Steelers News: Bengals TRADE For Joe Flacco, OBJ Still Interested In PIT + Latest Injury Updates

Steelers News: Bengals TRADE For Joe Flacco, OBJ Still Interested In PIT + Latest Injury Updates

[Music] Welcome in to Steelers Talk. I’m your host, Jack Sperry. Tonight on the show, there’s been a shakeup in the AFC North at the quarterback position. Joe Flacco has been sent to the Cincinnati Bengals Bengals. I will be breaking down that move and how it affects the Steelers week seven matchup on Thursday Night Football versus the Pussycats. Then we’ll get into our second segment today talking about Odell Beckham Jr. He once again went on went on a podcast and expressed his interest in joining the Pittsburgh Steelers. Talk about that possibility. Then we’ll finish up today’s show with Mike Tomlin, the head coach, taking the podium today for Tomlin Tuesday. I’ve got some takeaways here with some kind of nuggets from that press conference I think every Steelers fan should know heading into week six. Now, if you guys want to show some hype for this channel, guys, and for this video, we would greatly appreciate it if you would hit the hype button. It’s a brand new feature here on YouTube. We would love for this video to kind of uh go off here. So, if you guys love the black and gold, do you appreciate what we do for you guys here on Steelers Talk? Smash that hype button. And if you’re looking for that button, you guys can just scroll right of the comments and it’s going there’s going to be a little button on there that says hype. You just press that button. That’s all you got to do. I’d greatly appreciate if you would hype up today’s video here on Steelers Talk. All right, so before we get into the rest of the news and rumors, let’s talk about today’s roster moves that the Pittsburgh Steelers executed today. They have released linebacker Jawan Bentley. Uh kind of a bigname signing that this team made a couple of weeks ago. They have now released him from the practice squad. Never even made it onto the active roster for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh but they have signed Rashir Black Shear here, running back special team specialist uh to the practice squad to replace his spot on the Steelers practice squad. And you know, my reaction to these two moves, guys, especially when it comes to Bentley being the odd man out here, is that I think the Pittsburgh Steelers have kind of seen what they’ve wanted to see uh from their linebacking room ever since they made that signing. When they made that signing to get Bentley, uh you know, Peyton Wilson was really struggling in run defense. You know, you know, still a lot of question marks surrounding Cole Hulkcom and there’s still a lot of questions as to whether or not they would need Bentley services as kind of a thumping linebacker. And uh since that point, Pton Wilson has played better week in and week out, especially against the run. and Cole Hulkcom has shown to be a very good number three linebacker as well. They’ve also been very encouraged by the play of Carson Bruner, the rookie out of Washington, especially in terms of his uh special teams contribution. So, they don’t want to let him go either. Um so, I think that that’s pretty much the crux of why Jawan Bentley has been let go. But then when it comes to Black Shear guys, look for him to potentially get a helmet on Sunday versus the Browns and be this team’s potential punt return man. Now, Scotty Miller is the backup punt return man. uh you know as it is right now. Uh but you know what’s the level of trust that they have in him? Black Shear is kind of known as a specialist in that regard with Calvin Austin III likely out this week with a shoulder injury. Uh Black Shear could provide some help on special teams, but we’ll see if he ends up getting that helmet this week. Then we got this uh news today, guys, and I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw the alert come out on my phone here. The Cleveland Browns have traded quarterback Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals within the division. So that likely means we’re going to get a 40 plus year old quarterback battle in week seven uh when the Bengals play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football in week seven. So you guys can take a look here at the trade details. Uh it’s just a pick swap here. The Bengals get Flacco and a 2026 sixthround pick. Browns get a fifthrounder in 2026. So they just upgrade their sixth round pick to a fifth rounder. Um, you know, I think it’s a good enough deal for the Browns. They’re not starting Flaco. They have Sher Sanders as a backup quarterback option in case Dylan Gabriel goes down with injury. And let’s face it, Joe Flacco once he lost that starting job, it really wasn’t an opportunity for him uh to get another one. So, this is another opportunity for Flacco uh to start and start for a couple of months here before Joe Burrow eventually comes back late in the season to try and save the Bengals season. The Bengals are currently two and three. They’ve lost three straight. Jake Browning wasn’t getting the job done. But honestly, guys, I don’t think this is going to work out for Cincy. I think they probably would have been better off paying a higher price tag for either Russell Wilson or especially Kurt Cousins. But, you know, Joe Flacco can’t move anymore and he’s going to be playing behind a terrible offensive line, maybe the worst offensive line in the league. It’s definitely one of them. Um, and if you thought Cleveland’s offensive line was bad, Joe, and you’re taking all those flax sacks in Cleveland, um, unless you’re getting the ball out extremely quickly like Aaron Rogers is right now in Pittsburgh, like you are going to take sacks out past your first read. All right, that’s just that’s just the way it is. And you know, Joe Flur, what makes him so good inside that Bengals offense is not only does he have those weapons and Jamar Chase and T. Higgins and all those guys, but Joe has really special pocket presence to be able to avoid pressure when he can. Joe Flacco doesn’t have that. He’s a he’s a legit statue in the pocket and it’s just going to be open season for these edge rushers um that play the Cincinnati Bengals with Joe Flacco sitting back there. So, if anything, honestly, I think this makes the week seven game versus the Bengals even easier for Pittsburgh. You’re going to have a sitting duck back there at quarterback. And it’s not like Jake Browning can move all that well or anything like that, but at least he’s been in the system for multiple years. He understands what the reads are of the offense. Joe Flacco is going to have to learn a brand new offense here. and within the span of not even two weeks, he’s playing the Pittsburgh Steelers um in a Thursday night football matchup against this pass rush that has uh one of the most, you know, deep groups of pass rushers in the entire league. I mean, good luck, Joe Flacco. That’s all I’m going to say in terms of that week seven matchup. So, pick your opponent for me down there in the comments section. Between Joe Flacco and Jake Browning, which guy would you rather play if you’re the Pittsburgh Steelers? Type JF for Joe Flacco or JB for Jake Browning. This will be the pin comment on today’s show. So, in just a second here, I’m going to tell you about our sponsor today at Ethos. While I’m telling you about our sponsor today, let me know if you’d rather play Joe Flacco or Jake Browning in week seven. Now, let’s have a word from our sponsor today at Ethos. And guys, the summer before I started here at Chat Sports, unfortunately, my family lost my late grandfather. And as you tend to do when you lose someone close to you, you begin to think about your own mortality and what would happen to the people dependent on you if something were to happen. With today’s sponsor, Ethos, your family is protected. Cassie and I are getting married soon, and shortly after that, I imagine we’ll buy a house and start having some kids. If something were to happen to me, I want the last thing the people I love to worry about is worrying about the bills. So, I trust Ethos to keep them protected. As you probably already know, uh, however, the process for obtaining life insurance can be super confusing and straight up annoying with how tedious the process can be. That’s where our friends at Ethos come in. As for as of March 2025, Business Insider named Ethos the number one nomed medical exam instant life insurance provider. Ethos is an online platform that makes getting life insurance fast and easy to protect your family’s future in minutes, not months. There’s no complicated process, and it’s 100% online. There’s no medical exam required. You just answer just a few health questions to get a quote in as little as 10 minutes. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos today. Get your free quote at ethos.com/nflaily. That’s ethos.com/nflaily to get your free quote today. Application times may vary, rates may vary, and a big thank you to Ethos for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. So once again, Odell Beckham Jr. is being linked to the Pittsburgh Steelers as he has once again listed the Pittsburgh Steelers as a potential landing spot for him this season that he would like to play for. Now, the Steelers weren’t the only team that he mentioned on the Pivot podcast this week. He did mention his former team, the Los Angeles Rams, the team he won a Super Bowl with um a few years back. Uh the Kansas City Chiefs with some of the wide receiver issues they’re dealing with right now. Um even though it looks like they’re going to be getting Rasheed Rice back here very soon from his suspension than the New York Giants. He says he wants to play for the Giants again before he retires. And honestly, at this point, man, if you’re the Giants, what do you have to lose, man? You know, give Odell give Jackson Dart another weapon. I would kind of like to see Odell Beckham Jr. go back to New York for one last run before he retires. Um, but listen man, if the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to sign Odell Beckham Jr., I think they already would have. I think it would have made sense to sign him in the early days of the buy because you have two weeks to ramp him up in that case. Now, he doesn’t practice for a week because the team isn’t practicing during the by-week, but at least he would have time to digest the playbook, all that different stuff, and the Steelers haven’t made that move yet. So, I think that, you know, there’s opportunities to get him before the season even began that they didn’t take to bring in Odell Beckham Jr. And then, of course, they didn’t bring him in during the by-week either. So, even though Odell probably would like to play here with his buddy Aaron Rogers, I don’t think uh that relationship and that interest is necessarily reciprocal on the end of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also, now we learned today that Odell Beckham Jr. is suspended for six games. So, even if he brought him in, he wouldn’t be able to play and by the time he would get back, Calvin Austin the third would be all the way back from his shoulder injury. Tom Pelisero had the news today saying free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. told the pivot podcast that he has decided to accept a six-game suspension for a peed test last season. Beckham says he has never knowingly taken a p uh peed. Beckham still plans to play this season. So, it’ll be interesting to see if Odell ends up uh getting some sort of deal uh to go play for a team down the stretch. We’ll see uh which teams uh deal with attrition terms of injuries at that position and if he ends up going somewhere. Personally, I’d like to see him finish out his career in New York. Their season’s over anyways. Um, so just to see him back in that jersey again would be fun, but I honestly I don’t think OBJ’s good enough to really contribute to a contender at this point. So now let’s get into some Tomlin Tuesday takeaways. We’ll start with the wide receiver position here, guys, because if they’re not bringing in Odell Beckham Jr. uh to play wide receiver, too, while Calvin Austin the third is dealing with that shoulder injury. Then who is going to step up? Well, Mike Tomlin had an answer to that today. And he said uh that guys like Roman Wilson and Scotty Miller will be elevated in their roles while Calvin Austin the third misses time. And if he misses time, we’ll talk about in the injury updates that Calvin might even play on Sunday. At least Mike Tomlin left the door open for that possibility. Uh but you know, it certainly sounded like Tomlin was hinting that Roman will play a key role moving forward. He was asked specifically about why he wasn’t getting the football and he hasn’t really gotten a lot of opportunities yet. and his answer was, you know, we’re playing a lot of heavy personnel packages and he’s not our number one or number two receiver, so there’s just not a lot of opportunities to get him on the field. And then at the end of his comments, he said, quote unquote, keep watching. So, that would indicate to me that they have a pretty big uh uh role for him in the offense this week. That is if Calvin Austin the third is not able to go. And speaking of Calvin Austin the third, some injury updates to talk about here uh from the press conference from Mike Tomlin today and all of them are positive. All right, but Mike sounded really really uh encouraged by the statuses of a lot of these guys. In fact, he sounded pretty much dead set that Alex Heismith, Joey Porter Jr., and Jaylen Warren would all be available this week. We saw Alex and Joey practice yesterday in their bonus practice uh before the official week of practice began today. And Jaylen Warren was out there as well and and Mike was saying that these all three all three of these guys look great. They’re going to be ready to go. All that great stuff. And of course, Joey said in his media availability yesterday that he will be playing on Sunday. So to get these three guys back, they’re starters. They’re very important pieces to this team. It’s great to have these guys back in the lineup. And honestly, when it comes to Alex Heismith guys, it sounded like Mike Tomlin uh was saying he’s going to be on a little bit of a snap count. He talked about how he missed multiple weeks, so his football conditioning might not be up to where it needs to be to get his full workload. So, if you’re somebody that’s worried about Nick Herbig losing out on playing time because of Alex Heismith returning to the lineup, I would say don’t worry about it. All right, we’re still going to see plenty of Nick Herbig. He’s going to get plenty of time out there while Alex Heismith continues to get ramped up over the next few weeks. said, even when Alex is back to uh full conditioning and he’s ready to go to to assume his full kind of responsibilities, I would still assume that this team prioritizes getting Nick Herbig out there in a true rotational role to get Alex and TJ ample rest and keep them fresh throughout the season. And not to mention, I expect these this coaching staff to utilize all three of these excellent pass rushers in their NASCAR packages on heavy passing situations. So, uh, even though Alexis Smith is returning to the lineup, guys, I wouldn’t worry too much about Nick Herbig’s role being diminished too much, uh, uh, as a result of that. Then when it comes to Calvin Austin the third and Jaylen Ramsay, I Mike sounded a lot more positive than I thought he was going to this week. I thought he was going to go out there and say, you know, Calvin and Jaylen, you know, probably doubtful this week or or just straight up out. Uh, but he went out there and said that I’m very pleased with uh, the way that I think the way he phrased it was aggressively pursued these injuries. Um, and uh, you know, they’re in a position here where they’re going to be limited in practice this week, it sounds like. So, we’ll see how they progress as the week goes on. I would still kind of doubt that these guys play this week. Um, but Mike Tomlin certainly kept the door open for these guys to return to action. So, we’ll see what the rehab looks like this week. Uh, and if Jaylen Ramsay is unable to go, and I would say that’s the likelihood at this point, guys. Brandon Eckles, who has been starting on the outside while Joey Porter Jr. has been dealing with his hamstring injury is expected to start in the slot at Nickel if Ramsay can’t give it a go. So, um to have a guy like Brandon Eckles that can that can be uh a backup both on the inside and on the outside is a huge huge uh uh asset to this Steelers defense and he provides incredible depth to this team and his value with this team and that signing has just uh absolutely shown itself here through the first few weeks of the season. Then we get to what Mike Timeline had to say a little bit about some of the advantages that you get from having an early bye-week. You guys will remember last year the Philadelphia Eagles had a had a buy in week five. They ended up winning the Super Bowl after making some adjustments after that early bye-week. In fact, they didn’t lose a football game uh after that buy that Jaylen Hurt started and finished the rest of the way. Now, I’m not saying that’s going to be the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh but the early buy certainly gives the Steelers opportunities to make some adjustments uh identify some trends around the league and kind of take a step back and make some adjustments if they need to. This is what Mike Tomlin had to say about the advantages of having an early buy. The by-week is also an opportunity for us to sit back and take a look at some of the things we’ve done schematically, the adaptations we’ve made to circumstance, whether it’s matchup related or player availability related to look at the overall trajectory of our units. Also to look around at some of the things that are trending in the game, how people are producing or preventing big plays, whether it’s run or pass, the turnover game, gadget plays, possession downplay, fourth down appetites. We looked at a lot of things going on globally, and I think oftent times you do that. But I think that that’s one of the advantages of maybe having an early buy just to get a sample size of how the ball is being rolled out globally in 2025 at the early stages of it. And we did some of that. So, I completely agree with Coach Tomlin on this. And listen, man, there’s pros and cons uh to whenever you have the buy, right? If you have a later buy, that means you get a little bit of a rest uh in preparation for a potential playoff push. Uh, and then you know early on in the season I think the ad the advantage of for having an early buy as coach T laid out is you can can kind of get a lay of the land in the National Football League and just football globally as Mike Tomlin uh puts it where you guys can kind of where they can kind of identify trends and kind of adjust to those trends uh mid-season here before it gets too late. So, a three in one start obviously uh is a good start for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but now that they’ve had a chance to, you know, take a step back, look at the uh kind of the way that the ball is being rolled out, as Mike Tomlin likes to say, uh when it comes to the schemes both offensively and defensively in the National Football League and kind of make some adjustments off of that. I think that’s only going to mean good things for the Pittsburgh Steelers as we head to week six. Then another thing that Tomlin confirmed today is that this team will be staying heavy with their quoteunquote jumbo personnel packages with Spencer Anderson and Darnell Washington out there, especially when they’re playing teams with four down fronts like the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals over the next two weeks. This is what Mike Tomlin had to say about why this team will continue on their current path. Says you can’t play 4-3 teams. Talking about the defensive scheme there, four down linemen, three linebacker teams with 150 lb tight ends. You can’t. There’s weight classes in combat sports for a reason. So when the So when the edge people are 300 pounds, you better have somebody out there that looks like that animal. That was our intentions versus Minnesota. And certainly when we head into divisional play over the next couple weeks and we’re playing two 4-3 teams, chances are you’re going to see more of the heavier offensive personnel. It’s unfair at times to ask guys like Pat Fmouth and Connor Hayward to block 4-3 ends. That’s not realistic if you want to have a real good run game. And I couldn’t agree more with Mike Tomlin, which is exactly why I have been preaching on this channel that this team needs to stick with this formation and with these kind of heavier personnel packages because it’s working. All right? Especially against these kind of 4-3 really in the modern NFL, it’s a 4-2 defense because people kind of live in nickel nowadays. Uh but teams like the Vikings, like the Browns, like the Bengals, uh that are going to sit in 4-3 and they’re going to sit with four down linemen. um you know having guys like Pat Frymouth and Jonno Smith out there that are kind of lighter uh you know they’re not going to be able to handle a guy like Miles Garrett in the run game right and I think that’s part of the reason why the Steelers had trouble running the football in the early weeks of the season is because they would put out John Smith and Pat Fmouth and they would ask them to take on those tougher assignments and they just couldn’t they just couldn’t hold up. So, you know, I think that moving forward, if you really want to establish this kind of identity on offense where, you know, defenses are forced to play heavier with an extra guy in the box, load up those boxes to open up opportunities down the field for Rogers and the play action passing game. I think you just got to stick with what works. And I I wish that this team would have identified this before they ended up trading for another 250 lb tight end because really now it doesn’t really make sense to play Jonnu and Pat on the same down very often. I mean maybe on some passing downs, but then you’re playing two tight ends on a heavy passing down and that’s not ideal either. So for me guys, um you know, I think that this is absolutely the right way to go. I think Mike is completely right about his diagnosis going up against these four three teams. got to play heavier against these guys and I’m just glad uh that he’s identified that and he’s moving forward with it moving forward. Then we finish up here with the final two uh Tomlin Tuesday takeaway that I have here which is that it’s a familiar looking ad uh adversary here for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense in the Cleveland Browns this week. I thought it was a very interesting uh comment that he made today uh where he kind of identified that the Cleveland Browns play a lot of 12 personnel which they do. They like to play uh David and Jooku and then a rookie tight end Harold Fannon Jr. out of Bowling Green. Uh those two guys have been playing really well and that’s really the strength of their team. So they’ve been playing a lot of 12 personnel packages and the good news for the Pittsburgh Steelers and their defense as they prepare for Cleveland this week is that they have seen a lot of these 12 personnel packages in practice against the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, they’re going to see a lot of these packages not only in practice this week, but they’ve been seeing these packages unfold uh over the course of training camp and preparation for the season. So, they know how to kind of adjust their game and kind of scheme things up for success against an offense that plays kind of heavier personnel with multiple tight ends. So, um you know, I think that Mike Tomlin made a pretty decent point today that this should benefit the Steelers in their preparation to take on the Cleveland Browns this week. So, let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. What is the percent chance that the Pittsburgh Steelers win versus Cleveland on Sunday? Put it on a scale of zero, meaning no chance that they win on Sunday to 100, meaning they are definitely winning versus the Browns on Sunday afternoon. I know a lot of people are feeling like this is a trap game uh for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And who knows, it might be. Uh but you know, and not to mention because you got Miles Garrett going up against Brick Jones. I don’t love that matchup. But we actually have our preview up on the channel here, guys. You guys can check out our preview uh for this week six matchup on the channel uh right now. You guys can click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. I’ll put the chip to the preview in the top right of today’s video if you guys want to check out that preview right now. But make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Until next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers. [Music]

The Pittsburgh Steelers are making headlines again with major AFC North news shaking up the division! Host Jack Sperry breaks down the Bengals’ shocking trade for Joe Flacco, Odell Beckham Jr.’s renewed interest in joining the Steelers, and Mike Tomlin’s key injury updates heading into Week 6. With players like Alex Highsmith and Joey Porter Jr. expected back and the offense finding its rhythm, Pittsburgh is gearing up for another strong divisional push. Don’t miss the latest Steelers news, rumors, and analysis — hit that SUBSCRIBE button and help Steelers Talk grow the biggest Steelers community on YouTube!

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Joe Flacco Trade Details:
– Cincinnati Bengals Receive: Joe Flacco (QB), 2026 6th Round Pick
– Cleveland Browns Receive: 2026 5th Round Pick

Pittsburgh Steelers Back This Week:
– Alex Highsmith (OLB): Ankle
– Joey Porter Jr. (CB): Hamstring
– Jaylen Warren (RB): Knee

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– Steelers vs. Browns Week 6 Preview: Keys To Victory & Score Prediction | Gotta Take Care Of Business https://youtu.be/8CKpsL75r1g
– The Steelers Just Got MORE GOOD NEWS As Alex Highsmith, Joey Porter Jr. & More Return To Practice https://youtu.be/sVf9Hk6ueAE
– The Pittsburgh Steelers Got A TRIPLE DOSE Of GOOD NEWS Over The Bye Week | Steelers News https://youtu.be/mrNa-MrldN0

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Mike Tomlin Tuesday Takeaways:
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– Staying Heavy
– Familia Looking Adversary

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