BREAKING NEWS: Steelers SIGNING WR Adam Thielen + RELEASING CB Darius Slay – Are We Back???

BREAKING NEWS: Steelers SIGNING WR Adam Thielen + RELEASING CB Darius Slay – Are We Back???

[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] dick hey danc [Music] hey hey [Music] It’s been a busy news day here in Steelers nation as today the Pittsburgh Steelers have claimed wide receiver Adam Thielen off of waiverss from the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings released Thelen early this week. Uh the wants to play for a team where a he can play and b uh he has a chance to uh go on a playoff run. Now you might be saying at home but Jack the Steelers stink and you know that certainly has been the case the last seven weeks but the clearly believes with Aaron Rogers good buddy throwing him the football to finish off his NFL career that he’s going to have a chance to win here in Pittsburgh. And it certainly seems like the Steelers have assured him and his representation that he’s going to have a chance to play here in Pittsburgh down the stretch. Uh, obviously I think that this is pretty underwhelming. Uh, it kind of it kind of uh kind of feels like a Mike Williams type of addition here where you’re adding somebody that’s a bit older who’s not what he once was. Uh, he doesn’t have much juice athletically anymore and it’s not going to move the needle all that much. Especially because now the is going to have to be fasttracked this week uh to learn the Steelers offense, get himself ready for Sunday. That’s if he even plays on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. We’ll have to hear from the Pittsburgh Steelers and what their plans are for him this week. Uh but Thelen is somebody that is known as a really good hands catcher even though, you know, suddenly he started dropping some footballs this year in Minnesota. It was one of the reasons why uh he hasn’t been playing for the Minnesota Vikings over the last several weeks. Um but he’s known as a savvy route runner, big slot kind of guy with uh traditionally really really good hands. And that’s a skill set that this Steelers wide receiver room doesn’t really have right now, guys. You got DK Metaf who’s more of that big body yak, you know, kind of, you know, he’s not really a 50/50 bow winner. He’s not a George Pickins type of big receiver. He’s more of a catch it and run it, uh, or, you know, beat somebody deep kind of big receiver, but he’s not really like a, you know, savvy route runner. He’s not really a 50/50 ball winner with like great contested catch ability. Um, and then of course you got Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson who are smaller guys that can run some good routes and you know they they have decent hands and all that stuff but they don’t have size. You know what Adam Thelen brings to this wide receiver room is veteran savvy route running. Uh he has the full route tree at his disposal and traditionally he’s had really good hands. Plus he’s been good friends with Aaron Rogers for a long time. I’m sure he’s probably thrown with Rogers in the off season uh over the last couple of offseasons. So he’s probably thrown with Rogers before. Uh, so this is something here that we talked about on the show yesterday. Actually, if you catched our show yesterday, and I said that I could see the Steelers realistically adding him. The Steelers were interested in him and trading for him before the NFL trade deadline last year when he was 34 years old. Um, and I think they might have even tried to trade for him before the season as well. Of course, he ended up getting traded to the Minnesota Vikings, and now you get him for free here at the end of the season. And you know, after not getting, you know, anybody pre-season at this position, after not getting Jacobe Meyers, missing on Rasheed Shahid, not getting Jaylen Wadd at the trade deadline, Thelen is about as good as you’re going to get on the uh open market at this point in time, guys. I still consider him to be a pretty okay receiver. Um but obviously, he’s at the end of his NFL journey right now. He’s 35 years old. Um, you’re just hoping you can get that one last little squeeze of juice out of Adam Thelen uh pause before he ends up retiring. So, welcome in to Steelers Talk Live, man. Uh, this wasn’t the only breaking news we got today, Ponzi. We also got the news that Darius Slay is now out here in Pittsburgh. Asante Samuel Jr. has officially been signed to the Steelers active roster. Um, and Darius Slay is officially uh Gonzo. I’m I’m guessing Howie Roseman is already on the phone with uh Darius’s representation and I’m guessing Darius will probably go back to Philly because they could use some help at cornerback. But Sante Samuel Jr. I I believe now Ponzi is this team’s number two starting outside corner with James Pierre now dealing with a concussion. We’re going to get into our breaking news cut here in just a second here guys. But if you have a question, if you have a comment, if you want to share your take on the Adam Thielen signing today or Darius Slay being cut or Asante Samuel Jr. being added to the active roster, if you have a take on that, donate to the show today, uh you guys can super chat down there in the chat room. We’ve already gotten, I think, a couple of super chats already, so we’re going to uh get to those after our breaking news cut here. Uh Ponzi, did did we find somebody for highlight cut? We did. Great. Okay. So, uh, whenever Ponzi is ready to get us into this breaking news cut, we’re going to go, uh, because obviously it is breaking news here on Steelers Talk. We got over 471 people watching live. We’ve got Truth Thong, one of my favorite names in the entire uh, Steelers Nation here. We got Pool Hall, we got Elson, we’ve got Rig Steel, we got Jonathan Quinn, we got the Crusader Rises, uh we’ve got uh Donald Dunn, we got Space Lee, we got Lee Goddard, uh we’ve got uh Christopher Turner, we got Fletcher Comr, uh we’ve got John Mlesco, we got Desert Storm, we got Kingsley Green, we got Bernard Nixon. We got a good crew, Steelers fans ready to talk some Steelers football here, guys. So without further ado, let’s get into our breaking news coverage of Adam Thelen coming to the Pittsburgh Steelers. [Music] We’ve got a double dose of breaking news here on Steelers Talk. The top story today though is that the Pittsburgh Steelers are claiming wide receiver Adam Thelen off of waiverss from the Minnesota Vikings. The is on his way to Pittsburgh and my guess is he will immediately be injected as a starting receiver here in Pittsburgh for the final fivegame stretch of the 2025 NFL season. Now, before I break down this signing, why, you know, I kind of think this makes sense and why and what I think the brings to this Steelers wide receiver room down the stretch, make sure you guys click that subscribe button. uh because whenever Pittsburgh makes a big move, whenever you know they make a big signing or they cut somebody or whatever the case may be, uh we’re going to make sure to get you guys coverage on that for free on this channel every single time. Of course, the offseason is right around the corner when all the big moves happen. So, if you don’t want to miss any of that action, click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. We actually called this yesterday, guys, uh where we had a video where we predicted that Adam Thielen could realistically sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And uh I was saying how I thought that his connection to Aaron Rodgers, the fact that the Steelers have been looking for a number two receiver for a while now. All that different stuff just kind of lined up with what Allan Adam Thielen was looking for. So if you guys want to actually uh see the proof there. We actually put out a video yesterday. So uh that’s why you click that subscribe button, guys, is because we we got this right. But Tom Pelisero did put it out there earlier today. He had the report uh that Adam Thielen is being claimed off of waiverss by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is on his way to Pittsburgh to finish out his career. Um he’s 35 years old. Obviously, the two things that Theelan wanted according to Pelisero was that he wanted a chance to win a Super Bowl and B he wanted a place where he could play. All right. And I I I think you know maybe the Super Bowl stuff in Pittsburgh, you know, it’s kind of laughable at this point after losing five of your last seven games. Uh, but I think at this point Pittsburgh was probably the best team that, you know, really had an opening for Thelen to actually play this late into the season. So, this was his best option. But you guys can take a look at his profile here. Our newest Steelers wide receiver, 35 years old, 6’2, 200 lb. So, bring some good size to the table. He’s a big big slot technician is what he’s been known as throughout his career. He can play outside as well, but he’s been known more as a big slot wide receiver. That’s a savvy route runner. uh traditionally has had really good hands throughout his NFL career. Not going to give you much in terms of yak, not going to give you much in terms of verticality, but if you’re looking for somebody that can make a tough catch over the middle of the field or towards the sideline, if you’re looking for somebody that can run a route against man coverage and, you know, set guys up and, you know, find soft spots in zones uh and be just a consmate professional, Adam Thielen can be your guy. And Pittsburgh actually showed interest in the at the trade deadline last year in 2024. The Panthers wanted like a fourth round pick in exchange for him. That was a little bit too rich for a then 34 year old uh Adam Thielen, but now you get him off of waiverss here without having to give up any draft capital. Um and clearly the Steelers have had Adam Thelen, you know, on their eye here for a couple of years now. Now, my scouting report on Theelen, guys, is that he’s not going to move the needle too much. All right, at this point, you’re not going to find anybody on the waiver wire that is going to move the needle. And you know, Thelen wasn’t playing a whole lot in Minnesota. He’s really lost all of the juice that he ever had athletically and honestly he came into the league as a kind of unremarkable athlete. It’s one of the reasons why he went undrafted. But uh you know he brings really good size, run blocking, route running savvy and then also traditionally good hands, but he did have some drop issues in Minnesota this year. So that is something to keep your eye on. But I do think that he injects right into the starting lineup. Now, it’ll be interesting to see if Roman Wilson or Calvin Austin III uh maintains their quote unquote starting spot in this Steelers offense. I would guess it’s Roman Wilson because he can be a more long-term option for the Steelers and they want to kind of see what he’s got. Calvin’s on the final year of his deal and he might be and he’s likely going to be uh going, you know, elsewhere next season. I think the Steelers are going to let him walk. So, I think we’ll see DK Metaf, Adam Thelen, and Roman Wilson be the top three receivers in terms of the snap share for the rest of the season. And I would expect Thelen to get a pretty healthy workload as early as this week versus the Baltimore Ravens with so little time left in the season. I think they’re going to want to ramp up Thelen as soon as they can. But just to take a look at what he did in Minnesota this year, um, you know, he played while Jordan Addison was dealing with his suspension through the first three weeks of the year and then they kind of took him out of the starting lineup. So he only has 18 targets on the year for just eight catches. He had some drops. Doesn’t have a touchdown, just 69 yards on the season. So, you know, this is certainly somebody that, you know, I understand why people would say he’s cooked. He’s completely washed. And he there’s a very decent possibility that that is exactly what Adam Thielen is at this point. But, you know, you take a look at his numbers. Just last year in Carolina had over 600 yards receiving. Um, and then, you know, obviously before that in 2023 had over a thousand. So, you know, he’s he’s not that far removed uh from putting up uh you know, 1,000 yards in his age 33 season. Uh still, you know, pretty darn good route runner. If he can get those hands that he’s been known for throughout his career back here in Pittsburgh, if you know, maybe JJ McCarthy just doesn’t throw a catchable football. Maybe Aaron Rogers um you know, will get something going here for Adam Thielen here in Pittsburgh. But at the end of the day, guys, this really shouldn’t move the needle all that much. The Steelers still need to find a way to throw the ball down the field more efficiently. Um, and you know, Adam Thel is not going to help you do that. He’s not going to separate, you know, down the field necessarily. Uh, he’s not going to get a bunch of yak after the catch or anything like that. Like he does bring a skill set that the Steelers didn’t have previously as kind of a big body route runner that traditionally has good hands. We’ll see if those hands actually show up here in Pittsburgh. But at this point in the season, guys, why not? We were not getting enough production out of Calvin Austin the third and Roman Wilson. And this has been the type of receiver the Steelers have had their eye on for quite some time. Um, obviously this is a far reduced version of like the style of wide receiver we could have potentially gotten in Jacobe Meyers, but still the style of wiver that the Steelers were looking for. Uh, so at least there’s that. So sound out for me down there in the comments section. Grade the signing of Adam Thielen for me down there in the comments section. Give me an A, B, C, D, or F. For me, uh, I’m going to give it like a B minus. Like, I don’t think it’s a worthless signing. I think there’s a chance Theelan could be a decent contributor for the Pittsburgh Steelers down the stretch here. And he does provide something to this wide receiver room that they didn’t have previously, but he is 35 years old. He hasn’t played very well this year, uh, when he was in Minnesota on all those different things. So, I’ll give it a B minus. Let me know your grade down there in the comment section for today’s pin question. Just a second here, I’m going to tell you about our sponsor today at Prize Pix. So, while I tell you about prize picks, give me your grade for the Adam Theland signing. Now, let’s have word from our sponsor today here at Prize Picks. And it is officially the holiday season. And in my opinion, this is the best time of the year for watching sports. Bowl games, basketball matchups, playoff pushes for both collegiate and professional football. It’s all happening at once. And while all that action is going on, there’s one place where it feels good to be right, and that is Prize Pick. Prize Pix is super simple to play. Just pick more than or less than on at least two player stat projections. And if you get your picks right, you could cash in. My favorite feature about prize picks is that how you play is up to you. 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Now, the other bit and the other bit of breaking news that we got here today is that the Pittsburgh Steelers and Darius Slay have agreed mutually to part ways after a lackluster season for Slay here in Pittsburgh. Uh James Pierre was out playing Slay. Um and then of course Asante Samuel Jr. bringing him in and now he that he’s been fully ramped up. There’s just not a whole lot of space for Slay to actually play in the Steelers defense here. And kind of like Thelen Slay is a player that has already said this is the final year of his NFL career and he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his career on the bench. He wants to go somewhere where he can play. So I’m guessing he asked for his release from Pittsburgh. This is what Adam Shfter reported earlier today. Steelers and quarterback Darius Slay have mutually agreed to part ways. Slay’s agent Drew Rosenhouse and Robert Bailey told ESPN. Slay is interested in continuing to play and will consider signing with other teams, but his time in Pittsburgh has come to an end. And this is another one, guys, that we predicted over or or just about a month ago on November 11th. I posted this on X where I said that I I thought that Darius Slay could potentially ask for his release from the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is right after the Steelers signed Asante Samuel Jr. And the other part of that prediction is I said I think Darius Slay will go play for the Philadelphia Eagles. would not shock me if even by the time this video comes out, Darius Slay and his representation have already come to terms with the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Slay down here. But, uh, we’ve been kind of on a roll here on Steelers Talk and that’s exactly why you guys click that subscribe button because we give you guys the scoop before it actually happens. Uh, but you know what this means to me guys is that it’s yet another bad quarterback signing in the offseason for Pittsburgh. Like Pittsburgh was very clear. They thought they were getting a star level quarterback with Darius Slay when they brought him in this off seasonason. They thought he was going to be able to man people up one-on-one. And that just goes to show you, you know, kind of the downfall, you know, of the evaluation uh of these quarterbacks from someone like Mike Tomlin, who definitely drove the ship in terms of bringing in a guy like Darius Slay this season. He was he was in charge of bringing in Patrick Peterson, right? It seems like this Steelers team in the offseason brings in these older players for who they used to be and not the players that they are now. I mean, we can look at Jaylen Ramsey, for example, in that regard. I mean, they tried putting him one-on-one in man coverage versus Jamar Chase earlier this season. He hasn’t been a true number one, you know, lock down man-to-man corner in many seasons at this point. Um, so this Steelers team and specifically Mike Tomlin brings in these DBs kind of kind of thinking he’s going to get, you know, the 25year-old version of these players and it’s just not the case and it’s just unfortunate and it’s yet another failure there. But the good news is you did bring in Asante Samuel Jr. this season and the fact that Asante Samuel Jr. and Adam Thielen both chose to come to Pittsburgh, right? These have been some of the higher profile or higher profile names in free agency this year. They have decided to come to Pittsburgh this year and now Asante Samuel Jr. has officially been signed uh to the active roster uh in a corresponding move with Darius Slay being released and with James Pierre on the men from a concussion. He’s currently in concussion protocol. I would guess that means Asante Samuel Jr. is going to get the starting knot versus the Baltimore Ravens this weekend. And with Joey Porter Jr. likely to be guarding the bigger and more physical DeAndre Hopkins, that would mean Asante Samuel Jr.’s first start in a Steelers uniform, guard Z Flowers. That’s going to be a hell of a matchup right there and a hell of a test for this young prospective future starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But predict it for me down there in the comments section. What do you think’s going to happen with Asante Samuel Jr. in future seasons when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers? Will Asante Samuel Jr. be a starting corner for the Pittsburgh Steelers next season? Simply give me a yes or a no down there in the comments section. again. He’s only on a one-year contract here in Pittsburgh. He’s going to be a free agent next year. Do you think that he ends up getting brought back next year? Give me a yes or a no for your answer down there in the comments section. And that’ll be it for our double dose of breaking news here on Steelers Talk. If you guys want more breaking news coverage all throughout the 2025 season and into the 2026 off seasonason when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, this is the place that you guys need to be subscribed to. Click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Till next time, guys. Here we go, Steelers. All right. So, uh, make sure whoever’s doing that highlight cut knows the thumbnails and thumbnail room there, Ponzi. Um, and to send me the link, uh, the Twitter or the, uh, YouTube link when it gets out on the channel. All right, let’s get to some of your super chats here, guys. We got over 600 people watching live. If you have questions, if you want to get on the show, um if you want to, you know, talk about the wide receiver room, will Adam Thielen play this week? If he does, what will his role be? Does he already get ahead of Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin the third? We’re going to talk about it all before we get into our next segment. And yes, we still have another segment here, guys. Uh but let’s talk some feeling. Let’s talk some sleigh. Bernard Nixon coming in with a two. Says, “Will they bench A-Rod or Rod for R this week?” Um, is that Rogers for Rudolph? Is that I think that’s what Bernard is asking for. No, they’re not going to bench Rogers. No. Um, here’s the way it’s going to work, guys. This is Aaron Rogers’s season. So, as long as the Steelers are still in the hunt for the playoffs, Rogers will start that football game unless he’s injured. and he is injured, but like it sounds like he’s going to play through this injury. Um, so as long as Aaron Rogers is physically capable of playing a football game and the Steelers still have a chance to win the division, Aaron Rogers will play that game. So we’re still very much in the hunt for the AFC North. We’re tied at the top of the division. So it’s not even close to the spot where they would consider benching Aaron Rogers in my opinion. And then if they bench Rogers this season, I think it would be for Will Howard, not for Mason Rudolph. Rudolph has been terrible for the Steelers, uh, you know, in the last two games that he has played in Chicago and then the limited action he had last week against the Bills, of course, threw an interception, a really bad one. Um, and you know, if you’re going to bench Rogers, that means the season is over. And if the season is over, then you might as well give Will Howard a chance to see what he’s got to see if he’s got um, you know, enough talent, enough ability where the Steelers should consider making him uh, next year’s option at quarterback uh, if he can play well down the stretch. So, don’t think it’s time to bench Aaron Rogers and I don’t think it’s going to be for at least a couple more weeks until they make that decision if they make it. Bernard with another two says, “Should A-Rod call guys out?” I mean, he has been calling guys out. He has been um now you might be asking, “Is that the right thing?” And like, listen, man, you can make an argument that like his negativity, like when things go bad, you can make it you can make an argument that his negativity feeds into the rest of the team. and you know they don’t perform well when they’re frustrated and all that different stuff. And you can make that case because usually it’s the case that when the offense is struggling and A-Rod is being a little pissy and you know he’s he’s trying to hold guys accountable that that negativity might you know get through the rest of the locker room and that might affect the way that they play and it might affect their resiliency. Um, but you know what? Would you prefer Aaron Rogers, you know, trying to hold guys accountable or would you rather prefer Russell Wilson with the positive positive positive stuff? Now, you can make an argument that the positive stuff from Russ last year, it kept them in the games. You know, they were resilient. You know, they they had a number of games where, you know, they were losing in the second half and they ended up coming back to win. And, you know, they haven’t done that this year if any. I mean, it’s been the other way around. They’ve had what I think it’s four games where they’ve had a lead in the first half uh going into halftime and they’ve lost that game. So, you know, certainly the mental toughness of this group has not been phenomenal this year, Bernard. It needs to get better. Uh $2 from Bernard says, “Happy birthday to Aaron Rogers, 42 years old, Ponzi.” And you know, I was kind of annoyed when I woke up because on Steelers Twitter, there was probably about 50 different people making a sarcastic comment about how we have a 42-year-old as our starting quarterback. And you know, listen, man, we knew how how old Aaron Rogers was when we signed him, right? And we knew it was going to be a one maybe two-year thing when we got him. Um, let’s just hope that the long-term answer here in Pittsburgh um, you know, is a good one. $2 or $5 here from Jordan says, “I think instead of getting Thelen, we should have just started Scaranic. Guy’s a dog and he does a lot of the same things Adam does.” Um, I don’t think Scoranic has the same level of receiving chops in terms of his route running and in terms of traditionally the hands. Like Scoranic, you know, has been known as somebody where, you know, if he’s catching the ball, he’s got to be wide open. He doesn’t have a really good route tree or anything like that. You know, he’s not going to route anybody up. He’s a really good blocker and I love him as a special teamer and as a blocking receiver and you know I like him on early downs because you can run him across the field on some of those playaction boots. We saw him get a touchdown. The first touchdown of the season was to Scoranic this year against the Jets and um you know when Skiric plays more the the run offense tends to do better. So I don’t necessarily disagree with you Jordan that they should play Scoranic more. Um but you know they’re obviously bringing in Thelen for a reason. They’ve had their eye on Thelen for multiple years at this point. They tried getting him last year at the trade deadline. Uh I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried getting him uh before the season as well this season uh before the Vikings ended up getting him. And now you get him without having to give up any draft capital. So it’ll be interesting to see here. Obviously it’s a very short period of time to get ramped up. Um he’s never played with Aaron Rogers on an actual NFL team before. I think he’s thrown with him in offseasons before because they’re friends. And I I guarantee you Rogers was a big reason why Theelen is here in Pittsburgh right now. Um, but you know, Thelen is somebody that’s, you know, been a part of a lot of winning teams, man. He really has. And, um, he’s trying to he’s trying to give himself one more shot, and he’s going to have that shot for the final five weeks of the season this year. $2 from Bernard says, “There’s nothing wrong with A-Rod being washed at 42.” I I don’t I don’t disagree, man. 42 years old is is pretty old, man. A father time uh, you know, comes for all of us. Bernard says, “I still think A-Rod is a leader.” I still think he is, too, man. Uh but you know there’s some there’s something to be said where like if you’re around negative people that negativity can get into you as well. So like I heard Mike Tomlin talking about you know how the team was getting frustrated um you know in the second half of the game on Sunday and first of all that tells you that the team cares. All right. The team, the guys in the locker room, they care about winning and they care about putting a good product on the field. And, you know, the sign of a good team, I think, is that when, you know, things aren’t going right, you know, frustrations do boil over, you know, because that’s not good enough. And, you know, uh, something I do appreciate about the Steelers players and the Steelers coaching staff is that they fully acknowledge, yeah, this is not good enough. We got to be better and we got to take accountability. So, you know, I appreciate that aspect of things, but you know, I’ I’d rather you fix a problem than tell me you’re sorry about the problem. You know what I’m saying? I don’t want you to tell me you’re sorry. I want you to fix the problem. And, you know, the Steelers have not fixed the problem to this point. So, I’m hoping that they can do that down the stretch because I really do think that a lot of these players in the locker room deserve it. You know, that I think Rogers in many ways is a very good leader, Bernard. Um, but, you know, it’s it’s very true that he is pretty prickly and negative. you know, when things aren’t going right and when that happens, that negativity might be because he’s the leader of the team, you know, his attitude and his personality can become the personality of the team. Um, and if he’s negative, the rest of the team is negative. And if the rest of the team is negative, then, you know, it’s a negative downward spiral. You can make an argument that that is the case in my opinion. $2 from Dan Flity says, “Does Adam open up downfield opportunities for Roman and Calvin?” third. Um, I honestly I I don’t think so, Dan. I I don’t I think teams are going to continue to play two, you know, twoman uh with two high safeties are going to continue to play cover five. I think where Adam, you know, might bring some value there is that he still has some decent route running chops. he’s not going to like be able to run away from people on crossers and stuff like that. But in terms of like savvy types of routes where he sets guys up, um, you know, find soft spots in zones, you know, and then he can hopefully use, you know, he’s been a really good hands catcher, man. Like he was Bryce Young’s safety blanket over the last two years in Carolina on third downs and stuff like that cuz he would make he would come down with tough catches. I mean, just last year, he had an insane one-handed catch against Tampa Bay where it’s like thrown behind him and he comes around, he just catches it, just snatches it out of the air. Like the you know, traditionally has really really good hands and, you know, he’s got really good route running chops and he doesn’t he’s not going to run away from people, but like Jacobe Myers, for example, if we would have got him, he wouldn’t been he wouldn’t have been running away from people. That’s not the type of receiver that he is. He’s a savvy route runner with good hands, who’s a tough guy. Adam Thelen is a similar type of receiver, but he’s just not as good or as young as Jacobe Meyers is. He doesn’t quite have as much juice obviously. So, um, you’re kind of getting, you know, you know, you wanted Jacobe Myers and then Omar Khan said, “We have Jacobe Meyers at home and Jacobe at Jacobe Myers at home ends up being Adam Thielen.” Uh, so Ko, uh, TKL says, “Do you think we’ll see Will as QB2 this week?” Honestly, no. Um, I think that Rudolph will continue to be the backup quarterback. And you know, honestly, I think when we see Will usurp Mason on the depth chart is when Will potentially gets a start. Like, if the Steelers lose three games in a row, they only have two games left. They’re out of playoff contention. Let’s say, let’s say the Steelers lose the next three, Ravens win the next three, and they’re out of playoff contention for the final two games. Then I think we’ll see Will Howard for the final two games, and we’ll see what he can do. Um, but I don’t think we’ll see Will usurp Mason Rudolph, the veteran backup option as QB2 um this season. I just don’t think so. I personally I would think about it because Mason’s been so bad, but um I think we’ll cons we’ll continue to see Will as QB3 until further notice. Justin with a two says number 81 might be the worst offensive player in the NFL. You said it, Justin. Um John Smith is absolute dog crap. Um, he is this year’s version of Allen Robinson, Van Jefferson. I know he plays tight end and those other two guys play uh wide receiver, but they both play the passcatching position and every single offseason. I mean, under Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan over the last three or four offseasons, right, you can bank on two things. Number one, they’re going to bring in a corner that’s going to heavily disappoint here in Pittsburgh. All right, Patrick Peterson, Dante Jackson disappointed towards the end of the season last year. And now Darius Slay. Okay, you’re going to get a corner that’s going to disappoint you. And then B, you’re going to add an offensive player that they think is going to fix the problem at the pass catching position, but he’s going to be completely worthless in the offense. And then despite that player being completely worthless in the offense, they will refuse to take him off the field. All right. Allan Robinson started 17 games and got a full workload in 2023. Had zero touchdowns the entire season. How is that even possible? All right. He doesn’t play another snap, by the way, in the National Football League after that season as a full-time starter. Then Van Jefferson, full-time starter for the Steelers last year. He was this team’s wide receiver, too. Had less than 300 yards receiving, 17 games played, had no injuries. How is that possible? Then you got John Smith this year, you bring him in, he’s coming off a Pro Bowl caliber season, uh, where Miami used him a bunch on screens and all this different stuff. And now you bring him in and he was supposed to be the solution as that quote unquote number two pass catcher in the offense. And he’s still getting that workload. But guess what? He’s on pace to get, you know, like the same amount of yards Van Jefferson and Allen Robinson got when they were here. It’s an absolute joke what John Smith has been for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense this year. All right. Like and just last week, he’s still getting top three snaps among offensive pass catchers in this offense. More than Calvin Austin the third, more than Roman Wilson, more than Pat Farmouth. By the way, Roman Wilson and Pat Farmouth lead this team in yards per target. And they are getting the they are getting the least amount of snaps among pass catchers. Justin. So, it’s just it’s coaching now practice. I mean, this this passcatching group is already uh it’s it came into the season and it still is one of the least talented in the National Football League. But even then, they’re not using their best players in this group, right? They’re not using Pat Frymouth, their best receiving tight end. They’re not using Roman Wilson, who has gotten open down the field three times at least over the last two weeks, and he’s wide open. Quarterback can’t hit him down the field. All right, that’s not on Roman. That’s on the quarterbacks. And you know, Adam Thielen, Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin the third, DK Metaf, John Smith. It doesn’t matter who the pass catchers out there, guys. If Aaron Rogers and Mason Rudolph or whoever the is quarterbacking this team can’t throw the ball down the field, all right? Like we’re 0 for13 over the last what 37 38 days now? Almost over over a month now. We are 0 for13 on deep pass attempts with three interceptions. That is abysmal. Okay. All right. Here’s the here’s the tweet from from Ben from CBS. It it was 36 days uh two days ago. So, it’s 38 days now. It’s been 38 days since we’ve seen the Pittsburgh Steelers complete a pass of 20 plus air yards. And you know, that’s that’s a combination of things, right? That’s a combination of quarterback play, that’s a combination of wide receiver play, and that’s a combination of offensive play calling. It all coaleses and they got zero deep completions and you can see the result. Defenses are taking away the underneath stuff. They’re taking away the stick routes and the spot concepts and the spacing stuff that the Steelers want to run. Well, if you want to open that stuff up, throw the goddamn ball down the field and maybe try and complete a pass. All right, get the ball to DK Metaf on a post or Calvin Austin the third on a post or Roman Wilson on a post or on a go or on a deep crosser. It’s just an idea, Ponzi. It’s just an idea, man. I don’t know. I I I’m not trying to say that this is like a great wide receiver tight end group because it’s not. But the fact that they are using the guys the way that they’re using them, and they’re not using the most effective players that they do have, it’s just making it even worse. You’re taking a bad situation and making it worse with bad personnel management. And I’m sick and tired of it, man. So, you know, adding Adam Thelen, it’s not going to matter unless, you know, Aaron Rogers steps up his game, period. Uh, Bernard, number two, says, “Do you think Aaron Rogers is playing scared?” Um, depends what you mean by scared. I mean, I actually think he’s had some really good pocket maneuverability moments. Even on the strip sack fumble, guys, he maneuvered the pocket really well there for a time and then, you know, he stopped to try and maneu to per to look at the field and see who was open. There was just nobody nobody down there that was open. All right, so that’s not even on Rogers. Now, there’s a couple plays on there where you can certainly point to and say, “Yeah, he should have stayed in the pocket and he should have progressed over the middle of the field or, you know, he shouldn’t leave that pocket there, whatever.” But I don’t think it’s nearly as big of a problem as people make it out to be on Steelers Twitter. I really don’t. Yeah, I I see it. Yeah, appreciate you. All right. Well, uh I’m going to I got to do something real quick here, guys. Ponzi, uh take over here for a second and then we’re going to get into our second segment of the day here, guys. What’s that, Ponzi? Yeah, read super chats. Do stuff like that. Um so, I I got to go do something just real quick. It’ll take like two minutes. be right back to do our second segment here on this live show. We’re going to be talking about the latest surrounding the Mike Tomlin rumors. Uh we’ll talk about some of the latest reporting on the possibility of Mike Tomlin being fired or traded and then we got a couple of ideas uh in terms of where Tomlin could be traded to if he does end up getting traded. So Ponzi, take it away. I’ll be back here in a second. So Jay Switchel with the two saying, “Why have why hasn’t MVS been added into the mix as of yet?” I mean, I I I assume it it’s taking him a little bit longer to get ramped up. And also, it’s just one of those things where maybe he’s just not there. He’s probably not very good, Jace. Yeah, that that just mean the brutal reality of it is that he’s probably not good. Like, just lost it all. Plus, I just I don’t think he brings anything to this offense that Calvin or Roman doesn’t already bring. Like, it doesn’t matter if MVS gets open deep cuz that’s all he can do. If Rogers can’t throw the ball down the field, which he hasn’t been able to do, like we’ve seen Roman Wilson get open and stack corners down the field, that’s it’s just Rogers hasn’t been able to him or Rudolph hasn’t been able to Exactly. So, until, you know, the Steelers prove they can actually throw the ball down the field, MVS has very little value to the Steelers offense. So, you know, I I think it’s a combination of A he’s not very good, B um you know, his role doesn’t really add anything to what the Steelers already have because they already have speed. Uh, and then and then C, you know, they don’t want to they they don’t have anybody on the active roster they actively want to take off the active roster um for MBS. Exactly. The thing about Thelen is that he does bring something to the table that no other receiver on this team brings. All right. He’s a big body route runner with good hands like that. Like we haven’t had one of those all season. So, he does bring something to that degree. The only thing MVS brings that maybe Roman or Calvin doesn’t Ponzi is size. Oh my god. Yeah, I mean I feel like it’s one of those things where if he was clearly could bring something to this offense, he would be brought up because they brought up Asante Samuel and now he’s on the active roster full-time. So, uh JV Free with the two saying AR is not the main problem. Fix coaching win. I mean, yeah, I agree. You know, you got to put you got to put your players in the right position to succeed and the Steelers are not doing that. But John Smith is outnapping some of your wide receiver twos and threes like Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin. Come on, what are we doing? He shouldn’t even be outnapping like Pat Footh, another tight end, but he is. And so, I mean, I feel like it’s one of those things where it’s like if you’re going to win in this league, you have to adapt. And the Steelers just don’t do that. I will say Aaron Rogers is a problem, but that’s because they’re not putting him in the right position to succeed. If they really wanted to, you know, bring the best out of their players, especially in offense and defense, they would just do things schematically that make their players in the right position. Make Calvin Austin and Roman Osen run more inbreakers over the middle of the field. You know, it’s it’s take Jon Smith off the field. Like, let’s be for real. DaVon Brown with A2. Trade Tomlin and two starters. We need to retool. I mean, I don’t think trading Tomlin is a bad idea. But I I don’t understand your second part of that of two starters. Like, who would you want to trade? Who would trade for? Like who do you want to like like Jaylen Ramsay? I I would think you would want Jaylen Ramsay on your team. Alex Heismith maybe. Alex Heismith. Yeah, I could see that. But like it’s it’s one of those things where it’s like what? You want to trade TJ Watt? No, you’re not going to be able to get rid of that contract anyway. So it’s I think the only contract that you could really get is Alex Highmith. And I I’m not opposed to that at all. I think that Nick Herbig could fill that role even better. I mean, Heismith has missed what, six games this season. Yeah, he’s he’s missed quite a few. And it’s, you know, the best ability is availability, as they say. But, I mean, all right, we do have one Venmo here, uh, that we’ll get to. Okay. $5 from Stanley. I don’t trust Tomlin to develop a QB. I’m tired of I’m tired of his lack making adjusted. So his lack of making adjustments. It’s time for a change. All right. I’m I’m good to be put back on screen here, Ponzi. Um I’m right there with you, Stanley. Um, listen man, if you had the right OC in place to develop a quarterback, you know, I I could I could get there, but like I don’t think that the right QB is in place or the right OC is in place either. Like I’m not sure if I trust Arthur Smith to develop a quarterback either. Um, he had a chance to develop Marcus Mariota in Tennessee. It didn’t work. Had a chance to develop Desmond Ritter, another younger quarterback. Didn’t work. Um, had a chance to develop Justin Fields last year. Didn’t work. Um, you know, I I just don’t know if this coaching staff is capable of or frankly that we want them to want to trust these guys with another quarterback because they obviously screwed up the Kenny Picket situation. Um, you know, I’m right there with you, Stanley. If they’re going to be drafting a quarterback early next year, I would prefer for, you know, a different a different head coach to be here and a different OC, different play caller, all that different stuff. So, I’m right there with you, Stanley. Appreciate the five. Elevate LT is coming in with a $1 Venmo here. He had a kind of a longer message. And he said, uh, Jack, I have a gut feeling this team is going to finish 11 and six and win the division or 10 and seven and win the division. I hope this past game was a wakeup call. Um, usually elevate is the real real negative one on game days. Uh but now he’s expect you’re are you really expecting them to go 11 and six so win the rest of their games at guy elevate LTS I guess Adam Adam Thielen the you know is is the is the straw that stirs the drink I guess I don’t think they’ll go 11 wins elevate um you know you look at the rest of the road here all right this is what I’ll say Ponzi if you get the Aaron Rodgers that we had the first seven weeks of the season the first six games of the season if we get that Aaron Rogers. I think they could they could even sweep uh the Baltimore Ravens, especially if they can stop Derrick Henry uh on the ground, which is, you know, tough task for sure. Um you could beat if you can sweep Baltimore, which isn’t impossible, you did it two years ago with Kenny Picket and Mason Rudolph for Christ’s sakes. Um if you can sweep Baltimore, if you can take care of business against Miami and Cleveland, that gets you four wins out of five and that gets you to 10 wins. So, I think 10 is possible. I I just don’t see them winning going 5-0 the rest of the way. Like, especially with the way this team’s playing now. If you’re telling me that this defense plays the way that they played against Indianapolis and Cincinnati the rest of the way, and if you’re telling me this offense played the way that they played the first seven weeks of the season, okay, I can maybe I can maybe get on board with that. But, you know, I think that this team needs to make drastic improvements in a very short amount of time to even think about going 5-0 down the stretch. Now, the beauty of this situation, Ponzi, is that you don’t you can go three and two down the stretch and still win the division. You can still go 9 and 8 and win this division. Um, because Baltimore has a tough schedule down the stretch, too. They got to play us twice. Then they got, you know, the Patriots and they got the Packers as well. Um, and then they get the Bengals again next week and they just lost to the Bengals at home. You’re going to be facing Burrow and the Bengals again next week on the road in Cincinnati. So, you know, I don’t think that’ll be an easy game. So, they got kind of a tougher schedule. Honestly, I think the Ravens’ schedule is tougher than the Steelers is down the stretch. Like, if you have a choice between Miami, Detroit, and Cleveland or Cincinnati Packers, Patriots, which one are you taking? Right? I I think the Steelers have the quote unquote easier path. Uh so there’s that. Still think it’s very possible the Steelers could win the division, but in order to do that, you’re going to have to have Rogers play at a at least a league high a league average level. And by the way, that’s all we’ve asked for, right? We saw what this offense and what this what what this offense could do with just a league average or slightly bel above average quarterback when Aaron Rogers was playing at that level in the first six games of the year. But then after that, he’s been like a bottom three starting quarterback in the game. He can’t throw the ball down the field. The accuracy, especially down the field, is spotty. Um it’s just not good, man. and he needs to play a lot better and the defense needs to play a lot more consistent if they’re going to put together a fivegame win streak uh to win this division LTS. But uh the beauty of it is that you can still win a division championship with a 9 and8 record this year. We kind of lucked out in that regard. So uh here’s to hoping the Steelers can win the division. Uh but coming up next year, they still got another segment here on this edition of Steelers Talk Live, and it is the latest reporting on head coach Mike Tomlin’s status in terms of his future status of being the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. We got a lot to talk about on today’s show. A lot of national media personalities are talking about this topic this week after an embarrassing loss to the Bills and the Fire Tomlin chance that rang out at Acer Stadium on Sunday evening. Um, it’s definitely a hot topic here. So, let’s talk about it right now, right here on Steelers Talk. [Music] Steelers nation, the national media thinks you’re crazy for wanting Mike Tomlin to be fired or traded at the end of this season. Today we’re going to be breaking down what guys like Ian Rapaort, Adam Shfter, and more are saying about Mike Tomlin’s future status as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Why he’s unlikely to be fired, but why he might be traded at the end of the season. Now, uh before we get into the Mike Tomlin talk today, guys, kick us off down there in the comments section by letting me know the percent chance that Mike Tomlin is not the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers next season. and put it on a scale of zero uh meaning no chance he’s not the head coach to 100% uh meaning that he is definitely out the door he’s gone he’s not going to be back next season. So let’s start here with Ian Rapaort who said uh that the fire Tomlin rumors and the chance that rang out at Stadium uh last Sunday evening are quote unquote ridiculous and says that there is no way that the Pittsburgh Steelers fire Mike Tomlin at the end of this season. This is what Rap had to say yesterday. Even discussing firing Mike Tomlin is completely ridiculous. Mike Tomlin is one of the best coaches in the NFL. If he ever became available, he’d be snatched up literally a matter of no time if he wanted to. He’s a Super Bowl champion. They make the playoffs every year. Most consecutive non- losing seasons basically ever. Now, I don’t see any circumstances where Mike Tomlin gets fired by Art Rooney. I really just don’t see it based on my understanding of what he’s done. that relationship, his meaning to the entire organization. If Mike Tomlin is not going to be the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2026, which at this point would be a major major surprise, it will be because he takes a step back and doesn’t want to do that again. I don’t see that coming at all, but that is my understanding of the situation despite what some fans may chant. And then Adam Shfter on the Pat McAfee Show also weighed in on this yesterday and he shares a very similar sentiment where he highly doubts the Pittsburgh Steelers will consider firing Mike Tomlin at the end of this season. He says, “I have always felt like if a change ever occurs there, it’s going to be because Mike Tomlin doesn’t want to be back there.” Mike Tomlin, again, I know the people in Pittsburgh do not like it, but he has had but he has not had a losing season in his 18 years as a head coach. I can say that if the Steelers did not want Mike Tomlin there and maybe the message is stale, maybe he moves on like Andy Reid and finds a new home. Andy Reid’s time in Philly had run out and he goes to Kansas City and you see how that worked out for him. Of course, he drafted Patrick Mahomes, but it worked out incredibly well and the Chiefs love having him. If Mike Tomlin were a coaching free agent, he would automatically become the number one coaching free agent out there. He could have any coaching job he wanted. He could have any broadcasting job he wanted. They are not firing Mike Tomlin. That’s not gonna happen. And then speaking of people that work for ESPN, there was this clown on Get Up yesterday who had this to say about the idea of trading Mike Tomlin. He says, “I just think right now, do Mike Tomlin a favor and fire him. He would get a job anywhere else in the league in two seconds.” Two seconds. Because I think this guy, here’s what I know about Mike Tomlin. He’s a leader. He’s an absolute leader. Now guys, when it comes to this entire discussion, especially in the national media that don’t watch the Steelers every single week, um you know, I hate the condescension from guys like Rapaort and Sher and and and especially Rex Ryan on, you know, the idea of, you know, Pittsburgh Steelers fans being ridiculous or spoiled or whatever because, you know, we’re not okay with going 9 and 8 and 10 and seven and losing in the first round of the playoffs every single year. If it happens, you know, uh every year for like a three or four year period, that’s that that’s something. But if it’s happening every year for pretty much an entire decade straight, um, you know, there’s something wrong. All right, there’s just something wrong. And Steelers fans absolutely have every right to want some change, uh, to acknowledge maybe that Mike Tomlin is a good head coach and he provides some stability and, you know, he’s not all bad, but you know, it’s certainly fair to want a new fresh voice in the building, some different approach to team building, all this different stuff. and all these guys saying, “Oh, the Steelers fans are ridiculous for even suggesting firing the al the almighty Mike Tomlin.” is just absolutely insulting. Um, it’s offensive. And, you know, these guys don’t know what they’re talking about. But, you know, they do strike at a fundamental reality here, guys, which is that the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that really prides itself on never firing a head coach in the history of their organization during the Super Bowl era, they’ve only had three head coaches. there’s been more popes during that stretch of time than Pittsburgh Steelers head coaches. They’re very proud of that fact. Um, and if especially if the Steelers make the playoffs, if they have another winning season, it does seem extremely unlikely that Art Rooney would pull that trigger and fire Mike Tomlin, especially because he still has multiple years left on his contract and the Steelers would have to pay Mike Tomlin millions of dollars uh per season over the next several years to not coach for them. And I just don’t think that that’s something the Steelers are going to be willing to do. But here’s the truth of the matter, guys. All right, the Steelers under Mike Tomlin have become a beacon of stability. All right, you can’t have whatever it is 18, you know, non- losing seasons in a row without having a stable somewhat winning culture. All right, you’re always competitive no matter what’s going on. No matter if you have backup quarterbacks in there, no matter if you have bad OC’s, no matter if you have bad defenses, you know, Mike Tomlin, uh, you know, despite his faults, has found a way to bring stability here to Pittsburgh, and that’s worth mentioning and admiring, but they’re also not a beacon of excellence. And that’s what we want to be. We want to be the Kansas City Chiefs. We want to be the Buffalo Bills. We want to be the New England Patriots when they were in their dynasty, right? We want to be the team that is consistently competing for Super Bowls. We don’t want to be the team that’s just okay making it to the playoffs as a wild card and then getting beaten by 30 when you get to the playoffs, right? The standard should be excellence. It shouldn’t be stability. You strive for stability and that’s a good thing to have. It’s a great thing to have, but the the goal is to be excellent. And the Pittsburgh Steelers, frankly, have not been excellent in a very, very long time at this point. And someone that agrees with me on that is former uh Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers back when Tomlin had this team playing at an excellent level. And that’s James Harrison who played multiple seasons, won a defensive player of the year trophy in a Mike Tomlin defense. And this is what he had to say this week. I thought he said it perfectly. Something has to be done. I know that Steelers historically don’t move on from coaches, but I think it’s time that history be made because right now the only history that we’re making is being the worst Pittsburgh Steelers team statistically in the history of the organization. The legacy of the 1970s steel curtain defense to the Blitzburg defense of the 2000210s and and to see what it looks like now is unbelievable. I’m going to be a Steeler fan for life, but I like to be a Steeler fan that believes we can win a game and doesn’t just hope we can win a game. And right now, I done lost hope. So, that’s really well said by James Harrison there, who’s actually done a really good job as a podcast host now. Check out his podcast along with Joe Hayden if you haven’t already. Um, but I think that, you know, excellence in this organization has passed Mike Tomlin by when he had a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Ben Rothllessberger, when he had a great OC in Bruce Arens. Um, and then he had all-time great talent on defense, like yeah, his leadership style, his ability to run a tight ship and a good organization was good enough to win one Super Bowl and get back to another. But once those pieces started to fade and Tomlin became more involved in team building and a lot of the decisions as to which players you bring in, which players you pay, which players you don’t pay, um, you know, this team has really fallen into mediocrity. And even though they’ve maintained a stable winning culture here and a competitive culture here in Pittsburgh, it is not an excellent winning culture the way that you see from the New England Patriots right now or the Kansas Chiefs during their dynasty or that Bellich had in New England for all those years. And absolutely Mike Tomlin is a big reason why this team has not gotten back to that excellent standard that Steelers fans hold for this organization. Um you know over the years he’s had poor game management. He does not handle challenges well. He doesn’t handle timeouts at the end of halves well. Um I I personally don’t think that he manages the game all that well, which is weird because, you know, he’s the longest tenur head coach in professional sports and he’s been with the same team this entire time. He still hasn’t figured out game management despite all of his experience. Also, he’s had multiple poor offensive coordinator hires. And listen, man, if you could just drop Bruce Arens right back as the OC of this team and you could let him make the decisions as to who to bring in at quarterback and what schemes to run on offense, then yeah, I think this team could potentially get back to playing at a Super Bowl level. All right, but that’s not the case. Mike Tomlin’s in charge of picking the personnel both on the roster player-wise and also on the coaching staff with the OC’s. And he’s had four straight guys that have not been great hires. And that’s on the head coach for identifying offensive play calling talent. Also, he’s had multiple poor defensive coordinator hires. Keith Butler was was good at times for sure, but like he was definitely inconsist inconsistent. And now, Terrell Austin has been an absolute disaster in in many spurts here in his tenure as the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator. Tomlin brought him in. Also, they drafted the wrong quarterback and Kenny Picket in the first round in that terrible quarterback draft class. Now, you know, obviously, uh there was no good quarterbacks in that draft class really. Um, but you know, it is what it is. And they didn’t develop that quarterback in the right way. And then, of course, from a pure team building philosophy, they spend too much on defense. All right? They spend too much on guys like TJ Watt and Cam Hayward and Jaylen Ramsey, these older veteran players. Um, when you should be spending your money on the offensive side of the ball. All the best teams in the league do it. The Steelers do not. They go the opposite direction and you get mediocrity as a result. And let’s face it, guys, this Pittsburgh Steelers roster right now, it appears that they need surgery, not band-aids. And the Steelers, and I’m kind of stealing this line from Emanuel Ao, by the way, who had this point this week. But like, you’re bringing in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields and Aaron Rogers and Jaylen Ramsay, all these older players, Darius Slay, all these different guys that just haven’t panned out. And they’re, you know, short-term band-aids, older players that you’re hoping can help you win now when this Steelers team should be injecting this roster with younger talent. And you know, they’ve started to kind of prioritize that a little bit more. They let some veterans walk in free agency last year to stack up on comp picks and now they got double-digit draft picks in next year’s NFL draft. But like, if this team is going to be heading towards a rebuild and they’re going to be injecting this this team with new talent, especially a new franchise quarterback, I don’t think I trust Mike Tomlin with a rebuild here in Pittsburgh. I don’t I don’t trust him to pick the right players, especially early on. I don’t trust him to pick the right quarterback because he hasn’t been able to do it for many seasons on end here. And honestly, does Mike Tomlin even want to do a full-scale rebuild here in Pittsburgh? Maybe the Steelers don’t need major surgery. They still got some good veteran players. They got some good young players as well. Like really, the Steelers are one really good off season away from really getting back to playing excellent football. Uh but it’s still it still requires surgery. You can’t just put band-aids on it. Um, and unfortunately Mike Tomlin’s team building philosophy over the last half decade or so is just to throw some band-aids on there and hope we can become a Super Bowl champion. That’s just not really the way it works in the National Football League. And then here’s another thing, guys. And you know, if Tomlin is as hot of a commodity as Rapaort and Sher and all these guys and Rex Ryan are saying, if he would have a job immediately and he would be the number one head coaching commodity on the market, uh, if he were to be made available, the Pittsburgh Steelers should absolutely cash in on that. If there’s going to be a bidding war to trade for Mike Tomlin, just imagine the amount that you can get for Mike Tomlin, a future Hall of Fame head coach, a Super Bowl champion, stability in the in in the organization. You know how many teams in the National Football League would just be happy with a with a stable winning culture and get to nine and eight and 10 and seven every year. I mean, there’s a lot of teams that would pay a lot to get a head coach like Mike Tomlin in their building. and Shawn Peyton, who had retired at that point, was worth a first and a second round pick to uh the to the Denver Broncos to take him out of retirement and make him their next head coach. And look at where the Broncos are now. All right, they are, you know, competing in the AFC. They’re 10-2. They’re doing great under Shawn Peyton. Um, and you know, I’m sure the Saints are happy with the first and second round picks that they got in exchange for Shawn Peyton. So, if Payton, who didn’t have as good of a resume as Tomlin has right now, uh, got a first and a second round pick, what can the Pittsburgh Steelers get for Mike Tomlin on the open market, if he, like Rap and Sheffy say, he’s going to be the most hot commodity on the open market if they end up putting him up for a trade. And remember, Tomlin does have a no trade clause. All right, so even though there would probably be a bidding war for Mike Tomlin’s services, Tomlin would have to sign off on the team that he would eventually get traded to. All right, but there are some whispers that Mike Tomlin would be open to a trade and that he might be looking for a change of scenery. Uh, coming up here, we’re going to be talking about some of the rumors that are surrounding that. Diana Rousini had a very interesting comment this week as well as some trade ideas of some places where I think Mike Tomlin would be open to going uh going into next offseason. But before we get into the rest of today’s show, guys, I want to give you guys a great opportunity to get this Salute to Service Steelers hoodie in your collection today. You guys can go to chatsports.com/pits salolute25. Um, I really like the design of this year’s salute to service stuff, guys. It really goes really heavy on the really classic army green. Not too much camo. I’m not much of a camo guy, but I love army green. And you guys can get that American flag patch on the side there. That’s absolutely fantastic. You got that Steelers patch on the chest. Uh, if you like this design, uh, you guys can get it right now at chatports.com/pitsolute25 for yourself or somebody that you love. And also, when you use our link there, guys, and you make a purchase, part of the proceeds go back to us here at Steelers Talk. So, if you guys want to help out the channel and you want to get this sweatshirt for yourself or somebody that you love for Christmas, you can go right now chatports.com/pitsolute25 to make it happen today. So, now let’s talk about what Diana Rousini had to say about uh the Pittsburgh Steelers uh potentially firing Tomlin or you know, Tomlin leaving the organization here and his feelings at this point in his coaching career. She says, “One thing that sticks in my mind from my interactions with Mike Tomlin, he still has the love of football in him. That is without a doubt. But he’s tired. He’s tired. There is definitely something to him where you’re like, “Man, you’ve been doing this for a long time.” I think around the league, not in Pittsburgh, not in their building, but outside of it, I think this is the season where a lot of people are wondering what Mike Tomlin is going to do next. And then last week, Josina Anderson, uh, who has very good connections to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mike Tomlin specifically tweeted this out, saying, “Meanwhile, there is a there’s a longtime NFL head coach out there who is considering wanting a change of scenery and has told other teams of these thoughts. If he acts on those lingering feelings, his departure would clearly add to the list of vacancies.” Um, and a lot of people are speculating that the person Josena is referring to is Mike Tomlin. And for me personally, guys, I think if Tomlin does agree to be traded somewhere, I think the two most likely destinations are the New York Football Giants and the Tennessee Titans. All right? And the Giants, I think, are probably the most appealing job out there of the of the jobs that are likely to be available uh during this head coaching hiring cycle. All right? And the reason for that is that it’s a historic franchise and a massive media market. I mean, I don’t think Mike Tomlin would necessarily care about that stuff too much. She cares about the historic nature of the organization, but probably not about the uh media market stuff. But then he’s got a young promising quarterback on a rookie contract in Jackson Dart. You got multiple years of cost control for a quarterback that has really shown a lot of promise this year. Also, you got a number of high-end building blocks on both sides of the football. We’ll talk about those guys here in just a second. And then also from the Steelers perspective, you’d be trading Tomlin out of the AFC and you would very rarely have to play uh the New York Giants. you know, when you when you do play other teams in the NFC on occasion there, but then you look at the building blocks in New York, man, there’s a lot of really good young pieces and a lot of talent on that New York Giants roster. Jackson Dart we already talked about, but Malik Neighbors, a legit number one receiver. Cam Scavo, the running back of the future, uh, that plays kind of Mike Tomlines, you know, bully ball, you know, that kind of stuff. Man, he is an absolute sledgehammer. Dexter Lawrence, maybe the best nose tackle in football. Abdul Carter, a top draft pick last year and, you know, potential future Hall of Famer. He’s incredible talent. Brian Burns has been incredible this season as well, collecting sacks left and right. Kavon Tibido is their number three edge rusher. So, Tomlin would immediately be inheriting an an excellent defensive line and pass rush just like he has here in Pittsburgh. And then Andrew Thomas, a franchise left tackle as well. So, they certainly have to build up the offensive line a bit, the secondary on defense. Like, the Giants are certainly not a perfect roster. There’s a reason why they currently hold the number two pick in the NFL draft. But there is a nice foundation of talent there for Tomlin to build off of. And I think that this would be really good for the Steelers here if you could do the Shawn Payeyton deal here where you do a first round pick swap next year. You move up from pick number 14 where the Steelers are currently at and you move up to the number two overall pick where the Giants currently preside. That way the Giants still have a first round pick. uh they don’t have to just give that up, but then the Steelers can move up to that number two spot to take a future franchise quarterback. All right, you would have your choice between Tai Simpson, Dante Moore, Fernando Mendoza. There would only be one team picking ahead of you if you have that number two pick. So, you’d be landing one of those three top quarterbacks uh if you make this trade. Plus, I think the Steelers would probably ask for that extra second round pick because that’s what the Saints got in the Shawn Payeyton deal. But honestly, guys, that number two pick could be so valuable to the Pittsburgh Steelers. chance to get, you know, a a topflight blue chip quarterback prospect might be so valuable to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They might just do this deal even without the second round pick and just do the first round pick swap. All right, so I could see this being a legitimate possibility where Mike Tomlin could be going to the Big Apple to be the head coach of the New York Football Giants. Could really see it happening, guys. Um, I think Tomlin would potentially agree to go there because of the base of talent that exists there, all that different stuff. Um, but also I think the Steelers would definitely take this deal, especially if that first round pick swap is on the table and they can move up to that number two overall draft pick. So definitely keep your eye on the New York Giants. But another team to keep your eye on is the Tennessee Titans. Uh, another team that has a young promising quarterback on a rookie contract for multiple seasons in Cam Ward. If he prefers Cam Ward to Jackson Dart, maybe he’d prefer to go to Tennessee. but also uh they have they have the potential to have the number one overall draft pick this year. They currently hold the number one overall draft pick in the NFL draft next year. So if he goes there, you not only would you have the quarterback, but you would also have the number one overall pick uh to choose from if you are Mike Tomlin, which you could use to trade down, get a bunch of picks, and you can restart that rebuild there in Tennessee. Also, Tennessee is investing in a lot of new infrastructure, new training facilities. A new stadium is going to be coming in Tennessee here soon. So, uh maybe that would be something that is desirable for Mike Tomlin. And this would be probably closer to the uh Shawn Payeyton deal here where instead of giving up the number one overall pick, they’ll trade the second round pick that they have next year, but then they give up their first round pick in 2027, which could be an excellent draft pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like, if Tomlin goes there and that roster still has a ways to go, and it likely would, that would mean that the Steelers could maybe even get into a first round pick in 2027. So that would be something to consider if you are the Pittsburgh Steelers. But if you are Art Rooney, if you are Omar Khan, which of these deals are you taking? Are you trading up to the number two overall pick in 2026 and sending Mike Tomlin to the Giants, or are you going to send him to the Titans? Get that second round pick next year, but then get that additional firstrounder in 2027. Type NY for the Giants or Teen for the Titans. Let me know which trade you would prefer down there in the comments section. For me, I think I would send him to the New York Giants. Now, to finish up today’s show, I want to be abundantly clear. Uh, we’ve talked a lot about the rumors and stuff like that about Tomlin being traded or fired or whatever. I think he’s going to be back in 2026. I think that the Steelers uh will eventually get to nine and eight. I think they’ll go, you know, three for their last five. We’ll see if that’s good enough to win the division. Maybe even they get to 10 wins if they really turn things around at the end of this season. And um if they get back to a winning record here, I I really highly doubt that Mike Tomlin’s going to leave. Um like Rapid Sher said, you talked about earlier in the show, Tomlin’s going to have to want to leave. So that’s always going to be on the table. It’s always going to be a possibility. And if and when that’s the case, I think the Steelers, you know, end up trading him. Um and we talked about some of those possibilities. But I still think by far and away the most likely scenario is Mike Tomlin is back with the Pittsburgh Steelers next season. If you guys are looking for some potential Mike Tomlin replacements that I would be thrilled to get as the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, we put out a video on that earlier uh uh in the week here. I think it was actually last week if you want to check out that video. We’ll put the link to that in the top right of today’s show as well as in the comments and description. But, you know, I’ll kind of leave you guys with this, man. There’s one thing that’s for sure. These players in the Steelers locker room for the rest of this season, we got five games left. They’re going to fight like hell for Mike Tomlin. All right? They love that guy. All right. And that’s one of the things that Mike Tomlin has going for him is that, you know, his players will fight to the death for him and they will play extremely hard for him, especially when, you know, they hear the noise in the national media. Like they they they have phones, they have social, uh they they see the amount of vitriol that Mike Tomlin gets and they they love that guy. So, they’re going to go to war for him these final five games. There’s going to be a very highly made a highly motivated Steelers bunch here to finish the 2025 season. And I’ll leave you guys with what Aaron Rogers said postgame after that really embarrassing Bills loss um you know Sunday afternoon. He says, “I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in Mike Tomlin. That’s why I came here and players need to take accountability, myself included, and I will and I will continue to. I got to play better. We got to have a Monday to Saturday. We can be really proud of our best Monday to Saturday and go out and play our best game and take control of the division. We control our destiny. We got three division games, two of them versus Baltimore next week and the last week of the season. So, make sure you guys predict it for me down there in the comments section. Will this be Mike Tomlin’s first ever losing season? The Steelers need to lose three of their final five games uh to uh make that a reality. So, give me a yes or a no down there in the comment section. For me, Tomlin, Voodoo, Magic, whatever you guys want to call it. I think he’ll get to at least nine and eight and they’ll win three of their final five here uh by hook or by crook. But let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. And that’ll be it for today’s edition of Steelers Talk by Chat Sports. Make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already to never miss any of our videos. We’re going to have you guys updated with the very latest surrounding Mike Tomlin’s status uh in terms of uh his future with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the coming weeks. We’ll let you guys know everything that’s going on injury report wise. We’ll let you guys know all the different rumors that are surrounding this football team as well as all the news items that you need to know surrounding the black and gold. So, greatly appreciate all of your guys’ support. Until next time, guys. Here we go, Steelers. All right. Um, we got some super chats here. Ponzi, I’m gonna actually refill my water real quick if you want to take over for a sec. Actually, no. I got enough water in here. We’re good. Okay. Tom Bell says, “Big Ben possibly is OC.” Listen, man. Just because somebody was a great quarterback doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be a great play caller or OC. Um, I think that’s a And and by the way, if there was one thing coaches need is that they need a kick-ass work ethic. And that was like the like that was the Big Ben was not a hard worker. Like he was just he was just Uber. I think I think Ben is fine as this armchair quarterback right now. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I think I love where Ben is at, man. I love him being one of us and you know, somebody that’s a commentator, somebody that comments on the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s a fan obviously of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but like you got to really dedicate your life to football as a coach and like he’s enjoying his life as a as a dad and you know as as an alumnist and a beloved alum alumnist here in Pittsburgh. Um you know I I honestly don’t think he’d be great as an offensive coordinator. I think it’s a fun idea because he’s a he’s a team legend, but like you know sometimes the best options for coaches are not former players. You know what I’m saying? uh you know and and Big Ben you know if he was a maniacal worker during his playing days I would feel better about it but like it it’s there’s a reason why Big Ben was had his it’s it’s pretty well documented that that he was not you know the hardest working quarterback in the league while he was here. What’s it reputation? Yeah, exactly. So Yzer Yer Jake with a two says uh tank for saying 2027 2028 whenever he comes out look good. He’s a good player man. Um but I hate to break it to you, Yinser Jake, but this the Pittsburgh Steelers will live literally never tank. They will always try and maximize what they can do in any given season. And you might disagree with that, but like if you want to go lose and you want to go, you know, lose a bunch of games, go cheer for the Cleveland Browns. Go cheer, you know, for the Titans, you know, go cheer for the Titans. All right? Like that this is not the mentality that, you know, that Pittsburgh Steelers fans should have, you know, and I I I understand that sometimes, you know, you got to you got to be bad in order to be good. And you know, sometimes that’s the case, but like sometimes that’s not the case. You know, Kansas City before they got Mahomes was a very good football team. They were a playoff caliber football team and then then they went and got Mahomes, right? So it and they traded up for Mahomes and and then there’s a bunch of teams, the Jets, the Lions, the Browns, you know, all these the Lions were pretty bad for before that. What do you mean? Like whenever they traded Matthew Stafford, they were pretty bad for two years. You didn’t let me finish my point. Oh, gotcha. Gotcha. I’m saying for years they had top five and top 10 draft picks every single year and they couldn’t figure it out. All right, so it building a team back up and rebuilding a team is more than just having a high draft pick. All right, cuz any team can lose a bunch of games and get a high draft pick. What’s tough to do is to build a winning culture. Uh to make the right moves in the front office and free agency and of course in the draft. Um you know, hitting on draft picks later in the draft. It’s not just about having a high first round draft pick, right guys? It’s about hitting on the players later later in the draft and finding some of those diamonds in the rough. So listen, man, I’m never going to be somebody of the opinion that the Steelers should tank and that this that this team should attempt to lose games. I think that that is a losers mentality. It’s not Pittsburgh Steeler football. And I think that the Steelers can simultaneously rebuild while still trying to maximize their opportunities in the present. And Adam U who makes another point here. He says that look at the Pats. They t didn’t turned out well. I mean, listen, man. Sometimes sometimes it works out well, but what what but listen man, did the Patriots get better because they had a high draft pick, or did the Patriots get better because they hired a kick-ass head coach who has an awesome uh because he has an awesome winning culture. I mean, it’s a combination of both of those things. But like, if Drake May sucked, we’re not having that discussion right now, right guys? You have to hit on your draft picks. And what’s more important is that yes, you’ve been able to fill that roster up with talent. That’s good. But you also have a coaching staff and a head coach and Mike Vrabel that’s got an awesome winning culture. He’s got those players going to war for him every single week. They’re locked in. All right, that’s what’s most important. So, of course, there’s examples of teams, oh, they did not play well and then they get a great quarterback and then, oh, look, you know, they they they get it right. But like another recent example with that Ponzi, the Washington Commanders in one season they went from the number two overall pick to the NFC Championship game. But it was a combination of things. It wasn’t just that they got Jaden Daniels who was an awesome player. They got Dan Quinn. They got Dan Quinn who who I think is an excellent team builder, team culture kind of uh connoisseur. And you know those players go to war for him. So you know it’s it’s a multitude of different things. It’s not just about you know having a high draft position. And listen, man, the Pittsburgh Steelers, like we talked about in that last segment, they could potentially pull off a trade where they could have a top two draft pick next year and they don’t have to tank. You know, you can trade Mike Tomlin to the Giants and get that first round pick swap and you don’t have to tank, but you still get that high draft pick. There’s other ways around it other than, oh, we’re just going to suck. And like, by the way, anybody that’s been in a sports locker room, anyone that’s been in a part of a team over, you know, I hate losing. I everybody hates losing. All right? And nobody respects an organization that is actively trying to lose games. Like just put yourself in the shoes of anybody on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster right now. If you felt that Mike Tomlin, Omar Khan, and Art Rooney shifted gears all of a sudden and actively tried to lose while still putting you at risk, still putting your body on the line on that playing field. How would you feel? You’d probably feel like this organization doesn’t care about me. This organization doesn’t care about winning. This care this organization doesn’t care about me, my family, the stuff that I sacrifice, the the work I put in in the offseason. The fastest way to lose the respect of your players is to is to actively try and lose. Period. All right. So, the Steelers are not going to be doing that. They’re a respectable organization. Um, and they’re going to do things the right way, and I’m hoping that eventually they find the right answer at quarterback. But there’s more ways to do that than to just tank. And I just I just disagree with that philosophy, you know, wholeheartedly. And I will say this, Baron, when’s the last time that the Steelers had a quarterback that you felt confident in that could take you down and win games consistently? I mean, prime big Ben. Yeah. But like we talked about in that last video, that’s on that’s on Mike Tomlin. That’s more of an excuse or more of a reason to move on from this current regime. Exactly. But like at at the end of the day, like you know, you can always say like these teams like the Lions, I think the Lions did a weird example where their quarterback Jared Goff was was the guy to lead them through that tanking. Not really tanking, but like they did suck. But I mean like if you have a veteran presence that could al also be one of your quarterbacks like I think you know the Steelers could do that where they have a quarterback that’s capable of winning games but well you you know who you know who the Steelers’s Goff might be. Yeah, I think I know where you’re going with this. It’s it might be Kyler Murray. And I know man I know I know I just threw a grenade in the comments section. Um, but like especially if Tomlin’s back, like we know Kyler Murray’s is going to be out in Arizona next year. People are going already. Oh no. I know, man. Like I I dude I I’m not I’m not the biggest fan of it either, guys. Trust me. But like you think about it, it’s like the ultimate Mike Tomlin quarterback move. You know, he doesn’t throw over the middle of the field very often, or at least he doesn’t like to because he can’t see over the middle of the field. Um, but he’s former number one overall pick just like Jared Goff was. People think he sucks right now. Just like just like Jared Goff when he got when you know towards the end of his time in LA. Um, you know, there’s just been too many success stories of these first round draft picks go to going to other places and having success. And Kyler is, you know, former number one overall pick pedigree type of guy. One of the most talented pure talents in the league. I mean, his arm talent’s crazy. can throw from any angle and any platform. His pocket presence is awesome. Uh great rushing ability, all that stuff. I don’t know if he necessarily fits the Pittsburgh Steeler way or anything like that, but cost a lot to get him. Do you think maybe a day two pick? I think a second round pick gets it done. Yeah. I mean, I think so. Like something similar to like the Alex Smith trade from 49ers to Chiefs. Yeah, something like that. But like I know fans are not gonna like the idea. I’m just saying I think there’s a pretty decent chance Kyler Murray is the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers next year. That’s probably happening. I mean we’ve been we’ve been on fire recently cuz like listen man I would prefer to just trade Tomlin to the Giants and then take a quarterback with a top three draft pick. Like that that would be my preferred you know uh strategy there Ponzi. But like if I know the Steelers like I do, they’re going to keep Tomlin. They’re gonna keep Cam Hayward and they’re gonna try and go quote unquote all in to try and get to try and get Cam Hayward a Super Bowl championship. Matthew Stafford’s probably not going to be available, right? Like all the like all the guys that are like, you know, legitimate established guys, they’re not going to be available. So, if you draft a rookie, then you have pretty much no chance of winning a Super Bowl next year. And with Cam Hayward only having one year left on his deal, I feel like Cam is going to be like, get me a veteran that actually gives me a chance to win a title or trade me somewhere else. Um, and honestly, I if those are my two choices, I might choose trade Cam Hayward because you can still get a decent draft pick for Cam next off season. And you can give him a chance to go to a competitor. Um, you know, try and win a Super Bowl while the Steelers rebuild. I think that that would probably be the best for both parties there. Best for both parties. But like the Steelers, just knowing how they operate as an organization, they want Cam Hayward to be a one helmet guy. So that’s not what they’re going to do. They’re going to go with another veteran next year and, you know, out of the guys that are going to be available on the open market, Daniel Jones will likely go back to Indianapolis. Okay. Um, you know, I think M. Jones probably isn’t a fit because he’s got a noodle arm. Uh, I feel like I feel like Kyler Murray is the guy that fits what Tomlin likes the most. This comment I see it’s Kyler Murray. Joe Flacco and Will Howard quarterback room. Well, I honestly I would take that over Cababoli’s uh quarterback room that he put up yesterday. Did you see Kaboli’s projected uh quarterback room next year? He had Mason Rudolph as QB1 and then you have Will Howard and Drew Allard duking it out to be the long-term option. I did see that. Yeah, that’s crazy. That is like a worst case scenario. I mean, Drew Aller, man. And I know I know people will say and listen I know I know people would want Will Howard, but like unless we see Will Howard by the end of this season, I don’t think they’re going to give the keys to Cam Hayward’s final season to a rookie that’s never even played a preseason snap in the NFL as a sixthrounder. Like as much as I like Will and as much as I think he’s he’s got some starter upside to him, it’s just like if you don’t see him in a game at all this year, preseason, regular season, postseason at all, you’re going to you’re going to trust him to be your starting quarterback next year. I just don’t know if I can do that, Ponzi. And I think Will Howard really needed to start preseason games in order for me to feel a little bit confident in him of seeing like what he could do. Even then, it’s still preseason. It’s not like it matters. And by the way, it won’t be Joe Flacco here next. It would be Mason. Like if they trade for Kyler, Mason will still be the backup. No. Yeah. Doesn’t Mason have another deal? Yeah. He has Mason signed a two-year deal. So, unless the Steelers release him, which I don’t think they will, he’ll be the he’ll be the backup. So, listen, man. If I had to predict what my quarterback room, what this quarterback room is going to look like next year, I’m going to say Kyler Murray, QB1. I’m going to say Mason Rudolph, QB2. Will Howard QB3 and there’s going to be a competition between Howard and and and Rudolph to be QB2. That’s what I would that’s what I think it’s going to look like. Now, obviously, there’s a lot that can change over the next several months and, you know, maybe they do trade Tomlin and they get the number two overall pick and they and they draft Tai Simpson. That would be like the best case scenario as far as I’m concerned. But, um I I kind of feel like they’re going to go the veteran route again, guys, as much to the dismay of Steelers fans across the world. And something tells me they’re going to try and rehab Kyler Murray. So people are saying Richardson. No, I Tomlin has kind of like made fun of Richardson publicly multiple times. I that we did not want to have You know where I You know where I think Richardson goes Ponzi? I think he goes to Minnesota. I think I think that makes so much sense. I think he competes with McCarthy next year to be the starter in Minnesota. Man, JJ McCarthy stinks. Yeah, I know. But like they are they just going to give up on him right now? Well, no. I’m I’m just saying like they got to bring in they got they got to bring in some sort of competition. I think Richardson probably is the guy over there. Yes. Yeah. You know, and and Kevin Okonnell will be like, “Well, one of these guys is bound to take a, you know, a big leap.” Jace Mitchell says, “What do you think about new ownership? The Rooney family will never sell this team ever. They won’t.” So, don’t even waste your breath. That’s like Cowboys fans asking about, you know, is Jerry Jones going to sell the team? like no it’s no it’s going to stay in the Jones family just like it’s going to stay the only way the Rooney family you know sells the team or the majority stake of the team is if they literally run out of money which I just don’t see happening Jason uh coming in with the fives is Tomlin and a 2026 first to Tennessee for the first overall pick uh a second round pick and a second and 27 we draft our next that’s not going to happen I mean you got to think about it like going from draft pick range you’re saying basically Tom Lyn is worth the second overall pick of the draft. Well, Tennessee is the first. That’s what I was saying. Yeah. So, you’re saying that you’re basically giving them the second overall pick of the draft and 2026 first. Now, maybe they think about like trading the number one overall pick for like Tomlin, Alex Heismith, and and the Steelers as first. Maybe that could be something. But but like the number one overall pick in an NFL draft is is like the most valuable draft asset that you could possibly dream up of. Let me pull up my draft chart here. I I just don’t I Jason uh I would say it’s not impossible that the Steelers could maybe make a deal for the number one overall pick, but according to I don’t think that’s the way that it would look. It’s a it’s 3,000 for the first overall pick. Yeah. And then for the Steelers pick, which is 14, it’s like 11. It’s 11. Yeah. So it’s like it’s worth like three first round picks. Yeah. Yeah. The first overall pick is worth like three first round picks essentially in total value. So you’re essentially saying that, you know, and two seconds is pretty much a first as well. So you’re pretty much saying Mike Tomlin is worth worth two first round picks and one of them being the first overall. Actually, you’re saying Mike Tomlin is worth three first round picks. Yeah. You’re saying in that trade, Jason, in terms of just trade value, Mike Tomlin was worth three first round draft picks. I I disagree with that evaluation. Um JV Free, it’d be great if we could pull that off. I would take that deal in a heartbeat, but $2 from JV Free says DC is 100% at fault for all that goes wrong. Um 100%. DC talking about the defensive coordinator. I think is he talking about Terrell Austin? Maybe. You know, Terrell’s I don’t think Terrell’s done a good job this year. I don’t. Um, but Lance comes in with a five. This is John Gruden for quarterback development. Uh, when was the last time he developed a quarterback? Rich Ganon. That wasn’t really a development. He just took a veteran quarterback. Like, when was the last time John Gruden legit legitimately developed a quarterback? Maybe. And Rich Ganon was like a rehab project that was that was a castoff before he went to the Raiders. Honestly, when was the last time, you know, John Gruden drafted a young quarterback and developed him? Didn’t he draft Chris Sims? He was bad. Yeah, he did draft Chris Sims and he was bad. I don’t know. So, like I I don’t know, man. I I just I think John Gruden I mean like maybe his Favre days like like I know like listen man, John Gruden would be the ultimate vibes hireer. The channel would do great if we had Gruden. Um but I I just don’t think he’s the best offensive mind out there. I think he could like he’s probably going to take like a college job like USF. I think apparently they’re interested. And listen, I think a big part of head coaching is is being able to build a good staff. I think John could legitimately build a good staff. Um he honestly didn’t have a great staff in in Las Vegas though, which is kind of weird. But um he’s got a lot of connections in the league. No doubt about that. Um and and obviously he’s really high on Will Howard. So, if you want to move forward with Will Howard as your starting quarterback in future years, Ponzi, John Gruden, honestly might be somebody that to consider because he’s a true believer in Will Howard. $2 from Adam says TJ Watt fell off after his contract. Trade him ASAP. Um, well, the thing about trading TJ is that he the Steelers already are locked in on hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed money. So, like as you might as well keep him around. Now, is he worth that money? No. But like if you trade him right now, you are eating a crap ton of dead money. Um, and by the when I say right, 108 of that money, the 123, it’s a $18 million dead cap next year if they trade him. Well, if they trade him, it would be um 94 94 for just next year. So So Adam, you want to take a $94 million cap hit next year without TJ Watt on the team? I sure don’t. I mean, I don’t even think that’s worth taking on with like a first round draft pick. Just straight up. Like, listen, man. We’re just going to have to eat it for a couple of years here. Um, the only we That’s unfortunate. TJ’s not worth the money that he’s making right now. He’s still a good player. He’s just not worth the the crazy amount of money. Like, he’s making more than Miles Garrett, which is just nuts to me. The only way that they get out of it is like 2027 or 2028. Yeah. Yeah. You gota you gotta wait for at least one more year to to cut or trade him. You gotta you gotta at least have TJ Watt on the team for at least one more year. It doesn’t make sense to trade him next year. Yummy with a two says if Tomlin doesn’t leave at least fire the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. But like even in this scenario, Yummy, do you trust Tomlin to get this hire right? How many chances, how many cracks at the OC and DC hire has Tomlin had? A ton. And he’s gotten them almost all wrong. Okay. His best hiring cycle was his first one when he hired Bruce Arens to run his offense and he hired and he kept Dick Leau on from the coward days as the DC. Those were his best coordinators. And when he had those excellent coordinators, this team won a Super Bowl. But when Mike Tomlin is left to his own devices and he hires his own guys after that like he he’s hiring you know the Todd Haley’s of the world and you know you know the you know the Randy Fners of the world and um you know the Matt Canada’s of the world and Arthur Smith I think has been the best hire as of late. All right he’s better than Canada and probably Fner as well but you know it’s like comparing like it’s it’s it’s not it’s you know Arthur is not an excellent OC. I think he’s an okay OC. You know, he’s not great, but he’s not terrible, but you know, it is what it is. Hiring. And then Terrell Austin is a below average defensive coordinator at best. Um, do you trust Mike Tomlin to get the hirings right this time? I I don’t I don’t I’m I’m sorry. I don’t. Joseph Rickard with it, too. Says, “Who would you like for the OC?” Um, I would love Josh Macau. Yeah. former for or or I would love Mike McDaniel. You see, I think Mike McDaniel probably gets there. I It really kind of depends on some of the other coaching hires around the league because if like let’s say like Washington that OC job came up, I think McDaniel probably goes to the 49ers. I don’t disagree. I’m just The question is who would I like? Oh yeah. Yeah. I I’m just saying that I would like McDaniel as OC because he’s one of the best pure play callers in the game. He’s he he turned to a tongue of Aloa. It would be another Dolphins head coach. Yeah, it would be another Yeah, it would be another Dolphins head coach. Um but yeah, man, like if you could like my dream staff would be like Brian Flores at as head coach or honestly Nick Sabin as head coach. Um listen man, this this Sabin idea is interesting guys. All right. Now, obviously, Sabin is is old and he’s in his, you know, 70s and it would be kind of a short-term hire. Like, he wouldn’t he wouldn’t be here for like 10 years or anything like that. But if you’re trying to win and win quickly if you’re Pittsburgh, like let’s say they they 74. Yeah, he’s 74. But he grew up a Pittsburgh Steeler fan. He’s got nobody in the league has better connections to coaches around the league and coaching talent and players for that matter than Sabin. uh he you know that saving defense is still the standard in college football and frankly it’s it’s a big part of the standard in modern NFL defenses right man match coverage is huge in the modern NFL uh you know landscape and there’s a ton of coaches in the NFL world that coached under Nick Sabin at Alabama I mean Brian Dable would probably be his OC here in Pittsburgh. I love Brian Dable as somebody that can develop quarterback talent. All right. He he he he got a good amount of Jackson Dart this year. Now, obviously, Daniel Jones flamed out, all that different stuff. And I know I think Brian Dable with with Daniel I’m not saying he don’t he did himself any favors, but he did really get the short end of the leash there with New York because, you know, they devout they draft Jackson Dart. Well, there’s no talent there and like like he he got his guy in Dart, but just because of his reputation with Jones and like how it kind of ended out there. I mean, I think he’d be fine as a developmental role OC, not as a head coach. Yeah, I wouldn’t hire Dave. Oh, I mean, I might I mean, if he Listen, man, I still think Dable someday could be a pretty decent head coach. I mean, he’s an NFL coach of the year. All right. He took a terrible team and won a playoff game with that team, you know, in his first year in the league. So, I still think I still think he’s got a good offense. I still think fundamentally from a schematic standpoint on offense, he knows what he’s doing. He’s coached both in college and in the pros, so he understands the differences in kind of the transition that young quarterbacks need to make and what can make that transition easier. Honestly, man, I Nick Sabin might be like the if you’re trying to win immediately, all right, if you’re not looking for somebody to be like the next 20 year head coach, um, and you’re just looking for somebody to be like the next maybe five years before he retires, Nick Sabin would be the win now option at head coach. And you know another thing about that if he wants to come out of retirement is that if you did have Brian Dable on your staff there you could have Nick Sabin for those five years and then and Dable they just or you know whatever you know hot shot DC Sabin brings in to be the defensive coordinator for the Steelers you know and because Sabin would not call plays. No. you know, Sabin would actually bring in a legit DC and then, you know, if you like that DC, whoever’s better between Dable or or the defensive play caller could be the next head coach uh for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, you know, honestly, you know, obviously the Raiders tried this approach with Pete Carol. Um and it is is flaming out in a big in a big way right now in Las Vegas. Uh but Nick, I mean, Nick Sabin, I think, is a better coach than Pete Carol. I think he’s got better connections in the league than Pete Carol does. think he can uh put together a better staff than Pete Carroll did. Um and yeah, man, if Nick Sabin was open to it, I would absolutely hire him. I’d hire him in a second. Some people were saying Todd Haley was Tomlin’s best hire after Bruce Arens. Yeah, after Bruce Ariens, I mean, yeah, I would say Haley was better than than Arthur Smith. Yeah, I would say that. But even then, Haley, you know, had his had his down moments. He really did. But, you know, did he flame out? Yeah, he Yeah, big time. Um, but you know, he was I mean, when you’re comparing Arthur Smith, Matt Canada, Fner, uh, Haley, you know, all the hires made after um, at OC after Arians left, Haley is by far the most productive. $10 from Joshua Bailey says Joe Shane is desperate and might overpay for Tomlin. Say Tomlin and a 2026 fourth for the Giants 26 first and a No, it’s got to be a first round pick swap. Uh Josh, it’s a they’re not going to trade the number two overall pick for Tomlin in a fourth. That’s just not going to happen. Um but you know, if you want the if you want to if you want that number two overall pick, it’s got to be a pick swap, I think. So you can say second and 14. So you can say no pick swap, which is fine, but you’re going to have to find another way to trade up if you want Dante Moore, Tai Simpson, or Fernando Mendoza says I trade back, too. I’m not sold on Mendoza. Ty Simpson is great, though. I I agree. I I mean, I’m not super sold on Mendoza either because, you know, I love the physical talent, but he plays in a super collegey offense, man. Tons of RPOS’s screens, not a lot of not not a lot of, you know, not a lot of NFL Sunday type reps on Fernando Mendoza’s film. So, I honestly think I’m probably I’m probably going to go into next year. I still got to watch all the film on these guys, but on what I’ve already watched, I think Mendoza might be my third quarterback on my board this year. I really like Dante Moore. I’ll probably have Tai Simpson one, but I I really like Dante Moore as well. And if you trade up, if you do this pick swap, Josh, you do the pick swap, you go from 14 to two, you are guaranteed to get either Tai Simpson or Dante Moore. And if you don’t think Dante Moore is coming out this year, his OC is leaving for a different college program. All right. Like I think the writing’s on the wall. I think, you know, obviously the Drew Aller whole situation where his draft stock dropped so much just because, you know, he stayed another year. Yeah. I mean, but that wouldn’t be the same with Moore because he’s a red shirt sophomore. So, he could suck next year and then still have another year of eligibility to get back. I’m more saying like like just go whenever you have a good grade on either. Yeah. I I I completely agree. You know, if I’m Dante Moore’s representation, it’s like, I understand you love Oregon. You can still make money in college football these days, but it’s not NFL money, and it’s not top five pick level money. You’re not going to get paid like like a top five pick. Yeah. You know, NFL money is just different. It still is different. So, um I think Dante Moore would be a surefire top five pick if he came out. And if I’m if I’m representing him, I’m saying, dude, you got to you got to cash in while you can. Um, but man, I I would be thrilled with either I would be thrilled with Mendoza, too, man. I like all the three of these guys could be legit franchise options for any team that drafts them. So, my first choice, I think, would be Tai Simpson because I would feel the most comfortable starting him day one. Um, if the Steelers plan is to start this rookie in year one, uh, Ty Simpson would be the guy I feel most comfortable with. I’d probably have Dante Moore as my second top option and then I’d have Mendoza at three. That’s probably the way I would rank those three guys. Cody Silva with it, too. Says, “Talking trash with the Steelers gang.” Uh, tra uh, check us out. Shout out to Cody. $2 from Shannon says, “Last year, Mike Williams. This year, Thelen.” Yeah, man. I mean, Adam Thelen is the Mike Williams edition this year. Apparently, you have a Venmo, by the way. Oh, okay. Let me see what what I got here. Oh, I do. All right. should probably turn on my ringer so I can actually hear when. But we’ll stay live as long as you guys want to stay live and talk ball. Just keep those super chats coming. Uh Adam Thielen uh is now a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Um I feel like uh we expected which you know the thing about the Steelers offense guys is that it’s tough to pick up. It is um because a lot of times they play they they call multiple plays in the huddle. So, you got to have a really good grasp of the playbook. And, you know, it’s going to be tough for Them to get completely on board this week, but you know, obviously they’re bringing him in last minute for a reason. It’s because they feel like they feel like he can help him. So, and this is this just another thing to remind people, he’s not coming into the practice squad. He’s on the active roster. He’s on the active roster. Uh because they claimed him off of waivers. So that means that you pretty much you automatically move him to the contract and you move him to the roster. Yes. You take his contract for the rest of the season and he’s on the active roster. So listen man, he he gives this team a theoretical skill set that they didn’t have and that they were trying to get with Jacobe Meyers. Um a big body route runner with good hands. And he’s like the great value version of Jacobe Meyers. Like, you know, if you asked your mom for Jacobe Meyers and she said, “We got Jacobe Myers at home.” Adam Thielen would be the Jacobe Meyers at home. Like, that’s kind of it’s kind of how I feel about Adam Thelen. But listen, man, like he’s a longtime veteran. He’s good friends with Aaron Rogers. He’s likely thrown with him in throwing sessions in the offseason in the past. um you know he can be that bigger presence that you know you can trust on those 50 ball 50-50 ball situations cuz right now you know with the way that it was currently constructed Ponzi who are you trusting throwing up a 50-50 ball to I mean probably DK Metaf but even he is not a great contested catch winner might be Pat Fmouth or yeah Pat Fmouth or Darnell is a couple other options there but like and then you know you’re not throwing up a 50/50 ball to Roman Wilson you’re not throwing up a 50-50 ball to the 59 Calvin Austin III, John Smith. Yeah. Like you would throw a you would you would throw a contested corner route to Adam Thelen and you would have some level of expectation of him making a play on it. Yeah. So, you know, we’ll see how fast he gets ramped up. We’ll see if he even plays this week, but I doubt it. But then again, like Brandon Cooks, but that’s a different offense. Yeah. It’s just it’s a tough offense to pick up quickly. So, uh, we’ll just have to see what Thelen does, but obviously not a lot of time to learn the offense, but clearly Thelen feels like he has a chance to play here or else or else he or else he wouldn’t be coming here. I really don’t know. Like, it’s the same thing with Asante Samuel. Like, we were talking about like, okay, so Darius Slay is gone, right? And then at first it didn’t happen for a while. Didn’t happen for a while. Then they finally put him in last week and now Slay’s cut. He’s gone. Yeah. So, like I mean you got to think that like either Calvin Austin’s getting replaced in this role. I don’t think so. But like Roman, it’s got to be one of them. Brian Ruiz with a two says, “Another thing to note in terms of Mike to the Giants is that the Maras uh and the Rooney have close family ties.” That’s a that’s another really good point there. Um where the Mars and the Dunies have done business in the past. So, you know, I’m sure Mara would be very interested in Mike Tomlin. I’m sure he’ll probably at least give a call to Rooney, especially if the Steelers like miss the playoffs. I’m sure uh Mr. Mara will give Mr. Rooney a call and say, “Hey, we’ve done business in the past, man. You want to do some business now?” Um, and who knows, maybe the answer will be yes, especially if the price tag is right. Cuz the Giant cuz the Giants have their quarterback, right? So, you know, they can they can do that pick swap in the first round and still feel pretty comfortable. They can still get a really good player with the 14th overall pick or whatever pick the Steelers end up having. Um, and I think if they miss the playoffs, say, let’s say they lose the three out of the next five, they have a losing season, they’d probably be picking the top 15. Yeah, probably something like that. So, um I think the ideal trade package is a pick swap in the in the first round next year and then an additional second round pick. That would be the ideal, but honestly, I would think about taking it just with the first round pick swap just so I could take my franchise quarterback Ponzi. Yeah, I agree. There’s just I mean, get a coach that can develop. This could be the opportunity that the Steelers have to draft a quarterback early without having to t to lose a ton of games in a season in order to do it. Just because you draft a rookie quarterback doesn’t mean like your team’s bad. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Jada Daniels, like we’d look at that one. I mean, that’s a pretty outlier example, but Well, but still, even like like looking at like a top two B last year, Bon Knicks was not great last year, they made the playoffs, right? So, like assuming that we have like a top two pick, you’re going to get a top two type of guy. Yeah. So, yeah, that’s what I that’s what I’d say. Joseph Rickard with a fives says your thoughts about the Ravens game. Um, you got to stop the run. Got to stop Derrick Henry. Uh, Dererick Harman will be out this week. Mike Tomlin confirmed it today. And this Steelers defense has just not been able to stop the run without Derrick Harmon. So, um, unfortunately, I think the Ravens are going to win this week. I I think they’ll I think the Steelers will have a better chance to win. Um, I think it’ll be a one-sore game. I don’t think Well, I I I think I don’t think it’ll be a trouncing necessarily. Um, I think the game will be close somewhat. I think it’ll be a one-sore game, final score. Um, but I think the Steelers will have a better chance when when they play them in Pittsburgh in the season finale. So, um, I’m picking the Ravens to win this week. I hope the Steelers win though. Be huge if the Steelers could win. DLO with a two says, “What happened to MVS?” Um, you know, who knows? We’re not, you know, I’m not in the practice facility every day, DLO. But, um, my guess is, um, all he does is is run fast at this point. And if you have a team that has quarterbacks that can’t throw the ball deep down the field, what is what’s the good of elevating a receiver that’s only going to get open deep? He doesn’t run good routes. He’s not a particularly good hands catcher. The one thing he does is he gets open down the field because of his speed. But like we’ve seen Roman Wilson get open down the field with his speed and they haven’t been able and they haven’t been able to hit him. So that might be part of it. 38 days. Another part of it do is that like I said this offense is tough to pick up. He might be having a tough time picking it up like Mike Williams did last year by the way. That was a big reason why Mike just didn’t play all that much is because he had a hard time picking up the playbook. I mean Roman Wilson last year Ponzi like he he was getting healthier towards the end of the season. They said he didn’t play. It was reported that he didn’t play because he didn’t understand the offense enough. So like hard offense. It’s a hard offense to learn, man. It just is. Um so that’s I mean good luck to Adam Thielen for learn to learn it in less than a week. But you know this team doesn’t throw the ball down the field and if you have a receiver that all he does is run fast, there’s not a whole lot of value that he brings to the table. And if you add him to the active roster, you got to take somebody off of it. So like who are you taking off of it at this point? I mean maybe Scotty Miller. I don’t really see much of the value for Scotty to be on this roster to be completely honest with you. But um you know, who knows? Maybe they do elevate MVS as well. They they get rid of Scotty this week. I could see that happening. But Joshua Bailey with a two says Thomas Brown or Gerard Johnson for OC. Um Thomas Brown, you know, McVey guy swears by him. He’s been an OC before, has failed in the past, but hasn’t really I mean in Carolina when he had an opportunity, it was just a terrible offensive personnel. So maybe with better personnel it’d be better. Gerrod Johnson, you know, he’s developed some quarterbacks, but you know, I don’t know how much I would I would love that to be honest with you. Joshua, but I guess I wouldn’t hate it. He’s he’s had some success developing quarterbacks in the past. We’ll say Thomas Brown didn’t do a great job in Carolina though. Um, so, you know, we’ll see. I don’t know, man. But I know but but I know Brown I think he’s with Chicago. Am I right on that? I think he’s in Chicago right now. believe so. Check. And I think he’s done a pretty good job with them. I think he’s their run game coordinator if I’m not mistaken. And their run game in in in Chicago has been excellent. He’s a passing game coordinator. Ah, pass game coordinator. Tight end’s coach. Got it. All right. Um, yeah, I I would probably prefer Thomas over Gerard in with those two options there. Uh, Joshua, appreciate the two. All right. Well, is there any more? Nope. All right, we are good, man. Thank you guys so much for joining us for this breaking news live show. Adam Thielen is a Pittsburgh Steeler. Uh we might have a little bit more on him tomorrow as well as some more Steelers news and rumors. So, make sure you guys uh you know, click that subscribe button, turn on those notifications so you know when our videos come out tomorrow. Till next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers. [Music]

A DOUBLE-DOSE of Pittsburgh Steelers breaking news highlights this LIVE edition of Steelers Talk by Chat Sports.The first bit of Steelers breaking news dropped when Adam Schefter reported that the CB Darius Slay and and Pittsburgh have mutually agreed to part ways, making Slay an NFL Free Agent. Shortly after the release of Darius Slay was reported it was also announced that the Steelers were claiming free agent WR receiver Adam Thielen off of waivers. Thielen was recently released by the Vikings, but now he heads to Pittsburgh who is in desperate need for wide receivers. Steelers Talk host Jack Sperry is here to cover all of the Pittsburgh Steelers breaking news surrounding the release of Darius Slay and the signing of Adam Thielen as well as give his instant reactions to these Steelers’ roster moves.

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Darius Slay stats in 2025:
– 28 TKL
– 3 PD
– 58.6 PFF Coverage Grade

Adam Thielen receiving stats in 2025:
– 8 REC
– 69 YDS
– 0 TD
– 8.6 AVG

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“Pittsburgh Steelers 2025 Schedule:
Week 1: at Jets (1pm ET)
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– ADAM THIELEN TO THE STEELERS??? – Why It Makes Sense + The UGLY TRUTH All Over PIT’s Week 13 Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojqYAT_yTaw
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