to trade Crystal Saliva, you call me and we’ll figure this out. We’ll do whatever it takes. You know that? Yeah. It’ll be the only call you have to make. Right. Right. Uh but with what the Steelers have elsewhere, again, John Smith, Pat Footh, DK Metaf, those three guys are going to get their targets. So, when you look at what the Steelers need, I think I saw somebody earlier ask like, who’s the best blocker of all these guys? Well, Ben Scoranic could come in and just be the best blocker of all of them. But what Ben Scoranic doesn’t have is the ability to consistently win and get open as an outside receiver. So, what you need is a guy who can do a little bit of both. Gabe Davis can do a little bit of both. Jawan Jennings is probably better at both than Gabe Davis’s, but there’s no guarantee the 49ers are going to shop him. Um, that’s the thing when it comes to potential trade candidates. You don’t tra trade candidates. Easy for me to say. You don’t know until the actual until the team actually puts them on the market. So, in the meantime, you figure out what whether what other options there are. And right now, Gabe Davis is probably of the I can pick up the phone and sign him right now if I wanted to. Like the easiest guy to sign because he’s a free agent. You’ve already had him in. It’s It’s the easiest thing to do and cheap. Damen Ellswick comes in with a couple bucks and says, “Yeah, which WR2 candidate is the best blocker? Is there someone out of a Gabe Davis or even a Romeo Dobs or or someone that’s lower on the totem pole there uh who who would come in and be that guy where Arthur says, “Oh yeah, now there’s my blocker guy.” Uh of all the guys I’ve watched so far, Jawan Jennings is I knew you were going to say that. Yeah. I mean, I put one rep on the chalk talk I did on him yesterday and my gosh, he threw I think the way Rob Gronowski put because whenever he threw the block, it went viral on Twitter and Rob Gronowski said he threw him out the club. I mean, he he drove him through the entire end zone like and then they got into and then they got him then they got into a fight and I’m like, yeah, you’d probably rather not see Jennings get into a fight during or after a play and then get offsetting personal fouls. But as Mike Tomlin likes to say, he’d rather say wo than sickum. You’d rather have you’d rather have the wide receiver who’s willing to do that kind of thing and say just dial it down a couple of notches instead of, hey, I need you to go block and he just doesn’t want to. James Fairfield asks, is John Smith a one-year acquisition? He is not. Uh Chris has the contract details there. Uh it’s two years, so like two years for the Steelers. uh this year’s uh contract cap like the cap hit for this year is le I don’t have those exact numbers uh off the top of my head I can well I mean he’s it’s two years it’s not one year it is under contract through the 26 season Justin Watson points out here that uh having um oh heck where did this go now I had it and it was a really good question here oh here it it’s not a question he says the WR2 by committee doesn’t work it becomes a tell and that Makes sense, too. If you put Scoranic out there as your WR2 for whatever reason, you’re you’re putting up a big neon board there to say we’re running the ball. You’re running the ball. U on the other hand, if you put him out there and you’re doing the tell, but the tell is a deception and you’re actually throwing the ball, you can do that as well. So, I mean, that can work both ways. Uh Tyler Dot says, “Why not sign Gabe Davis cheap with no guaranteed money? Why would he sign that?” Yeah, I mean there’s always two parts to this. You know, the players have to sign, too. Uh he could learn the playbook, at least watch training camp instead of jumping on. Uh there’s Well, so okay, just so just as we saw it play out with the Steelers and Aaron Rogers for the longest time, it was he’s going to sign. Like the they have every expectation that he’s going to sign. So that’s why they moved on. That’s why people are like, “What are you doing waiting for a quarterback?” because our quarterback is coming. He’s just not signed yet. The idea here, I’m not saying this is what is, but I’m saying this is a possibility, is that they met with Gabe Davis. They didn’t like what they saw on the medicals when they did their own physical and everything. And then they said, “Let’s circle back around in a couple of months and see where things are. If we like what we see on the medical side, we got a contract waiting for you.” And that absolutely might be the situation playing out here. It might not be. It might be exactly what the others say. It could be the Steelers being like, “Yep, nope, not even with it.” Nope, not at all. We’re going to move on. We’re going to look for somebody else and we’ll figure it out. But it wouldn’t surprise me if in a couple of weeks we see the Steelers sign Gabe Davis. It would not surprise me whatsoever. Useless knowledge says, “If we go empty set, do we need more wide receivers?” And that brings to mind the first part of that, which is how often do you expect the Steelers to go empty set with a with a quarterback of that age, respectfully. I mean, I I I love having the the running backs back there as a safety valve. Somebody’s coming. I I want somebody to be able to pick them up. You know what I’m saying? Well, the good thing is is that there are a lot of concepts nowadays. Uh, and this is like offenses who have combined the West Coast offense with the Air Raid offense because Air Raid uses a lot of empty set. And then you combine that with West Coast with with which West Coast uses a lot of quick game stuff. Ball gets out real fast. And you combine that. So you have these empty sets and we saw Arthur Smith last year use empty sets but in 13 personnel sometimes where he had three tight ends taking up those five wide that were, you know, lined up outside. And then it’s a, you know, you can run on one side of the formation where you have three receivers, you can run something called shock, which is two guys going really, really short and then one guy going deep. And if the coverage is right, you throw the deep ball and you can throw it quick. If the co if the coverage looks the other way, then you can throw one of those really quick passes. Uh, we’ve seen it happen. The Steelers ran it last year. And the thing is that Aaron Rogers is so good at getting rid of the ball quick and he still has the quick release that I’m not as concerned about that. And if he sees a big blitz coming, he can always bring in max protection, bring a guy in and he can help protect, too. John Glink says, and he’s not the only one to bring this up today, isn’t Calvin Austin considered a quality blocker, or am I confused? If he is a quality blocker, what else does he need to prove on to become though you are too? Um, I love Cal. Cal can be the best technical blocker in human history and doesn’t matter. He’s not He’s not a big guy. Okay? I I don’t want to I’m not going to sit here and take shots at him or whatever. He is the size that he is. He’s also the most courageous, the toughest player on the entire roster just just based on the nature of his punt returns. Okay? It’s just a single trait that identifies him as being that guy. Uh but you’re not going to be an effective blocker at that size. I’m sorry. Even if you’re just blocking a DB or whatever, you’re not going to be an effective blocker. Willing, yes. Yeah. Eager and enthusiastic, yes. He’s got everything except the frame. So, for WR2, what’s another reason, Chris, that you would want your WR2 to have a little bit more size to him. Well, here’s a really good reason. Uh, whenever I was doing the the the homework on Gabe Davis, and the chalk talk on him, by the way, that’s today’s chalk talk. It’s going to be uploaded after the show. Whenever I was doing the homework on him, I actually saw that Calvin Austin had a higher contested catch rate than Gabe Davis. Barely, just by like a couple of percent. The the problem was is that Calvin Austin, despite playing more games than than Gabe Davis, had a third of the opportunities to have those contested catches. Yeah. He’s against football, right? But the pro the problem is is that like you know like like uh James Chamberlain says Davis is 62206. This dude is a much bigger body. He’s able to get the contested catches whenever he needs to. And or no way it was Joan Jennings who was that but Gabe Davis is is good at it too. And so these guys are just bigger and they their body can withstand the wear and tear better than a guy who is just Calvin’s size. Doesn’t mean that Calvin can’t be an exciting part of the offense. He can absolutely do a lot of things. Think Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill is not a huge gigantic guy. Kind of a smaller guy. Wes Welker was always a smaller guy, but man, Wes Welker would tear apart defenses. catching the ball five yards from the line of scrimmage every single time. He would tear apart tore this one apart. This one for sure. My goodness. It it matters when it comes to and and useless knowledge. It was right here. He says Calvin size is slot receiver all day long. That’s exactly that’s why whenever Yeah. Go ahead, Chris. Sorry. I was say that’s why whenever you’ve said like every single time when it comes to Calvin Austin, the way they view him in this offense, it’s WR3. It is the primary slot receiver. He’s he is that in ink pen. So understand there is not an option to just ah let’s just make him this. He is already a certain position a certain role on this offense. Arthur’s not going to move him. Yeah. Okay. So somebody else has to be WR2. So it’s never about Cal. But everyone keeps throwing Cal into this I guess just because they’re think they’re confusing the depth chart with a role in the offense. Okay. Is Cal WR2 on the depth chart? Sure. Okay, that doesn’t matter at all. You know, it doesn’t mean he’ll never line up out wide because you always do different things. There will be times where DK Medaf’s in the slot because you’re going to do different things, move guys around in order to throw off the defense, but when you talk about majority, I mean, last year Calvin Austin was in the slot more often than he was lined up out wide. Sebastian Sanchez says, “Uh, hey DK, Chris, I’ve always wondered why modern offense has moved away from the traditional sevenstep drop back from center to seemingly always lining up in shotgun formation.” We touched on this briefly yesterday that Rogers is a is a shotgun guy. He’s an under center guy. I mean, you noticed every time we bring up Rogers, the one the one common theme is, “Can he do this?” And the answer is yes. Uh he he he has done all of it. he’s done all of it well. You don’t get to be one of the top five quarterbacks in the history of your sport without, you know, with having some kind of significant limitation like that. So, yeah. But what’s the answer to Sebastian’s question here, Chris? It’s a good conversation to have with some of the offensive minds in the game. Uh, I only have access to really a few here. Uh but my own theory is it limits the it it it it um what’s the best way to put it? There’s less room for error. I guess it’s a lot easier. I understand the centers having to snap the ball five yards back, but it’s become so almost automatic for centers now to do it. When you talk about the number of snaps and then you look at the number of snaps that either go over the quarterback’s head or go to his feet, like I watched all of Aaron Rogers snaps from last season and he had one that went like to his feet. None that went over his head like in in a shotgun. I don’t remember ever watching one go over his head last season. So when you talk about the percentage of that actually happening, it’s actually very very small. But it is, it’s a lot easier for a quarterback to catch the ball immediately, have it, and then get into either a quick put the back foot back, put all cleats in the ground and throw it, or do three steps from there, which is essentially a sevenst step drop, what you’re talking about, because there’s less movement. It’s more time to survey what the defense is doing. It gives you also a different perspective when you’re five yards behind the line of scrimmage as opposed to being right up on the center. So this is uh Ryan Lidle points out these are a couple names we never mention here. Sometimes we get accused of why don’t you ever talk about this guy and we actually talk about him all the time. We really don’t bring these guys up at all. He says DK Chris is there any chance that Malik Harrison or Brandon Eckles could be a big part of the defense that nobody’s talking about. Malik Harrison’s going to be on the field. Uh Harrison is for anybody who doesn’t know and you’d be forgiven for not knowing. He is an inside linebacker. He is the guy I don’t want to say he’s the guy who’s replacing Elandon Roberts. He’s replacing him on the roster, not necessarily in the role. Yeah. Okay. Cole Hulcom is the one who replaces him in the role. Uh but uh Harrison has also a really high special teams pedigree. Yep. So you what he’s going to be doing a little bit of both. Eckles is your corner depth guy who was supposed to be or your outside corner depth guy because he’s done both. Uh he told us when he met with us this summer that he feels like he’s he’s equally adept and equally enthusiastic about either position. Um and you end up needing those guys. These are your your James Pierre types. I I don’t want to knock him or whatever here, okay? But no, but really you you do need those guys and you end up seeing them on the field at some point or other. Um Eckles has played in the NFL. He has played in NFL defenses. He is not some distant spare part that you’re just reserving for special teams. And you could say that about both of these players. I would actually probably say right now when the Steelers are in their dime defense that Brandon Eckles is their dime back. That would be my guess. When you talk about Really? That’s interesting. Well, six defensive backs. So, you’ve got two safeties most likely with Elliot and Thornhill. And so, then it’ be four corners. Well, your top three are definitely Porter, Slay, and Ramsay, whatever order you want to put them in. And then your fourth corner at that point would be Eckles. So, it would not surprise me if he’s your dime back. uh when they do go into the dime. Um it’s going to be interesting to see how and I’ve already kind of written about this on dksittports.com like how are they going to split up like personnel usage? Are we going to see mo more nickel than we saw last year? Because even though they use nickel more than anything else, they’re still near the bottom of the league in terms of overall nickel usage. So are they going to use more nickel? Does that mean they use less base or less dime? We have yet to see that. But Eckles is going to be on the field for sure. He’s just going to be he’s obviously not going to take the place of the other three guys above him when they’re all healthy. So, it’s the same thing with Harrison, too. He’s LB4 on the death chart. Timothy Heamus says, “When going to Latroe, what are some good places for food and coffee?” These questions are going to become only more common place as we get closer. And it’s Latroe. Okay. I mean, I don’t know what people are expecting. They’re like Quaintville, USA or something. It’s Route 30 and it’s a it’s a it’s a four-lane road that just cuts through it. Um on if you’re coming from Pittsburgh as as I am, you’re going to run into some, you know, chain stuff that’s about a mile and a half, two miles in front of it, including a Starbucks that’s that was new from about four or five years ago there. and you drive past it. If you drive past St. Vincent College, there’s a thing up on the hill, right? Some kind of shopping center or something. It is just just if you’re waiting for something romantic here, you’re not going to get it. St. Vincent College itself is the setting is beautiful. It’s wonderful. If you’re looking for extra stuff to do in Latroe, you know, come down here. Uh well, I I’ll give you three places. Um, if you’re looking for a little bit more of I I’m not going to say romantic, but a little bit more on the not say upscale, but just a little more fancy. Uh, Denunzio’s at the actual airport in Latroe is a really cool place. Some really good airport. Yes, it is. Yeah. What the airport for anybody who doesn’t know is right across the street from St. Vincent College, meaning across from Route 30. Yeah. Uh, and then there’s Sharkies and Dinos. Those are two sports bars that get a lot of traction during training camp and rightfully so. The wings at Dino’s are phenomenal. Uh the wings at Sharkies are almost as good, but Sharkies has some really really good other food that I really like, too. And I probably end up spending more time at Sharkies uh than Dino’s. But both are fantastic. Yeah, we’re we’re trying we’re mentioning now little Japanese restaurants. We’re trying really hard to make Latro sound cool. training camp itself is is awesome. It’s an unforgettable setting. Um you’ll you’ll cherish the memories that you have there. Then go home. That that’s I’m sorry I’m not being mean here, but it there’s really not anything, you know, all that all that exciting about it here because you’re going to just be mentioning like you said, Chris, strip malls and stuff like that. Um let me see what else we have here. Mr. CJ wants to know about the the blocking sled drill. What day is it? That just won’t go away. Most overblown story of of last year’s camp by a million miles. He hurt his calf. Yeah. Okay. He hurt his calf. Russell Wilson did. That didn’t happen because he ran into a blocking sled. Uh Helen Daddy wants to know, we’re going to take a couple more today here. How Cole Hulcom is expected to be used post injury. Uh he is not being treated as post injury. That’s that’s my answer. What do you got Chris? No, that’s I mean he the Steelers have had all the confidence to bring him back because they saw how he rehabbed and he is back to be a contributor. Uh now I do have a very good indication that Pton Wilson is going to be the first guy lining up next to Patrick Queen, but that doesn’t mean Cole Hulkcom is not going to see the field. He will be on the field. He will play a good amount. And if he goes back to anything close to the form he was in before he got injured and Pton Wilson doesn’t take a step forward, the the snaps will change. Cole Hulkcom will move past him because Hulkcom at his like the way he was playing before he got injured, he was an LB1 type. That’s the way he was playing. And if he goes anything close back to that and the Steelers have that have that and Patrick Wayne next to each other, that’s a gamecher for this defense. Our man lifted once has been in a bad mood all day. He’s been like filling the the comment section, the live chat section here with just just endless negativity from top to bottom. And I’m just putting him on the screen here to take his temperature. Like, are you okay, my guy? All about George Pickkins, too. a lot of George Pickkins like he’s acting like he has no idea of why the Steelers he keeps ask why did they trade George Pickkins like you really don’t know that I mean how many times have we talked about this I don’t mean to be you know aggressive here or whatever but how many times have we talked about this you know they don’t want him around they were celebrating that he was gone how does that not matter to people lifted ones I’m talking straight to you here buddy I had players pull me aside to complain about the guy. They don’t. Players don’t do that. They just don’t. They protect that locker room. Stuff that should stay in the house. They’re telling me I had I had them too, Chris. We We share this information. It goes, you know, and then lifted ones hides behind the whole I’m a realist. That’s what negative people say. Go outside, man. Go for a walk. You know, if you have a dog, take the dog with you. Smile and laugh a little bit. It’s this is just football, you know. It’s just football. It It’s not that big. Now, now we’re talking here. Well, hang on a second here. Lifted one says, “I’ll take a Starbucks.” You could do that, too. Go for a walk to a Starbucks. Get yourself something to to pep up a little bit. The team has had a really interesting off season, you know, and and and now you’re saying, “Well, have you watched the last few seasons?” Yeah. And this isn’t that. Okay. You know how I know that? I have a calendar. Okay. Are there some commonalities? Sure. But are there nine new starters out of 22 from the end of last season? Sure. With with perhaps the best quarterback this team has had since Ben blew his arm out. And and if you want, we’ll see. Lol. Okay. Then if if they lose and they stink, you get to be happy about it. See, I just don’t understand this this stuff at all. I’m sorry. You know, Jack Long says, “I can’t remember an off season like this one.” Um, well, that’s because there hasn’t been one. No. I mean, you could have you could have said that, Jack, after the Metaf trade. Just right there. Just cut it off and see. They’ve never had an off season like this one. Just because of the Metaf trade. Everything else is kind of gravy here. Chris Dolnac asks DK and Chris, uh, what drills do you look forward to? Um, you know, I’m kind of I know there’s going to be a whole lot of backs on backers and stuff like that sentiment with this. Uh, I I want to see football plays. I want to see routes being run. I want to see quarterbacks uh and wide receivers and tight ends uh executing. And maybe that’s the result of all the negativity here stuff that Lifted ones is coming and now he’s offering everybody a hug. We don’t want your hug, man. You’re in a terrible mood. Who wants terrible mood hugs? What is that? Like a terrible mood hug is just one of these, you know? Nobody wants that. Yeah. Um but those are the drills that I like because those to me look like the offense that’s been missing for half a decade now. And I miss I miss it. I miss it and I like to see it and I like to get my hopes up. What about you, Chris? Uh some people in here are saying seven shots. That’s a good one. I’m going to go a different route other than backs on backers too. Uh, I don’t remember the name for it, but it’s whenever a lot of the skilled guys, we’re talking receivers, running backs, versus linebackers, corners, you know, and they get into this tighter space along the sideline. And it’s literally like one guy has the ball, the other guy’s coming, and they’re just it’s one-on-one. And they do this when they’re either wearing pads or when they’re not wearing pads, but when they’re wearing pads, it’s way more interesting. And yeah, that one’s a fun one because not only do you see the contact and the physicality that goes along with trying to bring a guy down, but you also see skill and guys moving in open space and trying to make a guy miss. It’s actually a lot of fun. So, but yeah, seven shots is is always fun, especially whenever they have pads because then it’s not just guaranteed, oh, they’re just going to do a passing play. Like, they can actually do a running play now, too. It’s cool because the seven shots, the other thing that happens with it is the whole complex knows. Yeah. When it’s seven shots because all of the separate drills, the separate positions, even sometimes on different fields, everything stops. Yeah. And there’s a there’s a horn that blows and everybody even in the crowd just goes, “Oh, oh, here it comes. Here it comes. Here it comes.” And then you watch us, us athletic reporter types, hurrying down to that end of the field to make sure that we have the best possible angle on this. If you ever want to see reporters in motion, this is your opportunity to just check on that near sideline uh from the stands there. Uh we got one more here. Let’s do one more here. Does John, this is a good one from Adam here. I like the hardcore football stuff. Does John Smith force defenses to play a nickel? John Smith is going to force defenses to do a lot of thinking about where he is. That’s my feeling right now. We’ll see if that ends up being correct or not. But, you know, we mentioned yesterday that he does a lot of lining up, you know, in the slot. He lines up in different positions. Anything anything that resembles unpredictability on either side of the ball will represent an improvement for the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers as a whole. John Smith can do that. And by the way, he can do that. Uh being respectful here, uh a lot better than what you were going to get out of Donald Pum who was just going to be you Michael, but a better receiving version of it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, the one thing that Jonnu is going to do is he’s going to put defenses in conflict because if you are running out there in 12 personnel, which is two tight ends, and the two tight ends are Pat Footh and Janu Smith, you are telling the defense, you better be in base. We got two tight ends. You better be in your base defense. If they if the base defense comes out, then you have an advantage because it’s most likely going to be a linebacker covering Johnny Smith and good luck with that. Um, if you then put out nickel and say, “No, we’re we’re going to make sure there’s a defensive back or a safety or a nickel or whatever on Johnny Smith, then you have a lighter defense to run the football against.” Mhm. So it’s it’s going to and especially because and then that’s the other thing you can do. Even if it’s not Fri and Janu and it’s Jonnu and Darnell Washington, it’s still kind of the same thought process. Janu opens things up. Even whenever it’s not just Smith and Pat Footh out there, if it’s Janu and Darnell, it does the same thing. It will put the defense in conflict because as talented as Pat Frymouth is, and he is, John is just a little bit more versatile than Pat is. Pat’s probably a little bit more consistent when it comes to being able to catch the football and be a reliable target, but Jonno can do things that Pat can’t and Pat can do things that Janu can’t. So, it’s it’s a really really good thing to have because it will force defenses to pick a lane and then the Steelers can be like, “All right, we’ll go then go the other way and we’ll have the advantage on against you.” When we come back, we’re going to we’re going to take care of a little bit of business here on the Double Shot of Steelers show. Can you hear all the people in that coffee shop whenever we do the transition? Like can you hear people talking and everything? It’s just an amazing little graphic. Yeah. Or as Danny H says, transition too. See, Danny H really pays attention. You got the boss to laugh over there. That’s funny. Those are her designations. Listen, you dummy. Well, this is for whenever I’m gone or whenever she’s gone and I have to do this by myself. See, you know, the first break you get, use transition one. Second break you get. Yeah. Okay. Um, we have 283 memberships. So, we’re starting to climb back up uh toward 3,000. The goal is to get there by the 7th of September when the Steelers are in the swamps of New Jersey. I’m feeling kind of good about that. Uh, we do have an important question from a business standpoint that was asked uh earlier and I I saved it for this segment. John Molesco says, “Hey DK, I don’t know if this has been discussed yet, but once camp starts, will double shot still be at the same time?” I know that there’s going to be a lot on your plates with reporting stories from camp. Uh, there will be a lot on our plates and it will not be at the same time because it can’t be. And here’s why. Practices are going to start, the actual practices, there’s access earlier in the day. practices are going to be at 155. This head coach is known to he’ll stretch it by 15 or 20 minutes or whatever beyond the closing expected closing time of that practice which is 400 p.m. So if he takes it to 4:15 and we are waiting in the end zone where the players come to us willingly, believe it or not, uh to to be interviewed, some of them anyway. They’re always appreciated. Yeah. uh and we have an opportunity to talk to them, we’re going to seize that because that gives that gives us the chance to share more information with you. But then from from here, Chris can lay out what the logistics are and why it’s just literally not possible to have the show at 4:00 and it’s going to have to be later. Well, yeah, because again, if practice is ending right then and there at 4:00, like impossible. Yeah, it’s impossible because we have we have players to do interviews with. Um, we got to get the videos out. We got to make sure that we’re doing everything we can on on so that those interviews can then get out to you guys and get out to everywhere. So, yeah, 5:00 is going to be the time that we’re shooting for. Uh, DK will definitely be on for sure. Uh, I will always be whether I’m on right away or if I’m, you know, a little bit behind because again, we don’t know if I have the chance to get a certain player one-on-one like I did. Second day of training camp last year, I got Patrick Queen one-on-one and he told me, “I’m going to I want to retire here.” Like, whoa, you haven’t even played a down for this franchise yet and you were a Baltimore Raven and you’re telling me second day of training camp that you want to retire as a Steeler? like I’m not going to run away from that stuff because that’s content that you guys deserve as fans. So, um yeah, the boss is holding up her hand like this because it it looks like five o’clock would happen. So, the way I see this playing out most likely if you guys want the behind the behind the curtain thing is is that Chris and I will be there and we’ll do our thing and whatever else here. I’m probably going to leave Latroe uh even before the end of practice. and we’ll see how that goes depending on if there’s somebody that I need to talk to. Uh, and I’ll be in this position. I’ll be back downtown and we’ll do the show that way and Chris will set himself up somewhere out there. We’re looking at 5:00 most likely. Uh, but we’re not going to know that until we see how things go with the first practice day on Thursday. Let’s go through some business here. Jack Long came in uh with five gifts. That’s appreciated. Uh Chris Dolnac and Damen Ellswick both dropped a couple of bucks on us here. Uh Leroy has been with us for 24 months and Steve and Ou Bobcat come in as brand new members. We appreciate all of you. We also appreciated by the way the uh the membersonly show that we had. That was good yesterday. That was actually really cool. It felt like I I was wondering at first when I said it like, “Oh, we have more to talk about. We have more to talk about.” And we started like, do we really have more to talk? And then we really did. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was it was a it was a lot of fun. It was a good show. So, if you’re not a member, you missed out on it. Yeah. Mr. CJ says, “Please get Chris a good Wi-Fi connection by then.” Believe it or not, that’s not up to us, pal. And the NFL is like the worst league to be asking for a good Wi-Fi connection. Oh god. Worse than any other major sports league. Just there’s just something about it where they just don’t get it. Snowman drops five bucks at the last second. ask about Darnell Washington being used in the red zone. Uh there were signs to that effect in the summer workouts. Then they signed John Smith. So we’re not going to know that one. Okay. We’re just not going to know that until until we get out there here. So uh yeah, we’re going to be working on, you know, the coming week here. We’re going to be working on the Wi-Fi and everything else. it. But the it it looks like we’re going to be doing them at 5:00 pm beginning next Thursday. Thursday. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Meaning after the first practice and we’ll let you know I’m going just going to drop it on you. All right. So, uh everybody have a good weekend. Last weekend without any football for a long Imagine. Think about it. Long time. I know, right? Ready for it. Oh, she just pointed out. Yeah, the helmets, the other team’s helmets eventually are going to make a comeback. You don’t have to keep looking at the same one. Do you know if you think what I if I ever did this, how many people would even notice like they’d be like, “Hey, what happened to your Steelers helmet?” Oh, no. People would pay I guarantee you I guarantee you there are people because I think it was I even kind of pay attention to this. Last year whenever you had the helmet set up, you always had the Steelers helmet on the left and the opponent’s helmet on the right. Even though my brain, and I know other people’s brains operate this way, too, it’s always road team on the left and home team on the right. And so I was thinking you’d switch that back and forth and it just the Steelers always stayed on the one side. So I wonder if like anybody else had had picked up on that, too. Or maybe I’m just more OCD than I think I am. You know what? We’re actually going to do that now. Just because you said that, we’re actually going to do that. So the home team would go on the right side. from the viewer standpoint. So when it’s on the right side, that’s not this side. When it’s on the right side, so when they’re at home, it’ll look like this. No, that that’d be when they’re on the road. Oh man, I’m This is all backward for me. Yeah, it’s all backwards for you. So like this. Yeah. So then we put the other team here and and so everyone will go, “Hey, what happened to your Steelers helmet? Aren’t we good enough?” And it’s going to be for people who don’t know that the they’re the only team in the league that has the logo and only one side of the helmet. Useless knowledge says make DK buy all the other teams helmets. Dude, that is past tense. Who do you think you’re dealing with mentality over collector mentality indeed? We have a whole special compartment back here in our storage for all that stuff. I’m glad because other people are pointing it out and some people said they they have noticed that. Some people had say they hadn’t, but some people are saying that they did notice that that the helmet always stayed on the one side. And the funny thing about it, if you want to go even more ridiculous, is that when you go over to England for like per like soccer, the home team is on the left and the road team’s on the right. So, it’s backwards. So it yeah it’s it’s funny like how why Americans have to do things differently than I I well I don’t know but they I mean it was their language so I’m not in a really in a great position to criticize when they describe teams as or cities as plural entities you know Liverpool are all right guys we’ll see you have a good weekend everybody take There. [Music] [Applause]

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With T.J. Watt signed, what’s still left on the Steelers’ to-do list?

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