Steelers Rumors: Will Asante Samuel Jr. Or Marquez Valdes-Scantling Even Play For PIT This Season?

Steelers Rumors: Will Asante Samuel Jr. Or Marquez Valdes-Scantling Even Play For PIT This Season?

[Music] Welcome into the Steelers Talk Mailbag. I’m your host, Jack Sperry. The Pittsburgh Steelers are about to take on the Chicago Bears uh in the Windy City here in week 12. And today, I am answering your questions in preparation for that game right here on Steelers Talk. This is my favorite segment of the week because I get to have that two-way conversation with you guys, the Steelers fans, every single week. You guys always bring the heat with these questions. Uh so if you guys want to join our interactive fan community here on Steelers Talk, we got over 100,000 subscribers. We are the only Steelers news program uh individually run here on YouTube that has that many subscribers. And the reason for that is we try and keep it fun for you guys. We go live twice a week to talk Steelers ball. We go live for every single Steelers game to react to the game together. And of course, we have these mailbags where you guys have an opportunity to have your voice heard every single week and have your questions be seen by thousands of Steelers fans uh on every single one of this of these mailbags. So, if you guys want to join us, we do these mailbags. We film them live on Thursday uh during our weekly live show. So, if you guys want to click that subscribe button and join us on Thursdays for our live shows, you could get a question on a future Steelers mailbag. All right, our first one. $5 super chat from Justin Yanookuski who says, “Is there a chance Joe Burrow plays against the Rat Birds to give us some hope of an L.” Well, the final injury report for Cincinnati will come out after I’m recording this, but at this point, at the point of filming this, it looks like he’s got a really good chance not only to play against the Ravens on Thanksgiving, but also the Patriots in week 12. So, um, he’s been a full participant in practices this week. It looks like he’s getting to a pretty decent spot with his health. Um, and it looks like he’s going to play. So, uh, hopefully, uh, because Burrow is playing in both of the games against the Ravens this year that Cincinnati can give us an upset versus the Ratfords. $2 from Bernard Nixon says, “Do you think people are being too hard on Aaron Rodgers?” The way I would answer this, Bernard, is that it’s fine to be truthful about what we’re seeing from Aaron Rogers last three weeks, ever since he jammed that finger on his throwing hand, he just hasn’t been the same, plain and simply. But what’s your conclusion? What’s your solution for fixing that issue? Is it to put Mason Rudolph in for the rest of the season and pretty much kill any chance you have of winning a Super Bowl or do you maybe want to get Rogers back to 100% health? Cuz I think a healthy Aaron Rodgers, which is what we got the first eight weeks of the year, is better than Mason Rudolph. And I think everyone would acknowledge that. But over the last three weeks when he’s been playing with that injured finger, um he hasn’t been as good as Mason Rudolph. And we saw that because Mason came in in the second half and he did play better than Rogers did. Okay. So, especially now that Rogers is dealing with that fractured wrist. I’m guessing at the point at this point when this video comes out, Rogers will be confirmed to be playing on Sunday afternoon. Um, I’m and that’s for better or for worse, man. I’m not sure if that’s the right decision. Uh, but I guess we’ll see if it is or not come Sunday. Then we got one from Keegan. $2 is, do you think Asante Samuel Jr. will play this year? Um, you know, I think that this is one of those where we’re going to have to wait and see here, Keegan, where um, you know, the Steelers still seem to like Darius Slay for whatever reason. Uh, they like James Pierre, obviously, he’s been playing really well. And, you know, when you when you include Brandon Eckles in the discussion, and maybe even Jaylen Ramsay, like at best, Asante Samuel Jr. on the practice squad is fifth or sixth uh, on the outside quarterback totem pole right now here in Pittsburgh. Um it’s going to be interesting to see if he can rise up that totem pole as the season goes on. Um obviously the Steelers brought him in for a reason. They like his skill set to some degree. Uh so, you know, I could certainly see a world where they play him at some point this year, but I could also see a world where they don’t. And maybe James Pierre uh takes over that starting job and plays the rest of the way. Uh that’s certainly possible. Also, another thing, too, is that the Steelers are not practicing Asante Samuel Jr. at Nickel. are playing him exclusively in practices on the outside. Uh so they clearly see him as an outside corner. Uh but you know, honestly, the depth that outside corner for the Steelers is actually, you know, pretty decent at this point. So it’ll be interesting to see how the season plays out. Um but for now, it doesn’t look like he’s close to getting in the starting lineup. So what say you guys? Let me know down there in the comments section. Will Sante Samuel Jr. start as Pittsburgh’s number two corner at some point this season? Give me a yes or a no down there in the comments section. This will be the pin question on today’s show. YouTube’s going to throw you an ad break here in just a couple of seconds. And when that happens, take advantage of that time by letting me know if you think ASJ starts a game for the Steelers this year. Got one from Tyler Sour. I hope I’m saying that right, Tyler. He says, “What kind of comp picks could we have gotten if Pickkins would have walked? Uh, if we would have kept him and he would have walked, it’s probably a third round pick.” So pretty much the trade for Pickkins um you know moves up a third round pick uh that you would have gotten in 2027 if Pickkins would have walked and gotten a new contract. So um you know you’re pretty much getting the same compensation only a year earlier. And listen man, in a in a wide receiver class in 2026 that is really deep and really talented. Um that might uh work out in the Steelers’ favor. I guess we’ll just have to see. But, you know, and really the thing about the pickins trade, Tyler, is that and the reason why the Steelers did it was because players inside the locker room didn’t want to play with him anymore. That’s pretty much what it was according to Marco. There were big time players like Cam Hayward, TJ Watt is, I mean, those guys weren’t named in the report, but he said key players in the locker room, which tells me they were, you know, probably involved in the decision. Um, they said that they were done playing for him because he was late to meetings, late to practices, late to games. uh you know obviously didn’t give consistent effort on tape run blocking or even in his route running um and he’s a hell of a player no doubt about that but um I think that it got to a point where they had to part ways and they did maximize his trade value on the open market. There was no other team in the league that was willing to give up a third round pick other than the Dallas Cowboys uh for the same reasons that we just discussed for the concerns that he has off the field. So, um, you know, it kind of sucks that he’s balling out in in in Dallas right now, but they only have him for one year, and we do have that third round pick a year earlier. So, I guess we’ll see if, uh, the con artist, who is really nailed his early round draft picks, by the way, uh, can draft a long-term starter for this team in exchange for George Pickkins. Then we got one from it’s Caleb 2X says, “Why Slay over Pierre?” Um, you know, I think maybe it’s just to give I mean, honestly, Slay was playing better uh the two weeks before he got injured. Okay, that first little portion of the Charger game, he had a pass break up. He was looking actually pretty good in coverage and, you know, he was he didn’t play phenomenally in the Colts game, he did give up a couple of catches, but he played better in that game than he did in any game previously. Um, and you know, the the quarters approach that they played uh more frequently now and the off coverage with the two high safety stuff that they’re running, it it fits Darius Slay’s play style more. So maybe they want to give him one more chance to kind of see if he can be worth the 10 plus million they they paid him this off season. But I will say this, Caleb, I think it’s going to be a short leash. James Pierre has played really really well and you know the Steelers, you know, I just don’t think there’s any way where if Slay goes out there and sucks that they’re just going to keep playing him. Um especially with the way Pierre has played. So we’ll see what ends up happening this weekend. But I will say I think James Pierre gets in the rotation this week along with Darius Slay. Uh, but before we get to the rest of your questions this week, guys, let’s have word from our sponsor today at Harry’s. And I don’t have to tell you guys that maneuvering the men’s razor space nowadays is a complete nightmare. The quality products are always super expensive and the refills are always ridiculously expensive as well. When you try to save a little bit of money and get one of the cheaper brands, you get stuck with dull razors that you can really only use once and they irritate your skin and sometimes even cut it. 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I actually brought my Har’s Plus razor today just to show you guys what it looks like and to show you that I actually use and love this product. And I used their entire line of shaving products. I use their shave gel, which smells terrific. Then also their post shave uh balm uh cools your face. And then also it smells great as well. And the best part about Harry’s products is that they don’t break the bank. I started using Harry’s back in college when where I kind of wanted more quality out of my shaving products, but I didn’t have a lot of money to spend on it, right? But with Harry’s, you get the whole shebang. You get the barberh shop quality shave with their German engineered uh blades. And the reason why I like Harry’s Plus, guys, is that it gives you that extra premium feel with the weighted metal handle. So, it really is the best around, guys. Uh, so if you guys want to save a little money and you don’t want to sacrifice quality, for a limited time only, our listeners can get the Har’s Plus trial set for only $10 at harrys.com/hat. This set includes the allnew Harrysplus razor, one refined fiveblade cartridge, a 2oz foaming shave gel, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go. Just head on over to harrys.com/hat to claim this offer. And after your purchase, they’ll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Big thank you to Harry’s for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. Darien Wilson with a $10 super chat here says, “Do you think the Steelers will activate MVS and Asante Samuel Jr. to help us win against the Bears?” When it comes to ASJ, the reason why I hope they activate him sooner rather than later is because I don’t want him to go somewhere else. Okay? Now, he has to agree to go somewhere else, but like if he’s fifth or sixth on the outside quarterback totem pull here in Pittsburgh and then like say his dad’s old team, the Eagles, who are could use a player like Asante Samuel Jr. and their defense right now comes calling and says, “Hey, we got a spot on our active roster and in our starting lineup next week if you will sign with us.” If I’m Asante, I’m taking that deal. So, you know, if I’m the Pittsburgh Steelers, I don’t want that to even be a possibility. So, uh if he’s good enough to, you know, be a backup this week, maybe contribute a little bit on special teams, I would add him to the active roster. Darien, when it comes to MVS, it it’s sounding like that, you know, he’s probably not going to be elevated. Um, you know, I I honestly think Calvin Austin the third and Roman Wilson are probably better players than MVS is. And I know, you know, people want to try something new because Calvin and Roman aren’t getting the job done right now. But, you know, I would contribute part of Roman and Calvin’s lack of production this year to the way the offense is structured. Um, usually the ball is out super fast. So, if they’re running an intermediate or deep route, the ball is out before their route actually develops. And then also uh when the ball does go their way, it’s usually on a stop route or an out route and there’s not a lot of opportunities to run with the football after the catch. So they’re not getting the ball down the field all that often, which is really uh what you would use their speed for. And they’re not getting a lot of opportunities to run with it after the catch. And you know, MVS has a lot of speed, but so does Roman and Calvin. And honestly, I think Calvin and Roman run better routes than MVS does. Um, so there’s nothing really that MVS would necessarily add to this team outside of his previous experience with Aaron Rogers, which who knows, maybe that would be the X factor um that gets him onto the field. Guess we’ll just have to see on Saturday when they make those practice squad elevations. But I’m not getting my hopes up for MVS this week personally. But make sure you guys click that thumbs up icon if you haven’t already. If you are a real one, if you watch all of our videos, you guys know that clicking that thumbs up icon uh is the fastest and easiest way to help us out. It boosts the YouTube algorithm. It tells the YouTube algorithm that you enjoy our content and that they should recommend it to other Steelers fans like yourself. So, everybody that likes this video, the more people that like it, the more it will get recommended, the more it gets recommended. The more new people watch, the more new people watch, the more people will subscribe, and so on and so on and so on. So, we greatly appreciate all of your guys’ support. Uh, so click that thumbs up icon if you want to help out the show. Kevin Reed says, “What do you think is the plan for Peppers with Ramsay and Duggar at safety?” The plan appears to be just to make him a special teams ace. Uh Kevin, uh I would personally think about using him at safety, but right now Chuck Clark is above Jabril Peppers on the safety depth chart for whatever reason. Um even though Peppers played great at safety in his lone game where he actually got like significant snaps and that was against the Patriots back in week three. He had a 90 plus PFF grade. And it’s not like PFF grading’s gospel or anything like that, but like what as someone that watched that film, he played pretty darn well. Definitely better than Chuck Clark. So, I don’t get why he’s not higher on the totem pole um in Pittsburgh on the defensive side of the ball, but like if the choice for me is to put Ramsay at safety and, you know, to situ Chuck Clark on the bench, I’m taking that every single day. And Ramsay and Duggar have played really well at safety. So, um you know, if one of those guys goes down with an injury, I would prefer Peppers over Clark for sure to play safety. But Ramsey and Duggar have done a great job at this point. Um and I have no problem keeping those guys where they are. Zar Craig uh coming in says, “Do you think Roman Wilson has supplanted CA3 as our wide receiver 2 or was last week just a oneweek scheme matchup thing?” I think he actually has taken over. Um and I think that’s probably driven by Aaron Rogers because the week prior Calvin had one of the worst games he has had as a starting receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Chargers. Right? You’ll remember he had two drops. He had one play where he caught the ball but he had a foot out of bounds. Um it wasn’t a great day for Calvin. It really wasn’t. and he dropped one ball that ended up being an interception. And Roman Wilson, when all he’s done is lead the team in yards per target and he’s been pretty darn good for this team this year. Now, the following week when he got all those uh reps and all those snaps, he only had two targets and only one catch on the day. Um so, you know, we’ll see how they distribute it moving forward. Um, but you know, I honestly I would use Roman and Kelvin in pretty similar ways because they’re both undersized guys that run really fast, run pretty good routes, and have pretty good hands. All right, they’re pretty similar type of guys, only Roman’s a little bit bigger. So, um, hopefully they can figure out something to get these guys going a little bit more because if they can get one of these guys to be a little bit more of a threat, that means it’s going to open some things up for DK Metaf, uh, which is obviously really good for this Steelers team and this offense. Kevin again says, “Do you think they’ll pass to Spencer Anderson again?” I mean, listen, man. You listen to the Steelers players talk about Spencer Anderson, and they they say Rogers keeps throwing to him in practice. So, um I wouldn’t count it out. Uh especially if Aaron Rogers is the quarterback where Spencer Anderson can get another catch at some point this season. So, keep your eye out for that because Rogers really seems to like him. So, let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. Will Roman Wilson be Pittsburgh’s uh wide receiver 2 from now on? Let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. Wide receiver two, will Roman Wilson take that spot for the rest of the year? Give me a yes or a no. I kind of hope so. Um, you know, I think that Roman, it’s about time for him to step up into that role and hopefully uh he can get a little bit more targets moving forward uh here in week 12 and beyond. and I’m hoping that he can be the receiver threat that we have been waiting all year for here in Pittsburgh to open things up for DK Metaf. That’ll be it for this week’s mailbag. Great questions as always, guys. I’m going to make sure to get you guys um uh some more content here later in the week. So, make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Until next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers. [Music]

Steelers Talk Week 12 mailbag discusses fan questions about QB Aaron Rodgers, WR Calvin Austin and Marquez Valdes Scantling and CB Asante Samuel Jr. Will the Steelers elevate Marquez Valdes Scantling and Asante Samuel Jr.? Jack Sperry breaks down all of Yinzer Nation’s latest question on today’s Steelers Talk by Chat Sports Week 12 mailbag.

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– Will Asante Samuel Jr. start as PIT’s CB2 this season?
– Will Roman Wilson be PIT’s WR2 from now on? Yes or no?

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CB Asante Samuel Jr. is still on the Steelers practice squad and after recent comments made by HC Mike Tomlin stating that Darius Slay would keep his starting spot, many wonder when or if Asante Samuel Jr. will start for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sperry is wondering why Asante Samuel Jr. even signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Pittsburgh Steelers 2025 Draft Picks:
– Round 1, Pick #21: Derrick Harmon (DT, Oregon)
– Round 3, Pick #87: Kaleb Johnson (RB, Iowa)
– Round 4, Pick #123: Jack Sawyer (EDGE, Ohio State)
– Round 5, Pick #164: Yahya Black (DT, Iowa)
– Round 6, Pick #185: Will Howard (QB, Ohio State)
– Round 7, Pick #226: Carson Bruener (ILB, Washington)
– Round 7, Pick #229: Donte Kent (CB, Central Michigan)

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QB Aaron Rodgers 2025 stats:
– 66.4 CMP%
– 1,969 YDS
– 19 TD
– 7 INT

Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers is currently dealing with a broken left wrist and a nagging throwing hand injury that has been bothering him since NFL Week 9. This has left many Steelers fans wondering if the QB should sit out games and get healthy. Jack Sperry of Steelers Talk believes that Aaron Rodgers should get healthy so he can get this Steelers offense back on track after his injury.

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– Steelers Week 12 Injury Report: Cam Heyward & Aaron Rodgers QUESTIONABLE vs. Bears | Steelers News – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G73jVAKbs_8
– 8 BIG CHANGES Arthur Smith Should Implement To UNLOCK The Steelers Offense Down The Stretch – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Nn8GEIYyA
– Steelers News: Is The George Pickens Trade The WORST TRADE EVER? + Aaron Rodgers Returns To Practice – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMSrJKjSgwE

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