Why Pittsburgh Steelers are STRUGGLING w/ Aaron Rodgers | THE HERD NFL w/ Colin Cowherd

Why Pittsburgh Steelers are STRUGGLING w/ Aaron Rodgers | THE HERD NFL w/ Colin Cowherd

player contracts were a little different with that Joe Thomas the all-time great left tackle for the Cleveland Browns one of the best ever calling the Browns preseason games. So, uh my lead story today was there’s this bubbling story I’m hearing that I think is fairly ridiculous that the Browns are sabotaging uh Shadur Sanders by by only practicing with a ones day. And I reminded the audience that Josh Dobs played with the Vikings without a practice. Baker Mayfield played with Shawn McMahon the Rams with one practice and Shadur’s been at mini camps, OTAAS, training camp. He’ll be fine. But I I have to ask you, Joe, you’ve probably heard these claims too that some people think the Browns don’t want him to succeed. Is it a small story or is it bigger than it should be? Well, it’s bigger than it should be because Shadur Sanders is a huge star. He was one of the biggest stars in college football for several years. And the biggest story of the draft was him falling all the way to the fifth round and the Browns taking him. And he’s got a lot of people that really believe in him. They’re huge fans of him from when he was in college. And they want to see him succeed. And what’s the best way for him to succeed is if he just was planted as a day one starter. As soon as he walks through the door in Cleveland, he gets all the reps and no matter what happens, you put him out there and he’s your starting guy. But that’s not what Cleveland drafted him with a mindset of, right? They got him in the fifth round as a great value. They’ve got a bunch of other quarterbacks on the roster and they want to give equal playing time and equal reps to everybody not named Joe Flacco to see who’s going to separate themselves so that as you get later in training camp now you’ve got a little bit more of a pecking order of where your quarterbacks are and you give that guy a little bit more reps. So right now it’s just a matter of the situation that he’s in with Dylan Gabriel and Kenny Picket and themselves where they’re splitting reps between all those guys. And I get it. If you’re a Shador Sanders and then you want to see him get all the reps and you’re mad and you’re going to come up with a conspiracy theory like the Browns don’t want him to win and they don’t want him to be the starting quarterback. But really the reality is it’s just a situation. He’s competing with two other young guys to see who’s going to be the one that comes out of after the first or second preseason game as the clear number two option and then he gets a few more reps. So, there was an uh it was interesting. I was um I don’t know who was doing the interview, but I heard Brock Pury talking about this in the last 24 hours. He talked about and Brock Pur’s 61 and Pertie’s like about 40% of the time I don’t see where I’m throwing it. That’s the my first my first look. I I I can’t see where I’m throwing it. Tua has talked about this like I there are times I can’t see offensive lineman like Joe Thomas or 67, right? And so I was never a Dylan Gabriel believer. I watched them at Oregon and my take is folks he’s he’s small so I always thought I would have drafted Shadur just on size and accuracy. Uh and by the way Dylan Gabriel played with better teammates at Oregon than Shadur did and was more accurate at Colorado with a bad old line and no run game right now from what you’ve seen. Okay, I’m talking you’ve seen it live or you’ve seen it. Is Dylan ahead of Shadur? Do you believe he is? I don’t think he is. I think Shadur is ahead of Dylan right now. Wow. Dylan clearly has some things that he does really well. Obviously, his mobility, his ability to get outside the pocket, make plays when he can see because he doesn’t have to worry about throwing from in the pocket. But the challenge of being a short quarterback, especially in the NFL, in NFL passing off is that you have to throw to a spot. A lot of times you have to build that trust and that understanding of looking at the structure of the defense, knowing where the ball needs to go and then having some blind faith that when you throw it to that spot, your guy’s going to be there. And that takes a lot more time than if you are being able to see the guy actually coming open. You’re able to see the windows. And so far, Shadur has, I think, in my opinion, outplayed Dylan at this point in training camp because Dylan’s had some struggles with accuracy. in Chador, although it’s not been great with the procedural side of things. When he’s up there under the under the center and he’s trying to make calls and adjustments at the line of scrimmage, he’s getting everybody lined up. The snap count when the ball gets snapped, he’s been pretty accurate and pretty impressive with some of the big time plays that he’s made. And I think that’s why a lot of Browns fans are really excited to see him on Friday as he’s going to be the starter against the Panthers in their preseason game because he’s a gamer, right? And so gamers, they rise to that occasion and we expect to see some great plays out of him on Friday. Some of those wow moments that he’s become known for. So that’s really interesting, Joe. So, um, because I’m I can only go on clips, but when I watch Dylan Gabriel, there are times he gets lost behind the offensive line. I can’t see him. I mean, literally, and and this is not a knock on the kid. This was this was my big question coming into it. I want my ideal quarterback size. Josh Allen’s an outlier. Most guys aren’t that big. is like Justin Herbert, 6’5, sturdy. I just think it matters. So, um, listen, I didn’t like the speeding tickets. I didn’t like legendary. I didn’t like that stuff. Um, but by and large, it seems like Shadur is pretty pretty likable. I mean, is I mean, the vibe body language, I mean, to me, he’s like a nice kid. His judgment can be the speeding tickets, you know, bother me as somebody I don’t even like when guys put their hat on backwards. So, speeding tickets really bother me. How is he What’s the vibe around like it? What is he like? Oh, boy. Joe, that is trouble. So, what is his vibe at practice? It’s been great. And I think anybody that’s been his teammate at Colorado before that and now with the Cleveland Browns will say that he’s doing the right things when he’s out there. He’s incredible in meetings. He shows up early, he stays late, he’s watching the film, he’s being diligent with his note-taking. And so I think Shador Sanders, the player, the the leader inside that locker room has been awesome. To your point, like he’s gained some attention. One, he’s a huge star. So anything you do off the field, he’s got to start to understand. He’s going to have extra eyeballs on him, extra scrutiny, and so some of the speeding tickets and those other things, like all that does is just bring bad attention to you, and you don’t need any of those distractions as you’re trying to win this starting quarterback job. But as far as when he’s been in the building, the guys are really loving him here in Cleveland. So, um, I I said this about Aaron Rodgers. I said, “There are certain things that are true.” I said, “When you’re an older quarterback and you’ve got a Super Bowl and you’ve got your money, like Aaron Rogers, there are things you do, you’re not willing to do that you were at 31, and that is get hit a lot. And if you don’t trust your old line, Aaron’s not going to sit back there and take one in the teeth like it’s not going to happen. So with the Jets, a lot of short passes. He didn’t. And I don’t blame him. Eli Manning didn’t want to get hit at the end. Brady was practicing falling. Like I get it. Um the Steel This is why I’ve never bought Pittsburgh for Aaron. They have struggled for six years with the O line. PFF has the Jets line better than Pittsburgh’s last year and going into this year and Aaron didn’t trust the Jets line. So, I want you to talk about that. Um, older quarterbacks and you played with a lot of them. Did you notice that the younger quarterback will sit in there or maybe he can escape, but older quarterbacks do see the world differently after they’ve been in this league 8 to 10 years? Yeah. Young quarterbacks, they don’t know any better, right? their their youth is their ignorance. And it serves them well because they’re willing to stand in there and they’re willing to take those hits right in the chops. And at first it might not hurt too much because you see the success that it brings when you are able to hang on just a half a second longer and you’re delivering the football down the field and you’re throwing the touchdown pass. But as you become an older player, you know, your body just can’t handle those hits. And so you do try to get the ball out quicker. You try to speed up that process in your mind. But the challenge is how do I speed up that process without speeding up my footwork too far where now I’m out of rhythm. I’m I’m taking footwork and I’m stepping up into these throws and the receivers are not out of their breaks yet. And so you want to make sure that your timing of your drop and the routes are still in combination. But you also do need to at certain times be able to hang in there and wait for that receiver to get to that next window so you can deliver the football. And you got to just accept, hey, I’m going to get hit on this one, but the team needs me right here. And I think that remains to be seen a little bit with Aaron Rogers because he’s never been a guy that loved being hit. I mean, he’s never been a huge guy, but he’s always had great feet. He’s always been able to extend the play, get out of the pocket with his athleticism, and we really didn’t see that with the Jets. And so far, coming out of the Steelers training camp, there’s been some conversation about him not really showing great mobility, not showing an ability to escape the pocket, escape the rush. And that comes into question then about how much is he willing to be able to just stand in there and extend the play if he can’t do it with his feet anymore and he’s not willing to take the hits in the pocket. All right, we’re going to circle back to Cleveland. Uh my prediction was Flaco’s the starter. I said this before camp. They’re going to move off Picket at some point to get a draft pick next year. Maybe a sixth or seventh rounder. And the young guys will both be on the roster as backups. That’s my take. And they’re going to get both the young guys are going to get reps in preeason. Now Dylan Gabriel’s banged up so Shadur could take the lead with a good one Friday. So I’m going Flaco, Shadur and Dylan. That’s my order. And Picket will be moved. Somebody will lose a quarterback. He’s a capable backup. Um and we still have Deshun Watson, but that’s, you know, he’s not going to play. What if you had to guess an order with three or four quarterbacks in Cleveland? What is it? I think you’re on to something right there. I’m not sure that Kenny Pickicket, I’m going to take it to Vegas that he’s getting traded, but it certainly makes sense, right? He’s a guy that’s got experience. He’s a first round draft choice. Clearly, uh, this league relies on great quarterback play, and if you don’t work out in one spot, if you still got that talent, you’re going to at least get one or two more chances. Um, so I could see him being traded. And I’m I’m definitely thinking that Shadur when the season comes is going to be that number two guy because depending on how the season shakes out, there’s going to be a point in the middle possibly where they’re saying, “All right, Flaco’s done a good job, but we’re not scoring enough points and we want to get an opportunity to look at one of these younger guys.” And I think at that point, you’re going to say, “Hey, we want to have reps with Shidor. We want to see him. Can he be that playmaker? Can he be that gamer that he was in college that we saw in preseason maybe?” because they got to figure out going into next season with their two first- round draft choices if that’s going to be a quarterback or do we have the quarterback spot figured out and we got that solved and we can use that on weapons around him. So, that’s a very important question that’s outstanding still that they need to answer at some point this season. Well, great stuff from Joe Thomas, the Hall of Famer, 10 time Pro Bowler, a top five or six left tackle I’ve ever seen play. It is great seeing you. We appreciate the insight, your feet on the ground there and I appreciate it, bud. Yeah, thanks for having me on

Colin Cowherd is joined by NFL Hall of Fame offensive lineman Joe Thomas to discuss the latest with the Cleveland Browns, Shedeur Sanders, and Aaron Rodgers. They start with whether Shedeur Sanders can prove himself in preseason and become QB1 for the Cleveland Browns. Next Colin and Joe analyze why the Pittsburgh Steelers offense seems to be struggling with Aaron Rodgers at the helm.

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